A Learning Experience Designer's Year In Review

Two years ago in December, I started writing my annual year in review. Writing my year in review allows me to reflect on my personal and professional accomplishes and also start to think about goals for the next year.

Welp, here goes nothing… This year...

I launched my new personal website ??

I learned a lot through launching my new website. It’s built using Jekyll and hosted on GitHub pages. It helped me to learn more about git, the command line, and markdown languages. I also had a lot of fun designing the site and coming up with animated gifs for all of the pages. I think it really reflects my personality.

I kept on bloggin' ??

I started blogging on the eLearning Industry, my personal site, and continued blogging on LinkedIn.

On eLearning Industry, I wrote 8 articles with over 1500 shares. My most popular post was Why You Should Create A Moodboard For Your Next Digital Learning Project. I posted 12 blog posts to LinkedIn.

I attended and presented at DevLearn ??

This was my second time at DevLearn and, boy, it was a big one! 

I got the opportunity to present on UI Design for Learning Experiences. I was super nervous because I was told my session had over 300 people interested and it would be recorded.

Well, they were right about both! I found that I really enjoy presenting in person. It also helps when you have the most supportive network ever. Thank you so much to Ashley Chiasson for jumping up on a table just to take a picture of me presenting and for her amazing review of my presentation. You can read about her DevLearn experience on her blog.

Mel has a PACKED house! Giiiiiiiiirl. I love your very respectable numbers, and you don’t sound like you’ve consumed too much coffee, so you’re doing great! AND YOU’RE ON CAMERA – CRUSHING IT!

You can check out the recording of my session here and see the presentation materials here.

Even before DevLearn started I got to be an advisor for the conference, which was a real treat! We got to advise on what topics people might want to participate in and other conference logistics. I was awestruck when I saw my picture and name up in front of the entire conference crowd because I had no idea it would happen. I literally almost cried tears of joy. Sometimes you can feel like all the work you do outside of work goes unnoticed. 

I got to judge Hyperdrive. Hyperdrive is like DemoFest but taking it to the next level. Each presenter shares a project they worked on and they also have to present on it.

I was a lunch docent. I got to meet some new people and discuss things in the industry like careers, the conference, and projects I had worked on and they had worked on.

I was able to attend and present at both days of xAPI Camp. I shared my xAPI enabled VR project and some of my Storyline projects. It was really cool to see what other people are working on too. I especially loved Anthony Altieri’s xAPI enabled Alexa Amazon Echo quiz.

Most importantly, I met tons of my online friends IRL (In Real Life) and made new friends too. I got to see many of my learning friends for the first time (and a few who I have met before) it was fun just to geek out with them and hear about what they are working on. Adding in buffet food also doesn’t hurt. ?? ?? ?? ?? ??

I presented/helped out a ton of other places both online and in person ???

I really took my passion for xAPI on the road this year. I shared how I added xAPI into my Storyline projects at Articulate’s Roadshow in Seattle.

I got to present my xAPI Cohort project to the xAPI Cohort group, during a Yet Analytics webinar, and at the xAPI Party, watch the recording via Adobe Connect.

And I helped out at Training Magazine’s Online Learning conference for their hackathon.

I was on TLDCast a few times and even made it into the top 10 most popular casts of the year!

I built my skills in After Effects, xAPI, and UI design ??

This was a big year for me when it came to learning new tools. I got started working in After Effects more to create short custom explainer videos, as well as intro screens. I really jumped into xAPI and added it to projects in Twine, websites, video, Storyline, and the A-Frame WebVR framework. I started the Daily UI Design Challenge (but had to put a pause on them due to my computer being in the shop). You can check out some of my entries here.

I traveled all over ??

When I’m not working or building my skills, I am traveling. I found my passion for traveling a few years ago. I had never even been outside of the country until my late twenties. This past year I traveled to new places including, Costa Rica, Japan, Cuba, Mexico, Canada (Yes, really.), and New Orleans. I still haven’t been to Europe yet but I have a feeling that will change in 2018!

I celebrated 2 Years at Amazon ??

December marks my 2nd year Ama-versary (that’s what we Amazonians call our anniversaries at Amazon). I’ve learned so much and grown so much over the past two years here. I’ve especially learned not to be afraid to experiment and that’s helped me to grow and learn the most.

That’s 2017 for me. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2018! Bring it on! ??

-Mel