Author & Instructor

The craft that became the leadership pattern.

Before I built training inside leadership roles, I taught it. Adult learners across post-secondary institutions and in-house teams.

Classroom demonstration in progress. Adult learners across applied technical fields.

Teaching is where the craft began.

Years teaching adult learners and writing courseware built the discipline: instructional design, adult learning, and translating technical work into knowledge that transfers.

The craft came with a standard. That standard, not the subject, is what carried forward.

Teaching isn't finished when the course ends. It's finished when the learner can successfully apply the skills to their work.

Designed for how adults learn, not how courses get built.

Engineered for transfer, not for performance.

Held to the bar of the job, not the assignment.

Where I taught

Five post-secondary institutions across Vancouver.

Taught on-site and remote, synchronous and asynchronous. Different formats and audiences, one standard, often running in parallel with full-time operational roles.

Vancouver Film SchoolClassroom, capstone, micro-courses, roadshows
Centre for Entertainment ArtsClassroom, mentorship, webinars, SME work
The Art Institute of Vancouver (later La Salle College)Classroom, capstone, multi-subject curriculum
InFocus Film SchoolSME, program development
Think Tank Training CentreCapstone mentorship, webinars, SME work
Behind the production of a published course.
External published courses

Published, asynchronous, built to scale.

A published curriculum on Pluralsight, a global skills platform, built as a foundational-to-advanced arc for working professionals. Designed to scale without me in the room.

From the work

“Melissa was my instructor for two courses and was great at explaining the techniques and skills I would later use in the industry.”

Donald TseCompositing Supervisor, Crafty Apes VancouverFormer student, The Art Institute of Vancouver

Originally given via LinkedIn. Excerpted with attribution. Full recommendation on request.

The full pattern

Teaching built the craft. The L&D work scaled it.

The bar never changed from the classroom: did the learning hold up when the person had to use it. Bigger rooms, same test.

Let's talk

Let's talk about building capability that transfers to the work.

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