Student Tutorials
A Scalable Training Ecosystem for Subject Matter Experts, Instructional Designers, and Learners
When my team was brought in to rescue a failing initiative in its final contract year, I led the development of scalable training systems, production infrastructure, and strategic mentoring practices. What began as a last-ditch effort became a long-term success—transforming a fragmented process into the most widely used learning system on CPALMS, now serving millions of learners across Florida.
Project Overview, Design, and Impact
Florida State University’s Learning Systems Institute was brought in to rescue a failing eLearning initiative in its final year. I led a full-scale redesign that now reaches over 3 million students and 300,000 teachers statewide, with hundreds of millions of completions.
But the true innovation wasn’t just what learners saw—it was the system behind the scenes. I designed a scalable training and production model that transformed novices into experts across roles. Classroom teachers became confident eLearning authors. SMEs became peer trainers and process champions. Instructional designers and graduate students built deep expertise in Storyline and visual design. Voiceover artists and student interns gained hands-on experience in accessibility, narration, and audio editing.
This internal training ecosystem became the foundation of our production capacity. Because contributors were cross-trained and supported by modular templates, scripting guides, peer mentorship, and detailed feedback, we could onboard rapidly, build in parallel, and deliver consistently. Instead of relying on a few experts, we built a system where expertise could scale—ensuring every team member, from SME to intern, was part of a cohesive, quality-driven process.
Built for adoption and long-term value, the Student Tutorials system integrated with CPALMS’ custom LMS and planning tools to support asynchronous onboarding, blended learning, and measurable performance outcomes. Over time, we adapted the model to power simulations, digital readers, workforce training, and international education initiatives—proving its flexibility across audiences, content types, and delivery formats. This project wasn’t just about building eLearning modules—it was about designing a user-centered system that empowers people, strengthens operations, and drives meaningful results.
Challenges and Constraints
When we inherited this project, no usable content had been produced, there was no real infrastructure in place, and millions of dollars had been wasted. Instructional design and technical standards didn’t exist, there was no training program, and contributors worked in silos using whatever process they could patch together. There was no LMS, no shared templates, no review system—just a team of teacher-authors and SMEs struggling to meet impossible deadlines without the tools or support they needed. The political climate and lack of funding made pilot testing, collection of user data, and measuring success impossible.
My job was to bring order to the chaos and design a comprehensive system from the ground up for a small team to produce and publish at least 300 eLearning modules in one year.
People-Focused Design at Scale
Scaling this project required more than content—it required empowering people to grow into new roles and deliver great work together. To meet the complex requirements of this project and make it scalable for the future, I conducted a detailed needs, role, and content analysis and designed tailored systems and supports for each type of contributor.
Teacher Authors
We equipped hundreds of classroom teachers—most with no formal background in instructional design or eLearning—with everything they needed to succeed. I created planning templates, scripting guides, training modules, and slide samplers that made the authoring process intuitive and repeatable. These supports guided teacher authors to implement sound instructional design practices into lessons that reflected their creativity, personality, and experience. I also developed the PPP instructional model (Present → Practice → Provide Feedback), giving them a repeatable structure rooted in instructional theory—including elements of Gagné’s Events and Mayer’s design principles—without requiring formal design training. The resulting tutorials were designed for use in asynchronous, instructor-led (ILT/vILT), and blended settings—supporting flexible integration into training programs and curriculum planning.Over time, teachers evolved from hesitant contributors to confident creators whose tutorials have reached millions.
Instructional Designers
I mentored over 30 IDs and graduate students—most new to Storyline and performance-focused design—and helped them grow into highly capable eLearning developers. Through hands-on talent development, a shared spec library, job aids, and detailed feedback, they sharpened their skills in accessibility, visual design, media-rich storytelling, and complex interactivity. Our team became known for setting the gold standard for rapid Storyline-based development. Some IDs applied and extended these skills by leading other eLearning development projects for our organization and beyond.
Accessibility Editors
I trained student interns and editors to create accessible versions of every tutorial in both PDF and Word formats. I built the workflow, developed guidelines, and trained them to apply WCAG standards using tools like WAVE. This effort ensured compliance while building a pipeline of accessibility-savvy professionals.
Subject Matter Experts
SMEs served as both content authorities, reviewers, peer mentors, and trainers for teacher authors. I designed training that showed them how to evaluate planning worksheets, review storyboards, apply learning science, and deliver consistent, constructive feedback. Over time, the SMEs took full ownership of this part of the process by adapting my materials and processes based on continuous monitoring of lesson quality and teacher success. SMEs also used performance data to identify top teacher authors for expanded roles, including writing additional tutorials, serving as champions for the platform, and being promoted to full- or part-time SMEs. This allowed the system to scale without sacrificing quality or alignment.
Voice Over Artists
To ensure consistency and clarity across tens of thousands of narrated slides, I developed voice over performance specs and audio recording and mastering guidelines. I provided coaching and feedback to narrators, many of whom were new to eLearning production, helping them grow into confident contributors. I also designed a custom Python-based tool to apply SSML tags for TTS narration—automating voice consistency and reducing production time.
Project Management
I also rebuilt our SharePoint-based project management system with automated workflows and real-time reporting, helping contributors stay aligned and responsive across projects. These systems didn’t just increase productivity—they made quality scalable, aligned contributors across disciplines, and became the operational backbone for all future instructional products.I also rebuilt our SharePoint-based project management system with automated workflows and real-time reporting, helping contributors stay aligned and responsive across projects. These systems didn’t just increase productivity—they made quality scalable, aligned contributors across disciplines, and became the operational backbone for all future instructional products.
Results & Business Impact
The Student Tutorials system delivered on every front—scale, quality, usability, adoption, growth, and long-term sustainability—all backed by thoughtful design and a resilient training and production model.
1,500+ tutorials published, maintained, and reused across product lines
Over 3 million student users and 300,000+ educator accounts across Florida
500+ million completions logged, making this the most accessed resource on CPALMS.org
Model expanded for statewide onboarding, workforce training, and global education tools
Personally reviewed 1,000+ modules for functionality, visual design, accessibility, and instructional quality
Developed automated workflows (SharePoint + Power Automate) to save time, increase accuracy, and reduce communication bottlenecks
Used Excel dashboards integrated with SharePoint to track progress and flag at-risk tasks
Scaled production by building reusable systems, onboarding templates, and integrated feedback loops
Served as technical team lead, mentoring IDs and collaborating with SMEs, developers, and stakeholders to maintain alignment and velocity
Aligned learning products and design goals with broader state strategy and funding priorities, ensuring long-term stakeholder support and platform sustainability
While formal evaluation wasn’t funded, we used stakeholder feedback, SME performance reviews, and platform analytics to monitor impact and guide continuous improvement
Tools & Competencies
As noted in my testimonials, I’m not only a leader—I’m also an expert practitioner. This hands-on expertise allows me to prototype solutions, diagnose and fix technical issues, model best practices, and create detailed process guides that boost quality, consistency, and efficiency across teams. These tools weren’t just used—they were standardized, documented, and embedded into training for multiple cohorts to ensure quality, accessibility, and scale.
Tools
Authoring, Development, and QA: Articulate Storyline 360, Rise, JavaScript, SCORM Cloud, Review 360
Audio & Video: Camtasia, Adobe Audition, Premiere Pro, Vyond
Design and Docs: Illustrator, Photoshop, PowerPoint, Excel, Word, LaTeX editors, GeoGebra
Project Management & Automation: SharePoint, Power Automate
Accessibility: NVDA, WAVE, WebAIM Contrast Checker, Python (AI-assisted, custom SSML tagging app)
Platforms: Custom CPALMS LMS platform
Competencies
Instructional systems design, performance improvement, eLearning development, asynchronous and blended learning, video and audio production, accessibility (WCAG, 508), SCORM/xAPI integration, SME collaboration, author onboarding and mentoring, QA systems, workflow automation, user-centered design, team leadership, platform adoption strategy
Reflection
This initiative gave me the opportunity to architect a full learning and production ecosystem—from contributor onboarding and training systems to eLearning design, QA pipelines, and content deployment. It’s not just the volume—1,500 tutorials, millions of learners—but the fact that each product was built by contributors who grew into their roles through scalable systems I designed.
What began as an emergency project became a lasting instructional infrastructure. We proved that when you give contributors—from SMEs and designers to voice artists and accessibility editors—the right tools, processes, and coaching, they don’t just complete deliverables—they exceed expectations, elevate quality, and drive organizational change.
For me, this case study isn’t just about educational success. It’s a blueprint for how instructional designers can lead operational improvement, grow team capabilities, and build systems that are resilient, adaptive, and user-centered—whether the learners are students, professionals, or global partners.
🏴☠️ Fun Fact:
“AI AI, Captain!” I enjoy partnering with co-intelligent AI tools to boost efficiency, spark creativity, sharpen accuracy, and streamline complex work. Embracing AI as a creative collaborator has been key to keeping projects innovative, scalable, and future-ready.