Shortly after joining my current company as an Instructional Designer and participating in an in-person passwords orientation training, I took the initiative to reach out to the presenter with an idea to collaborate on an elearning module. 

I wanted to cater to individuals who couldn't attend the live training or required a refresher, and I thought an elearning would be beneficial (especially since the company lacked any cybersecurity training modules at the time).

The presenter graciously shared his notes, and together, we collaborated to create this course! 

The original document (linked here) is an outline for the in-person training session, incorporating strategic pauses to engage the participants with interactive trivia questions using Kahoot. 

The objectives were clear, so all I had to do was perform research on statistics, pull together relevant context, and create interactive knowledge checks throughout the course. 

Although it is impossible to know if this course changed user behavior with passwords, it did trigger discussion about adopting a company-wide password manager, the course was taken by over 700/1200 assigned users in 8 months, and users gave the course an average rating of 4.8/5.0 (n=183). 

Building upon our successful collaboration, the cybersecurity department entrusted me with the task of developing an additional six cybersecurity courses. These included VPN training, safeguarding personally identifiable information, ensuring physical access and USB safety, among others. 

This course was born in Articulate Rise, but I created original assets in Canva to illustrate the process of password databases leaking (original graphic from the presenter here), compare to my final version here. According to reviewers, my document had the benefit of following a labeled reading order and was easier to understand. 

After a few months in my role as a corporate instructional designer, the company implemented a vast Sharepoint site, serving as a new employee intranet. The introduction of this platform brought about significant positive changes and opportunities for streamlined communication and collaboration within the organization. 

I presented a proposal to our department, People Development, outlining the importance of dedicating time and effort to transform our department pages into a dynamic and frequently updated source of information. While the actual Sharepoint sites are proprietary, you can view the proposal showcasing the two potential layouts for the department homepage. 

Following team discussions, we collectively chose option 1, and I immediately began designing and implementing, completing it within a two-week timeframe. This included creating layouts, incorporating content, obtaining branding approvals, and creating graphic design elements (banners, infographics, etc.).  

The development of the department Sharepoint site proved to be a resounding success, as it garnered attention from individuals in other departments. As a result of this achievement, I was subsequently entrusted with advising other departments on Sharepoint best practices, and building another Sharepoint site for the Sales department as an Employee Resource Guide (ERG).  

I drew up the proposal presentation using Canva and developed custom graphics (banners, infographics, custom icons, newsletter headers, etc.) in Canva for the actual Sharepoint pages. I also utilized the Sharepoint document libraries in order to streamline and organize information, and wrote documentation to help future administrators recreate, update, or adapt what I had already built. 

Part of the People Development team was dedicated to recruitment responsibilities, and another part toward training and learning. This particular training was one targeted toward Operations staff, and only an idea at the time. The goal was to create a short, discussion-based slide deck to focus in on practicing adult-to-adult communication styles. 

The design brief I received is linked here for your convenience. 

With the objectives clearly defined, I strategically employed a question and answer slide at the beginning of the training session to initiate a lively discussion and encourage active participation. By posing questions such as "What is open?" and "What is two-way?" I aimed to create an interactive environment where participants could be comfortable with engaging in dialogue.

Furthermore, I integrated thought-provoking inquiries into the training content, delving deeper into participants' personal experiences and reflections on negative encounters related to non-adult-to-adult communication. This approach fostered a greater level of introspection and allowed participants to draw connections between their experiences and the importance of effective communication.

To ensure the scenarios presented in the training were both realistic and relatable, I conducted interviews with three subject matter experts (SMEs). Their insights and expertise helped shape the development of everyday situations that participants could encounter. When it came to the presentation format, I accommodated the preferences of the SMEs. Some desired the "answers" to appear on-click within the slides, while others preferred having them in the speaker notes section. 

I created the initial design in Canva, and then downloaded as PowerPoint in order to add animations and transitions, and to ensure details would not be lost (occasionally, the fonts, placement, and shape elements can get distorted in the conversion process). 

I designed this course specifically as a portfolio demonstration, and because I had gotten an idea and couldn't let it go (passwords = potatoes, hashing algorithm = box grater). I looked around and it seemed like no one else had tackled it as a metaphor to learn this particular concept, so I thought I should do it. 

As a result, this project was fairly easy-- I created it as part of an imaginary course introducing password hashing and salting concepts. 

I storyboarded the course in PowerPoint with a very basic framework to outline the core scenes, and I also further broke down the two videos incorporated in it scene-by-scene. I created original assets in Canva (the potatoes, salts, etc.) and uploaded them to Powtoon to create the videos. 

I then assembled the course in Storyline, added closed captions and accessible text/reading order, and created the slide conditions, triggers, and variables. I also sourced the positive "dings" and negative "buzzer" sounds in Pixabay for free, and added those to the appropriate feedback slide layers. Finally, I used the native Storyline editor to record voiceover for the entire course.