Industry Standard Software – For the Web Dev<\/em> Industry<\/h2>\nIn all this time since becoming an instructional designer in 2010, I have paid more attention to the toolset web developers<\/em> use for creating the same kinds of rich interactive online experiences we IDs do. Where we have had expensive, proprietary, restrictive and slow platforms to work in, they have been innovating with free, open source, powerful, and interoperable tools that give them way more options to develop quickly and powerfully. You simply don’t need an “authoring environment” to produce “content assets” when the product they output is essentially an HTML page with some CSS and JavaScript holding it together.<\/p>\nI took the time to learn to use the command line terminal on my Mac and Linux machines, unlocking a whole new world of free and powerful utilities that replace expensive and time consuming desktop apps for a wide range of instructional designer tasks.<\/p>\n
The caveat, of course, is that there’s a higher technical bar to entry. Most instructional designers are afraid to handle code, feel nervous working in a coder’s text editor like VS Code, and don’t follow the trendy coding tools that have gone in and out of fashion since 2010. <\/p>\n
AI‐integrated “vibecoding” workflows changes the equation, and make it feel much less threatening for instructional designers used to desktop GUI‐based tools to start to embrace this code‐first way of working. This post will introduce what’s waiting for you outside the gilded cage of your point‐and‐click world, and give you some tools for getting your ID work faster, cheaper, and with a higher degree of effectiveness than the equivalent desktop software. <\/p>\n
The building blocks of eLearning are the same as the building blocks of websites<\/h2>\n
eLearning authoring platforms have eaten well for a long time selling themselves as the “base layer” container that your learning content must be built on top of. Their<\/em> base layer, however, has always sat on top of the<\/em> base layer – the open web technologies that power every website on the Internet. HTML, CSS, and Javascript. As Mozilla has long said, “the Web is<\/em> the platform.<\/a>” Whichever authoring platform you use, your exported files are just websites. SCORM packages are just websites with an extra SCORM manifest that lets your LMS know what’s going...<\/p>","date_modified":"2026-09-28T07:55:08-07:00","image":"\/user\/pages\/01.blog\/instructional-designers-embrace-command-line-tools-with-help-from-ai\/pexels-mizunokozuki-12903294.jpg"},{"title":"Upping My Platform -- From WordPress to a Flat File CMS","date_published":"2026-09-08T00:00:00-07:00","id":"https:\/\/www.tedcurran.net\/upping-my-platform-from-wordpress-to-a-flat-file-cms","url":"https:\/\/www.tedcurran.net\/upping-my-platform-from-wordpress-to-a-flat-file-cms","content_html":"![\"a](\"https:\/\/images.pexels.com\/photos\/37878824\/pexels-photo-37878824.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nI had been wanting to re\u2010platform TedCurran.net onto a flat file CMS for a long time. As much as I love Wordpress, the security risks and slow load times of a database\u2010driven application have real downsides compared to a modern flat file CMS like Grav<\/a>. <\/p>\nSo when I woke up this morning and saw that my site had suffered a hacker attack that had taken all my content offline, I was ready to simply rebuild the whole site from a Wordpress backup into a fully functioning Grav site in under an hour. <\/p>\n
You, Dear Reader<\/em>, may notice some styling and content weirdness here and there due to the hasty transition, but I\u2019m excited to keep working with this new site, explore the design and functionality possibilities it brings, and get used to a more markdown\u2010native writing and publishing workflow with the added security of database\u2010less HTML files powering my site. <\/p>\nThanks for your patience with the dust, and here\u2019s to entering a brave new level!<\/p>","date_modified":"2026-09-09T08:54:55-07:00","tags":["blogging","cms","markdown"]},{"title":"From a "one-off" training to a structured program for ongoing mentoring, at scale","date_published":"2026-08-17T08:55:08-07:00","id":"https:\/\/www.tedcurran.net\/from-a-one-off-training-to-a-structured-program-for-ongoing-mentoring-at-scale","url":"https:\/\/www.tedcurran.net\/from-a-one-off-training-to-a-structured-program-for-ongoing-mentoring-at-scale","content_html":"
I was brought in to redesign an internal training program aimed at upskilling a new sales team to handle incoming customer inquiries via web chat. A third‐party firm had originally been hired to teach chat‐specific communication and sales skills, addressing how text‐based chat’s impersonal nature can make building customer rapport difficult.<\/p>\n
The Original Training<\/h3>\n
The initial program spanned seven hours across two 3.5‑hour live webinars. It paired a PowerPoint presentation with hands‐on Zoom chat exercises where learners practiced sales pitches and demonstrated key concepts.<\/p>\n
Consulting Request<\/h3>\n
Stakeholders wanted to convert this live training into an asynchronous, fully online course that could scale repeatedly without needing a live facilitator.<\/p>\n
Analyzing the Delivery<\/h3>\n
The original facilitator was engaging, but her reliance on long anecdotes and digressions stretched out the sessions. I realized we could save significant time by converting the core instruction into animated motion graphic videos paired with interactive online practice.<\/p>\n
However, the original course succeeded at eliciting authentic practice from learners—a design element I wanted to preserve and extend. The challenge? Our existing LMS and authoring tools lacked built‐in features for peer interaction or automated performance feedback. How could I give learners opportunities for live practice, reflection, and personalized feedback within the constraints of our course tools?<\/p>\n
Stay Human – retaining the human dimension in training<\/h3>\n
I advised stakeholders against “automating away” the interactive elements. Learners still needed opportunities to reflect on their pitch, practice new techniques, and receive feedback aligned with desired outcomes.<\/p>\n
So how do you deliver personalized, hands‐on feedback at scale with minimal facilitator intervention?<\/p>\n
Leveraging Manager‐Learner Coaching<\/h3>\n
The key was integrating managers directly into the learning loop. This had never been done before in our team’s history – simply asking managers if they wanted a prebuilt tool for structuring their ongoing mentoring and coaching conversations with their team members. In fact, there was a hunger for exactly that. The goal became ensuring that the desired outcomes from the course would persist through the following months of performance evaluation and coaching.<\/p>\n
I streamlined the course from seven hours down to two, combining clear motion graphic videos with interactive online activities. As learners completed these exercises, the courseware generated a downloadable PDF summary of their performance.<\/p>\n
To turn this data into action, I authored a Manager’s Handbook<\/strong> to guide two months of post‐training 1:1 coaching. Managers used the PDF reports and structured rubrics to reinforce core concepts, mentor salespeople, and evaluate real‐world performance. In this way, I was able to give managers an easy set of guidelines to follow in their regular work with their team members, evaluating them against rubrics with clear, transparent performance levels that can form the basis for productive coaching conversations.<\/p>\nResults<\/h2>\n\n- 70%+ Reduction in Seat Time:<\/strong> Training time dropped from 7 hours to 2 hours.<\/li>\n
- Increased Accountability:<\/strong> Managers gained structured tools for ongoing coaching and evaluation.<\/li>\n
- Scalable Delivery:<\/strong> Asynchronous modules freed up facilitation resources while preserving meaningful human feedback.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
This is just one example where I was unwilling to accept the constraints and conventional wisdom that usually forces us to deliver the same kinds of eLearning deliverables...<\/p>","date_modified":"2026-09-08T15:32:13-07:00","image":"\/user\/pages\/01.blog\/from-a-one-off-training-to-a-structured-program-for-ongoing-mentoring-at-scale\/pexels-photo-8284724.jpeg"},{"title":"Agentic AI Video Motion Graphics and HTML Presentations - Create Multimedia with Free Fast Web Dev Tools and AI","date_published":"2026-05-28T08:52:37-07:00","id":"https:\/\/www.tedcurran.net\/agentic-ai-video-motion-graphics-and-html-presentations-create-multimedia-with-free-fast-web-dev-tools-and-ai","url":"https:\/\/www.tedcurran.net\/agentic-ai-video-motion-graphics-and-html-presentations-create-multimedia-with-free-fast-web-dev-tools-and-ai","content_html":"
My instructional design workflow always starts with stripping all content back down to markdown formatted text because it’s such a great starting point for building it back up into different formats – documents, presentations, websites… and now VIDEO. <\/p>\n
I have been exploring the new frontier of developing motion graphics using the tools of web animators such as GSAP<\/a> and anime.js<\/a>, assisted by a local agentic AI workflow (in my case Zed editor<\/a> assisted by Google Antigravity AI agent<\/a>). Rather than finding ways to get AI to play nicely with traditional video editing tools like Premiere and AfterEffects, I am able to route around them completely, developing equivalent quality experiences in a fraction of the time and expense.<\/p>\nThis way of working enables me to write out and organize my content in markdown‐formatted text first, where I can solely focus on the quality of the content in its purest form, easily organizing paragraphs and bullets using simple text‐based tools. I can use any number of markdown editors, with or without AI assistance, to ensure the core learning experience is just right for the project.<\/p>\n
I can then save that markdown source file as content.md<\/code> in a folder on on my desktop, open that folder in Zed, and tell Gemini to turn it into a motion graphic video presentation.<\/p>\nThis HTML5 motion graphic presentation was vibecoded for zero dollars in under an hour<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
I took the time to learn to use the command line terminal on my Mac and Linux machines, unlocking a whole new world of free and powerful utilities that replace expensive and time consuming desktop apps for a wide range of instructional designer tasks.<\/p>\n
The caveat, of course, is that there’s a higher technical bar to entry. Most instructional designers are afraid to handle code, feel nervous working in a coder’s text editor like VS Code, and don’t follow the trendy coding tools that have gone in and out of fashion since 2010. <\/p>\n
AI‐integrated “vibecoding” workflows changes the equation, and make it feel much less threatening for instructional designers used to desktop GUI‐based tools to start to embrace this code‐first way of working. This post will introduce what’s waiting for you outside the gilded cage of your point‐and‐click world, and give you some tools for getting your ID work faster, cheaper, and with a higher degree of effectiveness than the equivalent desktop software. <\/p>\n
The building blocks of eLearning are the same as the building blocks of websites<\/h2>\n
eLearning authoring platforms have eaten well for a long time selling themselves as the “base layer” container that your learning content must be built on top of. Their<\/em> base layer, however, has always sat on top of the<\/em> base layer – the open web technologies that power every website on the Internet. HTML, CSS, and Javascript. As Mozilla has long said, “the Web is<\/em> the platform.<\/a>” Whichever authoring platform you use, your exported files are just websites. SCORM packages are just websites with an extra SCORM manifest that lets your LMS know what’s going...<\/p>","date_modified":"2026-09-28T07:55:08-07:00","image":"\/user\/pages\/01.blog\/instructional-designers-embrace-command-line-tools-with-help-from-ai\/pexels-mizunokozuki-12903294.jpg"},{"title":"Upping My Platform -- From WordPress to a Flat File CMS","date_published":"2026-09-08T00:00:00-07:00","id":"https:\/\/www.tedcurran.net\/upping-my-platform-from-wordpress-to-a-flat-file-cms","url":"https:\/\/www.tedcurran.net\/upping-my-platform-from-wordpress-to-a-flat-file-cms","content_html":" I had been wanting to re\u2010platform TedCurran.net onto a flat file CMS for a long time. As much as I love Wordpress, the security risks and slow load times of a database\u2010driven application have real downsides compared to a modern flat file CMS like Grav<\/a>. <\/p>\n So when I woke up this morning and saw that my site had suffered a hacker attack that had taken all my content offline, I was ready to simply rebuild the whole site from a Wordpress backup into a fully functioning Grav site in under an hour. <\/p>\n You, Dear Reader<\/em>, may notice some styling and content weirdness here and there due to the hasty transition, but I\u2019m excited to keep working with this new site, explore the design and functionality possibilities it brings, and get used to a more markdown\u2010native writing and publishing workflow with the added security of database\u2010less HTML files powering my site. <\/p>\n Thanks for your patience with the dust, and here\u2019s to entering a brave new level!<\/p>","date_modified":"2026-09-09T08:54:55-07:00","tags":["blogging","cms","markdown"]},{"title":"From a "one-off" training to a structured program for ongoing mentoring, at scale","date_published":"2026-08-17T08:55:08-07:00","id":"https:\/\/www.tedcurran.net\/from-a-one-off-training-to-a-structured-program-for-ongoing-mentoring-at-scale","url":"https:\/\/www.tedcurran.net\/from-a-one-off-training-to-a-structured-program-for-ongoing-mentoring-at-scale","content_html":" I was brought in to redesign an internal training program aimed at upskilling a new sales team to handle incoming customer inquiries via web chat. A third‐party firm had originally been hired to teach chat‐specific communication and sales skills, addressing how text‐based chat’s impersonal nature can make building customer rapport difficult.<\/p>\n The initial program spanned seven hours across two 3.5‑hour live webinars. It paired a PowerPoint presentation with hands‐on Zoom chat exercises where learners practiced sales pitches and demonstrated key concepts.<\/p>\n Stakeholders wanted to convert this live training into an asynchronous, fully online course that could scale repeatedly without needing a live facilitator.<\/p>\n The original facilitator was engaging, but her reliance on long anecdotes and digressions stretched out the sessions. I realized we could save significant time by converting the core instruction into animated motion graphic videos paired with interactive online practice.<\/p>\n However, the original course succeeded at eliciting authentic practice from learners—a design element I wanted to preserve and extend. The challenge? Our existing LMS and authoring tools lacked built‐in features for peer interaction or automated performance feedback. How could I give learners opportunities for live practice, reflection, and personalized feedback within the constraints of our course tools?<\/p>\n I advised stakeholders against “automating away” the interactive elements. Learners still needed opportunities to reflect on their pitch, practice new techniques, and receive feedback aligned with desired outcomes.<\/p>\n So how do you deliver personalized, hands‐on feedback at scale with minimal facilitator intervention?<\/p>\n The key was integrating managers directly into the learning loop. This had never been done before in our team’s history – simply asking managers if they wanted a prebuilt tool for structuring their ongoing mentoring and coaching conversations with their team members. In fact, there was a hunger for exactly that. The goal became ensuring that the desired outcomes from the course would persist through the following months of performance evaluation and coaching.<\/p>\n I streamlined the course from seven hours down to two, combining clear motion graphic videos with interactive online activities. As learners completed these exercises, the courseware generated a downloadable PDF summary of their performance.<\/p>\n To turn this data into action, I authored a Manager’s Handbook<\/strong> to guide two months of post‐training 1:1 coaching. Managers used the PDF reports and structured rubrics to reinforce core concepts, mentor salespeople, and evaluate real‐world performance. In this way, I was able to give managers an easy set of guidelines to follow in their regular work with their team members, evaluating them against rubrics with clear, transparent performance levels that can form the basis for productive coaching conversations.<\/p>\n This is just one example where I was unwilling to accept the constraints and conventional wisdom that usually forces us to deliver the same kinds of eLearning deliverables...<\/p>","date_modified":"2026-09-08T15:32:13-07:00","image":"\/user\/pages\/01.blog\/from-a-one-off-training-to-a-structured-program-for-ongoing-mentoring-at-scale\/pexels-photo-8284724.jpeg"},{"title":"Agentic AI Video Motion Graphics and HTML Presentations - Create Multimedia with Free Fast Web Dev Tools and AI","date_published":"2026-05-28T08:52:37-07:00","id":"https:\/\/www.tedcurran.net\/agentic-ai-video-motion-graphics-and-html-presentations-create-multimedia-with-free-fast-web-dev-tools-and-ai","url":"https:\/\/www.tedcurran.net\/agentic-ai-video-motion-graphics-and-html-presentations-create-multimedia-with-free-fast-web-dev-tools-and-ai","content_html":" My instructional design workflow always starts with stripping all content back down to markdown formatted text because it’s such a great starting point for building it back up into different formats – documents, presentations, websites… and now VIDEO. <\/p>\n I have been exploring the new frontier of developing motion graphics using the tools of web animators such as GSAP<\/a> and anime.js<\/a>, assisted by a local agentic AI workflow (in my case Zed editor<\/a> assisted by Google Antigravity AI agent<\/a>). Rather than finding ways to get AI to play nicely with traditional video editing tools like Premiere and AfterEffects, I am able to route around them completely, developing equivalent quality experiences in a fraction of the time and expense.<\/p>\n This way of working enables me to write out and organize my content in markdown‐formatted text first, where I can solely focus on the quality of the content in its purest form, easily organizing paragraphs and bullets using simple text‐based tools. I can use any number of markdown editors, with or without AI assistance, to ensure the core learning experience is just right for the project.<\/p>\n I can then save that markdown source file as This HTML5 motion graphic presentation was vibecoded for zero dollars in under an hour<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nThe Original Training<\/h3>\n
Consulting Request<\/h3>\n
Analyzing the Delivery<\/h3>\n
Stay Human – retaining the human dimension in training<\/h3>\n
Leveraging Manager‐Learner Coaching<\/h3>\n
Results<\/h2>\n
\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
content.md<\/code> in a folder on on my desktop, open that folder in Zed, and tell Gemini to turn it into a motion graphic video presentation.<\/p>\n