Learning Strategy
Great learning solutions start long before anyone opens a course-authoring tool. I partner with organizations at the front end of a learning challenge, helping them understand the real problem, then shaping a strategy to solve it matching the tool to the problem.
My Approach
Discovery — I start with stakeholder meetings, listening for the real problem behind the stated request.
Diagnosis — I look for misalignment between the content and what learners actually need to do, between format and audience, between assessment and what actually quantifies success.
Strategy — I recommend structural changes and theory-backed approaches grounded in what discovery revealed.
Support — I stay engaged through content development, design, and implementation, adjusting as the work unfolds.
Here are examples of what that looks like in practice.
Case Study - Animal Care Association Learning Program
Challenge
The association is launching a virtual learning program from scratch to serve professionals, a shift from their expertise in in-person and K-12 learning.
Approach
We meet a few times per month to develop strategy in phases including:
Learning in virtual modalities
Planning and organization
SME management
Assessment
Technology
Implementation
Between meetings, I review documents and develop customized guidance in the form of personalized feedback, instructional graphics, and article recommendations.
Strategy
I support the client as a partner by their side throughout their planning, executing, and evaluation processes. Rather than translating in-person lectures directly into a virtual setting, I recommended moving lecture content into asynchronous learning so synchronous time could be spent on collaboration and discussion. I also guided a revision of course objectives to align directly with participants' actual job duties, then aligned content and assessment to match those revised objectives, closing a gap between what the courses taught and what the role actually required.
Outcome
One course has launched and finished with both positive and informative feedback. The association is planning to offer it again. A second course is being built incorporating learning science-backed practices and cohort-based collaborative learning, reflecting the shift toward asynchronous content and synchronous collaboration. With my guidance on realignment strategy, SMEs are now aligning content, activities, and outcomes in a third course.
Case Study - State Government Hiring Assessment
Challenge
The state government agency used an outdated assessment in hiring lawyers, consisting of a multiple-choice portion, a written portion, and a structured interview. As a result, the highest scorers were not necessarily the best candidates.
Approach
I conducted a needs assessment through meetings with several stakeholders, including hiring team members and the department heads who work with the new hires. Stakeholders initially focused on their goals for the assessment. I guided the conversation toward the problems with its actual outcomes, surfacing valuable insight into how the exam was really performing.
Strategy
The existing exam rewarded experience over demonstrated skill, so I revised the scoring to let candidates with strong potential earn points on par with more experienced candidates whose answers were weaker. To support that shift, I realigned the assessment's knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) objectives to the exam's three sections, so each portion evaluated the KSAs best suited to its format and removed overlaps between sections that had diluted the scoring. I also revised the multiple-choice questions to map to foundational skills, advanced skills, and general critical thinking. I revised learner instructions, made formatting recommendations, and revised the interview scoring rubric to support the revised scoring goals.
Outcome
Revisions are still underway, but stakeholder feedback was insightful and positive about the shift in alignment and scoring from rewarding the experienced lawyers to identifying the strongest candidates.
Case Study - Enterprise Software Adoption
Challenge
The organization is adopting new software and moving away from an old “green screen” text based user interface. They need to train employees on the new system and provide ongoing support in the adoption. The group of employees includes both younger tech-savvy, but less experienced workers and more experienced workers that have very low modern computer skills.
Approach
I developed learner profiles based on stakeholder meetings, focusing on work needs, pain points, learning preferences, and learning limitations. Two clear profiles emerged that were distinguished by learning speed, preferred method of presentation, and level of ongoing support needed.
Strategy
I recommended a strategy where each process is taught first through a brief walkthrough, followed by optional deeper-dive content presented as software simulations, videos, or step-by-step screenshots, so learners choose their own depth based on need. I also specified that assessment should focus on application rather than recall and recommended a job aid mapping each new process to its discontinued equivalent, so employees can reference the old system while building fluency in the new one.
Outcome
The strategy was approved, with particular support for the tiered approach that lets both experienced and less tech-savvy employees move at their own pace. The plan is ready to launch once the software build is complete.