Hi, I'm Amanda.
I take ambiguous learning problems from first conversation to launched experience.
Learning designer with a UX skillset and a product mindset. I research with students and educators, prototype with AI, design the interface myself and measure what ships. I've run my own consultancy for 13 years and led learning design at Global Online Academy, so I design with the whole organization in mind.
- years designing learning experiences
- 15+years designing learning experiences
- courses for learners in 35 countries
- 70+courses for learners in 35 countries
- engagement lift from a $150K platform redesign
- 40%engagement lift from a $150K platform redesign
- faster project launch with an AI scoping agent
- 48%faster project launch with an AI scoping agent
Case studies
Selected work, start to finish
01 · Global Online Academy
A lighter Orientation that kept students in their courses
A redesign validated with 900+ students: fewer course drops, stronger connection with teachers, and no added faculty time.
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02 · Teach For All
A rebuilt global learning platform that raised engagement 40%
A $150K platform redesign that raised user engagement 40%: new taxonomy, full-site search, a filterable library and clear event calls to action, shipped with a UX partner and developers.
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03 · Global Online Academy
A Global Capstone redesigned with students and faculty, not just for them
65 student ambassadors from 50 schools in 9 countries helped shape it: a participatory redesign, refined after Semester 1 based on student and faculty feedback.
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04 · Nova Learning and Design · Consulting engagement
A right-sized blueprint that cut manual work without losing the human touch
Most recommendations shipped within months: self-serve workbook ordering with no address errors, self-service cohort transfers, one-click calendar invites, a microlearning pilot for graduates and a new self-paced resource library.
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Repeat
How I work
The learning loop
How I take a learning product from first conversation to launch, and back again. Pick a stop to see the evidence.
Listen
Surveys and journey mapping with GOA students, validated with 900+ learners, showed where Orientation lost them.
See the case study →About
Learning design, with a UX and product lens
I help education organizations build learning experiences people actually use, grounded in research, shipped iteratively, and measured honestly.
- Experience
- 13 years leading Nova Learning and Design, my learning and design consultancy, building courses, programs and platforms for nonprofits, civic tech organizations, agencies and education networks. Years inside school communities with high school students, teachers and school leaders, plus Colorado's state and community college systems.
- Leadership
- Former Director of Learning Design and Chief of Staff at Global Online Academy, so I know what it takes to get a good design adopted across an organization.
- How I work
- AI is part of my daily practice: researching problems, synthesizing feedback and building working prototypes people can click through. At GOA I built an AI intake agent on a deliberate knowledge base of our processes, roles and growth interests; it cut project launch time 48% and recommended team connections no one person would have spotted. I set success criteria before launch and let the evidence decide what changes next.
- Experience sectors
- Education & Social ImpactWorkforce DevelopmentGlobal Networks
- Where I've worked
- Nova Learning and Design · Global Online Academy · Teach For All · Teach For America
- Credentials
- MS Information Science · BA Visual Studies · PMP · Certified Scrum Product Owner
Off the clock
Colorado born and raised. I spent undergrad in the Bay Area, then came home to the mountains.
These days I'm usually on one. Real ones, with crampons and a 2 a.m. start.
I'm also a certified personal trainer. What I love most is helping people find a way of moving that actually fits their body, schedule and life, not someone else's plan.
Selected clients & partners
- Colorado Community College System
- Colorado Department of Education
- Maryland State Ethics Commission
- Code for America
- ISTE
- Markle Foundation
- Bright Morning
- Maryland Public Television
- Wildflower Schools
- The Olori Network
- Teach For All
More work
Craft: designing and building the experience itself
SkillRise interactive self-assessment
The culminating assessment for a self-paced digital skills course: multiple choice and freeform questions, audio narration, scenarios built on real O*NET career data, and an automated digital credential, deployed in Brightspace.
UI design and build in Storyline, visual design, audio editing, UX copy
Pedagogía Basada en la Cultura
A facilitated, video-based course redesigned as an open-access, self-paced experience for educators in the Americas, localized from English. Interactive moments prompt learners to pause, reflect, and compare their thinking with experts and past learners.
Learning design, UI design, UX copy · Google Sites, Storyline, Photoshop
Quick Wins microlearning series
Research showed teachers valued curated resources and concrete takeaways but lacked time for long courses. An email series delivers just-in-time strategies with short human videos, infographics and clear calls to action.
Survey analysis, UI and graphic design, video editing, UX copy · Illustrator, Camtasia, Pardot
Contact
Let's talk
Send a note below, or find me on LinkedIn.