Ever since I was 18 years old and worked as a teacher’s assistant in Ghana, I’ve wanted to help others find the joy in learning. This, in spite of having teachers for parents and grandparents, all most insistent I avoid the profession at all costs!
Perhaps this explains why I came to Instructional Design, as folk often do, through the side door as it were. With a First Class hons degree in English Literature and an MA in Writing, I love words and how the right combination presented through multimedia and today’s ever-evolving technologies can help to change a person’s story.
Part of my own story is writing novels and short stories as a science fiction and dark fantasy author. My dark fantasies are a mix of fairytales, folklore and historical ghost stories. Ever the tech geek, my science fiction focuses on dystopian future worlds, with bio-modified characters, strange machinery, and an emphasis on how it feels to be on the fringe of these societies.
It’s this big old melting pot of creative thinking and fascination with technology which would seem to explain why I have worked as a technical author and website designer, an HTML coder and a creative writing lecturer, a proofreader and editor and now as an Instructional Designer – a role which really does encompass everything I love about technology, education, writing and creativity!
My favourite thing about digital learning is how it brings accessibility to the forefront of education. Growing up, I was profoundly deaf; this meant I often couldn’t hear what was being said in the classroom or join in with peer activities. These struggles were also reflected when my daughter who has autism struggled with mainstream education. My only option at the time was to home-educate my daughter. But she missed interacting with other children and, as a result, my first introduction to eLearning was through a subscription-model digital learning platform where my daughter studied alongside other students from all over the world.
Out of these experiences came my passion for assessable digital learning experiences and my excitement around immersive learning through AR, VR, and mixed reality. eLearning is such a wonderful amalgam of creativity and technology; I just love the journey from that scoping meeting and developing learner outcomes through to script to storyboard to build. As a creative instructional designer, I really enjoy scriptwriting and storyboarding, but equally using the Adobe suite and Articulate 360 to bring scenario-based learning and activities to life. I’ve even been known to do a voiceover or two and audio edits.
What’s in my future?
Hopefully, a whole new world of emergent technologies around AI and xAPI, with bespoke learning paths moving ever to the fore alongside responsive design iterations. I’ve volunteered with several charities, including The Children’s Society, FightPandemics, and Nature Watch, and I hope to work more in this sector and/or in immersive technologies designed to aid mental health, specific disability needs, and take education global.