Hi! I’m Andrea and I’ve just started the MALAT program at Royal Roads University. Here is an introductory video that I created for my first class at RRU as an introduction to my learning colleagues.
For this intro I leveraged my instructional design skills and used Vyond as my authoring tool. Since I am an advocate for inclusivity and Universal Design for Learning, I have included a full transcript of the video below.
If you have any feedback about this video, accessibility requests, or suggestions I would love to hear from you: AndreaAdultEd@gmail.com or leave me a reply below.
Transcript:
Hi! Nice to meet you. My name is Andrea (my pronouns are she/her) and I live in Ontario on the unceeded territory of the Anishinabe, the Haudenosaunee, the Attiwonderonk peoples, on the Grand River in beautiful Waterloo Region.
I currently work as an Instructional Designer for a large global insurance company, where I work with learners and stakeholders across North America and around the world to build eLearning courses as well as virtual instructor-led corporate learning curriculum. I’ve been in the adult learning space since 2005, when I finished my Bachelor of Education degree, intending to be a high school teacher, but falling into adult education by accident and finding my passion there. I love working with adult learners, learning from them, and helping them to be successful in their careers.
In my work I am also part of two Diversity and Inclusion councils, one locally here in Canada, and one Globally which focuses on Disability Inclusion. I feel very strongly about inclusion by design in online learning spaces, and I hope to explore this topic more during my graduate studies.
One specific topic that I’m spending a lot of time considering right now is how we can ensure improved access to online learning opportunities in Canada, and how our online programs can be more accessible to people with disabilities, people in remote and urban centres alike, and people with diverse backgrounds across our country. In a country as large and diverse as ours, where some areas still do not have access to high-speed internet, I think there are great opportunities in online education, but also an opportunity for some individuals to be left behind if we don’t approach our designs with an equity mindset.
Outside of work, you’ll find me kayaking at our family cottage, attending musical theatre performances with my teenage daughter, playing clarinet in a local concert band, watching geeky history documentaries with my husband, or battling weeds in my garden.
I look forward to learning from each of you as passionate learning professionals as we explore the world of Learning and Technology together at Royal Roads!