Colin Talbot's Doctoral Portfolio

Introduction

I usually begin any introduction to myself by explaining that I have been fortunate enough to work at all levels of learning and education, even though that was not my plan. While I may not have started on a path to work in learning and with learning technologies, my experiences through the years have helped inspire my current pursuit of earning my doctorate and working towards developing more effective practices to benefit all learners. 

Undergrad and K-12 Career

My undergraduate journey started at the University of Texas at Arlington, where I initially pursued a few different fields of engineering before discovering I did not have the prerequisite skills and knowledge needed, and more importantly, I did not understand how I learned to build the skills on my own. This led to me changing my major to business and focusing on economics, as I always enjoyed exploring the “why” things were the way they were. Upon graduation, I found myself in the midst of the 2008 recession, with very few career prospects for a new graduate with minimal experience. So, being the son of a lifelong educator, I decided to get my teaching certification, at the very least, until things returned to normal.

As luck would have it, I earned my initial teaching certification around the time the state decided to retire its current standardized test, meaning any rating gained from those scores would remain in effect until the new standardized test was in place and accepted across the state. So, I again found myself with very few prospects, but I was lucky enough to find a position as a 3rd grade teacher in a small rural elementary school in Bastrop, Texas. This opportunity is where I first began to see the potential effects and impacts learning technology had on learning and engagement with my students. I soon became an advocate at my campus, supporting other teachers in incorporating technology into their classrooms. My first job as a teacher was full of learning experiences for both me and my students, and it began to lay the framework for me to work in the field for many years to come. I was given an opportunity to work in a bigger district with more technology as a special education math teacher at a middle school in Arlington, Texas. It was in this role that I worked with all levels of students, from students who were mostly in general education courses to students in the autism program and students in the pre-vocational program. Again, I found myself incorporating technology into my lessons as much as possible and found myself amazed at how technology could reframe the math concepts I was trying to teach into a medium that my students understood with little assistance from me. It was here that I knew that my future in education was in learning technology. I began to explore my options to take my learning further to understand better how to best incorporate technology and learning, which led me to apply to graduate school. 

Graduate School and Higher Ed Career

As a graduate student at Tarleton State University, my program specialized in instructional design and allowed me to see the highs and lows of distance and virtual education. This was one of the first times in my life that I found myself going beyond the requirements of the assignments and really beginning to explore what was possible. This is also when I became interested in research and ended up being the first student in the program to choose the thesis option as the final requirement for graduation. For my thesis, I decided to develop an application exploring the use of virtual manipulatives in the math classroom to solve algebraic equations. This was inspired by my experience seeing my students struggle to solve equations using “x” and “y” as I had learned, but breezing through the process when I was able to present the same equations in a more visual format. Once I completed my research and defended my thesis, I knew I wanted to go on and pursue my doctorate and begin seeking opportunities to continue my education.

Shortly after graduating with my master's, I had the opportunity to move into higher education as a faculty developer at Texas Christian University as a member of the Koehler Center for Teaching and Learning. In this role, I helped support faculty to improve their teaching and learning practices, as well as help manage and train on the university’s learning technology. My initial plans were to pursue my doctorate here, but I soon found that the programs offered did not align with my focus and interest in learning technologies. At TCU, I was able to work on a variety of different learning technology projects; the first big project I had was supporting the transition to a new learning management system and training faculty and staff on how to use it effectively. I also helped run the training for any faculty who wanted to teach online and audit new and existing online courses to ensure all standards and regulations were adhered to. I led a project to implement a university-wide video platform system and turned one of the center’s spaces into a self-service production studio for faculty to create video content. One of the last projects I worked on was scaling training for all faculty to teach online at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as lockdowns began taking place. My time in higher education allowed me to explore many different technologies and examine their potential impact, allowing me to look at new and emerging technologies with a more critical lens. These experiences helped me prepare for my next opportunity, where I transitioned into professional education. 

Graduate School Continued and Professional Learning Career

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I became a learning technology consultant for JPS Health Network. Due to the pandemic, I found myself extremely busy as the health network had relied primarily on instructor-led learning and training offerings, and like everyone else, they were forced to move to a digital/distance-first approach. While it was chaotic at times, the rest of the learning and development team and I were able to explore ways to adapt and adjust to continue onboarding new employees needed to support the health network. I also helped pilot innovative onboarding programs to support the state’s traveling nurse program to ensure the network could rapidly receive and deploy these temporary workers effectively during patient surges. Once I found my footing amid the chaos, I explored other ways to utilize learning technology to support the organization’s learning and development priorities, and also when I realized that I was ready to continue my education and begin exploring doctoral program opportunities. This led me to apply to the University of North Texas Learning Technology program and continue my education. My coursework in this program was immediately impactful as I began to explore how to apply instructional methodologies and theories in the workplace to improve learning and development offerings. During this time, I supported the overhaul of compliance training and the implementation of a self-service orientation portal for outside contractors and led another learning management system transition. As I worked with employees at various levels, I became interested in self-directed learning and how technology can support learning, which employees feel is important to their growth and development and that traditional learning and development teams may be unable to support. Shortly after I started the doctoral program, I had the opportunity to continue my career in professional learning. 

My next opportunity in professional learning came as a learning experience designer for Fidelity Investments. Fidelity was by far the biggest organization I had ever worked for, but it allowed me to see how larger learning and development projects took shape, the collaboration needed to develop content and assessments, and how to implement larger programs for a global audience. Again, I found myself leveraging new knowledge and practices from my coursework to help improve the learning programs that support the workforce. I was able to help pioneer leveraging existing content authoring tools to create realistic simulations for employees that mirrored what their day-to-day activities would look like outside of training to better support their speed to proficiency. I supported large-scale re-design and development of onboarding and career growth programs for different business units, which eventually led me to be promoted into a learning experience architect position, helping design the learning, content, and evaluation strategies for organizational priorities. Seeing learning and development on a larger scale only furthered my interest in self-directed learning, seeing an immense opportunity for organizations to leverage technology to support their workforce’s learning endeavors and to capture the new knowledge and skills being developed to help achieve strategic priorities or address challenges as they arise. 

Present Day

That brings us to the present day in my professional journey as I start to move towards working on my dissertation exploring how technology can support self-directed learning in the workplace. While I’m not sure exactly where I want my path to lead once I complete my current studies, I hope to find a role or opportunity that balances practice and research and allows me to stay grounded in the reality of learning. I am excited about what the future holds for learning and development, and I feel that we are on the verge of a revolution spurred by advances in other emerging technologies like AI and GenAI that will greatly expand capabilities and improve the quality and effectiveness of learning experiences.