Over the years, I have worn many different hats. But if I had to identify a consistent through-line, it would be that I love to help people learn.

That might mean creating good technical documentation, clear presentations, or a well-designed data graph. It has also meant teaching younger students classic scientific theories in new ways, or exposing them to cutting-edge technology, so that they get a head start on a future career.

More recently, my focus has been on adult learners, mid-career professionals looking to add skills, or prepare for a transition to a new career journey. But at the end of the day, there are solid approaches that resonate with students of all ages, regardless of their stage of life, learning style, or background.

After years of teaching content of all different types, and working with faculty and SMEs across a range of disciplines, I come back to the same basic question:

What do you want the student to be able to do, after they have been through your learning experience?

This might be a classical lecture, an on-line training, an in-person session, or some combination of these. But once the student has met your benchmarks, what do they take away? How will they view the world differently? What can they do now, that they couldn’t before?

There are many ways to measure this, and a range of different instructional design models that all try to get to this same endpoint. A close relationship with your SME is essential to teasing out what those outcomes look like, and burrowing down on the ‘must haves’, instead of all of the ‘nice to knows’ that we often find when exploring a topic.

By focusing on the implementation of knowledge, not just facts for their own sake, my constant goal is helping people to understand the world better, and for them to be able to make it better moving forward.