My Instructional Design Journey

I’m a bibliophile, hodophile, logophile, philomath, and chocoholic.


I love exploring the world, engaging with new cultures, and exchanging knowledge and experiences with new people.


I’m also an introvert that loves to be pushed outside of her comfort zone.

My experiences abroad have taught me that most people are eager to learn. They’ve also taught me that education is what we need to make the world a better place. As a result, I want to employ my skills to create learning experiences that make a difference for individuals, teams, companies, and beyond.

In March 2020, I was sent home from my classroom and given two days to figure out how I was going to teach Spanish remotely for the next 3 weeks. Then 3 weeks turned into 3 months. As my coworkers were expressing their desire to return to the classroom, I realized the opposite: I was happier at home.

Our entire perspective shifted during the pandemic. All of a sudden, we were focusing on only the most essential content and how to connect it to our students’ lives. We also were intentional about considering the needs of the whole learner.

I loved creating videos, presentations, and other tools to facilitate learning. I loved using technology to bring the content to life and make it relevant to my students. I loved the challenge of figuring out new ways to teach, and I loved the extra processing time that I had to design, create, and collaborate with my colleagues.

When we returned to in-person learning, my district decided to create a virtual academy to accommodate those students that still needed or still wanted to learn remotely. I was tasked with designing eLearning Spanish courses on a new learning management system, and I loved it.

My role inside the classroom left me feeling stagnant. Outside the classroom, I was feeling challenged and excited, and I was constantly learning.

So I took a leap of faith and left my job to pursue a new path. I’m currently looking for something that challenges me intellectually, offers me opportunities to grow, and provides me the space to develop effective instructional content that facilitates real-world learning.

I bring my strong work ethic, adaptability, teamwork, communication skills, and empathetic nature to all situations I face.

On this journey of life and learning, it’s important that we have the opportunities to become the best versions of ourselves.

That’s why I want to utilize my instructional design skills to create experiences and resources that support you on your learning journey.

My Upskilling Journey

  • Reading

    • What I Wish I’d Know Before Becoming An Instructional Designer by Dr. Luke Hobson

    • The Non-Designer’s Design Book

    • Design for How People Learn by Julie Dirksen

    • The eLearning Designer’s Handbook by Tim Slade

    • Map It by Cathy Moore

  • Courses

    • Instructional Design Principles for Course Creation

    • Become an Instructional Designer

    • Working with SMEs

    • Creating Video Training

    • Measuring Learning Effectiveness

    • eLearning Essentials: Storyboarding

    • Models of ID

    • Adult Learners

    • Needs Analysis

  • Technology

    • Articulate Storyline

    • Articulate Rise

    • Microsoft PowerPoint

    • Canva

    • Adobe Illustrator

    • Adobe Photoshop

    • Adobe XD

  • Theories and Strategies

    • ADDIE

    • SAM

    • Gagne’s 9 Events

    • Kirkpatrick’s 4 Levels of Evaluation

    • Action Mapping

My Personal Journey

  1. I have visited 20 countries so far. My goal is to visit 50 by my 50th birthday.

  2. I married the love of my life and my best friend, Jason, in 2021.

  3. I could live off a diet of chips and salsa, ice cream, and popcorn.

  4. I like to play board games and cards.

  5. I love hiking, camping, and kayaking.

  6. I enjoy watching game shows, especially the old ones like Password and Match Game.

  7. I write with my left hand but do most other things with my right.

  8. I practice yoga every day.

  9. I am fond of small-town coffee shops and bookstores.

  10. I collect Christmas ornaments when I travel.

What Instructional Design Means to Me

To me, instructional design is a journey, and the instructional designer is the traveler.

Instructional design, like travel, requires analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. When planning a trip, you begin by asking questions. Where do I want to go? How will I get there? How much will it cost? What are my options and which is the best? Instructional designers ask similar questions as they work to learn the needs of the business and whether or not training is even a viable solution to their problem.

Once you have chosen a destination, the traveler works with others to determine the best routes, modes of transportation, accommodations, excursions, and more. Similarly, the instructional designer consults with subject matter experts to gain specific content knowledge.

Using their knowledge of trip planning in conjunction with the knowledge shared by the subject matter experts, the traveler begins to make reservations. This is when the instructional designer begins to design their course.

Continuous revision is important in order to guarantee that the plans work cohesively. For example, you may have to adjust your reservation time if you forget to account for a different time zone! Instructional designers also check in to make sure that they are still on track to meet the needs of the company.

Sometimes you rent a car and drive yourself. Other times, you take public transportation and let others do the driving. In the same way, instructional designers may develop their online learning or they may hire an e-learning developer to handle the technology. Personally, I enjoy planning my own trips and driving myself.

Finally, the big day arrives and the journey begins. The course is presented to the learners. The traveler interacts with locals and the learners interact with the instructional designer’s creation. What happens next is a period of highs and lows, learning and developing.

After the journey, you come home changed. Your perspective has shifted and you have grown as a person. After the training is delivered, instructional designers have grown their skills and learned from their own journeys. Both the traveler and the instructional designer use their knowledge to make improvements on future projects. They continue to revise based on their experiences.

As Henry Miller said, “one's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” The beauty is that as the instructional designer leads others through learning experiences, they are simultaneously on their own learning journey.

Click below to see some of my work, or contact me to learn more.