Starting from the frontlines as an IT educational assistant answering phone calls and assisting subject matter experts and learners with troubleshooting needs, my experiences at every stage in the instructional design process and my continued pursuit of skill development have prepared me for my goal of leading a large team or department that implements innovative and effective approaches to transform education. Because of my experience in varying capacities, I can connect and communicate efficiently with team members from all industries and backgrounds. I often take the role of liaison between varying internal and external stakeholders.
With each position I’ve held, I work hard to create a culture of instructional design through collaboration with leadership, consultations with team members, and participation on committees and projects. I speak up to ensure that best practices are adhered to during each stage of project planning, learning design, technical development, and content delivery. I always take the initiative to help, guide, and communicate with stakeholders to ensure everyone understands the processes and technologies being used in their unique educational settings.
I’m a conceptual thinker and a visionary, which is why I desire to hold a position of leadership that will allow me to guide a team in innovative and exciting directions while providing individuals with the flexibility to perform their unique roles within that vision. While I anticipate leading a thriving and top-performing team, I also understand it doesn’t come without challenges. Some of my personal experiences have been in environments that do not fully recognize the role of instructional design or forget the human element of technical work. Because of these experiences, I have a particular desire to get to know each team member, along with their strengths, passions, and the responsibilities that cause them stress. As a leader, I am committed to supporting the professional growth and personal well-being of my team while encouraging them to continue to learn and explore new ways to use their skills.
Combining my experience and vision as a leader in education and instructional design, my strengths are in scoping large and small research, design, and development projects; asset mapping and planning team workloads; prioritizing and communicating fair deadlines; and making timely, effective decisions.
Over a year ago I took the role of Senior Learning Systems Professional at Humana, Inc. With fresh ideas and a desire to see change, I quickly identified initiatives that would improve the culture of instructional design and the impact of the department. I introduced innovative practices for the creation of learning programs including transforming our software simulation production with agile methodology and advocating use of Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction for our instructor-led trainings.
As an ambitious individual, I started my own freelance business and took on contracts across a range of industries with team members from diverse backgrounds and abilities on eLearning design and development projects. Collaborating on multiple projects simultaneously and across time zones improved my capacity to manage time and workload challenges. Introducing innovative approaches and instructional design best practices to many of the teams improved motivation and transparency, resulting in the completion of high quality, on time trainings and eLearning projects.
In my role as Senior Learning Systems Professional I led enterprise-wide training efforts. Being well-versed in qualitative and quantitative data analysis, I revised the approach used by the measurement team for applying Kirkpatrick's model to these large scale initiatives. Conducting needs analyses I discovered topic areas where we could increase coverage of our trainings. Through timely training evaluations and interviews, we were able to establish unique learner perspectives and increase the relevance and value of our trainings.