Leah Fairchild
Leah Fairchild, M.Ed.
Instructional Designer
Designing highly dynamic eLearning experiences through analysis, quality design, and storytelling that deliver actionable results for real-world problems.
Skills
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Andragogy
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ADDIE
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SAM
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Kirkpatrick Model
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Articulate Storyline
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Articulate Rise
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SCORM/xAPI
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Adobe Creative Suite
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Vyond
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Canva
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Camtasia
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Figma
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Audacity
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HeyGen
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ElevanLabs
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WisprFlow
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Notebook LM
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Synthesia
Instructional Designer
Leah Fairchild
I hold a Master of Education in Education Technology and Instructional Design. As an instructional designer, I use my background as a media specialist, a writer, and my passion for the human experience to develop high-quality e-learning for training.
My work history includes teaching and creating training for adult learners. With eleven years of experience as the school technology lead and tech programs, and twenty years of experience as a curriculum developer and educator, I am comfortable developing, designing, and delivering engaging content.
I am a second-generation writer, educator, and cat parent. When I am not composing content for a course, I am writing short stories and picture books with a cat in my lap.
Drop a Note
Cormorant Garamond is a classic font with a modern twist. It's easy to read on screens of every shape and size, and perfect for long blocks of text.
Wine Training for
Fast-Casual Restaurants
Wine Training for Fast-Casual Restaurants
E-Learning for Fast-Casual Restaurant Employees
1. IDD
2. Branched Example
3. Job Aid
Problem
Fast-casual restaurant employees need to be able to provide wine knowledge to support customers purchasing wine and demonstrate wine skills when serving wine to customers.
Solution
The course includes a scenario based
Process
Fast-casual restaurant employees with little to no wine experience.
Fast-casual restaurant employees need to be able to provide wine knowledge to support customers purchasing wine and demonstrate wine skills when serving wine to customers.
Client
Audience
Fast-casual restaurant employees with little to no wine experience.
Cormorant Garamond is a classic font with a modern twist. It's easy to read on screens of every shape and size, and perfect for long blocks of text.
Wine Training for Fast-Casual Restaurants
Wine Training for Fast-Casual Restaurants
E-Learning for Fast-Casual Restaurant Employees
1. IDD
2. Branched Example
3. Job Aid
Problem
Fast-casual restaurant employees lack wine knowledge and skills to support customers’ questions and expectations. Learners have little to no wine education and experience.
Solution
The solution is a blended learning e-course with a scenario-based assessment that creates realistic counter service events. The scenarios react to learners’ actions by providing instructive feedback and scaffolding knowledge. Interactive flashcards and drag-and-drop features are followed by instructional elements like videos and content slides to support learners understanding and a platform for learners to apply knowledge they have acquired.
Client
Wine consulting business that advises fine dining and fast-casual restaurant groups.
Audience
Fast-casual restaurant counter service employees who are expected to support customers with wine knowledge and recommendations.
Process
IDD
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The instructional design document (IDD) uses information from the analysis phase to create a blueprint of the project. The IDD will inform the projects design for subject matter experts, stakeholders, and anyone involved in the design and development process. The IDD was produced for the client’s team to ensure essential components like learning outcomes, course structure, and course design needs are efficient and deliverable.
Scenario-branched Course
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The scenario-based branched course supports real-world scenarios for counter service employees. For example, the learner moves through a work shift encountering a customer that asks for a recommendation. Depending on the learners’ knowledge, the scenario changes, adjusting to the learners’ input. Real-world scenarios give instantaneous feedback such as an unhappy customer, a manager who steps in to help, or a natural consequence to their decision that can affect material motivation such as tip amount or a change to their schedule.
End-To-End Instructional Design
Analysis, subject-matter interviews, applied instructional design theories, models, and principles, storyboarding, scripting, learning materials and job aids, deployment, beta testing, and evaluation.
Cormorant Garamond is a classic font with a modern twist. It's easy to read on screens of every shape and size, and perfect for long blocks of text.
Exterior Paint Colors for Historic Homes
Exterior Paint Colors for Historic Homes
Above is a microlearning course for hardware store employees. Visual aids, a practice exercise, and a final assessment provide illustrative examples and opportunities for learners to apply and evaluate standard historical exterior paint colors in a timely and efficient format. The ADDIE model was used for the framework of the course.
Problem
Employees at a paint store are deficient in their knowledge of historic home types and their characteristic paint colors resulting in inadequate customer service support. Hardware store employees have difficulty recognizing historic home types, discussing architectural features, and evaluating historic exterior paint colors to answer questions and produce solutions for customer-based needs.
Solution
The solution is an e-course where learners master common historic homes and their paint color characteristics through interactive practice and formative assessment evaluating learners understanding of historic home types, architectural features, and standard exterior paint colors. The foundation for the course is a micro-learning module to gain learners attention, minimize cognitive load for busy employees, and prioritize content to fulfill the target goal.
Client
A hardware store located in a historic district that sells paint to local homeowners.
Audience
Paint store employees who support customers with questions and seek recommendations with historic paint colors.
Process
Storyboard
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The e-learning storyboard includes individual screen features that serve as a blueprint for planning and development. The storyboard serves as a framework for stakeholders, developers, and clients to visualize the e-learning design. Each slide includes the screen number, navigation, text, visual/media, and audio included on the screen. Navigation text and icons are included in the storyboard. The text, visuals, media, and audio portray the visual style and design optic for feedback and approval. In addition, there is a notes section for stakeholders and the client to provide feedback and revision suggestions.
Job Aid
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The Historic Home Exterior Paint Guide is composed of the four historic home types and their standard exterior paint colors. Employees use the guide to identify home type and make suggestions for paint colors based on a color the customer prefers. The aids can be helpful to customers if they are unfamiliar with architectural home types and features. Aids include a visual of the historical home type and a description of the architectural parts and their relation to color. The aid is supplementary and should support additional questions or be used as a reference.
End-To-End Instructional Design
Applied instructional design theories, models, and principles, storyboarding, scripting, learning materials and job aids, and deployment.
Tools
Articulate Storyline 360, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Stock, Canva
Cormorant Garamond is a classic font with a modern twist. It's easy to read on screens of every shape and size, and perfect for long blocks of text.
Wine Training for Fast-Casual Restaurants
Wine Training for Fast-Casual Restaurants
The scenario-based module above is part of a course focused on wine education for restaurants. The module is a formative assessment where learners are presented with scenarios based on their decision- making with feedback to ensure proficiency in wine knowledge, serving skills, and customer service competency. The ADDIE model was used for the framework of the course.
Problem
Fast-casual restaurant employees lack wine knowledge and skills to support customers’ questions and expectations. Learners have little to no wine education and experience.
Solution
The solution is an e-course with a scenario-based assessment that creates realistic counter service events. The scenarios react to learners’ actions by providing instructive feedback and scaffolding knowledge. Interactive flashcards and drag-and-drop features are followed by instructional elements like videos and content slides to support learners understanding and a platform for learners to apply knowledge they have acquired.
Client
Wine consulting business that advises fine dining and fast-casual restaurant groups.
Audience
Fast-casual restaurant counter service employees who are expected to support customers with wine knowledge and recommendations.
Process
IDD
-
The instructional design document (IDD) uses information from the analysis phase to create a blueprint of the project. The IDD will inform the projects design for subject matter experts, stakeholders, and anyone involved in the design and development process. The IDD was produced for the client’s team to ensure essential components like learning outcomes, course structure, and course design needs are efficient and deliverable.
Scenario-branched Course
-
The scenario-based branched course supports real-world scenarios for counter service employees. For example, the learner moves through a work shift encountering a customer that asks for a recommendation. Depending on the learners’ knowledge, the scenario changes, adjusting to the learners’ input. Real-world scenarios give instantaneous feedback such as an unhappy customer, a manager who steps in to help, or a natural consequence to their decision that can affect material motivation such as tip amount or a change to their schedule.
End-To-End Instructional Design
Analysis, subject-matter interviews, applied instructional design theories, models, and principles, storyboarding, scripting, learning materials and job aids, deployment, beta testing, and evaluation.
Tools
Articulate Storyline 360, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Stock, Audacity, Canva, Microsoft Word
Cormorant Garamond is a classic font with a modern twist. It's easy to read on screens of every shape and size, and perfect for long blocks of text.
Living With Lewy Body Dementia
Problem
The empathy map is used to identify Lewy Body dementia patients to analyze behaviors, emotions, beliefs, and skills. This analysis determines limitations such as attention span, irritability, lack of technical skills, and familiarity with learning and technology. The empathy map supported the implementation of the tools in the course. After analyzing recently diagnosed Lewy Body patients’ feelings, it was important to incorporate a journal for learners to understand how to evaluate their emotions. Similarly, the consistent feeling of being overwhelmed and/or frustrated inspired the breathing exercise tool.
Solution
The solution is an e-learning course that delivers opportunities for learners to use interactive tools, gain knowledge, and recognize resources. Learners experience a self-paced, neuro-accessible design, which features printable aids for future use. Tools such as a journal for feelings and a breathing exercise are introduced at the beginning of the course to provide learners with coping mechanisms while learning difficult information about their diagnosis. The goal by the end of the course is for learners to apply these tools into their daily routine.
Client
An organization that provides educational and support services to Lewy Body dementia patients.
Audience
Recently diagnosed Lewy Body dementia patients have been given a minimal amount of information about their diagnosis, tools, and/or resources to navigate their condition.
Process
Empathy Map
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The empathy map is used to identify Lewy Body dementia patients to analyze behaviors, emotions, beliefs, and skills. This analysis determines limitations such as attention span, irritability, lack of technical skills, and familiarity with learning and technology. The empathy map supported the implementation of the tools in the course. After analyzing recently diagnosed Lewy Body patients’ feelings, it was important to incorporate a journal for learners to understand how to evaluate their emotions. Similarly, the consistent feeling of being overwhelmed and/or frustrated inspired the breathing exercise tool.
Style Guide
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The style guide was an essential guide for human-centered learning. Since Lewy Body dementia affects mood, attention, and spatial awareness, special accessibility considerations are applied to the visual design of the course. The background of each slide is a buttery yellow color as it has proven to have neurological effects specifically with dementia patients by noting a boost in energy, mood, and attention. Pink is used throughout as an accent color as it is known for its calming properties among dementia patients. Little white space is incorporated as dementia patients struggle with white backgrounds difficult to process and can be disorienting.
End-To-End Instructional Design
Analysis, subject-matter interviews, applied instructional design theories, models, and principles, storyboarding, scripting, learning materials and job aids, deployment, beta testing, and evaluation.
Tools
Articulate Storyline 360, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Stock, Canva, Microsoft Word
Living With Lewy Body Dementia
The course above is for patients recently diagnosed with Lewy Body dementia. Life skills are presented as tools for patients to use throughout the course to successfully absorb difficult information about their diagnosis and reduce cognitive overload. The ADDIE model was used for the framework of the course.