I never intended to have a career in retail, but that's precisely what I did. My retail career started in college; I worked part-time at a clothing store to make extra money. Over my 25-year retail career, my favorite part about my jobs was the training and development of employees. I helped design global training programs for Puma, facilitated corporate training for groups of four to 200, built all training for the Erin Condren stores, and provided leadership coaching for managers and directors. After realizing that I burnt out in traditional retail roles, I decided to pursue a career in training and development. I had experience designing and facilitating training programs, but I needed to learn the theory behind training, teaching, and learning. Not having a formal education in teaching and learning theory prompted me to seek educational opportunities to remedy that.

​

My goals for the educational technology program (MAET) at Michigan State University (MSU) were to improve my work experience in training and development by learning pedagogical approaches to teaching adults, how to use technology to enhance learning experiences, and how to think critically about learning experience design to best impact students. In this case, the students were employees learning tactical and strategic skills to apply to their jobs and lives.  

​

At the same time I worked through the courses in the educational technology program at MSU, I moved into the Head of Operations role at Erin Condren and applied content from the MAET program to my job. I took an adult learning course and realized how important it was to meet my employees where they were due to each individual's unique needs. I learned that using technology effectively in teaching depends on using the correct technology, with the complimentary pedagogy and content. I learned how to look critically at the design of training programs and the importance of soliciting feedback from the people using the training programs. 

​

My goal at the end of my program has stayed the same.  I took courses in traditional and new learning theories, adult pedagogy, and teaching with technology. I applied what i learned from my studies to enhance my work experience. I now know and apply the theories when designing training programs and legitimatized my work experience through the MAET program. The sky is the limit for me, whether I continue a retail career or pursue a different path.