About Me

Who I am

I'm a freelancer and I love taking on different projects that keep me connected with people and up-to-date on ID trends and new tech. I'm so passionate about education that I'm constantly looking for ways to improve my ID and tech skills. With my projects, I'm constanly challenged to break through comfort zones and to take on new tasks and responsibilities that have grown my character and skills. I embrace this growth and apply it to my constant need to improve. Needless to say, I'm driven and always looking for ways to grow.

How I work with people

I'm a strong believer in traditional values and personal integrity. My relationships are based on mutual respect, trust, reliability, collaboration and transparency, among others. I've always found that communication is vital to every project - communication with stakeholders, SMEs, and anyone else on the project team. The way courses are delivered and the way the content is communicated is as vital to a project, as is the ID and SME relationship.

How I solve problems

Challenges, as I say, are always an opportunity for my creativity to shine through. Looking for new ways to adapt to the current situation is a sure way towards solving the challenge. The first step I take, is to ask the right questions to allow for effective brainstorming. Questions like what, for whom, how, and when, how much, are guaranteed to solicit some information to get the problem solving process started. As more and more information comes to light, I continue to work closely with my SMEs to implement the best practices and solutions for his/her organization, and ultimately for the learners.

My relationship with technology

As a traditional ID I've always worked in roles that didn't put primary emphasis on working with technology. In the majority of those roles, I often felt as though something was missing, and have since come to the conclusion that being an ID while also having the ability to build online content brings so much more insight and creativity to my projects. I have learned that being able to use technology not only complements, but is fully necessary to be successful in an ID role. My approach to new technology is simple. Conquer it by doing it! I started to learn Articulate Storyline by following a 44-step Youtube tutorial that allowed me to build my first course from scratch.

My ID design process

While I love ADDIE and have used it to design learning materials, I have found that the SAM model has a more comprehensive and non-linear approach to the design process for e-learning courses. Of course, each model is used depending on different types of project and chosen deliverables. For e-learning the SAM model has offered me a practical approach. Below, is a list of very general actions I take at each step of the design process. This list is not linear by any means, as reality usually dictates that often times design and development may overlap in some instances.

1) First, I start with a kick-off meeting where the SME outlines his/her vision for the project and I ask questions to determine project details. This is an informational stage that established raport and helps 'prepare' the project moving forward.

2) I start planning the project with the use of provided content or learning material provided. This is the ID phase of the project where the SME and I go back and forth as we establish learning objectives and written content required. I usually have a design document and storyboard that goes through various edits between and SME and I, until all content is solid, approved and ready to go into development.

3) In the development phase I usually provide a course alpha, which give the SME a general idea of what the course will look like once fully developed. Once the alpha is approved, I start building the course beta. Once the beta is finished, I send it to the SME for a general or final review and any edits that need to be made to improve the course will be implemented. Once the final course is approved, I usually review the course on different screen types for functionality and take it through a quality assurance process before it is given to the SME for implementation on his/her LMS. Once this step is complete, the SME will generally be responsible for the evaluation process to see if the learners are changing their behaviour in accordance with the course objectives and to determine if the course is successful in reaching the learning goals.