About Debbie
I’m a Toronto native, born and raised in the Toronto-area (for the most part with brief stints in Montreal and Nassau, Bahamas). My husband and I bought our first house in Toronto, had three kids, then moved everyone to Los Angeles in 2002 (no easy feat)! We still live in the Los Angeles area as (soon to be) empty-nesters, with our youngest in his last year of university. Work Experience and Education I went to Ryerson University (when it was still a Polytechnic Institute) and graduated from the three-year Business Administration program in 1985, after which I started a career in sales, then moved to retail management and eventually landed my dream job at the time as Manager of Training and Development for a national retail organization. In that job I found my passion, developing and implementing customized learning and development courses for management teams, management trainees and employees. I continued my work with companies in learning and development, creating customized learning programs. When we moved to the United States in 2002 I continued my work, but shifted to elementary education where I worked as a substitute teacher, developed curriculum for enrichment programs, and taught two of my youngest kids at home for two years through an online virtual academy. It was eye-opening! I saw the future in learning—online education! I went back to school and completed my Bachelor's degree, then a Master’s degree in Education with a focus in Education Technology. I began working in curriculum design for online education, applying what I learned from my Master's degree program along with my years of experience. It was a natural fit; I loved it. I started working in higher education as a lead online curriculum developer, started a (surprisingly) successful blog in 2012, Online Learning Insights (which has over one millions views from all over the world) and eventually started working independently as a digital education consultant. Some of my clients included The World Bank, Consultants Development Institute and Cal State Fullerton University. During this time I also wrote articles, blog posts for Online Learning Insights, and had a chapter published in a textbook. What I’m Doing Now I’m transitioning to Museum education; I love museums—a lifelong passion! I’m finishing up a Museum Studies certificate with Northwestern University (June 2019). I’m currently volunteering as a docent at a house museum, creating family learning programs for museums, and working on several writing projects including a blog, Museums Insights +. I’m also developing an online course for the learning platform, Udemy. My goal moving forward is to share, through writing, working and creating, how to make museums dynamic places of learning, growth and enjoyment! It’s the reason why I started Museum Insights +. Please check it out! You can also visit my Bio page for more details about my work experience. Thanks for visiting. |