I’m so glad to be back in class with all of you, and I can’t wait to hear the pitches and get started on a project.

My professional background is in education, writing, and instructional design, and my central humanities interests are literature, history, and archival practice. I hope to use what I learn in this program to help create public history projects that include open educational resources.

Here are the skills I could bring to a project:

Writing and Editing: My day job involves a lot of instructional writing for a general audience, as well as editing (for clarity, style, and accuracy) others’ work. I’ve also scripted videos and written website copy.

Project Management: I have experience managing my own freelance projects, as well as complex team projects. My work projects usually involve dozens of interconnected assets that need to be created or revised using a multi-step process that includes interviews with subject-matter experts, multiple rounds of drafts and revision, stakeholder and compliance approval, and publication. I’m not naturally detail-oriented, but I’ve learned to keep track of all the pieces, and I know how to structure a project with meaningful milestones and deadlines. I’ve used Basecamp and Excel/Google Sheets for project management.

Research/Information Gathering and Synthesis: My instructional design work requires me to teach myself about a process or concept, then synthesize the information and figure out how to teach it to others. I would enjoy doing background reading, finding relevant academic papers, locating and reading historical documents, etc. — anything needed to help build the humanities foundation for a project.

Instructional/Learning Design: I would be able to create educational materials or lesson plans/ideas as part of the outreach for a project.

Web Development: I have basic skills in web development (HTML and CSS authoring) and am very comfortable with web authoring/WYSIWYG tools like WordPress, Squarespace, etc.

Graphic Design/Illustration: Digital illustration is a hobby of mine, and I’ve designed logos, marketing materials, and show posters for friends and family. I’m not a professional illustrator or designer, but basic graphic design is part of my day job, and I know how to select design elements and give projects a clean, cohesive look. I’m proficient with Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch, and Procreate.