Hi, I’m Heather
I DESIGN AND DEVELOP BEAUTIFUL LEARNING SOLUTIONS THAT IMPROVE PERFORMANCE
What is Instructional Design
Instructional design is the process of designing technology-enabled educational experiences that improve performance. This can be eLearning, mobile learning, micro learning, multimedia creation or Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT) such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams training, webinars or podcasts. It’s about creatively combining my expertise in education, technology and communication to design great learning experiences.
How I work
My process is a blend of a number of different methods influenced by Action Mapping and Design Thinking. It’s about understanding your business, your learners and your goals to solve problems or take advantage of opportunities. I do this by asking lots of questions to try and gain an in-depth understanding of what you want a project to achieve, and then using my educational expertise and technical know-how to offer a range of options. These aren’t always training, often there are more things to consider than just lack of knowledge or skills to improve performance, which may be simpler and more cost-effective. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing training about hand hygiene wouldn’t be effective if your employees didn’t have easy access to hand sanitiser or soap on the job. I want to find out what it is you want people to do, and why they aren’t currently doing it before we look at solutions. I also consider the Triple Bottom Line of Learning to evaluate the return on investment for all stakeholders.
I have experience in using numerous Learning Management Systems and quickly adopt new technologies so I can adapt to your company’s needs.
My Work
Most of my work is the intellectual property of others as I have mainly worked for government organisations I am unable to showcase those projects in my portfiolo. However below are some examples of mock ups I have created based on other projects, that give examples of the type of work I have completed.
GRAPHICO Meet the team
This interactive project was developed in response to the Articulate eLearning Heroes ‘Meet the Team’ challenge. It introduces team members at “Graphico” a fictional eLearning company, and provides information about their role, interests, how they can assist new employees and how to contact them. I developed this interaction using Articulate Storyline 360.
Better Food choices for health
This is an excerpt of a project I developed for a freelance client to promote healthier food choices for employees. It was created using Articulate Rise 360, which enables rapid development of beautiful courses and is my ‘go to’ for rapid eLearning development.
Driftwood day spa website development
For this project I developed a WordPress website with custom design and coding for Driftwood Day Spa based in Gisbourne, New Zealand. I used Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Stock to source content and installed WordPress Plugins to improve functionality.
collaborartive website development
I run workshops as part of my art business with my colleague Rachel miller. We designed this WordPress website for our CollaborARTive business. I used Adobe Creative Cloud, original artwork and Adobe Stock images to source content and installed WordPress Plugins to improve functionality.
Programs I use
Articulate 360 Applications
Storyline 360
Storyline is my preferred authoring tool as it offers endless opportunities to develop custom interactivity and bespoke eLearning courses.
Rise 360
Rise allows me to create beautiful courses quickly as a template based authoring tool it allows rapid prototyping and development of eLearning
Review 360
Review enables stakeholders to efficiently and collaboratively review projects in development and provide feedback
Replay 360
I find replay an great tool to create engaging training videos including screencasts or webcam recordings
Adobe Captivate and Creative Cloud
Captivate
Captivate is my preferred tool for creating 360 degree interactions such as virtual site tours
Photoshop
Photoshop allows me to modify and enhance photos for online content
Illustrator
Illustrator is a program I use extensively to create infographics, icons, and digital art for eLearning
Adobe Draw
I use draw in conjunction with Illustrator to create digital artworks and portraits to enhance eLearning
Designs by Dowling 