Irina is a learning experience designer, educator, researcher, workshop facilitator, and creative problem solver. Her work practice intersects inclusive design, cognitive science, and technology.

Learning is a process, and as a Learning Experience Designer, Irina explores a learner’s entire journey to create human-centric and accessible learning experiences rooted in learning outcomes, design thinking principles, cognitive science research, adult learning, and inclusive design. Her work with educators and learners is driven by accessibility practices, multimedia design, research-based standards in learning, and digital learning development practices.

Paige’s experience as a learning designer in post-secondary and non-profit has given her great insight into how people learn. Her mission to craft authentic assessments and goal-driven learning experiences results in programs, courses, and workshops that prioritize the end user’s experience. Paige’s various roles, from consulting to editing, have given her a unique perspective and the ability to approach challenges with curiosity, agility, and empathy. As an educator and mentor, Paige continues to support other designers in crafting memorable and meaningful learning experiences that challenge traditional design norms.

Hope Seidman has a lifelong passion for education and learning. She earned a PhD in Educational Technology and focussed her research on the development and evaluation of critical thinking skills in university-level students and the design of learning experiences that help to support self-disciplined thinking.

Hope has more than 20 years of experience working as an instructional designer and learning advisor in the private sector, for non- profit organisations and for the government of Canada. She has also led faculty development projects internationally, aimed at improving student outcomes in higher education.

During her decade-long tenure with the federal government, Hope’s primary responsibility was to advise senior management on how to meaningfully implement new technologies and approaches to support workplace learning, collaboration and performance outcomes.
She also played a significant role in supervising graduate student interns (M.A., Educational Technology) as well as junior learning advisors to help them acquire the skills they needed to achieve rewarding careers in the field.

Hope took some time off from work to travel with her family and is excited to reconnect with her passion for learning and development. She lives in Stratford, Ontario with her husband and two children.

Marsha Brown is the Global Learning Leader at Hatch Ltd. She uses modern learning approaches and technology to help business leaders improve their team’s learning culture and develop the skills of their employees in support of business goals. She draws on her strengths in learning experience design, change management, communications and learning technology and data analytics to bring success to the projects she leads. Marsha obtained her BA in Information Technology and certificate in Technical writing, from York University and is currently working towards her certificate in Human Resources Management.

As an avid learner herself, she is passionate about the impact modern learning interventions have on employee performance and is driven to inspire others to reach their full potential through learning. As a certified training and development professional (CTDP) since 2015, Marsha has strong technical knowledge and over 10 years’ experience driving learning in sectors such as automotive, retail, HR, finance and professional services in both national and global organizations.

An ex-corporate learning experience designer, Manja is a fun and friendly trusted advisor to entrepreneurs and learning departments who are in growth mode. She gets results for her clients and always puts the learners’ needs front and center. Her corporate experience is the bedrock for organization and systems thinking underpinning every client project. Innately curious, Manja absorbs information at an alarming rate and has an uncanny ability to make that information learnable for others. Teaching is in her blood; a certified music and business teacher, Manja makes a career creating learning and teaching others how to build supportive learning environments.

Leanne has over ten years of experience in developing, delivering, and managing educational programs to help professional learners meet their career objectives. Her work includes both in-person and online delivery, with an emphasis on how technology can be used to enhance the learning experience. Currently, she is employed as an Instructional Designer for the Insurance Institute of Canada.

My first “real job” was in Technical writing, around that time I started a side gig in freelancing as a creative media designer and developer – learning and development weren’t even a twinkle in my eye back then.

It wasn’t until I was “borrowed” for an assignment writing a job aid on how to access the company LMS, that my passions collided. This is where my learning design journey began.

Since then I have spent well over a decade honing my craft in learning experience design in industries ranging from automotive to financial services and now, tech.

Today I lead a team of brilliant Learning Experience Designers at Shopify.

I get a flutter in my heart when discovering and testing creative, practical, non-traditional approaches to learning design – especially digitally – to meet learners where they truly learn best.

Hope Seidman has a lifelong passion for education and learning. She earned a PhD in Educational Technology and focussed her research on the development and evaluation of critical thinking skills in university-level students and the design of learning experiences that help to support self-disciplined thinking.

Hope has more than 20 years of experience working as an instructional designer and learning advisor in the private sector, for non- profit organisations and for the government of Canada. She has also led faculty development projects internationally, aimed at improving student outcomes in higher education.

During her decade-long tenure with the federal government, Hope’s primary responsibility was to advise senior management on how to meaningfully implement new technologies and approaches to support workplace learning, collaboration and performance outcomes.
She also played a significant role in supervising graduate student interns (M.A., Educational Technology) as well as junior learning advisors to help them acquire the skills they needed to achieve rewarding careers in the field.

Hope took some time off from work to travel with her family and is excited to reconnect with her passion for learning and development. She lives in Stratford, Ontario with her husband and two children.

As a Learning & Experience Designer, Carnaby combines her passion for design, development and new technologies, along with 10+ years of experience to build unique learning experiences for learners in different levels and functional areas. As part of her current role, she is working on creating programs designed to increase knowledge, skill, and influence the mindset of leadership and learning agility in business. Carnaby has a Master of Education from OISE and has worked with learning teams in various industries such as finance, transportation, hospitality, and social media.