Learning Design Specialist
Helping institutions build learning environments that cultivate genuine capability.
Helping institutions build learning environments that cultivate genuine capability.
Browse the selection of work samples that showcase my areas of expertise.
A chemistry lab simulator that demonstrates an observational approach to building conceptual understanding. Learners manipulate variables and observe the results before checking their understanding of the key features of the concept (collision theory) via a question set.
An interactive course mapping tool that demonstrates how learning outcomes are used to inform the design of assessment tasks, learning activities, and content.
An immersive learning experience using authentic context. As learners read through the case file, they must apply their understanding of key physics principles to solve the case of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse and present their findings to a tribunal.
An interactive demonstrating an experiential approach to building conceptual understanding. Learners hunt moths in a simulated environment and breed the survivors to observe natural selection in action. They apply what they've learned by identifying the same mechanism at work in other real-world scenarios.
An interactive literature review for educators, walking through metacognitive theory and its link to self-directed learning. Built off the latest literature in the field, it's designed as a quick reference that also models the theory it describes, helping educators grasp the key ideas by experiencing them firsthand.
A demo Canvas page built around an interactive exploration of how encryption is used in cyber security. The lesson concludes with a task-based application of the key concepts.
An interactive procedural assessment where learner's actions are tracked as they complete the task. Only the correct sequence earns a competent grade with feedback on their overall performance provided at the end.
Walk a single shift at a distribution site, spot the hazard that matters most at each stop, choose how to control it, and decide how it gets reported — then see how those choices shifted the risk you left behind.
An interactive explorable demonstrating a discovery-based approach to building conceptual understanding. Learners run an experiment across several simulated worlds, observe the results, and check their understanding of the concept (cumulative advantage) via a question set.
An interactive rubric that grades a sample response against three criteria. Built on SOLO taxonomy's five levels, with plain-language achievement labels adapted from TEQSA's assessment design guidance.
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When I started in education, I quickly realised that more than anything, learning requires effort. My mentor was an expert at creating learning environments where his students could put their effort to good use, in ways that helped them learn and improve. In his classes, they were challenged but never lost, guided but never given the answer, and encouraged to make discoveries through trial and error. His students were supported to reach their own conclusions and build real skill through their own effort.
Since moving into learning design, after many years writing curricula and designing courses in my own field, I've been building those same conditions into online learning. That's not always easy. A lot of online learning still asks students to read, watch and click their way through content, rather than giving them something to figure out or work through. And the same thing happens in traditional classrooms. A lecture can be useful, but listening to someone who knows something isn't the same as learning it yourself.
Technology, and now AI, gives us more ways to change that. We can create online environments where learners can make observations, experiment with ideas, have a go, get help and try again. We can give them opportunities to practise and work things out, rather than just read about something. That's what you'll see in this portfolio. It's a collection of work I've built over my career, and each piece reflects part of that approach. Have a look through it. If you see something that might work in your own teaching or course design, get in touch.