Student Tutorials

Scalable eLearning Designed by Teachers, Powered by Performance Improvement

From a failing project to the most widely used resource on CPALMS—this initiative transformed how Florida students engage with standards-based learning, and how teachers contribute to scalable digital content.

Project Overview

In 2014, our organization inherited a struggling eLearning initiative entering its final contract year. Today, Student Tutorials are the most popular feature on the CPALMS platform, with over 1,500 interactive lessons used by millions of students and tens of thousands of teachers in Florida and beyond.

I’ve been part of this project from day one, leveraging my expertise in K–12 teaching, instructional design, eLearning development, performance improvement, and team leadership to shape its success and long-term sustainability.

Pages from planning resources for SMEs, including a detailed guide, slide types reference, slide types selection training activity, and a tutorial planning template, with arrows pointing to each document.
Screenshots of storyboarding documents for SMEs, including a detailed storyboarding guide, evaluation criteria, online Storyline interactions sampler, and a PowerPoint slide template with a form for ID notes.template.

Challenge

  • Tutorials were for informal learning—no data collection allowed

  • Teacher-authors lacked ID/eLearning expertise

  • Aggressive timelines prevented pilot testing

  • Evaluation was constrained by political limitations

  • Before my involvement, the team lacked a unifying vision, instructional model, and development workflow.

My Role & Strategy

📐 Instructional Model Design

  • Designed “PPP” model (Present → Practice → Provide Feedback)

  • Based on Mayer’s Multimedia Principles + Keller’s ARCS Model

  • Supported a wide range of instructional use cases (home, class, remediation, acceleration)

💻 Scaling eLearning Development

  • Created developer guides and Storyline specs

  • Mentored 30+ instructional designers and contractors

  • Personally developed 37 tutorials

🎙️ Voiceover & Audio

  • Developed VO scripts and recording specs

  • Trained and supported voice artists

  • Personally recorded and edited multiple tutorials

A poster with Storyline specs, the Team Slides sharing feature in Storyline, and a slide with my detailed QA feedback in the Review 360 app.

✅ Quality Assurance

  • Created QA checklists used by SMEs and IDs

  • Personally reviewed over 1,000 tutorials

🔁 Sustainability & Innovation

  • Used same infrastructure for new products (e.g., eReaders, simulations)

  • Continuously refined tech standards and compatibility

  • Rebuilt slides and led update projects to maintain long-term value

👩‍🏫 Empowering Teacher Authors

  • Created planning tools, storyboard templates, interaction samplers

  • Authored 4 tutorials and co-led early training sessions

  • Supported 100s of teacher-authors through scalable resources

Pages from Storyline Development guides for IDs, including "Preparing Your Computer," "The Student Tutorial Development Process," and "Student Tutorials Storyline Guidelines and Specifications."

♿ Accessibility

  • Built processes for creating accessible Word/PDF versions

  • Trained staff in accessibility best practices

  • Personally created 50+ accessible versions

⚙️ Project Management & Automation

  • Built workflows with SharePoint & Power Automate

  • Used Excel dashboards for real-time tracking

  • Managed NAS for assets and backup

💼 Talent Development & Mentorship

  • Designed audition-based hiring process

  • Set productivity benchmarks and conducted 360° feedback

  • Fostered team culture of growth, autonomy, and peer mentoring

A SharePoint list of items with a side panel to run a flow, a Power Automate screen with block elements of a custom workflow, and an email that was composed and sent using an automated workflow.

Impact

  • 1,500+ tutorials developed and published

  • Over 300,000 teacher users in Florida

  • Over 3 millions student users across Florida

  • Students have completed tutorials over 500 million times

  • Scalable system still in use across new projects

  • Recognized as the most used resource on CPALMS

Collage of educational course thumbnails covering topics like science, mathematics, civics, and language arts, featuring images of athletes, historical figures, graphs, and conceptual illustrations.

Reflection

This project exemplifies how structured design, scalable systems, and thoughtful mentoring can turn a struggling initiative into a transformative resource. Student Tutorials reflect my core belief: when we invest in learner-centered design, we empower people—and systems—to succeed.

🏴‍☠️ 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.