Learning Design Portfolio

Sarah Taylor

Turning complex ideas into learning people can understand, practise and apply.

I design learning around a simple question: What should people be able to understand or do differently after this experience?

My work spans self-directed online learning, virtual and in-person facilitation, blended learning, multi-session professional development, and workplace training. I have designed learning for government, post-secondary institutions, corporations, municipalities, community organizations, and professional audiences.

My approach combines behavioural science, adult learning principles, accessible communication, practical application, and more than 15 years of experience developing and delivering professional learning.

The projects below demonstrate how I move from a learning need to a structured experience—developing content, activities, assessments, resources, and opportunities for learners to put new knowledge into practice.

PROJECT 01

Neuroinclusive Practice Lab

An 8-week blended professional learning experience for career development professionals

The Challenge

Career development professionals increasingly support neurodivergent jobseekers, but traditional employment practices and professional training do not always prepare them to recognize or respond to invisible barriers.

The Neuroinclusive Practice Lab was designed to move beyond awareness and help practitioners examine the advice they give, the assumptions underlying common employment practices, and how they can make their own practice more responsive to different ways of thinking, communicating, and navigating employment.

My Role

I designed the learning experience from concept through implementation, including the curriculum structure, modules, individual lessons, video content, reflection activities, practice assignments, downloadable resources, and live Practice Labs.

I also built and organized the self-directed learning environment in Thinkific.

Learning Approach

The eight-week experience combines:

• Self-directed online modules

• Short video-based lessons

• Guided reflection

• Practice-based assignments

• Downloadable tools and resources

• Case-based learning

• Live facilitated Practice Labs

• Observation and reflection

Rather than relying primarily on information transfer, the program asks participants to examine their existing professional practice, apply new perspectives to realistic situations, and practise asking different questions.

Example Learning Activity

In one activity, participants encounter a jobseeker describing a recent employment setback.

Instead of immediately offering advice or trying to solve the problem, practitioners identify the questions they would ask first.

The exercise is designed to strengthen curiosity, reduce assumption-based coaching, and help practitioners gather the information needed to understand what may be happening beneath the presenting problem.

What I Created

Curriculum architecture • Module and lesson content • Video lesson scripts • Reflection exercises • Practice assignments • Case-based activities • Downloadable resources • Facilitator content • Live Practice Labs • Learner communications

Tools: Thinkific • Zoom • Canva • Google Workspace • AI-supported content development

AUDIENCE Career Development Professionals
‍ ‍FORMAT Blended / 8 Weeks
‍ ‍ROLE Lead Learning Designer
‍ ‍PLATFORM Thinkific + Zoom

PROJECT 02

Unlearning for Leadership™

An experiential leadership development program designed to change how managers interpret and respond to difference

The Challenge

Many workplace challenges begin before a manager ever chooses a response.

They begin with interpretation.

An employee asks repeated questions and is perceived as challenging authority. Someone communicates very directly and is viewed as disrespectful. Another needs additional processing time and is interpreted as disengaged.

Unlearning for Leadership™ was designed to help leaders recognize how assumptions influence these interpretations—and develop more intentional ways of responding.

My Role

I developed the learning concept, program architecture, instructional content, participant activities, scenarios, reflection exercises, facilitator materials, and supporting resources.

Learning Architecture

The program progresses through three interconnected areas:

Perspective
Recognizing assumptions, examining interpretation, and becoming more curious about what may not be immediately visible.

Practice
Applying that awareness to communication, expectations, feedback, decision-making, and everyday management situations.

Presence
Developing the ability to remain intentional when situations are ambiguous, uncomfortable, or different from what a leader expected.

Learning Experience

Participants do more than listen to information.

They work through realistic workplace scenarios, examine their first interpretations, discuss alternative explanations, reflect on their own leadership patterns, and practise responding differently.

The learning is designed around application: moving participants from “What am I seeing?” to “What else might be happening here?” and ultimately “What will I do differently?”

What I Created

Learning framework • Program architecture • Facilitator-led content • Workplace scenarios • Reflection activities • Discussion prompts • Participant resources • Practical application tools • Presentation materials

Delivery: Virtual and in-person instructor-led learning

Tools: PowerPoint • Canva • Zoom • Microsoft Teams • Microsoft 365

AUDIENCE People Leaders
‍ ‍FORMAT Instructor-Led
‍ ‍ROLE Program & Learning Designer
‍ ‍DELIVERY Virtual + In Person

PROJECT 03

National Peer Support Training

Multi-cohort professional learning developed for Employment and Social Development Canada

The Challenge

The project required the development and delivery of structured professional learning for federal employees preparing to provide peer support within a complex organizational environment.

The learning needed to translate specialized concepts into practical approaches participants could understand, discuss, practise, and apply while maintaining consistency across multiple cohorts.

My Role

As lead consultant, I coordinated the learning design and delivery process, working with facilitators and client stakeholders to develop and refine content and support consistent delivery.

The project included both English and French cohorts and required coordination across content, facilitators, participant materials, scheduling, client requirements, delivery, and follow-up.

Learning Approach

The training combines instruction with discussion, practical examples, guided reflection, application activities, and opportunities for participants to explore how concepts translate into real peer-support situations.

Content and delivery are refined based on facilitator observations, participant needs, stakeholder input, and experience across cohorts.

What I Created and Coordinated

Training content • Facilitator resources • Participant learning materials • Learning activities • Multi-cohort delivery • English and French facilitation coordination • Stakeholder collaboration • Learner support • Training refinement and follow-up

Delivery: Multi-session, instructor-led professional learning

Tools: Zoom • Microsoft Teams • Microsoft 365 • SharePoint

AUDIENCE Federal Employees
‍ ‍FORMAT Multi-Session Training
‍ ‍ROLE Lead Consultant
‍ ‍DELIVERY English + French

How I Approach Learning Design

Understand → Design → Practise → Apply → Improve

Understand the need
I begin with the learner, the environment, and what needs to change—not with slides.

Design for clarity
I translate complex information into a structure learners can navigate and understand.

Create opportunities to practise
Scenarios, reflection, discussion, assessment, and application activities help learners work with the ideas rather than simply hear them.

Connect learning to real work
The goal is not simply knowledge acquisition. Learners should leave knowing how to use what they have learned.

Improve through feedback
Learner responses, facilitator observations, stakeholder input, and outcomes inform revisions and future delivery.

Selected Learning Design Capabilities

Learning & curriculum design • Adult learning • Virtual facilitation • Instructor-led training • Blended learning • E-learning development • Learning management systems • Assessment and activity design • Case-based learning • Facilitator resources • Participant resources • Job aids and practical tools • Training evaluation • SME and stakeholder collaboration • Accessible learning • AI-supported content development

About Sarah

I am a learning designer, facilitator, consultant, and former behavioural Consultant with a background in psychology and more than 20 years of experience helping people understand complex human behaviour and translate that understanding into practical action.

My learning-design work has supported government, post-secondary, corporate, municipal, professional, and community audiences.

Based in Calgary, Alberta | Designing and delivering learning across Canada

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