Skills and Strenghts

Ability to apply learning theories and principles to inform design decisions.

I have a strong professional commitment to coming up with ideas, strategies, or activities informed by theories of the learning sciences and principles for fostering learning. My curiosity and ability to investigate and navigate different sources are guided more by intuition to inform my decision-making than a systematic process. The Learning Engineering program has helped me think more systematically and document and "back up" each design decision with the literature review.

You can read how different theories have informed the projects I have worked on during my Master's program in the projects section.

Empathy

I have the ability to connect and empathize with learners, stakeholders and team members. I believe that empathy is one of the most important stages of the design process and also, one of the most important skills that a learning designer should have and keep in mind in all stages of the design process. By empathizing with the needs, desires, challenges and opportunities of learners the design takes into consideration the real context and constraints, and less assumptions and bias are produced.

Ability to receive and give feedback and critique

By engaging in constant cycles of critique, feedback, and design iterations during the Design Studio class in my Master's, I have not only become comfortable with feedback and critique, but I value and appreciate it. I have learned that having constant feedback, advice, and critique from stakeholders, learner population and team members across different design stages has helped me as a designer to identify priorities for refining and testing that best align with the learning goals.

Generating and connecting ideas

I can generate ideas based on the literature reviewed, conversations with stakeholders or team members, observations, and the connections I have made across the range of previous experiences I have had. Brainstorming, discerning and refining ideas is one of my favorite parts of the design process. I enjoy giving and receiving suggestions from the variation of learners and stakeholders to integrate ideas into the learning design.

This interactive communicative process has helped me and my team members and colleagues from the cohort when we have felt "stuck" with an idea. Having a broad and open perspective on new ideas is very useful to get back to flow in the design process.

Visual and Conceptual Design Sensitivity

Ovr time, I have developed visual and conceptual design sensitivity. I believe that whereas graphic and visual design is not the first thing to think about when designing for learning, it is an important element that invites for engagement and helps learners have a pleasant experience. In the learning materials that I design for the projects I have been part of, I have always taken care that the visual design is cohesive and consistent with the goals, concept, data and/or narratives while being visually appealing for learners according to their age and context.

Teamwork and Collaboration

In the different projects I have worked on, I enjoy participating in teams and listening to my colleagues' participation. For me, it is one of the best ways to develop ideas and come up with solutions; by making connections across concepts and ideas and linking those connections with my colleagues' experiences or my personal experiences and background, we have a richer fund of resources we can work on with as assets for the design.

Furthermore, I appreciate engaging in collaborative or co-design sessions with the stakeholders who influence the design across different process moments. Having every key member of the project "on board" helps create an ownership and accountability culture that is crucial for achieving the goals. In contrast, in projects that I have worked on my own, I always try to keep that collaboration aspect by asking for feedback from my colleagues or the learner population.