Aprille'

Learning, Design & Technology · M.Ed.

hi, I'm

Aprille' Morris-Butler

Educator & Instructional Designer · Training & Development

I am a strong believer that learning should open doors for all we interact with, not narrow them, so my work centers on equity and access, especially in how we train the teachers and professionals others depend on. To that effect, I design from the root cause up, looking at the whole system around a learner.

My long-term goal is to move into corporate learning and development, designing the training that helps people grow in their careers. It comes from the same place my teaching does. I care about how organizations treat the people inside them, and strong, fair training is one of the clearest ways to widen access and opportunity. This degree builds that skill, and this portfolio gathers the work.

Aprille' Morris-Butler, smiling, wearing a cream top, outdoors in front of green trees
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a little about me

My program & concentration

I am a 10-year educator, currently teaching 7th and 8th grade middle school science in Charlotte, NC. I'm also earning my Master of Education in Learning, Design & Technology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

My concentration is Training & Development, so my work focuses on building people's skills and improving performance in real workplaces. Everything in this portfolio is something I made that has been mapped to the professional standards it applies to.

The program moves from Foundations of Learning, Design, and Technology, the course I am in now, into Instructional Design, Human Performance Technology, and Multimedia Development. What ties these to my goals is one thing they all teach me, which is how to take something complicated and make it easy to understand. That matters in learning design, and it matters just as much in the workplace training I want to build.

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standards I'm aligned with

My portfolio is built around two sets of professional standards. For each one I'll add an artifact and a short reflection showing how I met it, filling these in as I finish each course.

ibstpi Standards

✦ ibstpi · domain 1

Professional Foundations

Communicating clearly, applying research and theory, and keeping practice current.

Artifactlink a product
Reflectionhow it meets this
✦ ibstpi · domain 2

Planning & Analysis

Needs, learner, and context analysis to ground design in evidence.

Artifactlink a product
Reflectionhow it meets this
✦ ibstpi · domain 3

Design & Development

Choosing strategies, sequencing content, and building materials and assessments.

ReflectionI'm designing a Discerning Humanity curriculum for my middle school, building the units, materials, and sequence myself. It centers representation and the range of voices students encounter. I think it shows I can design and develop a full learning experience with a clear line from purpose to materials, not just a single lesson.
✦ ibstpi · domain 4

Evaluation & Implementation

Evaluating solutions and rolling them out, then refining based on data.

Artifactlink a product
Reflectionhow it meets this
✦ ibstpi · domain 5

Management

Managing projects, partnerships, and teams to get work done with others.

Artifactlink a product
Reflectionhow it meets this
Set 2 · Training & Development

ISPI Standards of Performance Technology

♡ guiding principles

✦ ispi · 1

Focus on Results

Anchor every solution to measurable outcomes, not just activity.

Artifactlink a product
Reflectionhow it meets this
✦ ispi · 2

Take a Systemic View

See performance in context: people, process, and environment together.

Artifactlink a product
Reflectionhow it meets this
✦ ispi · 3

Add Value

Deliver work that creates real, demonstrable worth for the client.

Artifactlink a product
Reflectionhow it meets this
✦ ispi · 4

Work in Partnership

Collaborate closely with clients and stakeholders throughout.

Artifactlink a product
Reflectionhow it meets this

♡ the systematic process

✦ ispi · 5

Determine Need or Opportunity

Analyze the gap between current and desired performance.

Artifactlink a product
Reflectionhow it meets this
✦ ispi · 6

Determine Cause

Find the real reasons behind the performance gap.

ReflectionFor this, I observed a class where students kept drifting off task. Instead of treating the behavior as the problem, I traced it back to its real cause: there was no clear, student-facing task to anchor the energy in the room. My coaching point targeted that root cause with one additive change rather than asking the teacher to rethink their whole approach. I think it shows I can tell symptoms apart from causes before jumping to a solution.
✦ ispi · 7

Design Solutions

Select and design interventions, plus a plan to implement them.

Artifactlink a product
Reflectionhow it meets this
✦ ispi · 8

Ensure Conformity & Feasibility

Develop solutions that are practical and truly fit the need.

Artifactlink a product
Reflectionhow it meets this
✦ ispi · 9

Implement Solutions

Put interventions into action and support adoption and change.

Artifactlink a product
Reflectionhow it meets this
✦ ispi · 10

Evaluate Results & Impact

Measure impact against goals and refine for next time.

Artifactlink a product
Reflectionhow it meets this
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things I've made

current course

ELDT 6100: Foundations of Learning, Design & Technology

ELDT 6100 is the foundational course in my LDT program. It covers the core theories, models, and standards of learning design, from instructional design frameworks to evaluation, and it's where I began building this portfolio.

♡ project · in progress

Designing for Representation

A self-paced professional learning module I am currently building in Articulate Rise 360. It guides K-8 teachers through a Windows and Mirrors audit of their own curriculum: teachers score a unit against a five-dimension rubric, find the representation gaps, and propose a justified resource that adds a mirror or a window.

what I am learningDesigning this is pushing me to assess learning against a clear standard, not just deliver content. I am also learning to test my reflective prompts with real teachers early, since the SAM model I am using is all about iterating with the people who will actually use it.
see it ♡
♡ project

This Portfolio

The site you're on. I designed and built it from scratch for ELDT 6100, organizing my work around the ibstpi and ISPI standards so it can grow with me through the program.

what I learnedBuilding my own portfolio made the design choices feel real. I learned how much the underlying structure matters, and next time I would map the standards layout first instead of last.
explore it ♡
more coming soon ✨