Welcome to my highlight reel! The examples included here holistically represent what I consider to be the brightest spots across my career experiences and personal engagements.
Programs
In my career, I’ve directed end-to-end learning design, content development, project management, assessment, and digital storytelling for experiential learning programs across K-12, higher education, and corporate learning sectors. Highlights include:
Telling My Story
Dartmouth Vietnam Project
Senior Design Challenge
DELTA Summit
Convened an experiential professional development event for 60 educators from 4 countries, 22 states, 50 universities, 8 K-12 schools, and 10 independent education organizations. Recognized with the Dartmouth College 2018 Lone Pine Excellence Award in Innovation.
Entrepreneurship Across the Curriculum
Created the design framework, curriculum, learning content, and course site for a professional workshop series designed to help teachers learn how to integrate real-world entrepreneurship tools and strategies into existing CTE curriculum.
Impact Reports
Assembled and managed a cross-functional team of faculty, co-curricular partners, and institutional assessment experts to evaluate programs and produce a series of 7 dynamic, digital reports to demonstrate impact on student, faculty, and community development. Reports were used in Dartmouth’s unprecedented Call to Lead campaign to raise $3.7B over 8 years.
Leadership Development
As a leadership educator for most of my career, I’ve completed graduate-level training and taught courses on leadership development theory and practice. I’ve also designed, managed, and facilitated several different leadership development programs for adult learners in a variety of contexts, across education, non-profit, and corporate sectors. Here are some of the highlights:
Social Change Leadership Series
Created an immersive, experiential leadership curriculum and facilitated a weekly workshop series based on the Social Change Model of Leadership Development required for 150+ students that has since been expanded into a campus-wide program. Workshop topics included:
Consciousness of Self: Developing deep awareness of the beliefs, values, attitudes, and emotions that motivate us to take action.
Congruence: Thinking, feeling, and behaving with consistency, genuineness, authenticity, and honesty.
Commitment: Understanding the energy that drives collective group effort through passion, intensity, and duration.
Collaboration: Working together in a common effort – empowering self and others through building trust.
Common Purpose: Working with shared aims and values.
Controversy with Civility: Recognizing that differences in viewpoint are inevitable, and that such difference must be aired openly but with civility.
Citizenship: Contributing individual and collaborative group leadership to the broader community and society at large.
Stamps scholars program
Directed a high-impact leadership program designed to recognize and reward students who demonstrate academic merit, strong leadership potential, and exceptional character. Stamps Scholars are part of a national network located in 40 elite universities across the country. The goal is to enable exceptional students to become meaningful leaders throughout society.
DESIGN THINKING TRAINING
Developed the curriculum and facilitated sessions for a professional learning series designed to engage full-time professional leaders in their field in design thinking methodology. Design thinking can be a powerful leadership tool to unlock workplace challenges and solve critical problems.
team + talent assessments
I’m an HBDI® Certified Practitioner – which allows me to utilize the Whole Brain® Thinking methodology to engage individuals and groups in personal and team-based leadership development. I’ve also used the CliftonStrengths assessment to unleash individual and group potential in order to build high-performing teams.
Speaking + Writing
Lead Author of “Unlocking the Power of Partnerships with Whole Brain® Thinking” Case Study (2023)
Digital Workshop Presenter for Managing Editor Magazine: Use Your Whole Brain to Ignite Demand (Fall 2022)
Webinar Presenter for Herrmann: The Power of Pause (Spring 2022)
Presenter for Herrmann HBDI® Certified Practitioners in Practice Workshop: Designing Whole Brain® Learning Experiences (Summer 2022)
Co-Author of “Changing Records of Learning through Innovations in Pedagogy and Technology,” EDUCAUSE Review (March 2016)
Other featured speaking and writing engagements:
- Webinar Presenter for Training Magazine, Learning in the Flow of Work (2022)
- Guest Speaker on the EntreEd Talk Podcast Episode on Entrepreneurial Mindset (2020)
- Ignite Speaker at the International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE) Conference (2017) in Galway, Ireland, Beyond the Dotted Line: SOTL – RSLCE at Dartmouth College
- Workshop Presenter at EDUCAUSE Learning Initiatives Annual Meeting (2016), Minisummit: Launching the Blending with MOOCs Toolkit and Pop-Up Think Tank: Blending with MOOCs
- Poster Presenter at EDUCAUSE Learning Initiatives Annual Meeting (2016), Who’s in Your Sandbox? How Digital Initiatives Can Inspire Cross-Campus Collaboration
- Keynote Speaker at AAEEBL Annual Conference (2015) Featuring Helen Chen (Stanford University) and Kathryn Coleman (Deakin University), “Back to the Future: ePortfolio Pedagogy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”
- Lead Co-Author of “ePortfolios, Badges, and the Whole Digital Self: How Evidence-Based Learning Pedagogies and Technologies Can Support Integrative Learning and Identity Development” (2015)
Teaching + Learning Design
- Taught SOS 4525: Community Engagement & Service Learning, Antioch University Online
- Taught UNIV/EXPL 393: Seminar in Integrative Leadership, Loyola University Chicago
- Taught UNIV/EXPL 291: Seminar in Community-Based Research, Loyola University Chicago
- Taught EDCP 315: Leadership in Groups and Organizations, Leadership Studies Minor, University of Maryland
- Instructional Designer for Dartmouth College Gateway Courses including:
Click above images to expand for more information on each Gateway Course.
Work Samples
The following are examples of featured work I’ve produced with my specific role explained in the captions. Where possible, I’ve included links to the full resource.
Program Design + Content Development
Media Production
Event Planning
Project Management
Designed, socialized, and implemented a cross-functional, companywide content request process in Asana with built-in Slack workflows, resulting in a 500% increase in compliance and engagement in the first month following rollout. Also actively developed systems and processes to manage the backlog of requests, regularly moving them through a cross-functional content development, QA, and publishing process.
Personal Projects
Doodles
Created a series of illustrations to express complex concepts and communicate big ideas more visually after joining the Explain Ideas Visually course and community.
Family Memoir Project
Co-authored and digitized a series of short personal essays with my uncle to honor the memory of my dad and his brother, who our family lost to leukemia in 1998.
Startup Business Owner
Co-founded and operated Great Full Plate, a private experiential culinary service, with my chef husband from 2020-2022, as featured on WGN Sunday Brunch. Managed all business development, marketing, social media, client engagement, and event coordination.
Ashley Blackburn 