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The ID Toolbox: free tools for instructional designers
Curt Zilbersher, The ID Toolbox, 2026/09/08

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"Every instructional designer I know keeps a folder of half-broken spreadsheets built to cope with work that should have been automated a decade ago," writes Curt Zilbersher, "so I'm building them properly and giving them away. After twenty-eight years in this field, this is the part I want to give back." According to the site, these are all "free, single-purpose tools for instructional designers. No account, and your files never upload. Estimators, converters and inspectors for the unglamorous half of the job."

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PISA 2025: Students’ reading and mathematics performance declined sharply across the OECD
OECD, 2026/09/08

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I'm sure the media will be full of explanations for the decline, all to some degree partially true and partially false. This article mentions socio-economic factors, digital distraction and use of AI but not (interestingly) Covid. Interestingly, "Across OECD countries, almost two-thirds of students reached the relevant proficiency level in computational problem solving. But only half reached this level while also demonstrating basic proficiency in science, reading and mathematics." Read the full report here.

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We publish six to eight or so short posts every weekday linking to the best, most interesting and most important pieces of content in the field. Read more about what we cover. We also list papers and articles by Stephen Downes and his presentations from around the world.

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