Who am I? I’m Ellen Nicole Allen. On this site you’ll see I’m a:
Bookbinder, & Fiber Artist.
Photographer and painter.
Free coloring pages designer.
Instructional Designer,
Who am I? I’m Ellen Nicole Allen. On this site you’ll see I’m a:
Bookbinder, & Fiber Artist.
Photographer and painter.
Free coloring pages designer.
Instructional Designer,
A training program made up of 14 smaller courses (10-20 minutes each) designed to be implemented over the course of 8 weeks. Designed to apply the concepts learned during the week before moving on to the next course in the program. Taking advantage of a ‘practice’ mentality for soft skills that need development over time.
Audience— Employees at Western Governor’s University, in the Student Support Services Department, those who communicate directly with students often.
Training Needs— There was expressed a need for improved practice and an increase in customer service skills across the department. In the past, hirees were selected based on strong previous experience in customer service, but more and more employees were coming to the role without previous experience. A request was made to provide a framework for those new to customer service, as well as add value to those who were on the team that already had years of experience in customer service roles.
My Role— I joined the project after the initial request was submitted and the needs analysis was completed. I led the project development from that point onward. I created a strategy for development and delivery, worked with the key stakeholders to define what would be trained, researched best practices, created the outline/storyboards, developed the course content, and worked with collaborators who were assisting (providing them with direction and feedback), published and delivered the content to test learners, ran focus groups, applied feedback, worked with stakeholders to plan the rollout to the team, presented an overview of the training program to the learners in the department Town Hall meeting, and monitored the progress of the learners.
Key Features— The audience for this project are not able to take extended periods of time off of their regular duties so small chunked learning is preferred. This led to the mini-course program approach, rolled out over time. I pulled the information for the course from trusted experts and ensured the content aligned with the goals and vision of the stakeholders. I applied the feedback from the focus group and adjusted to simplify and enhance the learning. I used graphic design skills to create optional supplemental materials at the request of the stakeholders in the form of a participant worksheet as well as downloadable topic guides for a number of the courses.
Examples below— A PowerPoint presentation summarizing the project, and a pdf example file of one of the courses in the program.
The following section displays an example of one of the courses in this training program in pdf format. Please note, this course was intended for publication in an LMS platform so some of the multimedia functionality will not be present in the pdf file below. When there is a black box, this indicates an embedded video content item.
The platform and standards for the Quality Assurance department were updated. A course for the individual contributors and a course for people leaders were developed to prepare each participating departments for the change, both conceptually and practically. The course defined the goals of quality, framing it as a means for self-improvement and not an opportunity for punishment, resources for further learning were provided, and directions for navigation were outlined. This asynchronous course rolled out to the teams and the training personnel provided additional in-person sessions to answer additional questions and fill any unforeseen gaps.
Audience— Several departments at WGU who participate in the Quality Observation process. Largely external-facing teams who take live phone calls throughout the day. Both individual contributors and their people leaders.
Training Needs— The immediate need was to prepare each employee for any changes they might have in the technical navigation of the quality assurance software as well as to conceptually understand the role of quality assurance more fully.
My Role— I was the sole instructional designer on this project. I worked with the upper-level members of the Quality Assurance team to define and develop the training. I led the project development of the asynchronous course, created a strategy for development, created the outline/storyboards, developed the course content, requested and applied feedback, worked with stakeholders to meet the deadlines, and handed off the project delivery and in-person elements to other team members to complete.
Key Features— This is a simple course that provides high-level conceptual elements. I created a small graphic to help learners visualize the concepts, outlined the step-by-step processes, created looping animations that demonstrated the navigational aspects, and paired them with full-text descriptions.
Example below— A pdf example file of the course.
The following section displays an example of the courses in pdf format. Proprietary elements have been removed and noted. Please note, this course was intended for publication in an LMS platform so some of the multimedia functionality will not be present in the pdf file below. When there is a black box, this indicates an embedded video content item.
This small course was developed to be a quick introduction on how to look at solving a caller’s technical problems. Troubleshooting technical issues are approached in a different way than other questions and concerns that the employees received calls for (such as general information questions, updating information, etc). This course pulled from best practices in troubleshooting to help the employees look at these calls in a different way.
Audience— Members of the Student Support Services Department who took calls from students with simple technical issues. This is not for those employees who work with more advanced technical issues in the service desk.
Training Needs— A need was assessed for a quick course that would help new employees see how they could approach a call from a student with simple technical issues. This would supplement the other courses that were a part of the onboarding curriculum of team members and only be 10 minutes in duration.
My Role— I was working as a trainer at the time of this course development. I and my fellow trainers noticed the need for training on this mindset. I researched best practices, compiled and simplified them to fit with this particular audience, created a graphic one-sheet (seen to the left), outlined and storyboarded the course, published and delivered as a part of the onboarding curriculum for new employees.
Key Features— This short course provides many visual resources and simple text. Resources that were used are cited, and a printable graphic one-sheet was provided for the employee to download and print if desired.
Examples below— The full course is provided below in pdf format.
The following section displays an example of the courses in pdf format. Please note, this course was intended for publication in an LMS platform so some of the multimedia functionality will not be present in the pdf file below. When there is a black box, this indicates an embedded video content item.
Click on the ‘+’ icon on the right hand side of the following items to expand each section and read more.
I am the main Instructional Designer for a particular department at WGU. I plan out all projects using SmartSheets, outline all tasks, deadlines, and deliverables. I use the sheet to assign tasks to other team members when collaborating. I create filtered views of each project that can be shared with stakeholders so they are able to follow up on my progress outside of meetings and email communications.
I have experience in Illustrator, Photoshop, Lightroom, and other graphic design software. I use these skills to create graphics and visuals as needed. I also create some video and animation content to supplement courses as needed. I am currently working my way through a graphic design online program through PluralSight in order to grow these skills even more.
I develop my content using the ADDIE model and work with an Agile Framework. I plan out my work in 2-week sprints, and each project is broken down into the task level. Each task and deliverable are organized into the ADDIE model: Analyze, Desing, Develop, Implement and Evaluate.
I have developed (for myself and for my broader team) a system for maintaining our existing curriculum through yearly reviews. I worked with a team member to use our Instructional Design standards and create a checklist and automated system that tracks curriculum reviews. This allows each Instructional Designer to work with their stakeholders to keep our current content accurate, and always be reviewed for new ways to improve the methods of learning and delivery.
Besides what is mentioned above, I also have experience in the following:
Storyline
Articulate Suite
Bridge LMS
Adobe Creative Suite
Voiceover Work for Videos
Microsoft Suite
LucidChart
Presentation of Project and Proposed applications to corporate learning settings.
