Curriculum Vitae
Synopsis
Jamie is a collaborative designer adept in multiple roles for eLearning, instructional systems design, graphic design, usability, and information architecture. He has over 20 years experience creating successful customer facing and internally directed learning solutions for clinicians, caregivers, and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in the nation’s largest healthcare system. In short, he integrates educational pedagogy and technology with interaction and visual design to create meaningful clinical learning experiences. He is at home on a multi-discipline design team, using project management (PM) and educational methodologies for both understanding the larger strategic learning goals as well as defining tactical requirements. Clients have ranged from regional companies to the federal government to global enterprises.
His academic focus has been on multiculturalism in design across the usability and eLearning fields--learning experiences in which technology empowers the user.
Specialties: eLearning, instructional design, usability, UXD, IXD, graphic design, information architecture, and Servant leadership.
Core Compentencies
Collaborative, iterative design and systems-thinking--teaming with staff and clients to define learning goals, solve problems, and meet requirements via open communication and trust.
Instructional systems design--adapting application of ADDIE for effective learning, communication, and clinical accreditation spanning varying synchronous and asynchronous blended learning modalities.
Front end analysis--defining criteria, training requirements, client priorities, and success measurement across multiple product modalities.
Multimedia learning--applying theories, cognitive psychology, and interaction design.
Serving leadership--facilitating design and implementation efforts for projects across multiple service lines: client relations, eLearning design/development, 508 and WCAG, and graphics.
Usability and User Experience (UX)--championing adult learner experience in healthcare settings; accessibility, 508 compliance and audit protocols, and accreditation.
Interaction Design (IXD) and development --integrating User Experience (UX) and Interaction Design (IXD) design with adult learning practices.
Project Management--practicing methodologies, including implementation, communication, and design criteria.
Education
PhD, Kent State University (ABD 2013)
Instructional Technology - Focus on cognitive psychology, instructional design, and multiculturalism. Research: multimedia learning and transfer mediated by cultural focus of onscreen ecosystems.
NEHCLI (Network Executive Health Care Leadership Institute) (2008)
Formal workshops, simulation and role-play, and individual coaching sessions to develop leadership skills, personal mastery, teaming, and negotiation.
CUA (Certified Usability Analyst), Human Factors International (2008)
Certification #2008-1994. Focus: User Centered Analysis, Usability Testing, Design and Application, Putting Research into Practice.
MEd, Cleveland State University (2002)
Curriculum & Instruction - Focus on technology use, teacher education, and adult learning. Thesis project: structure and website of teacher-technology professional development program.
Professional Experience
Healthcare Education Specialist
Department of Veterans Affairs (Oct 2023 – Oct 2025)
Show/Hide Details
Successfully coordinated accreditation process for 2000+ pharmacist clients and learning partners, including standard accrediting and updating legacy products to current accreditation and LMS standards. Implemented an improved client intake deliverable to streamline accreditation process by 30% and alleviate risk of errors and delays.
Stood up and monthly accredited webinars in the LMS for 11 pharmacy specialist areas, analyzing/report participation and evaluations.
Coached instructional designers on developing content for unfamiliar modalities: interaction design for game-based learning; critical thinking eLearning storyboards from client content. This resulted in an increased use across the eLearning division of non-page-turner products more suited to clinicians’ leaning styles.
Provided regular feedback and critiques to the Instructional Design Community of Practice in the training division.
Teamed with the Strategic Planning and Innovations staff on piloting a new voice-controlled meeting and documentation platform.
Supervisor, eLearning Services Team
Department of Veterans Affairs (Nov 2020 – Oct 2023)
Show/Hide Details
Direct oversight of activities and Human Capital Management (HCM) aspects of a team of 508 specialists, graphic designers, and contract specialists supporting eLearning division.
Established the IxD Community of Practice to bring various division eLearning skillsets/roles together: developed integrated design and teaming peer support.
Improved design quality and deliverables: standardized practice of shared design critiques to discuss strong/weak elements of work and encourage trust among colleagues. Upskilling graphic design staff to understand multimedia learning theory to strengthen interaction design deliverables.
Revised and improved 508 Trusted Tester Standard Work Process (SWP) to reflect evolving eLearning business process, scheduling, client needs, and applicable laws.
Stood up the Post-implementation Team (“PIT Crew”) for Learning Management System (LMS) product maintenance; authored standard work process (SWP) and led its revision after field testing. Integrated staff and customer feedback used to further fine-tune PIT services.
Coordinated team’s COR staff and activities for market research on several division wide initiatives, including 508 contract and VA enterprise contracts.
Led eLearning Services staff involved with congressional mandates and Covid-19 responses.
eLearning Producer, Instructional Designer
Department of Veterans Affairs (May 2002 – Nov 2011; Sep 2014 – Nov 2020)
Show/Hide Details
Division resource specializing on web development/coding, usability practices, implementation strategies, and pre/post-production techniques.
Piloted and implemented evolving technology and virtual learning environments in designing/developing/coding effective eLearning, blended learning, and instructional multimedia using the ADDIE model.
Repurposed older face-to-face content for SCORM-compliant eLearning and blended learning available in the LMS: hands-on visual design of onscreen ecosystems, learning interaction design, and instructional design
Iterative collaboration and scrums with clients and colleagues using agile fundamentals.
Determined implementation modes based on learner needs, content strategy, and business goals
Applied accessibility protocols to achieve 508 compliance for all deliverables.
Highly proficient in integrating UX and IXD, instructional design, learner experience design, and cognitive psychology with multimedia and blended eLearning solutions for Physician and clinician training projects of varying scope, size, and complexity (i.e., Kirkpatrick model).
Regular and systematic collaboration with learning partners and eLearning communities of practice (COPs) on design and brainstorming; included end-users, clinicians and staff, and medical specialists.
Guided customers, clinicians, and subject matter experts in “starting with the end in mind”: articulating content via easy-to-use specialized tools and resources; includes guided ‘workshopping’ brainstorming, developing personas, storyboards, branching decision journey maps, language and voicing, and other heuristic elements meaningful to target audience.
Coordinated the visual and graphic design of electronic learning environment based on multimedia cognition principles.
Graphic design for print and screen, logo design.
eLearning Project Manager
Department of Veterans Affairs (Nov 2011 – Sep 2014)
Show/Hide Details
Crucial teaming for tactical and strategic efforts on behalf of clients, eLearning developers, end-users, and the VHA Chief Information Officer (CIO).
Led several tiger teams in designing a reorganized departmental structure in response to congressional mandate.
Authored comprehensive and agile project and training plans based on clinical and enterprise business, training, and performance goals.
Integrated information architecture (IA), usability principles, and IXD in creating effective and meaningful eLearning products.
Administered the writing, editing, and/or content adaptation for technology ecosystems to optimize cognitive efficacy.
Carried out formative analysis and heuristic evaluation related to eLearning activities and services.
Adjunct Faculty
Cleveland State University (May 2002 – Dec 2002)
Show/Hide Details
Conducted graduate-level teacher education program "Web Design for Teachers."
Instructed teachers toward successful mastery of HTML coding, content strategy, usability, multimedia learning, layout, and troubleshooting for a wide range of K-12 disciplines and abilities. Semester-long projects designed to be real-world tools that teachers applied in their respective professional settings.
Designed online Learning curriculum.
Faculty collaboration on graduate-level teacher education courses transitioned to a blended online environment.
Revised and updated curriculum structure, tasks, and pedagogy to be implemented via blended learning. Course developed and implemented in WebCT (now Blackboard).
Creative Consultant & User Experience Designer
marchFIRST/WhittmannHart (Mar 2000 – May 2002)
Show/Hide Details
Interactivity design, graphic design, and usability evaluation for creative team.
Lead designer on interactive marketing and digital brand strategies.
Conducted heuristic interactive product evaluations and usability testing.
Facilitated client requirement gathering and developed information architecture based on use case scenarios.
Personally contributed to accounts that included Avery Dennison, Bank of America, Chrysler, Dana Inc., Eaton, McDonald Investments, Penton Media, and Sherwin-Williams.
School District Educational Technology Resource
Perry Public Schools (Feb 1998 – Mar 2000)
Show/Hide Details
Grew the standardized use of technology within an NEA award-winning Ohio school district in the areas of web, print, and video production.
Managed district’s classroom teachers in their implementation of multimedia resources for effective learning (at many developmental levels).
Established classroom use of nonlinear video editing tools and techniques within the district Grade 9-12 media studies and the district’s bi-weekly local cable access channel.
Budget management and committee chair for applied research and development for future-use classroom multimedia technologies.
Taught elementary and middle school media studies courses and extracurricular activities.
Interactivity/Graphic Designer
Ernst & Young (Sep 1996 – Feb 1998)
Show/Hide Details
Developed interactive and web-based marketing and education products for multi-national consulting firm.
Key participant in developing taxonomy structures for nascent online just-in-time (JIT) course composition.
Responsibilities ranged from interface design and nonlinear audio/video production to computer-based training (CBT) modules supporting medical processing, accounting systems, and business processes analysis.
Designer/Video Editor
DeVo Productions (Mar 1993 – Jun 1996)
Show/Hide Details
Video editor and assistant director for non-linear video production division, producing informational and industrial video for national manufacturing firms, not-for-profit groups, and municipal entities.
On-site production, lighting, staging, and sound oversight.
Designed and pre-press for four color print collateral for marketing materials.
Layout design for regional arts and culture newspaper published by DeVo.
Publications & Presentations
Designing the Democratic; Thinking outside of our own cultural influences can strengthen our design decisions
Published at Boxes and Arrows
It is increasingly rare that our users are all from a single nation or culture. Often, our designs must meet the needs of several groups at once. I talk about how our own cultures affect our design decisions.
Cues, The Golden Retriever; How our natural responses to stimuli can inform the design process
Published at Boxes and Arrows
Our brains constantly process the stimuli in our environment and respond, consciously and unconsciously, to what is going on around us. Cues help us navigate this environment. Jamie Owen explores how memory, cognitive psychology, and multimedia research integrate to affect how information is encoded and retrieved as well as how we can best utilize cues in our work.
Voice and Choice: Onscreen Usability as a Praxis of Democracy
Published at The Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology
Elements of cultural dynamics represented in a computer’s graphical user interfaces (GUIs) result from an alignment between designing for onscreen usability and practicing principles of democratic responsibility. Designers and developers seek to understand how end-users respond best during interactions with computers and technology. In planning a union of technology and culture to serve the end user, there is a unique opportunity to design toward a democratic responsibility—to give the users a fair voice in articulating their own learning. At the core of democratic responsibility within usability design is the idea that the interactions onscreen best match the users’ cultural aesthetic, thus increasing the potential agency of the learning.
Cross-Cultural Issues in Online Education -Albert L. Ingram, Chun-Ming Ou, and R. James Owen
Published at The Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology
Regional University had been heavily promoting its online courses for several years and their efforts were really starting to pay off. More and more courses and even entire degree programs were being offered online, and enrollment was up significantly. Regional’s growing reputation for quality was starting to attract students from outside the area and, increasingly, from other countries as well. The word-of-mouth among the international community was leading to enrollment of groups of students from specific places as well. At least some faculty members were excited about the possibilities for improving their teaching and reaching more students.
Voice and Choice: Onscreen Usability as a Praxis of Democracy
Poster - Fourth Annual Conference of Educational Research Exchange 2007
Represented paper researching elements of cultural dynamics in a computer’s graphical user interfaces (GUIs) which result from an alignment between designing for onscreen usability and practicing principles of democratic responsibility.
Mediation and Resolution of Interactive Technology and the Graphical User Interface
Presenter - International Academy for Intercultural Research Conference 2005
Given the breadth and variety of mediations that may utilize technology to leverage an intercultural strategy, it’s important that any component of this strategy is represented to a degree onscreen. The GUI must work to advance the mediations rather detract from them. However tactical or strategic, active or passive, the elements of the GUI must be deliberate and used consciously not only in regard their immediate effects, but in how those effects fit ubiquitously into any broader mediation endeavor that has chosen to integrate the technology.
Affiliations & Awards
Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA) - Cleveland Chapter. The UPA supports those who promote and advance the development of usable products, reaching out to people who act as advocates for usability and the user experience.
The Information Architecture Institute (IAI) - Supports individuals and organizations specializing in the design and construction of shared information environments
Web Association (WA) - a nonprofit professional organization whose mission is to serve as a professional technology organization for the Northeast Ohio Internet and Business communities, offering an open forum, education, mutual support and networking opportunities.
Innovations in American Government Award - awarded by Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government for a progressive technology-centered school-to-work program.
Human Factors International Certified Usability Analyst (CUA) of the Month - A monthly profile feature which highlights notable usability practitioners. Topics in my profile include patient safety, multiculturalism, and a usability technique called "noun architecture."