• How would you like to strengthen your professional resume?

This question came up last week as I emailed my advisor about the direction I want to go with my degree. Currently, I am a Learning, Design, and Technology Phd student. I have an M.Ed. in Instructional systems and two B.A.s in Art Education and Studio Art with two minors in Museum Studies (focus on Museum Education) and Art History (focus on Asian Art History). These degrees have given me a strong eduction in learning theories and educational technologies with a creative perspective on aesthetics. Additionally, I worked two years in corporate as a learning technologist working with a learning management system, doing continuous service interventions, course refinements, a migration project consisting of rapid development of content from one LMS to another,  quality assessments, and faculty training and development of faculty instructional media. The migration project is a rare experience and a great strength to my resume. Among other things, I helped programs develop program wide policies, such as program wide rubrics and program approach to LMS features to align the pedagogical approach for all courses. Furthermore, I developed a database to manage and organize the policies for the six programs out of 200 courses I manage for Utica College. The fun part was helping instructors and students trouble shoot the technology issues.  As a result of these broad experiences, former interviewers have told me my skills in the area of learning sciences and educational technologies are strong.

However, my weakness is actually starting and completing a course development project. I have not worked with subject matter expert (SME) and developed a course from scratch. I had existing content and refined it, reorganized it, or just developed activities and recommended technologies for courses and programs with experts and faculty. Next my issue lies with management. My experience of managing volunteer employees as an office administrator with an Art Alliance, seems to be overlooked in application to jobs in the educational design field.

To summerise:

Team and project management directly related to Instructional Design is a gap for me. Leadership; specifically navigating the team dynamics of respecting the feelings of team members and bringing out the best in them is a skill I would like to document and excel at.

Side note: I am enrolled in a WF ED course for project management and seeking to obtain my PM certification.