Instructional Designer, Curriculum and Content Developer

***** ******** **** ****** ** *****

714-***-**** **************@*****.***

www.linkedin.com/in/laurawillson

CONSULTING AND WORK EXPERIENCE

Instructional Design Consultant January 2010- Present

Clients include MIND Research Institute, Upper San Gabriel Water District, Resysta, and University of Nevada,

Las Vegas. The UNLV role bears special notice, as it was a three year project that culminated on a published

research study. I designed a virtual world training simulation where college students and faculty took roles as

avatars in Second life to experience a week in the life of a person living in poverty. Consulted with Subject

Matter Experts (SME’s), developed activities to meet the objectives, created and led the training for faculty and

students, designed and built the online “island” for avatars, and facilitated the actual simulations. Please see

publication below.

THINK Together, Santa Ana CA July 2005- March 2014

Director of Digital Learning (2008-2013) – Managed the development of online and blended learning for staff

and students in our youth-serving programs by designing engaging content on a variety of platforms, including

webpages, Captivate tutorials, Prezi, Animoto, PowerPoint, live video, Camtasia, and print materials.

Successfully wrote a private grant to develop and pilot a new blended learning platform for the organization,

creating Afterschool Digital Media Clubs at www.digitalmediaclubs.org. Built and managed our internal

professional development website, www.thinktrain.info .

Director of Elementary Curriculum (2007-2008) - Developed curriculum in such diverse areas as basic writing,

social-emotional learning, Algebra, and thematic events. Designed a new lesson plan format that embedded

cognitive principles in the graphic design of the lesson plan, presenting each step of the learning process in a

chunk that addressed the cognitive goals for that step.

Director of School-Age Care and Enrichment (2005-2007) - Managed the Social Enterprise arm of a non-profit

with 20 staff and $400k business. Responsible for every aspect of daily operations including, marketing, hiring,

training, scheduling, and budgeting for a multi-site child care operation and afterschool math classes. Increased

profitability at all sites and successfully wrote the grant for $300K in California Department of Education funding.

Created a new business from concept to marketing and sales to deployment that increased our client schools by

150%.

Owner, Kid’s Center, Tustin CA 1996-2005

Completely revamped a financially struggling, low-quality afterschool program into a viable multi-site business

that doubled in revenue by earning new business in school district contracts through a reputation for quality and

service to low-income children.

EDUCATION

June 1999 Master of Science in Education with a Specialization in Reading, California State University

Fullerton

Dec. 1993 Bachelor of Arts in English, California State University, Fullerton

EDTECH 597 “Teaching and Learning in Second Life,” Dept. of Education Technology, Boise State University,

Spring Semester, 2009

EDUC p540 “Learning and Cognition in Education,” Department of Learning Sciences, Indiana University, Fall

2010

PUBLICATIONS

Menzel, N., Willson, L., Doolen, J. (2014). Effectiveness of a Poverty Simulatio n in Second Life: Changing Nursing Student

Attitudes toward Poor People. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship . Volume 11, Issue 1, (Online)

Baird, Laura. (2000). Promoting Reading Achievement in School-Age Care. School-Age Care Review, 1, 8-12

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