Instructional Technologist, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

2018 - Present

Developing and shaping the new role of Instructional Technologist in the College of Letters and Science at UWM. Duties include rolling out a new LMS to UWM faculty, performing needs analyses, developing and delivering documentation and training to faculty, collaborating with faculty to design curriculum for synchronous and asynchronous classes in face-to-face, blended, and online learning environments. As a LMS administrator, responsible for thoroughly researching and testing new LMS features, detecting and analyzing software bugs, and recommending system configurations for LMS admin team.

Playing a key role in helping the College of Letters & Science transition to a fully-online format by creating and delivering technical and pedagogical workshops, creating instructional videos and documentation, and providing support for all educational technology tools used by the College of Letters and Science. In addition, responsible for developing flexible and creative teaching solutions for faculty with visual or physical impairments that hinder use of hardware/software necessary in online teaching, and charged with devising alternative technical solutions for faculty who were unable to obtain tech tools for teaching such as document cameras, whiteboards, webcams, etc. 

 

Manager of Instructional Technology, Alverno College

​2017 - 2018

Assisted in recruitment outreach to prospective employees. Organized and conducted several seminars for hospital employees to educate and update them regarding available employment benefit options. Arranged hospital-wide guest speakers symposia to educate management about new employment laws and workplace confidence and morale building techniques. Administrative tasks.

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Instructional Technologist, Alverno College

​2010 - 2017

Developed and shaped the new instructional technology role at Alverno College. Duties included creating and facilitating in-person and online training for faculty, staff, and students. Providing tech training and support for over 80 software tools. Responsible for creating training support materials such as job aids, tutorials, and screencast videos to foster the use of technology at Alverno. Researching and vetting new educational technologies and educating faculty about new technologies to support collaboration and student engagement in face-to-face, online, and blended learning environments.

System administrator for the following campus-wide tools: Moodle LMS, LiveText ePortfolio, Google Apps for Education, and Zoom. In addition, leader in selecting and rolling out enterprise-wide solutions. Responsible for working with software vendors to secure contract requirements, managing successful software implementations, facilitating the change management process, and delivering training to Alverno's faculty and students on the new software systems.

Technology leader who regularly performed needs analyses to determine how to best support end-users. During an LMS implementation, for example, identified the potential problem that a high volume of LMS support calls would overwhelm the small helpdesk staff. In response, proactively created a technology self-help system to guide most LMS questions to an online searchable library of hundreds of printed procedures and tutorial videos I created, which have received overwhelmingly positive feedback. In addition, broke down departmental knowledge silos by cross training other Tech Services staff to support the software systems and tools I managed.

 

Supervisor Web and Projects Department, Assurant Health

August 2009 – August 2010
Supervised a 13-member team of technical writers, web designers, and project leaders. Coordinated workloads and resources to ensure the team delivered high-quality online documentation. Managed multiple departmental projects. Lead staff meetings and delivered presentations to the entire division. Acted as a liaison between my team and our internal customers. Examined and streamlined existing business practices. Mentored team members to improve clarity, accessibility, and usability of online documentation. Coached team members to improve change resilience, collaboration, and time management skills. Provided technical support to all levels of employees inside and outside the department.
 

Senior Technical Writer, Assurant Health

2006 – 2009

Lead writer for the department’s high-profile projects.  Responsible for consulting with the writing team on style guide issues, mentoring writers, and performing weekly audits on writers’ work to assess grammar, punctuation, and readability.  Mentored staff members on writing and project management skills.  Created and implemented a new documentation quality review system to ensure the team was consistently producing clear and accurate documentation.  Regularly advised Training Department on best practices in adult education.

 

Technical Writer, Assurant Health

2006
Created and updated multiple online manuals using an HTML-based content management system.  Documented business processes and software procedures. Helped create the Assurant Health documentation style guide.  Worked with corporate trainers to improve writing quality of the material produced by the Training Department.

 

Senior Technical Writer, Catalyst International, Inc.

1998 – 2006
Responsible for writing and publishing end-user manuals in online, paper, and HTML help format.  Worked both independently and on a team.  Participated in the entire documentation process from pre-project requirements to publication and post-project wrap up.  Documented a robust suite of Supply Chain Execution software programs, which included custom SAP software transactions.  Worked with designers, programmers, testers, and trainers throughout the entire software development life cycle.  Aside from writing, responsibilities included managing multiple projects, maintaining ISO documentation, reviewing training material, interviewing potential candidates for writing positions at Catalyst, and mentoring new writers. Promoted twice while at Catalyst.