Hello, I’m Sean Riordan.
I am a Training and Development Professional based in Dubai.
This is my academic portfolio.
My mission is to help organizations succeed by creating partners in learning and development who want to learn, connect, and grow.
I did not start out to become a Training & Development Professional.
By 2019, I had a full career as a military officer and had been managing a training program for more than seven years. Despite my years of experience, I knew that I had significant gaps in my professional capabilities.
North Carolina State University was a great fit for me. My wife and I love North Carolina. We met there. We raised our kids there, at least for a while. The NCSU program appealed to me because it related directly to my work and it helped me stay connected to North Carolina. I knew that I needed a way to connect my professional experience with a solid academic foundation.
My work enriched my academic experience throughout all 3-years. It provided me with real situations, hard challenges, and real stakeholders. These opportunities allowed me to deepen my knowledge as I improved my skills as a T&D practitioner.
Master’s of Education
Training and Development
North Carolina State University
2019 - 2021
Academic Portfolio
This section provides a high-level overview of my coursework. More importantly, however, it highlights important lessons that have shaped, reinforced, or modified my existing mental models. In a few paragraphs, I have attempted to capture the essence of what I learned in each course and its impact on me and my professional capabilities.
Links to select examples of my coursework are provided throughout my portfolio.
Ethics in the Workplace
Ethics are about our relationships with people, organizations, and our environment. Everything we do has an impact.
Ethical behavior does not develop by accident, but by regular reflection and purposeful practice. Ethical behavior is learnable and trainable. Everyone has a “shadow self" and it is far easier to stay on the good road than it is to dig oneself out of the ditch.
I ascribe to a maximalist approach for personal ethics. I believe that striving to live our values is the best way to bring ethics to life and to positively impact others.
My guiding principles are:
Honor the truth
Treat every person as an end unto themselves
Seek moderation
Be tough-minded; not hard-hearted
Operations can only proceed at the speed of trust
I do:
Regularly evaluate my own ethical conduct
As a Project Management Professional (PMP) demonstrate the values of honesty, responsibility, respect, and fairness.
Live and work according to the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.
Appreciate the role and influence of both formal and informal ethical systems in organizations, and can use these to identify root causes of performance and conduct
The Adult Learner
Malcolm Knowles’s assumptions about adult learners are the foundation upon which I build my personal practice. Adult learning is rarely however solely a matter of individual learning. Adults’ professional contexts must be considered so that theory can be applied effectively.
Individual and organizational goals explain the purpose of learning. This is the natural starting point for me. “Why” must precede “How” if we are to make a sustainable and recognizable difference.
The “How” of the Marine Corps is rooted in the Training & Education system, which relies heavily on behaviorism and cognitivism respectively. Both theories rely on the role of observation and imitation in the acquisition of new skills and knowledge.
I became interested social learning theories after recognizing that virtually all adult training is either conducted in groups or is preparing individuals for a role within a group. Groups are also exponentially more productive than individuals due to the compounding effects of individuals working together.
I appreciate the critiques of behavioral learning theory, as they relate to the knowledge economy, but behaviorism is not dead to me. It can be a useful guide to designers reminding us to focus on specific outcomes.
Social Cognition and Distributed Cognition deeply influence my thinking and my actions because I believe cognition exists in a rich human environment of interactions, use of tools, reliance on experience, and the assistance of others.
I do:
Enable adults to learn in groups
Strive to create immersive environments and learning situations
Work to reduce cognitive load onto job aids or tools and account for peer-to-peer learning opportunities
Knowles, M. S. (1972). Andragogy. NETCHE.
Needs Assessment
Time spent during up-front analysis is rarely, if ever, wasted. Teams that identify the actual, rather than perceived, causes of performance issues stand a good chance of selecting appropriate interventions that fulfill the expectations of all stakeholders.
I spend upwards of 80% of my effort at work assessing needs and working with stakeholders to understand their needs so they can allocate resources towards addressing them. The reason it consumes so much effort is that assessing needs is an ongoing process that takes place at all levels of performance from individuals, to organizations and entire occupations. Context also shifts continually within the traditional triple constraints of time-cost-quality, not to mention needing to meet the needs of a variety of stakeholders.
The framework for conducting any needs assessment is essentially the same. First, identify and define the gap between the current state and an ideal future state by collecting relevant data. Second, conduct the analysis and develop a range of options according to priority needs. Finally, support quality decision-making based on specific context by defining both costs and benefits to the decision-makers.
I employ a variety of tools, including:
Document or data reviews, focus groups and structured interviews, observational studies, Fishbone / Ishikawa diagrams, concept and process mapping, and SWOT Analysis.
Discrepancy Analyses to identify performance gaps
Exemplar Inquiries to identify ideal performance
Integrating Technology into Training Programs
I did not learn what I expected to during this course. What I discovered is likely to stick with me longer than any particular software skill.
Through my exploration of Distributed Cognitive Theory and an analogy of a sailing ship, I developed a deep appreciation of the role technology plays in supporting learning.
Dr. Edwin Hutchins in his 1995 book Cognition in the Wild described the functioning of a sailing ship and compared the ship, its tools, and its crew to an extended mind. The ship cannot sail unless all the officers and sailors work together performing individual and collective tasks mediated by their tools. The sea and the weather constantly change, forcing the crew to operate adaptively to meet the needs of their changing environment.
Today’s learning environment is like the ship, except that the technology now enables a nearly infinitely scalable extended mind. Instead of interacting with the tools of sextants and nautical charts, today’s learners interact with an array of computing tools, unlimited storage and recall, and vast networks of people.
Individuals not only benefit from social interactions with other people but the interactions are also required for the system to function.
You can see my explanations of Distributed Cognition on YouTube.
Hutchins, E. (1995). Cognition in the Wild (No. 1995). MIT press.
Methods and Techniques for Training and Development
This was my favorite course of the entire program. It blended adult learning theory with practical and actionable strategies for creating great training.
I cannot stress enough how much I appreciate and connect with Mel Silberman and Elaine Biech’s Active Training (2015). This book sits on my shelf at work and I consult it regularly when reviewing training design projects. I reference it constantly as I advocate for my organization to better prepare young officers and Non-commissioned Officers to improve their ability to train their own small units.
Silberman’s principles apply directly, but not exclusively, to adults. I also apply these principles to my role as a Scoutmaster while enabling Scouts to learn skills and dispositions. We all learn better when: we are engaged; when there is a need and purpose; when we are actively involved; and, when we have the opportunity to practice our new skill.
My guiding principles are:
Less is more
Invest in reflection and practice time
Spend time identifying the behaviors you want, even when addressing cognitive or affective learning objectives
Plan for challenging activities that force hands-on solutions or that require deep reflection
Silberman, M. L., & Biech, E. (2015). Active training: A handbook of techniques, designs, case examples, and tips. John Wiley & Sons.
Designing Instructional Systems
I began my academic program with this class, noting in one of the early message boards that, “I knew it was a critical foundation for me based on my current professional situation.”
At this time, I was the Senior Training Advisor at our Training Institute and I knew I lacked an in-depth appreciation of the foundations of our ADDIE-based system called Emirates Systems Approach to Training (E-SAT).
I completed two related extracurricular activities during this semester that reinforced my learning. First, I was tasked with developing an initial concept for a junior leadership program. I also listened to and analyzed every episode of a podcast called Dear Instructional Designer hosted by Kristin Anthony to identify common ISD themes.
I interviewed a Ph.D. Instructional Designer working in the military industry as part of my coursework.
This interview led to two key takeaways:
Designing must begin with the end in mind a
Introspection is key to deep learning
I am:
A highly competent behavioral task analyst
An expert in writing instructional objectives and matching instructional activities
An expert in the ADDIE Process Model
Committed to achieving student buy-in and acceptance of instructional activities
Anthony, K. (Host). (n.d.). Dear Instructional Designer [Audio Podcast]. https://www.dearinstructionaldesigner.com/index.html
Advanced Instructional Design Diapoint Group Project
My project team developed an e-learning course design for a small business in Dubai called Diapoint Middle East.
The project documents are archived in this website and are available for review. This project gave me an opportunity to collaborate with 4 other students. Our team was located in 3 different time zones on two continents. We worked very well together to manage our time and to achieve all of our goals and our Project Sponsor was very pleased with our results. She indicated her interest to continue to work with students from NCSU because of her positive experience with us.
I benefitted greatly from the online collaboration and group-production aspects of this project. The project gave me additional insights outside of my experience. I believe it was an excellent example of work in the 21st Century globalized world. Working with a team with diverse viewpoints and approaches gave me an opportunity to work on negotiations and find compromises that allowed us to meet our goals on time and at an appropriate level of quality.
One of the recurring themes of this program was highlighted in this project. Upfront investment in defining the objectives will pay dividends throughout the entire project. As I noted in my end of course reflection, “teams should work hard to achieve early consensus. This consensus should be built into the project plan. The influence of any one person is always greater at the beginning of the project”, and I reminded myself to, “move forward into the work only once you’ve established the conditions for team and project success.”
Evaluating Training Transfer and Effectiveness
Learning, Transfer, Impact: it all has to be evaluated.
I took the above statement out of my notes on this course. It sums up the big picture for me. Each level of this evaluation is crucial for different reasons and for different stakeholders.
My experience as a Training Program Manager puts me at the intersection of organizational leadership and instructional execution. This unique vantage means that I have to interact both broadly and in great detail with individual learners, designers and developers, quality analysts, managers, job owners, and organizational executives. With so many important stakeholders, where do I start?
I start at the highest level of need, the organization as a whole, and then I work down. I utilize the Kirkpatrick Model of Evaluation as my primary mental model. Although I am familiar with other models, particularly Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Model, my work is ideally suited for the Kirkpatrick Model.
I believe that:
Formative evaluation needs to be prioritized if you want to be agile and avoid costly errors
Behavioral objectives provide excellent opportunities to provide effective feedback that results in rapid improvement
Measuring transfer to the job is the responsibility of the whole organization, not the training establishment
Support and Accountability Packages are keys to success at all 4 levels of evaluation
Brinkerhoff, R. (2003). The success case method: Find out quickly what's working and what's not. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Kirkpatrick, J. D., & Kirkpatrick, W. K. (2016). Kirkpatrick's four levels of training evaluation. Association for Talent Development.
Organization and Operation of T&D Programs
This was a course about Project Management. I have been a certified PMP for nearly 10-years. I perform a variety of project and program-related responsibilities in my current and former roles. I consider myself a very competent Project Manager.
I re-learned many things because this beginner-level course encouraged me to go back to the foundations of the field. For the first time ever, I developed my own project plan from start to finish using basic PM methodologies and without the benefit of existing organizational process assets. The results of my project planning are included in this portfolio.
Additionally, I was able to interview a very seasoned professional project manager and customer experience manager. This interview provided me with an additional opportunity to assess my own knowledge, skills, experience, and attitudes. A link to this very useful interview is included in my portfolio.
During the course of my research, I found a 2012 article by Jerry Wellman titled Eight Habits of Successful Project Teams, which I have re-read several times since discovering it. The article connected many of the principles of adult learning theory with the practice of managing people inside a project.
Habit #1 of fostering and nurturing a shared vision reminds me of the need to start with the “why” and to engage learners at multiple levels. Habit #2 of translating vision to coherent performance specifications reminds me to identify objectives that are directly useful and enable practice. Habit #4 is to monitor performance (evaluate) against the plan and progress towards the specifications (learning), requirements (transfer), and vision (impact). There were many other connections.
This was a unique opportunity to see how adult learning theory can impact so many other areas of my professional life.
Wellman, J. (2012). Eight habits of successful project teams. Employment Relations 39(1), pp. 37-44.
Organizational Change in Human Resources
Whereas the majority of my Master’s program adult learning, this course allowed me to apply many of the same principles to organizations.
Two particular tools have stuck with me and continue to impact my practice.
First, the Burke & Litwin Model of Organizational Performance and Change. I keep a photocopy of this model at my desk as a reference for organizational-level discussions. Its 12 key elements are arranged in an open and adaptive system that can provide clarity when studying and developing recommended improvement strategies. It has become my go-to reference when someone shouts, “We need training.”
Second, is the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) developed by Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn (2011). I consider the OCAI as an effective means to conduct gap analyses at Level 3 and Level 4 in the Kirkpatrick Model of Evaluation.
Burke, W. W., & Litwin, G. H. (1992). A causal model of organizational performance and change. Journal of management, 18(3), 523-545.
Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (2011). Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: Based on the competing values framework. John Wiley & Sons.
Independent Study on a Distributed Learning Platform to Build Workforce Competency
I was fortunate enough to have been tasked to design a training solution for a compulsory national military service program for one major command of the UAE Armed Forces. I was able to build a small team, design the training systems and curricula, organize and prepare instructional staff, and help to design a training camp that could accommodate more than 1,000 trainees at once. This experience remains the highlight of my nearly decade in the UAE.
During this experience, I observed and came to understand that the initial success of the program was not being sustained. At the 2019 Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation & Education Conference (I/ITSEC), I was introduced to the Competency and Skills Systems which was developed by Eduworks. Earlier that year, the former Commanding General of USMC Training & Education Command suggested that I read Modernizing Learning: Building the Future Learning Ecosystem edited by J.J. Walcutt and Sae Schatz (2019).
The collision of these 3 things propelled me to begin an ongoing research project that I hope can contribute to clarifying the current gap, explaining the opportunity, and improving outcomes across all 4 of the Kirkpatrick Levels.
I am interested in re-energizing this passion project now that my degree work is completed. I also hope to develop additional collaborators who will share my vision, values, and enthusiasm.
Walcutt, J. J., & Schatz, S. (2019). Modernizing Learning: Building the Future Learning Ecosystem. Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative.
Educational Themes found in my Academic Portfolio
Design with the end in mind.
Invest significantly in the up-front analysis to ensure you understand the needs clearly.
Psychological Engagement is a key element of involving adult learners in the outcomes of training.
Build practice and repetition into your designs.
Blended learning has unique advantages that stem from its mix of instructional methods.
Organizations and people are made up of two systems, the easily seen and the one below the surface.
Moderation is important both for individual ethical behavior and for content.
Key Academic Influences
Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative, US Department of Defense
Competency and Skills System by Eduworks
Modernizing Learning edited by J.J. Walcutt and Sae Schatz
Active Learning by Mel Silberman and Elaine Biech
Analysis for Improving Performance by Richard Swanson
Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training Evaluation by James Kirkpatrick and Wendy Kayser Kirkpatrick