My Work Story
If you’ve spent time with me, you know that I say I “fell into” Learning Strategy and Instructional Design. Read my blog post to get the full story. Below, you can follow my professional journey with some key turning points in my career. For my full work history, feel free to peruse my resume.
Adjunct Instructor &
Freshman Specialist
This job was my first taste of faculty life. I loved my time at NKU and found a passion for online learning when I was appointed to the Provost’s committee for Online Learning, which was just on the horizon at that point. I got to help set the future of online learning for students and faculty. I designed all the online courses in the department of Psychological Sciences and taught a plethora of classes, including: Intro to Psych, Social Psych, Developmental Psych, Cognitive Psych, Senior Seminar, and Honors Seminar. I also spent a lot of time at conferences presenting on my research interest of Retention and Learning in novel learning environments.
Psychology Instructor,
Chair of Sociology and Social Work, Co-chair of the Leadership Certificate
Cincinnati State was a whirlwind of change and achievements. Althought I was still teaching, I spent a lot of my time on curriculum development (developing the new Leadership Certificate and its classes), online learning standardization and teacher training, online course reviews, LMS administration, represenation to the Ohio Board of Education, and presentations to faculty/staff, and the broader Cincinnati Community. It was here that I developed and held the first Autism Summit with community leaders, guest speakers, and cutting-edge researchers sharing their experiences with our CS faculty, staff, and students.
Psychology Chair
My time at Cincinnati Christian was cut short when the school shuttered its doors after almost 100 years. However, during my time there I transitioned almost fully from faculty duties to curriculum development, LMS administrator, and instructional designer. I was very proud of the development of the Online Master’s in Psychology program that I developed and worked through the approval process. One fun note: It was here that I first taught The Psychology of Harry Potter. The class was full, and FUN!
Instructional Designer
This was my first job where my title was actually “Instructional Designer,” even though I had been unofficially fulfilling that role for years. During this time, I honed my skills working with SMEs, reviewing courses for quality and accessibility, and training faculty how to teach online.
Director of Digital Learning Initiatives
This is when my career really pivoted to Learning Strategy AND Design. Thomas More developed a spin-off called Thomas More- Be More. Our job was to build a professional development arm of the university that would support and supplement the credit-bearing efforts of the University. I met with community leaders to see how we could support their needs, completed needs analyses, managed vendor relationships, secured funding, built the LMS infrastructure, storefront, and payment gateways to receive payment. I also hosted the first international St. Thomas More Summit aimed at bringing together individuals who worked at faith-based institutions dedicated to online learning.
Advanced Learning Partners
When my time at Thomas More- Be More was finished, I knew I could not return to pure academic work. I started my company, Advanced Learning Partners, to serve enterprise and academic clients with their learning strategy needs. While there was some growth anxiety, it has been an amazing journey filled with awesome clients! In this role, I help clients from the very beginning of thinking about what their organization might need in terms of learning to launching a fully functional learning program.