MEET
"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."
Carl Jung
Brandman University calls me a Thought Leader in the field of Instructional Design. I certainly understand that Instructional Design is a critical practice to influence leadership for organizations and guide timely change processes. With well over a decade of practical experience as a curriculum designer and organizational coach for both academic and commercial clients from coast to coast, I understand the critical factors involved in making sure your learning programs align with your organizational mission. I want to work with you to align your learning with your mission and industry best practice.
One of my strong areas of expertise is in developing and utilizing various types of assessments to determine the congruity of the learning program with the veracity and quality of the outputs. This is huge and often overlooked in organizations. I use surveys, interviews, and non-intrusive methods to design robust learning programs, and I firmly believe organizations spend too much time on trying to make their learning solution solve behavioral problems, as opposed to analyzing the organizational system. If you look through my site, you will see a myriad of different types of assessments that I am qualified to use as the platform for curriculum development.
Equally important, I am cognizant of the many cultural aspects involved in teaching people new skills (ethnicity, gender, age, education, etc.) and have studied these phenomena extensively. From a personal perspective, I raised a son with autism, and a lot of the work I have done is in leveling the playfield for his engagement as an autistic person with the world in terms of social communication. I have written extensively in this area, and I am personally fascinated with how what we learn impacts each one of us. Learning must start with the learner! Yes, I know about the neuroscience behind all of those transfers. In too many organizations, I generally observe a disconnect between subject matter and the learner (your employees). We must be willing to reframe what we teach in different ways so that the subject matter is effectively transferred through the process of engagement.
I have a couple of a few notable accomplishments for which I am extremely proud. Personally, I successfully raised my son with autism to live independently. This is something that everyone told me could not be done, and he is on his own with his two therapy dogs. Educationally, I finished my master’s degree and Principal Administrator certification the same year I started working on a doctorate. I was second to the youngest of the people in my graduating class to earn a Ph.D., and while earning that Ph.D., I was a full-time Human Resources Director and mom. I remember being so tired during a few of those months, I didn’t know how I would get through, but I did with honors. My bachelor’s degree in Education, master’s degree in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in Human Resources and School Administration supported me while I earned my Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership.
Professionally, I was delighted with the opportunity to consult with Touro College in Manhattan to design, develop, and implement the entire online portion of a master’s degree program. This work put me on the front lines of accreditation, and I know how to develop learning programs that are robust, engaging, and technologically supported. I am seasoned in developing corporate university programs with an eye on accreditation, and I am ready to work with you if you want to develop your own corporate university.
Similarly, I designed an onboarding program for new managers at Columbia University with accompanying learning materials that included a 126-page participant guide. My proudest accomplishment though was in developing an online Certificate in Instructional Design program for Brandman University in Irvine, CA. I designed, developed, and implemented the entire program. It is five courses, all accredited, and very affordable. After completing this program participants are educationally and experientially prepared to go get one of the thousands of Instructional Design jobs currently available. I am working with all of my students to get those jobs, and I am creating a system of on-the-job training in which I will be able to connect real people with real jobs.
Technologically, all of my projects incorporate the latest in technological advancement, and my use of technology is only surpassed by the creativity and engaging aspects of my design. And I have to add that my husband is a data management solutions engineer for an Autodesk reseller and he develops custom programs for engineering programs around the world, and so if I get stuck, I have the in-house tools to get work done. On a side note, my husband is currently running several computers right now, and our office becomes rapidly overheated from the programs he is running. So, if you needed some kind of custom app – we could do that, too. Our mantra is: I teach people; my husband teaches technology to teach people.
Historically, a few of my past clients include Celgene Pharmaceutical, American Express, and Weight Watchers. All of these projects involved developing web-based software training solutions along with supporting learning materials. Prior to working as a consultant, I was a human resources director for a school district where I implemented onboarding programs and other types of regulatory curriculum.
My personal interest is in using social media tools such as Facebook and LinkedIn to deliver online course content that is rich, engaging, and impactful. I am also a prolific writer, having authored four books, a chapter on inferential statics, and more than 20 published articles on a variety of subjects, so if your project includes a rich writing component, I can share that with you as well.
Our Past Work
Dr. Sharon Link-Wyer is a Thought Leader in the field of Instructional Design. She holds the philosophy that Instructional Design is a critical practice to influence leadership for organizations and guide timely change processes. She has more than a decade of practical experience as a curriculum designer and organizational coach for both academic and commercial clients from coast to coast.
Equally important, Dr. Link is cognizant of the many cultural aspects involved in teaching people new skills (ethnicity, gender, age, education, etc.). Some of her more notable accomplishments to date include building the entire online portion of a Master’s degree program for Touro College in Manhattan, implementing an onboarding program for managers at Columbia University, and developing an online Certificate in Instructional Design program for Brandman University. She has also done contract work for Celgene Pharmaceutical, American Express, and Weight Watchers. This work primarily involved developing web-based software training solutions along with supporting learning materials.
Her personal interest is in using social media tools such as Facebook and LinkedIn to deliver online course content that is rich, engaging, and impactful. Dr. Link-Wyer is also a prolific writer, having authored four books, a chapter on inferential statics, and more than 20 published articles on a variety of subjects.
A few projects we have worked on include:
American Express - Developed software documentation and training artifacts to teach HR employees how to use a heavily customized implementation of PeopleSoft. This was part of a global training solution, and AMEX is an extremely fast paced organization. There was a writing component to this role, as I had to develop an Instructional Guide to augment the documentation of the software.
Celgene Pharmaceutical - Designed and documented an e-learning course and provided subsequent documentation for the SumTotal Learning Management System. I also designed an onboarding program for their Inflammation and Immunology (I&I) campus. Again, these were global training solutions, and while I served in this role, I worked with I&I’s HR department on an organizational development initiative. The writing component for this role included the development of marketing materials and translating materials into German.
Weight Watchers - Designed e-courses purposed to be a complete overhaul of their online training system for leaders and receptionists. Writing in this role consisted of re-designing their e-tools program for leaders and receptionists.
Columbia University - Developed a two-day workshop and blended learning module, as well writing as a 126-page participant guide designed to teach new managers and supervisors to manage effectively that aligned with their previous Performance Management guidelines. I am including attachments to a couple of sections of this text.
Synergis Technologies - Worked on formalizing their Kaleidoscope® family of business and design process assessments.
Our Present
Our most recent venture is the training and courses we provide to you. Affordable, excellent, practical, and online – our instructional design courses are $400 per 3 semester credits. Offered through Brandman University, this is an outstanding value. Courses can be taken to augment a degree program or potentially in lieu of other 3 semester credit classes. Participants seeking the certificate take a total of four courses (12 graduate-level professional development credits), with an optional fifth course. Courses may also be taken individually. Worth inquiring about, these courses will enable you to get your career on the fast track in the instructional design industry.
Our program is designed to meet the increasing challenges for training within academic, corporate, non-profit, and healthcare organizations. Course participants will be able to design and produce learning activities and interactive multimedia materials, and to make effective use of instructional technology in training and curriculum development. Courses focus on exploring the theoretical, philosophical, cultural, technological, ethical, and political complexities surrounding learning and assessment in organizations. Participants will come away with the conceptual foundations and skills necessary to design more valid, reliable and appropriate ways of integrating learning goals and learning targets into a variety of quality design and evaluation methods.
The overall job outlook for Instructional Designer or Technologist careers has been positive since 2004. Vacancies for this career have increased by 20.82 percent nationwide in that time, with an average growth of 3.47 percent per year. Demand for Instructional Designers and Technologists is expected to go up, with an expected 36,220 new jobs filled by 2018. This represents an annual increase of 3.52 percent over the next few years. From Recruiter.com.
Your Future
Click through our site and you’ll discover a variety of reasons to choose us. Not only are we experts with the technologies used in the Instructional Design process, including e-tools and Learning Management Systems, we are experts at developing curriculum that is timely and engaging. We work with you to understand the culture of your business and then use that knowledge to develop a sustainable project purposed to:
• Provide targeted assessment
• Meet short-term learning goals
• Improve long-term business processes
• Save you money
• Make you money
• Offer accreditation if desired
We are experts in the fields of Instructional Design and Organizational Development. We are personable, knowledgeable, professional, and service oriented. We know what we are doing, why we are doing the work, and how to do the work. With our background in organizational coaching, education, and technology, we are great at what we do and customize learning to meet your needs. Call or email us for a quote on your project.
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