Greetings! My name is Rachel Pledger and I’m delighted to welcome you to my professional portfolio. I am a learning and development professional with a passion for improving workplace performance. I specialize in front-end analysis which, in turn, guides downstream decisions about the design, development, and implementation of a learning solution that will best meet my clients’ needs. In my current role, I create effective and engaging web-based, instructor-led, just-in-time, virtual, and blended technical training experiences and performance support tools using a variety of instructional technologies and authoring software.
Designing for the adult learner
The goal of any structured learning program is long-term job transfer that results in measurable performance improvement. But, those results won’t manifest simply by shoving employees in chairs and racking up training hours. Since my goal is to help ensure that trainees proficiently and consistently apply what they learn during training to their daily work tasks, understanding how adults learn is crucial. By grounding my learning solutions in adult learning theories, I am able to develop programs that engage employees in relevant, results-oriented, performance-enhancing training.
To achieve this, all of my learning design begins by considering Malcolm Knowles’ assumptions about adult learners:
- Adults are independent and self-directed learners
- Adults’ accumulated life experiences are a rich learning resource
- Adults need learning experiences that cultivate role-specific competencies
- Adults are problem-centered and desire the immediate application of their learning
- Adults are driven primarily by intrinsic motivation
- Adults need a reason to learn something new
By allowing these principles to guide design, my clients can rest assured that the learning experience is optimized for the adult learner.
Professional Goals
A successful training program is responsive and relevant, equipping learners with the appropriate content, tools, support, and feedback they need to do their jobs better. That’s why my approach to curriculum development
- leverages principles of andragogy,
- incorporates timely and specific feedback that considers learners’ prior knowledge, growth areas, and competencies, and
- administers authentic formative and summative assessments to gauge learners’ proficiency of the skills and abilities critical to performing at or above standard.
Ultimately, it is not only my great pleasure but also my promise to do everything within my power help each learner reach their full potential.
OPWL Program goals
While completing a Master of Science degree in Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning (OPWL) at Boise State University, I developed competencies for achieving the following OPWL program learning goals.
- Apply systematic and systemic methods to performance improvement work.
- Apply established professional ethics and standards to performance improvement work.
- Align performance improvement solutions with strategic organizational goals and make recommendations to produce results valued by organizations.
- Collaborate effectively with others, in person and virtually, and communicate effectively in written oral, and visual forms.
- Apply theory and evidence to performance improvement work.
Click here to read more about the ways in which I mastered these outcomes through real-world performance improvement projects.
To learn more about my professional background and experience, please feel free to visit my resumé.