I got into eLearning design and instructional design for hybrid/flipped classrooms during the Covid lockdowns in Melbourne while working for Southern Cross University as we had to convert all our face-to-face content to online self-access materials. My interest in this resulted in me learning to use Figma, Canva, H5P and Articulate 360 - I love learning to use new tech toys.
What makes me different from other instructional designers?
I have spent over 25 years working in international education as a language teacher, teacher trainer, syllabus designer and Academic Manager. This has given me a deep understanding of how people learn and how to apply non-traditional, student-centred learning techniques to classrooms and instructional materials.
My teaching background enables me to form relationships with SMEs based on shared experience. Establishing common ground with them also helps me share my passion for the potential of good instructional design.
In my free time, I enjoy singing lessons and performing in concerts.
I have a Postgraduate Certificate in eLearning Design from the University of New England and a Master's Degree in Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching from Kings College London. I also have a certificate in User Interface Design from RMIT and a Cert IV in Training & Assessment.
It is important to show empathy when building relationships with SMEs and showing them the possibilities of online learning experiences. This is often afforded during initial meetings and action mapping.
It is also necessary to design empathetically with the learner in mind in order to provide learning solutions that are student centred and address their needs.
I believe that learning experiences should be grounded in theory and should respect adults as self-directed learners.
Much of the work I create is guided by Constructivism and instructional principles such as Merryl's Problem-Based Learning, Gagne's nine events of instruction and student-centred methodology such as Guided Discovery and Test-Teach-Test.
I am also influenced by Myer's Multimedia Principles and Allen's CCAF framework.
One of the areas I specialise in is making learning accessible to speakers of other languages and to people who may lack literacy skills - an increasing phenomenon with many school leavers these days.
All learner cohorts contain people with different needs and abilities and learning designers need to address that by empowering students to personalise their learning pathway via adaptive learning design and principles of UDL thus avoiding a 'cookie cutter' one size fits all approach.
It is our job as learning designers or teachers to help people discover a love of learning and make them want to continue to acquire new skills throughout their lives.
This can be done by providing meaningful, memorable and motivational learning experiences which are relevant to the real world, their jobs and interests.