Analysis & Strategy
Audience analysis, performance gaps, learning objectives, constraints, success criteria, and evidence planning.
Professional Profile
LEARNING THAT WORKS.
I connect education, learning science, technology, and AI to design practical learning experiences that solve problems, clarify performance, and help people do meaningful work more effectively.
My background spans more than two decades in education, curriculum, instructional leadership, digital learning, and content development. The work on this portfolio is organized around evidence: the problem, the audience, the design decisions, the build, and how success would be measured.
WORDS TO LIVE BY
✦Start with the performance people need, not the content you want to cover.✦Clear learning goals turn activity into direction.✦Good design reduces unnecessary thinking so learners can focus on the thinking that matters.✦Training is useful when practice changes performance; otherwise, fix the system.✦The best learning experience makes the next right action easier.✦Knowledge matters most when learners can use it beyond the lesson.✦Before designing a course, investigate the problem behind the request.✦Learning should move people from knowing to doing.✦Complex work becomes learnable when the right pieces are sequenced well.✦Feedback should help people think, not merely tell them they were wrong.✦Growth happens when challenge is matched with support.✦Measure the result that matters, not just the activity that happened.✦Adults learn best when the work respects their experience and solves a real need.✦Students deserve learning that is rigorous, accessible, and worth remembering.✦Workplace learning succeeds when it improves the work itself.✦Sometimes the best learning solution is a job aid available at the moment of need.✦Multimedia should clarify the message, not compete with it.✦Prototype early enough that feedback can still change the design.✦Accessibility is a design requirement, not a final inspection.✦Scaffolds should help learners climb, then gradually get out of the way.✦A strong learning path helps people know where they are, why it matters, and what comes next.✦Evidence should be planned before the learning experience is built.✦If the process is broken, a course may only teach people how to work around the problem.✦Retrieval strengthens memory when learners must actively bring knowledge back.✦Practice improves when learners can try, receive feedback, and try again.✦Education is strongest when understanding can travel into a new situation.✦Technology earns its place when it makes learning clearer, faster, or more useful.✦Different learners may need different routes to the same important outcome.✦Curriculum is a map of purposeful experiences, not a list of topics.✦A useful objective describes what success looks like in action.✦Learning becomes more powerful when people can explain, compare, question, and create.✦Instruction should spend the most time on the decisions that matter most.✦Reflection helps experience become learning.✦Strong foundations reduce frustration when complexity increases.✦Cognitive load is a design problem before it becomes a learner problem.✦Microlearning works best when the need is focused, not when a full course is chopped into pieces.✦A good scenario lets learners experience the consequences of judgment before the real stakes arrive.✦Performance support belongs close to the task, not buried inside a course.✦Responsive learning should work for the learner's device, context, and environment.✦Trust grows when learning experiences are accurate, respectful, and transparent.✦The learner should never have to guess what the interface wants them to do.✦Engagement is not decoration; it is attention directed toward meaningful work.✦Use the smallest solution that can solve the real problem well.✦Stories help people remember when the story supports the decision or idea being learned.✦A pilot is cheaper than discovering after launch that the design solved the wrong problem.✦Completion is a milestone, not proof of learning.✦Clear communication can solve problems that training cannot.✦Manager reinforcement can determine whether learning transfers back to the job.✦Great teaching makes thinking visible and gives learners room to practice it.✦Learning design is the craft of turning an important goal into an experience people can use.✦Every interaction should earn its place by helping the learner think, decide, practice, or act.✦Good assessment asks for evidence that resembles the real performance whenever possible.✦People do not need to memorize what a well-designed system can help them retrieve.✦A course is not successful because it is polished; it is successful because it improves something that matters.✦The fastest path to better learning is often a better question at the beginning.✦Design for the learner's reality, not the designer's ideal environment.✦Good onboarding answers what matters now and postpones what can wait.✦Practice should become more realistic as confidence and competence grow.✦Feedback is most useful when it arrives close enough to the decision to change the next attempt.✦Learning analytics are useful only when they answer a meaningful question.✦Do not ask learners to navigate complexity that belongs in the design.✦Choice is valuable when it supports agency without hiding the goal.✦An expert often forgets how many invisible steps a beginner still has to learn.✦Good facilitation creates space for thinking, not just time for talking.✦Professional learning should leave people with something they can use tomorrow.✦When information changes often, teach people how to find and judge it instead of forcing memorization.✦Design consistency reduces cognitive friction and builds confidence.✦A useful rubric turns quality into something learners can recognize before they submit.✦Learning objectives should describe performance, not the instructor's plan.✦The best scenario choices are plausible enough that a thoughtful learner could choose any of them.✦Accessibility improves design for more people than the accommodation alone suggests.✦Good instructional design respects time as a limited learner resource.✦The point of assessment is not to catch failure; it is to reveal what support or next step is needed.✦Learning transfer is more likely when the environment rewards the behavior the training teaches.✦Visual design should guide attention before it tries to impress.✦Good learning products are built around decisions, not pages.✦Iteration is not evidence of poor planning; it is evidence that the design is responding to reality.✦Adult learners bring experience into the room; strong design uses it instead of ignoring it.✦Education becomes durable when learners can explain why, not only what.✦Performance problems deserve diagnosis before they receive content.✦Start with the performance people need, not the content you want to cover.✦Clear learning goals turn activity into direction.✦Good design reduces unnecessary thinking so learners can focus on the thinking that matters.✦Training is useful when practice changes performance; otherwise, fix the system.✦The best learning experience makes the next right action easier.✦Knowledge matters most when learners can use it beyond the lesson.✦Before designing a course, investigate the problem behind the request.✦Learning should move people from knowing to doing.✦Complex work becomes learnable when the right pieces are sequenced well.✦Feedback should help people think, not merely tell them they were wrong.✦Growth happens when challenge is matched with support.✦Measure the result that matters, not just the activity that happened.✦Adults learn best when the work respects their experience and solves a real need.✦Students deserve learning that is rigorous, accessible, and worth remembering.✦Workplace learning succeeds when it improves the work itself.✦Sometimes the best learning solution is a job aid available at the moment of need.✦Multimedia should clarify the message, not compete with it.✦Prototype early enough that feedback can still change the design.✦Accessibility is a design requirement, not a final inspection.✦Scaffolds should help learners climb, then gradually get out of the way.✦A strong learning path helps people know where they are, why it matters, and what comes next.✦Evidence should be planned before the learning experience is built.✦If the process is broken, a course may only teach people how to work around the problem.✦Retrieval strengthens memory when learners must actively bring knowledge back.✦Practice improves when learners can try, receive feedback, and try again.✦Education is strongest when understanding can travel into a new situation.✦Technology earns its place when it makes learning clearer, faster, or more useful.✦Different learners may need different routes to the same important outcome.✦Curriculum is a map of purposeful experiences, not a list of topics.✦A useful objective describes what success looks like in action.✦Learning becomes more powerful when people can explain, compare, question, and create.✦Instruction should spend the most time on the decisions that matter most.✦Reflection helps experience become learning.✦Strong foundations reduce frustration when complexity increases.✦Cognitive load is a design problem before it becomes a learner problem.✦Microlearning works best when the need is focused, not when a full course is chopped into pieces.✦A good scenario lets learners experience the consequences of judgment before the real stakes arrive.✦Performance support belongs close to the task, not buried inside a course.✦Responsive learning should work for the learner's device, context, and environment.✦Trust grows when learning experiences are accurate, respectful, and transparent.✦The learner should never have to guess what the interface wants them to do.✦Engagement is not decoration; it is attention directed toward meaningful work.✦Use the smallest solution that can solve the real problem well.✦Stories help people remember when the story supports the decision or idea being learned.✦A pilot is cheaper than discovering after launch that the design solved the wrong problem.✦Completion is a milestone, not proof of learning.✦Clear communication can solve problems that training cannot.✦Manager reinforcement can determine whether learning transfers back to the job.✦Great teaching makes thinking visible and gives learners room to practice it.✦Learning design is the craft of turning an important goal into an experience people can use.✦Every interaction should earn its place by helping the learner think, decide, practice, or act.✦Good assessment asks for evidence that resembles the real performance whenever possible.✦People do not need to memorize what a well-designed system can help them retrieve.✦A course is not successful because it is polished; it is successful because it improves something that matters.✦The fastest path to better learning is often a better question at the beginning.✦Design for the learner's reality, not the designer's ideal environment.✦Good onboarding answers what matters now and postpones what can wait.✦Practice should become more realistic as confidence and competence grow.✦Feedback is most useful when it arrives close enough to the decision to change the next attempt.✦Learning analytics are useful only when they answer a meaningful question.✦Do not ask learners to navigate complexity that belongs in the design.✦Choice is valuable when it supports agency without hiding the goal.✦An expert often forgets how many invisible steps a beginner still has to learn.✦Good facilitation creates space for thinking, not just time for talking.✦Professional learning should leave people with something they can use tomorrow.✦When information changes often, teach people how to find and judge it instead of forcing memorization.✦Design consistency reduces cognitive friction and builds confidence.✦A useful rubric turns quality into something learners can recognize before they submit.✦Learning objectives should describe performance, not the instructor's plan.✦The best scenario choices are plausible enough that a thoughtful learner could choose any of them.✦Accessibility improves design for more people than the accommodation alone suggests.✦Good instructional design respects time as a limited learner resource.✦The point of assessment is not to catch failure; it is to reveal what support or next step is needed.✦Learning transfer is more likely when the environment rewards the behavior the training teaches.✦Visual design should guide attention before it tries to impress.✦Good learning products are built around decisions, not pages.✦Iteration is not evidence of poor planning; it is evidence that the design is responding to reality.✦Adult learners bring experience into the room; strong design uses it instead of ignoring it.✦Education becomes durable when learners can explain why, not only what.✦Performance problems deserve diagnosis before they receive content.
Learning Design
FROM PROBLEM TO PERFORMANCE.
The problem determines the strategy. I use frameworks as tools, not as a script, then design around audience needs, desired performance, accessibility, evidence, and the real-world context of the work.
Experience Design
Storyboards, learning journeys, scenarios, interaction planning, assessments, accessibility, and learner support.
Development
eLearning, multimedia, HTML/CSS/JavaScript, presentations, job aids, video, audio, and AI-assisted production.
Measurement & Iteration
Formative checks, summative assessment, feedback, analytics, usability review, and data-informed revision.
Discover→Define→Design→Develop→Deliver→Measure→Improve
Interactive Instructional Design Tool Developed by Wayne Williams
ID BLUEPRINT ENGINE
Problem → Performance → Product. Enter a few details and generate a research-informed first draft of the workflow, learning solution, performance support, or product that may fit the need.
5. What type of need does this look like?
Your draft will build here.
The engine screens the problem before recommending training, then maps a possible intervention, build sequence, evidence plan, and accessibility checks.
eLearning Development
DIGITAL EXPERIENCES BUILT FOR ACTION.
Interactive learning should do more than look polished. It should guide decisions, build confidence, give useful practice, and support transfer to the real task.
Scenario
Branching decisions, realistic consequences, coaching feedback, and performance practice.
Microlearning
Focused modules built around one need, one action, and a clear learner outcome.
Multimedia
Video, narration, audio, visuals, animation, and guided interaction used with purpose.
Performance Support
Quick-start guides, job aids, references, checklists, and just-in-time support.
Accessible Build
Responsive layouts, semantic structure, clear hierarchy, keyboard access, and readable contrast.
AI WORKFLOW TOOLS
LANGUAGE MODELS
ChatGPT
Claude
Gemini
Microsoft Copilot
PerplexityRESEARCH & KNOWLEDGE
Consensus
Elicit
NotebookLM
SciteDESIGN & VISUAL
Adobe Firefly
Canva
Figma
Ideogram
MidjourneyAUDIO & VIDEO
Descript
ElevenLabs
HeyGen
Runway
Suno
SynthesiaAUTOMATION & DEVELOPMENT
GitHub Copilot
Make
n8n
Replit
ZapierLANGUAGE MODELSChatGPTClaudeGeminiMicrosoft CopilotPerplexityRESEARCH & KNOWLEDGEConsensusElicitNotebookLMSciteDESIGN & VISUALAdobe FireflyCanvaFigmaIdeogramMidjourneyAUDIO & VIDEODescriptElevenLabsHeyGenRunwaySunoSynthesiaAUTOMATION & DEVELOPMENTGitHub CopilotMaken8nReplitZapier
Curriculum & Learning Science
STRUCTURE WITH A REASON.
What I found most valuable in my M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction was learning to see curriculum as a connected system, not as a stack of lessons. Goals, evidence, sequencing, cognitive demand, learner variability, assessment, and implementation all have to reinforce one another.
That lens still drives my work today. I begin with the intended performance or understanding, study the learners and context, identify the evidence that would demonstrate success, then examine whether the curriculum actually gives people a coherent path to get there. I draw from backward design, learning science, formative assessment, cognitive load, retrieval, transfer, UDL, inquiry, and scenario-based practice when they fit the problem.
PROOF OF CONCEPT
CURRICULUM ARCHITECTURE REVIEW
A practical review lens for diagnosing whether a curriculum is coherent, teachable, measurable, and built for transfer.
REVIEW QUESTION
Purpose
Are the stated goals clear enough to guide assessment, instruction, and learner effort—or are they mostly topic lists and activities?
Example revision:
Replace “Students will learn about persuasive writing” with a performance target that specifies audience, evidence, reasoning, and quality.
1Analyze the intended outcomes
→
2Trace evidence and assessments
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3Map sequence and cognitive demand
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4Identify barriers and support needs
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5Revise, pilot, measure, improve
LEARNING
How people learn
Prior knowledge, conceptual change, retrieval, transfer, feedback, metacognition, cognitive load, and novice-to-expert development shape design decisions.
EVIDENCE
How we know it worked
Assessment should match the intended performance. Formative evidence guides revision during learning; summative evidence verifies what learners can independently do.
DESIGN
How the experience is built
Backward planning, user-centered design, UDL, coherent sequencing, practice, and implementation realities turn learning goals into usable experiences.
IMPROVEMENT
How curriculum gets better
Strong curriculum is reviewed against learner evidence, implementation feedback, accessibility, usability, and the results it was designed to produce.
Technology + AI Workflows
AI-SUPPORTED. HUMAN-DIRECTED.
The workflow changes with the problem. Select a stage below to see how analysis, learning strategy, AI, production, review, and measurement connect across corporate and education work.
Stage 01
Discover the real problem.
Start with the work, not the tool. Identify who is involved, what is happening now, what should happen instead, and what evidence would show improvement.
Corporate / Organization
Performance discovery
Interview stakeholders, review workflow data, identify friction, define business impact, and separate a training problem from a process or tool problem.
Education / Learning
Learning discovery
Analyze standards or goals, learner readiness, misconceptions, accessibility needs, evidence of understanding, and classroom or delivery constraints.
How I Work
ONE PROBLEM. TWO CONTEXTS. DIFFERENT PATHS.
This miniature branching experience demonstrates how I adapt the design process. Choose a context, then follow the path from problem to solution.
START
A new software rollout is creating errors, rework, and support tickets.
→
→
→
Working hypothesis:
Training alone may not solve the problem. Start with task analysis, workflow friction, and the highest-risk decisions.
DECISION PATH
Choose a step above to reveal the next design decision.
→
→
→
Select a decision node to explore the reasoning.
Selected Projects
EVIDENCE, NOT JUST SCREENSHOTS.
A sequenced collection of portfolio builds spanning performance support, eLearning, curriculum, interactive learning, implementation, and AI-supported design.
Testimonials
WHAT COLLABORATION CAN FEEL LIKE.
Role-based professional perspectives illustrating the qualities this portfolio is designed to demonstrate across learning, curriculum, technology, and implementation.
Get In Touch
LET'S SEE IF THE WORK FITS.
Use this qualifying contact form for employment opportunities, instructional design work, curriculum projects, learning technology implementation, partnerships, or project conversations.
Preferred contact:
projects@wdw.llc