Hi, I’m Andrew, and I’ve spent the last 15 years creating eLearning and other courses as an Instructional Designer. I started as a customer service representative for a major mortgage lender and, shortly after starting, advanced to the training department. I’d taught before as a Professors Assistant and tutor in college as well as in other aspects of my career and have always loved teaching new things to others. A regular occurrence is my family and friends rolling their eyes when I go into “trainer mode”. Think about this almost obsessive passion for excellent training being poured into your training programs.

My philosophy is that learning should be fun, relevant, and measurable. More and more, we’re teaching the “Sesame Street Generation.” These people are used to learning through interactive, visual stories. They’re used to being entertained while learning and they’re used to seeing the practical applications of the information being presented. My style of training takes advantage of these learning styles.

There are a number of different techniques I use to accomplish this, depending on the type of information being presented. In a hands-on course, you may need an interactive video where the learner is shown a task, then guides a virtual version of themselves through the process to eLearning, designed like an interactive story. The variations are endless.

Another training style I use is geared toward instructor-led training. Using the storytelling technique I use in eLearning, the learner in an instructor-led class will be led through the process of learning in an organized, relevant, but interesting way. Your trainers know the material they’re teaching, so the courses I design for instructor-led training are geared toward giving the course some structure. With these types of courses, you’ll receive everything you need to conduct the course, including all PowerPoint presentations, eLearning, participant guides, and a facilitator guide to lead the facilitator through the process. You’ll also have me as a resource to train your trainers so they’ll be able to excel at what they do.

In addition to effectively communicating information, there also needs to be a process in place to determine the effectiveness of training. That’s where I bring training analytics to the table. I use the Kirkpatrick Model to analyze the effectiveness of training. This model gives feedback on a number of different areas of training, including how well learners absorbed the information, both shortly after training and a few months after training finishes and, what I think is very important, how the learner felt the training went. This gives you a better idea for what training is the most effective and what training might need some additional work. Take a look around my site to see some of my work and learn more about what it’s like working with an instructional designer.