Beyond the LMS: Why Instructional Design Keeps Growing with Shane Strand

Welcome to episode 38 of the Designing with Love podcast! In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Shane Strand, an instructional designer who works in the higher education sector. 

Ever wondered how educators transform into instructional designers? Shane Strand takes us through his fascinating journey from high school teacher to curriculum coordinator to instructional designer in higher education. What begins as a story of career transition unfolds into a masterclass on navigating the evolving landscape of instructional design.

Shane reveals how technology became his gateway into the field: "What really drew me was the technology aspect—all this e-learning technology, seeing these online courses." His experience working in an alternative school with learning management systems sparked a passion that continues to grow as he explores new tools and possibilities in online learning.

The conversation delves deep into professional development strategies that every aspiring instructional designer should know. Shane emphasizes the power of online communities, recommending resources from industry leaders like Devlin Peck and Tim Slade. "I probably learned more from Devlin Peck about on-the-job skills instructional designers need," he shares, highlighting how these connections can supplement formal education.

We explore the versatility of instructional design across sectors—corporate training versus higher education, the evolution of models like ADDIE and SAM, and how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing course development. Jackie and Shane discuss how instructional designers often become "accidental instructional designers" who discover they've been designing instruction all along without realizing it.

For those entering the field or looking to advance, Shane offers practical advice: "There's always new tools popping up. Almost all of them have free trials, so be brave and test them out." This spirit of continuous experimentation and learning emerges as the key to success in this dynamic profession where technology and educational theory intersect in increasingly innovative ways.

Ready to expand your instructional design toolkit and connect with a community of like-minded professionals? Subscribe now and join the conversation about the future of learning design.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Shane Strand
• 4:00 Journey from Teaching to Instructional Design
• 9:30 Technology's Draw in Instructional Design
• 15:44 Expanding Knowledge in the Field
• 20:04 Tips for Aspiring Instructional Designers
• 26:29 The Evolution of ID Models
• 29:44 Final Thoughts and New Tools

Transcript

Jackie Pelegrin: 0:01

Hello and welcome to the Designing with Love podcast. I am your host, Jackie Pelegrin, where my goal is to bring you information, tips and tricks as an instructional designer. Hello, GCU students, alumni and fellow educators, welcome to episode 38 of the Designing with Love podcast. Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Shane Strand, an instructional designer who works in the higher education sector. Welcome, Shane.

Shane Strand: 0:29

Jackie, thanks for having me.

Jackie Pelegrin: 0:30

You're welcome. Thank you for taking the time today to come on my podcast and talk to some of my students today and also others around the world. This has become a worldwide podcast. It's great.

Shane Strand: 0:58

Wonderful. So can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I began before even finding out what instructional design was. I was a high school teacher for six years and then I later transitioned into an assistant principal role. I did that for three years and then I eventually merged into a curriculum coordinator role. After that third position in secondary education, I was ready to find something else. That third position in secondary education, I was ready to find something else, and I'd just been learning about what instructional design is and what a career in that could be. So I would say I found out more about it as I was taking some graduate coursework at Northern Arizona University. I was majoring in educational leadership. I'd taken a couple courses in educational technology and then that's where I was really open to that whole other field called instructional design.

Shane Strand: 1:59

Yeah, like I think a lot of people just still don't know what instructional design is unless they're in it. It's one of those things where if someone asks you, oh, what do you do? And you say you're a structural designer, they are a little bit perplexed by it and they don't know what that is. So you have to explain it a little bit. But it took a while to find it. And well, now I'm here. That's great, yes.

Jackie Pelegrin: 2:23

I noticed great. Yes, I noticed that too. When people ask me what kind of work do you do? And I say instructional design. If you're in person with them or over the phone or something on video, and you say that, and they have this perplexed look and they're like what does that mean? Yeah, I even had someone that I interviewed a couple weeks ago and he is a math educator, he's taught K through 12 in higher education, and he asked me what I do and I said instructional design and he said, oh, what is that? And when I explained it to him and they tend to pick up on it and they're like that's what that is. So, yeah, that's kind of interesting how you you are. You were already doing it, you just didn't know it. And that's pretty amazing when you kind of stumbled upon it, right, and didn't expect it.

Shane Strand: 3:09

Exactly, yeah, yeah. And, like you said, you're doing it already as a teacher, as an educator. You don't even realize it, and then it's also really exciting when you realize, oh my gosh, like I have a lot of skills already that are transferable. This is great. It's like you're already have a foot in the field, without even knowing it.

Jackie Pelegrin: 3:28

Right, that's amazing, yeah, and a lot of the students that we teach in this program I don't know if your students mentioned it, but a lot of my students do too in K through 12 or higher education, if they're already in the fields that, they became kind of an accidental instructional designer and didn't know it. So it's pretty, pretty cool. Yeah, that's neat, great. So you kind of mentioned this a little bit, but what kind of made you become interested in the position that you're in now in higher education and even just the industry as a whole? Was there something in particular that really sparked your, your interest in it?

Shane Strand: 4:06

I mean, yeah. So I would say, while I was in secondary education, I'd say my, like my second year of teaching, I I started to realize this was not entirely what I wanted to do. You know, long-term same with that educational leadership, I just always thought there's just something more interesting out there. Like that fit me better. And as I started discovering, like, what instructional design was, I mean like I had I started doing my own research, you know, reading articles about it, taking those ed tech classes that I mentioned.

Shane Strand: 4:41

But what really drew me was just the technology aspect, like all this e-learning technology, seeing these online courses that are out there. When I was in secondary education, half the years I spent as a teacher was in an alternative school setting where we actually it was a hybrid setting where students came in person but they worked on computers. We had a learning management system. They worked online on their courses, and I've just always been intrigued by just online learning. And then it's booming so fast the different, the LMSs, learning management systems, what they can do nowadays, how sophisticated they become, and then all these different technologies like course authoring tools, multimedia that you can use to enhance them even further. So that just really piqued my interest and it's just like a whole new frontier that's being explored and it's rapidly expanding too. So that's what really drew me Exciting things you can do with these new tech tools coming out.

Jackie Pelegrin: 5:44

And then, of course, there's AI.

Shane Strand: 5:46

And then that's revolutionary itself, right. Yeah, that's what really drew me to it, and it's just there's different industries. There's the corporate world, where it's more focused on training and skill development, and then there's higher ed, where we're building degree programs. It's just a very exciting industry and that's what really drew me to it.

Jackie Pelegrin: 6:12

Right. Yeah, it's amazing because it's a field that doesn't seem to grow old, right, it's evergreen because as you mentioned.

Jackie Pelegrin: 6:20

There's corporate, there's higher education, military, nonprofit. There's so many industries that we can go into and sectors that we can branch out into. So it's amazing because I started in higher education and then I went to corporate for a while and then I came back to higher education so I bounced back. So I think education is where I like to be, but I also like corporate too, because it gives you those opportunities sometimes to learn some different skills that you may not get in the higher education sector. So it's kind of interesting because when I worked at PetSmart and I did my contractor position there, they had me learning InDesign and all the Adobe tools that I didn't learn at my other position, my first position as instructional designer.

Jackie Pelegrin: 7:04

I was like, oh, we didn't have InDesign because the Adobe package we had didn't include InDesign, but it included Captivate. And then it was, yeah, so it's very interesting, and they were moving away from Captivate to Storyline. So I was like, oh, that's interesting, so it's kind of neat. And then you get to learn different facets of corporate and how the inner workings are of it and how it differs from education, but there's also similar things too. So it's very interesting that we can branch into different areas and learn the different elements of it, and I think it makes us more well-rounded as instructional designers because, even like where you and I work at GCE, we can get involved in professional development and training and be able to help adult learners still right and help with that aspect of it. So it's really neat to be able to still branch out because I feel like we have to keep ourselves abreast of all the different skills, especially the technology right. It's always changing yeah.

Shane Strand: 8:01

And that's a great point. Just, it is a lot there's. It's growing and changing so quickly. At the same time, the technology AI just popping up has changed everything and then, yeah, it's hard to keep up with all the new technologies coming into play and then choosing which one might be better for different things. Like I can start some of those things that are prototyping coming into play and then choosing which one might be better for different things, like um right instructional designers are prototyping.

Shane Strand: 8:27

It's like there's so many different tech tools for prototyping and it's like, well, which one do you go with? And so, yeah, it's it's very interesting and a little overwhelming at the same time yeah, that's true.

Jackie Pelegrin: 8:39

It's yeah, knowing which ones are good and kind of, in a way, limiting yourself. That's in some ways because you don't want to go into learn everything. And then you're like, oh well, I don't think I'm going to be able to use all that.

Shane Strand: 8:51

So yeah, right.

Jackie Pelegrin: 8:52

Yeah, choosing that, yeah. So you mentioned a little bit about AI Are there and we can expand upon that too.

Shane Strand: 9:11

Are there any other specific areas in which you're expanding your knowledge and skills in the field right now? Besides, you know and we can include ai as well if you want yeah, um, well, I mean, like what we're doing here with um using ai when developing our courses or in and even at the program level. I saw what you were doing with competencies, with um coming up descriptions, flushing out assignments in course development. It's amazing what it can do and just you know, just expanding on those possibilities. But in addition to AI I'm looking at, I'm also looking at other skill sets out there. What's interesting is looking at different instructional design opportunities that pop up and then what other instructional designers are talking about instructional design opportunities that pop up, and then what other instructional designers are talking about, like I know, um getting to know a bit of uh code, how to code html css I know some instructional designers do that that's awesome

Shane Strand: 9:55

yeah, and not something, um, I do in my current position, but I know that a lot of instructional designers that work with those truly sophisticated course authoring tools like Articulate Storyline, I know there's a way to use coding to enhance that further, to just go the extra mile with those course creations. So there are so many little niches out there to explore and I think it's more like, based on everything I've read and seen, more corporate that kind of has those tools and wants those skills. But also LMS is that coding and programming skill set would factor into there as well. So I have no skill in that area whatsoever. So that's why it's interesting to me.

Shane Strand: 10:39

There's other parts like visual design, how to really make courses look visually appealing and then also follow those principles of multimedia to really just make the experience the best it could possibly be. There's just so many different things to look into. But I would say, yeah, in terms of what, how I'm looking to expand my own skill set would be just kind of looking to see what all is out there, what everybody's talking about, and just kind of like narrowing down different things to explore more.

Jackie Pelegrin: 11:11

That's great, yeah, because, as they say, even when you land your dream job and you become an instructional designer, it doesn't stop there, right? You have to continue to evolve and learn those things, and so it's a constant thing, and I even read last year and I watched a video too from Delvin Peck's website, because he has, if you're probably familiar with Delvin Peck, I share a lot of his videos in my classes and he has that boot camp for the instructional designers that are up and coming instructional designers that are up and coming.

Jackie Pelegrin: 11:46

And he had a gentleman that went through that and he talked about his portfolio and how it's important to keep that going. That was one thing I didn't do in my master's degree. Once I was done with the program, I didn't touch my portfolio and so I was. I thought to myself, oh my gosh, that's he's right, because it does become a marketing tool and we can't just abandon it. We have to continually work on it, because you just never know what could happen and where you're where you're at, because when I was at PetSmart and I was doing the contracting, I had tried twice to get hired at PetSmart and I got turned down.

Jackie Pelegrin: 12:17

And so then I found an agency that does creative hiring. It's through Robert Half, it's called the Creative Group. I'm pretty sure they're still around and they said, oh, we work with PetSmart and we can help you. And I thought, oh great, you guys can get. At least that way I can get myself in the door.

Jackie Pelegrin: 12:33

And they said, exactly, if you can do it for six months and show that you can do the work and you can have that expertise, then, yeah, you increase your chances of getting hired. So I was like, oh well, this is great, I'll get my foot in the door. But then, at that six month mark, the owners had decided to sell PetSmart and they got rid of all the contractors. And then in the learning and development department, where I worked as a contractor, they got rid of 95% of the individuals in that department. There was a lady that was there 17 years as an instructional designer and they they fired her, let her go, and I thought, oh my goodness, all they kept was one instructional designer, one learning developer and the and a manager, and that was it.

Jackie Pelegrin: 13:17

They had like 20 people in department and they got rid of everybody but three people and they just reorganized the whole entire, not just that department but a lot of other areas too at the corporate. And I was like wow. So it was disappointing Because I thought that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to work for PetSmart. That was something I just craved to do, that because I love the pet industry and it was combining both loves. That I really had a passion for.

Jackie Pelegrin: 13:46

Yeah, and so when that happened, I felt like it was just a just like a stab in the back for me, in a sense, and it just just almost like tearing out a piece of my heart and I'm like, no, but then I found that. But then that recruiter said to me well, go go over to GCU. I used to work at GCU. So I was like, okay, I'll give it a try. But she's like curriculum development is different from employee training development, so just be aware of that. And so, yeah, it's interesting how your career can shift and change, and so it's always good to be ready for that. You just never know. Yeah, yeah, that's great. So what are some tips and advice you can share with those who are currently in the master's program in instructional design at Grand Canyon University?

Shane Strand: 15:25

design and really I really knew for sure that was gonna be my my calling by just what I learned in online communities and networking. Um, devlin peck I have watched so many of his videos. He's got a lot of that free youtube content and, like you said, he's got that right now. Um, I I think I highly recommend anybody who's interested in becoming an instructional designer or who currently is, who wants to upscale, watch Devin Beck videos. I mean, he's very thorough on how he covers different pieces of it. He's got all kinds of content free and then content you can pay for, and I have purchased some of his courses as well. He's got courses on how to use Articulate Storyline, how to build an e-learning portfolio, as you mentioned and just how to make yourself more marketable All kinds of different things and, as I was talking about, even coding HTML and CSS. He's even got content on that as well.

Shane Strand: 16:18

But I found just what you can find out there in the World Wide Web with these online communities. Those are huge. And then there's also communities. Well, there's LinkedIn groups. Devlin's got his own community. There's tons of others out there too, and you see what other instructional designers are doing in different industries, and that just really expands your knowledge, and then you can even network with these people and then you can even share some stuff and content. You're working on ideas you have and get their feedback, and that's huge. I think you can never go wrong with that. And then the other thing I would add would be there's a lot of great books out there. One of the first books I read for to become an instructional designer was called the e-learning designers handbook by Tim Slade.

Jackie Pelegrin: 17:12

Yes, I have that book.

Shane Strand: 17:13

You do yeah.

Jackie Pelegrin: 17:14

Yeah, that was one of the first books I read too. Yeah, I love that.

Shane Strand: 17:17

That was just an easy read it's completely. It's like the perfect intro book. And then another one I'd started and hadn't have not gone around to finishing would be Map it by Kathy Moore.

Jackie Pelegrin: 17:31

Oh, I've heard of that book.

Shane Strand: 17:32

Yeah, I'd like to read that one too tailored towards the corporate world and just but just how to map and identify. You know what the problem is and what the training need is. There's just so many interesting resources out there, so my recommendation is to be look at all the literature out there, see, find online communities with other designers, see what they're doing and they're all sharing something. Right, yeah, that all sharing something, right?

Jackie Pelegrin: 18:02

Yeah, that's so true. Yeah, and it's interesting too. When you mentioned Tim Slade, I thought of I share some of his videos to my classes because he has the eLearner Designers Academy and all these different videos. So whenever I'm looking for something for my, I have the classroom assessment technique. Of course we're we have to do those every week. I have the classroom assessment technique.

Jackie Pelegrin: 18:20

Of course, we have to do those every week, but I also have a Media Monday post that I do and it's based upon media, whether it's a video or an infographic or something like that, and it really gets my students interested in all of that and they get to learn a little bit more than maybe they would have with the content that's already in the course, already built. So it's really fun. And so most of the time, that's what I'm sharing is Dalvin's videos and Tim's videos for the most part, because they, like you said, they have such a rich library of things on their YouTube channel and different elements that you can grab from that just make it such a easy go-to. And why have us reinvent the information, right, if it's already out there? Just be able to utilize what's already there, exactly.

Shane Strand: 19:04

And I think that's great that you share those videos with your class. I should do that more with mine as well, because then that gets our students more, makes them more aware that's YouTube. Oh wow, who's this person? And all they got to do is start looking more into it and they'll find a vast amount of resources for further exploration. It's amazing. I'm sure at this point, devlin must have like 100 different videos by now.

Jackie Pelegrin: 19:28

Probably. Yeah, it's amazing, yeah, and I've also noticed there's a few other different podcasts like this that are instructional design type of podcasts where it's a mixture of topical based, like what I do, and then interviews like this, and it's very interesting to see what else is out there. And the main reason I started this podcast not a lot of people know is because with online learning you don't get that opportunity to have experts come into the classroom like you do on a ground campus, right in a physical classroom. And so when I I actually when I went to Walden university that's a hundred percent online and I wrote on a note in a notebook I actually in a one note notebook I wrote down some of the things that I wanted to see as a student in that program and I said to myself and I wrote this down, I still have it If I ever become a teacher, if I ever teach higher education at any point in time.

Jackie Pelegrin: 20:23

I never thought I would, but if I ever do, these are the things that I would want to do as an instructor, and that was one of the things was to have a online community or something where I could mimic in some way that opportunity of having guests come in, and so that's, and so I thought, why don't I do a podcast? Ooh, that would be great, and yeah. So lo and behold, I didn't expect two years later to still be going. But it's amazing because the owner of Podmatch which I will tag Podmatch on he said that 95% of podcasts fail within the first year because it's hard to maintain, it's hard to get the guests, and so. But with Podmatch I've been able to, you know, get more of those interviews and it's been amazing, and then experts like yourself that I work with to be able to do that. So I think that's been able to just be a game changer all around.

Shane Strand: 21:19

So I didn't even realize that 95% mile.

Jackie Pelegrin: 21:24

That's, yeah, it's crazy, isn't it, that many fail. You know, they start and then they just can't maintain it or they just don't get enough audience and they say even it's not just about the download, that's about who you're, who you're connecting with and who your listeners are. So building that community it's another way to build a community too. So it's it's pretty neat to have those different ways right that we can. We can build that community of individuals.

Shane Strand: 21:49

so you never know, maybe someday I'll be able to interview devlin pack or template maybe yeah and you know that when you, when you do look at how many big, influential instructional designers can you count on one hand? I know devlin, tim slade, kathy moore is another one, connie malamed would be one yes, oh my goodness.

Shane Strand: 22:12

Yeah, like we were talking about earlier, it's just it still almost feels like it's still like a new field. So I think, when you like, I have tried looking for podcasts to listen to just to you know, when I got to have to go do a long drive, I want to have a podcast playing so I can like at least just continue enriching myself with knowledge. And there there isn't, there aren't that many options out there for instructional designers, and I mean it's still like it's almost like that kind of like a hidden field still.

Jackie Pelegrin: 22:40

So yeah, it's very interesting because it started off in the middle, with the military right During World War II. That's where the history started, with the army, and it's hard to believe that it started that long ago. And there's so many prominent people that develop these models and theories and when you look back on that you're like, oh, my goodness, yes, like Bloom's taxonomy started in the 1960s by Benjamin Bloom. And when some of my students learn that, they're like, really it's been around that long, and I'm like, yes, it has.

Jackie Pelegrin: 23:13

It's amazing and Addy's been around since the 60s.

Jackie Pelegrin: 23:19

And we're still using it today yeah, it's a tried and true method, although some people you know attribute it to taking too long when you have rapid development. So of course, sam came along to help with more of that collaboration and things like that. I it's interesting because I think you and I um in our position and with the other instructional designers that we work. I think we do like a hybrid of Addy and Sam, because we're doing constant iteration. Right, we're working with subject matter experts, we're collaborating with them. So I don't feel like we're doing a full Addy or a full Sam. I feel like we're doing a little bit of both. What do you think? Kind of a hybrid?

Shane Strand: 23:56

Yeah, I'd say so, yeah, yeah, definitely. And I mean there's, and there's some, there's others out there too, there's Agile.

Jackie Pelegrin: 24:03

Oh yeah, exactly 4CID is out there, which is good for higher ed. So, yeah, cause it's, it's interesting. And what's cool is episode 26 is where I talk about the top 10 instructional design models and theories and that's actually bumped up to the most popular one right now. It's in like the 60s or something like that, and I released that about a month ago and it's and what I did was I actually went to chat GPT and I asked chat GPT, what are the top 10 instructional design models and tools right now? And that's when it gave me the list.

Jackie Pelegrin: 24:35

And then I asked chat GPT I was like, okay, great, can you give me like a little outline to help get me started? Chat GPT I was like, okay, great, can you give me like a little outline to help get me started? So it's funny because I use AI now for the podcast, so I use it to generate topic ideas, I use it to help me with my outline and things like that, and then, of course, as we mentioned before we started this, I utilize it for being able to edit these episodes and then also with the creation of it with my hosting platform. So it's amazing how AI just touches everything and it helps make our work easier. But I love how we can still go to those tried and true methods right and those models and tools that we know work are evidence based, and be able to infuse that technology in it in the same light.

Shane Strand: 25:20

Yeah, and AI, I mean it helps us in our current roles as instructional designers and then with our courses and then with your podcast. It just helps speed things up. So I mean that probably helps. I know you do teach a lot of courses in addition to doing instructional design, so having the AI is just such a powerful tool that just helps you speed up everything and be able to do more with your time.

Jackie Pelegrin: 25:48

Right, oh, so true, and I just started a blog site not too long ago, so I take that, as I mentioned, the co-host AI technology and Buzzsprout gives me that blog post, so I take that as my inspiration. I thought things like that, so it's really neat how we can take that and really utilize it as passive income and still love it as a passion, because at the end of the day, it's something that's a passion of mine, and what I thought was going to be a small segment of students ended up growing into more than that. I have educators, I have people I don't even know all around the world that are listening to this, and I never would have imagined that. I have students in Germany and, you know, in France and all around Asia, and I'm like, when I look at the map in my, you know all the different countries and cities and I'm like this is amazing. Who would have thought you know?

Shane Strand: 26:49

that would have happened.

Jackie Pelegrin: 26:50

Yeah, and I'm like I don't know how they found it. Somehow they did, but it's caught on and so it's really amazing. So I'm just thankful for that and thankful that I've got individuals like you that I work with, that can come on here and give that piece of advice and be able to give some tips to those that are in the program, because I think if we come together as a community and we can be there for each other and help each other to be the best IDs we can be, I think it really helps, because we want to help our learners at the end of the day, so it's great.

Shane Strand: 27:23

Absolutely yeah, and I'm glad you had me on here yeah definitely it's an honor to be on here, thank you. And love talking about instructional design with our instructional designer. It's fun.

Jackie Pelegrin: 27:35

Yes, it is, it's such a passion. Yeah, absolutely. And when I talked to my mom about it, anybody my family, friends they just are like, yeah, we can tell that it's your passion, that you love it. And I was like, yes, because I was actually thinking of doing other things, like becoming a lawyer, wanted to do all kinds of things. When I was like, yes, because I was actually thinking of doing other things, like becoming a lawyer, I wanted to do all kinds of things when I was in high school and it never matriculated. I even wanted to go into market research and stuff, so and I have my MBA in it, so I thought it was going to go into business. I guess it kind of did in a way, because instructional design can work that way.

Jackie Pelegrin: 28:07

But yeah, it's kind of interesting how never would have thought that all these things would have happened, and so it's interesting how our path can lead us in different directions that we just don't expect. So it's amazing, it is Great. So, before we wrap up, are there any other ideas or thoughts you'd like to share with my listeners and with students and all those others that are out there?

Shane Strand: 28:30

all those others that are out there. I mean, I think, just hitting home on the fact that I think the I learned a lot in my master's program about instructional design, learning theories, all of it, but I think finding these learning from all these designers in different industries and when I found Devlin Pack, I got to say I probably learned more from Devlin Pack about on-the-job skills instructional designers need and like what that looks like from him. So I highly recommend just branching out and building your own network, finding these communities and establishing relationships with people. And then another thing would be all the new tools. There's always new tools popping up, new technologies. Almost all of them have free trials, so be brave and test them out. They could be intimidating, but there's free tutorial videos out there. You can get a quick free trial, test them out. And I think it's important to do that as instructional designers, to just branch and increase our knowledge and just keep your skill set building.

Jackie Pelegrin: 29:46

I love that that's great. Yeah, I love that. That's great. Yeah, and, if we can, it's interesting too, because I not only have I shared different tools like Genially with some of my students and then they end up using it for some of their assignments but they also shared tools with me as well that they're like oh, I use this for my assignment. And like 11 labs. I had never heard of 11 labs. And then, after a student of mine used it because she works for Orbis education as an instructional designer, which you know Orbis is part of Grand Canyon education, so it was very interesting.

Jackie Pelegrin: 30:17

I've had like three Orbis employees that become students of mine and that are already either working in instructional design or they're getting kind of in that field and they're working like. Like this particular student, she works in faculty training and development for Orvis as an instructional designer. So she told me she's like yeah, we use 11 labs and then I work with the faculty to do these training videos and then I use 11. I record a snippet of her voice, maybe like three or four minutes, and then I use 11 labs to be able to make the rest of it, and then I don't need her talent for the whole time and I'm like, wow, that's amazing. And then she showed me some of the other stuff she did to make her content and it just blew me away and I was like 11 labs.

Jackie Pelegrin: 31:01

What was funny is, when she told me about it, I started seeing commercials on YouTube for it and other places and I was like, oh my goodness. So I thought that was kind of funny, that it's almost like it knew that for some reason, like YouTube. I'm like what is going on here? Are you YouTube spying on me or something? What is going on? So I thought that was funny. But yeah, there's so many different ones out there and I even discovered there's one called designer di design and then two R's and you can actually create like online books and stuff like that using ai.

Jackie Pelegrin: 31:35

So one of the ways they mentioned you can monetize with the podcast is to write a book, an ebook, and just take all of your podcast episodes and then put it into like a book. But you can take your content like a youtube video or anything you want and you can upload it to this software and use AI and then it can create a book for you and I'm like, oh my goodness, that's great. Of course, I wouldn't use it as is and and things like that, but it's great because it can create cover for you and chapters and all that stuff and just at least get the get that flow going. So I'm like, ooh, maybe, maybe I can actually be an author. I've always wanted to write, just didn't have the time. But maybe now I'll have the time to do it. So it's amazing. The technology just keep, like you said, just keeps growing and keeps getting enhanced. So we just keep discovering new things that can make our work easier and help us to get the word out more, and so, yeah, that's great. I love it.

Shane Strand: 32:31

Absolutely yeah. It's just going to keep expanding. It's hard to keep up with it all.

Jackie Pelegrin: 32:37

Yeah, that's true, great Well, thank you, shane, so much for your time. I appreciate you taking some time to come on the show and I look forward to my listeners being able to gain so much knowledge and information, because each interview that I do is so unique and it's and I love it. So this is one of my favorite parts of being able to do this is to to get to speak to others in the profession as well.

Shane Strand: 33:01

Yeah, Well, thank you for having me on, jackie. It's a pleasure to be on and I mean I just love, like you.

Jackie Pelegrin: 33:09

Structural design is my passion, I love talking about it, great yeah, and I'd love to have you structural design is my passion, I love talking about it, great yeah, and I'd love to have you back on the show, you know, in a few months, because we know, as we said, technology keeps enhancing and changing. So, as AI maybe develops more and things you know get enhanced in our department and within the company we work in, maybe there's, you know, a certain area we can focus on too, and then we can delve into that a little bit more.

Shane Strand: 33:40

Yeah, I would love that Great, wonderful.

Jackie Pelegrin: 33:40

Thanks again, shane, and I look forward to having you on again. Thanks, jackie, appreciate it. You're welcome. Thank you for taking some time to listen to this podcast episode today. Your support means the world to me. If you'd like to help keep the podcast going, you can share it with a friend or colleague, leave a heartfelt review or offer a monetary contribution. Every act of support, big or small, makes a difference and I'm truly thankful for you.