Hi. I'm Lisa. Fabulous to meet you. Here's a little bit about me--my life, career, and values, as well as my philosophy around learning experience design & development, as well as learning management technologies.
MISSION
My personal goal is to experience each day as an adventure without regrets, shame, or guilt (which often means being brave and getting outside my comfort zone).
My professional goal is to make learning experiences that at best blow your mind and at worst don't suck.
My growth goal is to never ever stop learning and inviting the Universe to blow my mind!
My community goal as an inhabitant of this magical universe is to make our planet a kinder and more loving place by empowering people to learn to live their truth through challenging, learning, taking action, and supporting one another.
LIFE
I'm resilient and have bounced back from divorce, financial ruin, and multiple layoffs. While I've done well in my career journey, I would have benefited tremendously from having a mentor early on. Informally, I try to support younger women in the workforce to succeed and build confidence through encouragement and coaching. I've lived in more than 43 locations in the US and am now a displaced Texan living in Maine. I'm pretty good at seeing things from multiple angles. Every day I miss my 2 boys who are still in the South. I have an 80-pound fur baby girl named Lucy who makes it impossible to wake up in a bad mood. I think that laughter IS the best medicine.
WORK
I'm most productive and in the "zone" when I'm problem solving, questioning, looking for patterns, designing, leveraging technology, and coaching/teaching. While I've held and enjoyed multiple roles over my career--Tech Training Director, Learning Project Manager, LMS Analyst, Instructional Designer, Corporate University Manager--the most fulfilling work is when I'm leading, in partnership with stakeholder, an effort to solve a business problem through a self-directed learning solution which
SERVICES
Instructional Design
I started my business because, while I influenced where I could, I just reached the point in Corporate America where I refuse to follow poor leadership's direction to create sucky training (this doesn't necessarily reflect on L&D leaders). We should be well beyond PowerPoint bullets and multiple-choice tests and Smiley Sheets. And I'm not talking about badges and leaderboards either (which have their place but have been overutilized IMHO). What if learners were INTRINSICLY motivated to learn? Might they do it voluntarily and might they retain and practice more of what they learn?
I design with purpose and if designing for a client, I keep the WIifT (What's in it for Them) in mind. Always. I take a consultative approach to instructional design. While I do consider myself a SME in adult learning and some areas of business, it's crucial to consider the client's viewpoint and culture. As in coaching, often through conversation, the root cause of the issue is revealed which then opens discussion for appropriate interventions. Ideally, instructional design starts with a broad view of the problem, and if it's determined that learning experiences are part of the solution, then a fit-for-purpose solution is proposed, along with an evaluation plan to measure the impact. Specific targeted behaviors are identified for various audiences, and then learning experiences which reinforce and assess these behaviors are designed, developed, and assessed.
Instructional Development
My passion for quality self-directed learning was born out of lackluster experiences with instructor-led sessions, online-facilitated webinars, and click-through e-learning. I have had a love affair with technology since my Apple Lisa. Technology isn't a panacea, but in today's Global Digitized world, synchronous training can't scale and should only be used when providing added value, such as working on a collaborative project. Unlike instructor-led training where at least there is a facilitator or classmates to ask questions if the training wasn't clear, with self-directed learning, the learner is on their own, so the instruction must be crystal clear and intuitive.
Learning Technologies
I've loved the role of LMS admin and/or implementation consultant because I was able to enhance learner and business impact through optimizing and configuring the technology to best meet the needs of the business and learners. I also learned about API's, RPA's, and xAPI, and got to utilize HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. JavaScript also is a star player in extending the capabilities and efficiencies of e-learning authoring tools such as Storyline 360. Developing powerful e-learning and really leveraging the technology which also extends an LMS's capabilities requires tech know-how but is so worth it! And AI is rapidly becoming a wonderful partner in enhance the learner experience through a variety of ways around personalized & immersive learner experiences, performance pattern recognition & feedback, and automation. However, we must be careful to keep the human touch and always provide oversight in learning experiences and not assume AI always knows best.
I'd love to have a conversation with you to understand your pain points and discuss how we might solve them together.
Lisa Marie Grace
Copyright © 2023 Lisa Marie Grace - All Rights Reserved.
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