I interviewed with a startup company called Willow that had created the first virtual call center.
Willow needed to train agents scattered around the Dade-Broward area of Florida. We partnered with an instructional technology team in Boston and began building in WebCT. Our approach was hybrid (no one yet called it that). Students completed self-paced learning every morning and attended instructor-led virtual sessions every afternoon. When the course was completed, they took simulated and then real calls.
In 2003, I began a master’s program in instructional systems at Florida State University. Robert Gagne contributed heavily to the foundation of the program. This program was offered completely online using the Blackboard learning management systems.
In the twenty plus years that followed, I have worked with a variety of content creation tools hosted on a variety of learning management systems. I have written and developed online tutorials, learner workbooks, facilitator guides, and collateral, such as handouts, brochures, and job aids.
