Hi, I’m Linda Payne.

Welcome to my portfolio. I partner with clients, large and small, to build meaningful, learner-centered educational experiences.

Scroll to learn about my instructional design approach, services offered, and project samples.

My Approach

Make it about the learners.

Getting to know learner needs, motivations and learning environments is key to providing effective, meaningful learning solutions that. This starts with an analysis of what students need to about a subject compared to what they already know. Learners have different intrinsic and extrinsic motivators as well, and I try to tap into those motivators as much as possible. Data about where students will take the courses, what technologies they will use, and how much time they can dedicate to learning helps determine appropriate modalities, multimedia types, and course length.

Align with business goals.

Whether your business is about creating learning programs to sell to other companies or you want to train your employees on company values, the latest software, etc., I realize the importance of aligning learner needs with business goals. I like to involve learners and stakeholders in early stages of a project and maintain an iterative approach to work and feedback to ensure the final result aligns a company’s vision and goals.

Design Services

Instructional Design

Doctor of Education, Instructional Design & Technology

5+ Years Instructional Design Experience

  • Course evaluation

  • Curriculum design

  • Curriculum mapping

  • Interface prototyping

  • Learner analysis

  • Learner Experience Design

  • Multimedia development

  • Needs assessments

  • Project Management

  • Qualitative & Quantitative Research

  • Storyboarding

  • Subject Matter Expert (SME) Collaboration

Content Design

Bachelor of Arts - English, Technical & Professional Writing

15+ Years Content Design Experience

  • Articles, Blogs, & FAQs

  • Content Analysis

  • Content Management

  • Editing

  • Generative AI Prompting

  • Instructional Content

  • Links & Labeling

  • Marketing, Ads, & SEO

  • Project Management

  • Segmenting/Chunking

  • User Experience (UX)

  • Web Copy

Project Samples

Backward Design

Project Description: 

This project consisted of two Articulate Rise modules on Backward Design (BD) for University of Tennessee (UT) faculty, most of whom were not familiar with the BD teaching method. This was added to a library of courses they already have and, for consistency, was designed with the existing courses and UT branding in mind. 

My Role: 

Lead Instructional Designer & Project Manager; Authored Bulk of Module 1

View Backward Design Module 1

View Backward Design Module 2

Leadership Training

Project Description:

The project was to teach Sylvamo's core leadership competencies to employees, especially new hires.

My Role:

I converted Sylvamo's PowerPoint slides to an online course. Images and video were provided by Sylvamo.

View Leadership Course

K-12 Curriculum - “Double-O STEM”

Project Description:

This informal after-school library curriculum was designed for students to use STEM activities to solve problems in their community. Objectives are aligned to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards. After deploying to local libraries, this curriculum was adopted by a local university school system.

My Role: 

Lead Instructional Designer & Content Developer

View Learner Curriculum

View Educator Guide

PBL for Neurodivergent Students

Project Description: 

This course was created in Articulate Rise and designed to teach faculty and administrative professionals at Campus University schools (K-12) about the basics of neurodiversity and how to teach problem-based learning (PBL) in an inclusive classroom setting. 

My Role: 

Lead Instructional Designer, Content Designer, Course Developer (for 90% of content), Researcher, AI Prompt Engineer (Adobe Firefly)

View PBL Course

How Adults Learn Module

Project Description:

This was a quick presentation on how adults learn that I did in Articulate over the course of a weekend, including the video (without AI help). I did elaborate on things as I spoke, but this was what I used instead of the usual PowerPoint slides.

My Role:

I created, edited, and presented all course materials with the exception of stock images and mail voice.

View Adult Learning Course

Faculty Quick-Start Guide to OER

Project Description:  

This guide was designed in Canva to educate faculty at the University of Memphis on open educational resources (OER) in order to increase the use of and contribution to OER resources.

My Role: 

Although listed as a Graduate Assistant, my role on this project was an Instructional Design Consultant from the IDT Studio within the College of Education.

 View Faculty Quick-Start Guide

Internship Readiness Training

Project Description:

This was an NSF-funded project to teach data science to HBCU student interns. Links below are to an informal Articulate Rise course I created to help prepare HBCU students for the internship and a published design case.

My Role: 

Instructional Design Consultant on this long-term project for 3-1/2 years.

View Intern Readiness Course

View Design Case