Why I Chose to Become an E-Learning Developer... A Narrative.

Some of you might think, why e-learning? I have asked myself the same question! To be honest, I fell into it…it was not a passion or a life goal. In fact, the only life goal (and I use this term loosely) was to become one of Janet Jackson’s back-up dancers! This aside, I saw e-learning as an opportunity to learn something new and create a product that was needed for a Government department I worked for at the time. It has since become something I endorse as a learning alternative for a technology driven society. 
 
By way of background, about 3 or so years ago I recognised my team needed a step-by-step e-learning on how to deliver rehabilitation services for rehabilitation providers. At the time, I understood the importance of e-learning for large businesses and how it was becoming one of the fastest and most efficient ways to train people. It was not my intention to take on this work myself though!
 
I had a great colleague, who would later become my unofficial mentor, Andrew who worked in our Learning and Development team. I approached him and explained the product that my team needed and asked how to go about getting it built. Andrew said to me, “Lisa you can do this”. Having no experience designing or developing training I was shocked by this proposal. I became scared and nervous because it was something I had never done before. But I consider myself a bit of a ‘yes’ person and after a brief period of panic, I decided this was a challenge I was willing to accept.
 
Andrew, bless his heart, took me under his wing and guided me through the various stages of designing and developing an e-learning product. It was a struggle at times, especially due to other competing work priorities. However, during the build I really started to love it. I enjoyed the stakeholder engagement and talking to people who were resistant to e-learning, preferring to keep training face to face. I put lots of my own flair into writing the content and designing layouts/interaction, ensuring the end result was informative but enjoyable to engage with. I even enjoyed getting feedback bar the exception when Andrew told me my boarders were “too 90’s”. A comment I’ll never forget! Fast forward a few years and I now own my own e-learning business. Creating fun and informative online training is my purpose and I try to hold back on the borders :)