PORTFOLIO
Trauma-Informed Teaching for ESOL Educators The Challenge The Community Learning Centre (CLC) in London identified a critical gap: while staff are expert vocational teachers, they felt underprepared to support adult refugees and asylum seekers experiencing trauma. I designed this 6-week eLearning course to move educators from "anxious and vulnerable" to "confident and capable" in recognising and responding to trauma signs. The Strategy: Human-Centered & Accessible To ensure the training was inclusive for all staff, I designed for three distinct learner personas (David, Anaïs, and Ravi), balancing low digital confidence with a need for mobile-first interactivity. • Accessibility: Built to WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards, featuring high-contrast palettes and neurodiverse-friendly fonts (Calibre/Cooper BT). • Pedagogy: Grounded in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Mayer’s Multimedia Theory to manage cognitive load. • Scaffolding: Used Bloom’s Taxonomy to guide learners from basic understanding to creating their own trauma-aware lesson plans. The Tech Stack I leveraged a robust suite of tools to ensure the course was both engaging and easy for the organisation to manage: • LMS: Hosted on Canvas for seamless tracking and screen-reader compatibility. • Authoring: Created interactive modules in Articulate Rise 360 and Canva. • Multimedia: Developed reflective animations and videos using Camtasia and Powtoon. The Impact The project resulted in a significant positive shift in teaching culture. Educators now report higher confidence in maintaining professional boundaries while managing classroom distress with empathy. By modelling inclusive design, this course has become the organisation's blueprint for future, accessible CPD initiatives.
Workshop Case Study: Urban Green Spaces & The UK Business Landscape Contextualising Urban Sustainability for International Learners This workshop was designed for Danish exchange students in London, bridging the gap between Business English and urban economic development. The primary objective was to move learners beyond basic vocabulary toward applying professional English in a real-world, UK-specific context—specifically the business value of urban green infrastructure. To ensure the content supported rather than overwhelmed these ESL learners, I used Canva to design a visual-first presentation. By prioritizing high-impact imagery and clear, scaffolded text, I created a framework that allowed students to grasp complex sustainability concepts without getting lost in dense technical jargon. Blended Media for Cognitive Clarity To enhance the workshop’s narrative and cater to dual-coding theory, I integrated a custom Powtoon video. This animated segment served as a "visual anchor," introducing the economic and social benefits of UK parks through a dynamic storytelling format. This multimedia approach is particularly effective for international students; it reduces the cognitive load by providing both visual and auditory cues for new vocabulary. The video acted as the transition point from theoretical knowledge to active discussion, giving students the confidence and the "language bank" needed to participate in the live collaborative segments of the workshop. AI-Enhanced Assessment with Fillout A key innovation in this workshop was the integration of an interactive AI-powered quiz created with Fillout. Leveraging Fillout’s AI builder, I transformed the workshop’s core learning objectives into a responsive, real-time assessment that provided students with instant feedback. This tool allowed for a "Community of Inquiry" within the classroom, where students could test their comprehension of business terminology and urban policy immediately. The AI-generated questions ensured the assessment was tightly aligned with the session's specific content, making the feedback loop both relevant and motivating for a digitally-savvy student cohort. Cross-Cultural Outcomes and Professional Impact The session culminated in a "cross-cultural reflexivity" exercise, where students compared UK urban strategies with those in Denmark using their newly acquired professional vocabulary. The project demonstrated how a blend of Generative AI, animation, and visual design can accelerate language acquisition in specialized fields like business and environmental policy. By the end of the workshop, students were able to deliver brief, high-level pitches for green space projects, proving that the combination of scaffolded media and AI-driven interactivity successfully moved them from passive listeners to active, professional communicators.