In my work facilitating web conferences and leading geographically-dispersed teams, I’ve found it really helps to share photos to bring a human element to the electronic medium. So for those of you who haven’t met me in person, this is me:
And a little more about my background…
I’ve been working in the workplace learning and performance improvement field since 1988 when I earned my Master’s degree in Instructional Technology from Rochester Institute of Technology. During the first eight years of my career, I held corporate training positions with Accenture, Waste Management, and Arthur Andersen. Then in 1995, I started my own company, Performance Associates, where we design and develop creative technology, self paced, and classroom delivered performance solutions. I’ve had the pleasure of working on numerous workplace learning and performance improvement projects with many great clients over the years. Depending on the performance need, our custom solutions may include classroom training, e-learning courseware, simulations, games, help systems, job aids and/or reference manuals, web sites, synchronous or asynchronous web conferencing, or other solutions. Bottom line, I really love the work I do! The variety of content, clients, and solutions always keeps things interesting, and I truly enjoy the creative side of designing and developing effective learning solutions.
Now fast forward to December 2006… I’ve started pursuing a doctorate in Learning Management from Walden University. I selected Walden University because of the program offerings, the school’s accreditation, and the ability to complete the program online (with just 20 days of face-to-face time via residencies). I know it’s going to be a long road (I’m estimating it will take approximately 4 years), but I’m happy to be on my way. Since I was 19, I’ve always planned on getting my PhD once I was in my 40s; so it’s very fulfilling to be realizing one of my lifelong goals. My practical goal is to use the additional credentials as a way to break into presenting, publishing, and adjunct teaching. My more esoteric goal is to apply my current knowledge of instructional design and performance improvement, add to it from the relatively new field of knowledge management, and then marry the two together to help improve individual and organizational effectiveness—particularly for small to mid-sized businesses (which represent the majority of businesses in the world, plus whom I believe are where the true source of innovation and future economic sustainability is likely to come in the future). Whew! That’s quite a mouthful, isn’t it? ;-)
If you’d like to read my detailed credentials, please check out my profile on LinkedIn. (And if you haven’t tried LinkedIn yet, I highly recommend it! It’s an excellent networking tool.)
- Robin
Copyright Robin Donnan 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Performance Associates, Inc.
