My Passion
I always did well in school and enjoyed going- maybe this was because I had two parents who were in the education field (father a professor; mother a kindergarten teacher), maybe this was because I had great teachers, but education and training has always played a huge part in my life. I have no doubt that this is why I had perfect attendance throughout most of my schooling... because it was fun!
I like to carry this sense of fun into my work. After all, if you're not enjoying your work, you're probably not going to have the passion to make it great!
To be completely transparent, I care more about my work's impact and engagement than I do making a lot of money or rising up through a company. I know this could be a turn-off for companies looking to hire the next prodigy to rise up through their ranks, but after 14 years of working in instructional design, I find myself most passionate about helping others grow in their passion(s) and learning exciting new strategies and technologies to accomplish this.
I believe this passion carries over and is one of the main reasons my work is received well by learners.
"According to evaluations, Shawn’s courses show a higher level of effectiveness than courses created by third party vendors. His designs are very interactive and engaging. He integrates many proven instructional techniques, such as micro-learning and gamification, to ensure that the learners are easily able to acquire, retain, and apply the new knowledge and skills. As his manager, I regularly received accolades for Shawn from the participants of his courses."
Jason B. Hiltabidel
Training Manager, First Quality Nonwovens, Inc.
Career Development
In undergrad, at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, my passion for schooling continued. I was consistently on the Dean's List, nominated for the student of the year award, and played an active part in the community as an RA and coach's assistant for the women's basketball team. My majors were Audiology, Speech Pathology, and Communication Studies while concentrating on Interpersonal Communications track and minoring in Philosophy.
These studies prepared me for what I would consider my first real career position in training and training design.
At Miracle Ear I started as a sales consultant and within a few months was promoted to Operations Manager for the central territory of Pennsylvania. My given focus was to increase sales in the 12 offices of my territory.
After only a year I was able to grow my territory to 16 offices, create a licensing training that improved the first-time-passing rate from 32% to 86%, and increase sales by 55.77%.
I was engaged and loved the work, but the company values did not align with mine. So, after a year, I moved to Texas to be close to family and continue my career.
"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination."
~Jimmy Dean
New Doorways
On reflection, I don't see the Texas move as just a new window; I see my move as a completely new doorway!
I say this because if it were not for job hunting at the local Sam's Club's hearing aid center, I would not have been introduced to roadshows, which got me into media design and marketing, which led to me leading the development of five new fashion lines, creating a training department from the ground up, and travelling for 1.5 years to set up locations, hire and train new employees, and eventually not only becoming the lead for marketing and sales but also earning the position of vice president for learning services next to the owner. Whew! Long sentence... but an even longer-lasting lesson in life because it brought me to the realization that I wanted to focus my vocational life in the realm of performance improvement training and design.
So, I decided to move back to PA and further my education with a Master's of Science in Instructional Technology with the school that is considered the lead in their MSIT field- Bloomsburg University.
BLOOMSBURG— Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania is ranked second nationally among top online schools for instructional technology in 2020 by the College Affordability Guide
Bloomsburg University, MSIT to
First Quality Nonwovens, Inc.
Once I found out about the Instructional Technology program I became ecstatic! It was like my favorite parts of every job combined and enhanced ten fold! It had the interpersonal aspects, the technical cutting edge, the aesthetics appeal, adult learning theory, constant improvement....well, pretty much everything I enjoy, and it was all wrapped up in my passion for helping others to grow!! Gamification, micro learning, flipped classrooms, adult learning theory, ADDIE... it was like a whole new world opened to me that I had always loved and was training for but just didn't know the name. This was an amazing time of rapid growth and development for me.
I was still doing work remotely for Native Love, but I also became a graduate assistant and started working on instructional design (ID) projects even before the first semester began. Before I knew it, I was remotely facilitating ID classes, received the "Exemplary Student" award, had secured an internship as an Instructional Designer, and had my internship ended early so they could hire me on full-time as their Lead Instructional Designer. I was excelling in the field and loving it!
After receiving my Master's of Science degree in Instructional Technology, I continued working with First Quality under Jason B. Hiltabidel- one of the most knowledgeable gentlemen of the field I have ever met- and together we created a training program that reduced the training time from 2 years down to 3-6 months. We made dozens of CBTs, hundreds of work instructions and job aids, instituted the use of motion tablets with QR codes and participant guides to pull up different learning aids, and eventually I became a certified DDI Facilitator so I could lead twice-weekly workshops to enhance managerial performance.
In total, I was able to develop over 250 employees through instructional design and certify over 50 team members in managerial leadership. Once this program was completed, I took a year contract with Fulton Financial Corporation and moved to Lancaster to be closer to my brother.
“The most important principle for designing lively eLearning is to see eLearning design not as information design but as designing an experience”
~Cathy Moore
Remote Work Refined
Throughout my career I have logged a ridiculous amount of hours working remotely, not to mention time in transit. With Miracle Ear, I had 16 office throughout central PA. With Native Love, I was all over the southern half of the US! I even traveled a year in a Class A motor home hiring, training, and setting up locations for long-term operation when we got our contract with Sam's Club. However, it wasn't until 2013 that telecommuting was really refined for me to become more about efficiency than necessity.
Before, travel made it necessary for me to work remotely. Now however, I am at the point to where my efficiency and effectiveness is much higher at my home office than even the best setup I've had on-site. My equipment is top-of-the-line, my office atmosphere is conducive for productivity, and I've become both exceedingly familiar and comfortable with telecommunication technologies.
All that being said, nothing can replace the team-building and camaraderie enjoyed from the occasional business outing or company event. Some of my most favored memories working for a company have been surrounded by the people I have come to know and love through our professional relationship.
