Become an IDOL 76: Strategic Assessment Learning with Tamara Schroer
Guest: Tamara Schroer, Vice President of Education & Development | Working Solutions
In this episode, I will be chatting with Tamara Schroer, the Vice President of Education and Development at Working Solutions and she is not you typical corporate executive. She is a born educator and putting her formal training and innate talents to work, helping Working Solutions to develop one of the world's most powerful and effective approaches to virtual corporate education. You will love the energy in this episode!
Listen to this episode below:
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Here's a little bit about Tamara:
Tamara Schroer, Vice President of Education and Development at Working Solutions, isn't your typical corporate executive. She's something better: a born educator. Armed with a degree in education and a passion for making a difference, she began her career helping the nonprofit Boys...
Become an IDOL 63: Success Story with Former Teacher Kim Limon
Guest: Kim Limon, Learning and Development Design Specialist
In this episode, I'm chatting with Kim Limon with 10 years experience in Education and English writing. She was wanting more with flexibility. When she found IDOL courses Academy she knew it was the clear bridge to help her cross over into corporate.
Hear how much time she put in and how she went through IDOL courses Academy while working a full time job. After 2 months she built a portfolio, revamped her resume and LinkedIn account with recruiters contacting her. She has great tips for navigating the next steps!
Listen to this episode below:
Subscribe to Become an IDOL Podcast: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast
Let me tell you a little bit about Kim:
Kim Limon is a 10-year educator/ instructor with a varied education background instructing learners from pre-K to middle school 10th, grade, GED, all subjects as well as English language learners, and...
Advocating for Accessibility
It’s now becoming common knowledge that humans have a wide range of cognitive differences, in addition to the physical ones that are more readily apparent. However, we’re still just scratching the surface with our understanding of conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder. With that emerging comprehension comes persistent stigmas. I’ve experienced them in my own family and encountered them in the learning and development field.
In fact, what spurred me to write this was getting blocked by a doctor who has an active social media and podcast presence because I asked her to consider not using background music that contained vocals, as the vocals competed with what she said aloud. That doctor also is a professor at a state university, which made me wonder if she provides accommodations for her neurodivergent students. (Learning differences don’t go away when a person enters medical school, after all.)
This reminded me that we still have a...
Become an IDOL 71: Success Story with Barbara Taylor an Internal Promotion
Guest: Barbara Taylor, Manager of Training for Talent Acquisition
In this episode, I will be chatting with Barbara Taylor, IDOL alumni from cohort 3. She was able to transform her role within a fortune 100 company through her passion for Learning and Development with the implementation from IDOL courses Academy. She now serves as the training manager for 180 recruiters. Listen in now to hear more details on Barbara’s internal promotional journey.
Listen to this episode below:
Subscribe to Become an IDOL Podcast: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast
Let me tell you a little bit about Barbara:
Barbara has always had an affinity for instructional design and online learning and aspired to succeed in this type of position. She began working toward her dream of landing a position in the Learning & Development field. The journey was lengthy, and after receiving her master’s degree...
Training: The Employer in L&D
During the pandemic, I went back to school to get a MEd, and I found the IDOL courses Academy. I realized there was much to learn, and that the Academy would help me move in the right direction. It occurred to me that I was undergoing a bit of a career re-calibration. I had many of the skills that I needed to become an IDOL. I’d done graphic design, teaching, curriculum development, and I wrote and published a novel. So I had all of the skills necessary to become and IDOL, didn’t I? Well yes. And no.
In the last blog I wrote I said Robin and Jay helped me get through several interviews at a job I still work at. Robin warned me that the role, as she was reading the description, was less...
Event-Specific Self-Reflection
In my current role, I’m developing a solution that’s event-specific. The event happens every year, but every year they may need to leverage the event differently.
The problem I’ve always run into with annual asks like this is that I tend to forget the process until it comes up again, which wouldn’t be an obstacle if the process were exactly the same year after year. But the hope is our learners will build on their learning each time the event happens and deepen their practice.
So how do you get learners to remember something that happened a year ago?
My answer: You don’t.
Like myself, a lot of my family and friends are neurodivergent. Asking many of us to remember learning from a year ago is a big ask, and I assume it’s likely a big ask for neurotypical people too.
Instead of hoping people will just remember, build self-reflection mechanisms into the workflow.
Since my build is event-specific and the event happens...
This Playwright Question Informs my ID Practice
Within the first few minutes, I determined my classmates didn’t know how to read. I clearly meant for this line to be said with anger, another one with relief. The discussion after the reading (me still silent) showed me they had all misread my theme and empathized with the wrong characters.
Seeing me become increasingly frustrated, the professor brought the discussion to a close: “How well can the Work live without you, Mandy? As a playwright, you create the blueprint. But you can’t follow your work everywhere, making sure everyone interprets it correctly. The Work must live the way you intended without you. If you’re upset by the results of today, you have more work to do.”
I imagine what Professor Hood put me through...
You Have Permission: To Make a Major Career Shift
Then, reality hit. I realized that there is more to teaching than you can see on the surface.The physical, mental, and emotional toll teaching takes on a person is tough. In a lot of ways, it felt like the deck was stacked against me before I ever started. It became clear early on that this job was not the forever career I had planned.
What followed was the process of changing my mindset, determining a new career path, and transitioning out of teaching. I had built my identity around my job as a teacher. It was who I was. It impacted the ways I...
ID Podcasts: Master Your Skills While Shopping, Running, or Cooking
Podcasts are awesome
- They’re free.
- They’re light and portable. You only need a phone and your earphones, which I would not leave the house without anyway.
- They can be downloaded. Therefore you don’t rely on your internet connection and your phone plan.
- They’re hand-free. So you could just put an episode on and carry on washing the dishes, painting the guest room or changing a nappy.
- If you subscribe, the new episodes are automatically marked in your app. No need to look for new content.
- You can find a podcast on any topic. ...
Set Yourself up for Success: 5 action steps to take before IDOL courses Academy begins!
When IDOL courses Academy began this past January, I was very pregnant. In fact, my daughter was due during the second week of the course. Becoming an IDOL was something that I wanted badly, but I wasn’t sure that I would be able to meet my goals with a new baby and a two-year-old at home. I burn grilled cheese three of every five times I make it. How could I balance two children and the Academy?
Desperate to get a head start, I emailed Dr. Robin Sargent before the cohort began and asked her if there was anything that I could do. She replied with some great tips and reassured me that, “there is no behind in the Academy!” Because of her guidance, I was able to start IDOL courses Academy feeling confident and ahead. My daughter was born a little early (the second day of my IDOL cohort!) but I was ready for the challenge.
Here are a couple of Dr. Robin’s tips, and a few of my own, for setting yourself up for success.
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