About Me

My path toward Instructional Design began in the classroom, where I saw firsthand the powerful impact of intentionally designed lessons on student learning. Today, I bring that same passion to my work by creating learning experiences that are engaging, inclusive, and impactful for adult learners.

Throughout my career as both an educator and as an Instructional Designer, my learners were always at the center of my design and development process. 

Throughout my career as an educator and now as an Instructional Designer, I have consistently placed learners at the center of my design and development process. From the very beginning of any planning phase, I integrate accessibility standards to ensure that all learners can engage meaningfully with the content. While I was in the classroom, this commitment was reflected as I worked to support students' social, emotional, and behavioral needs in my research-based classroom management system. I embraced Responsive Classroom Techniques and integrated them into the curriculum strategies and daily activities. These strategies I adopted provided my learners with the opportunity to practice these skills so they could learn how to manage their behavior and get along with others so all the students could focus on their learning. Academically, I collaborated weekly with my team to develop differentiated small group lessons in reading and math, ensuring that students at all ability levels received targeted instruction.

Now, as an Instructional Designer, at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, I continue to apply these learner-centered principles. I incorporate current research-based theories into my design process, carefully considering cognitive load by balancing text and visuals, using whitespace effectively, and eliminating distractions. Accessibility remains a top priority – I use tools like Articulate Storyline 360 and follow the established protocols from the start. This includes writing scripts in plain language, avoiding flashing elements, ensuring strong text-background color contrast, and creating intuitive navigation with consistent design elements. I also add alt text to images, Closed Captions to audio, and ensure videos are captioned to meet the needs of all learners. 

Equally important is my commitment to understanding my audience. As a teacher I built relationships with my students and reviewed their work regularly. I met with their families, even before the school year began, so I could start the year knowing who each child was, not only from their data but from their parents’ perspective. Now as an Instructional Designer, I meet with my team, subject matter experts, and stakeholders at the start of every project, to learn about the audience and assess how the training can best address their performance gaps. This open line of communication ensures that the training I create is relevant and impactful for the audience it is being created to support. 

I am a currently a graduate student at App State working to earn a Graduate Certificate in Online, Design, Communication, and Engagement. Throughout my courses, I have engaged with the course materials, participated in discussions, and collaborated with my peers. This active engagement has allowed me to deepen my understanding of the theories and apply the theories to our tasks that we completed for our final project. I have learned a holistic approach to Learning Experience Design through the Integrated Learning Framework. I used to think that learning experiences were focused on the cognitive realm but now I know that learning isn’t just about knowing and doing something, it's also about the emotional, social, and behavioral aspects of feeling, sharing, and experiencing that skill in action.