Joel Thomas has over 13 years of experience in instructional design and e-learning. He has worked on designing and developing learning solutions at several large companies, including his current role at Coles Supermarkets. Some of his responsibilities include needs analysis, instructional design, developing e-learning and blended learning courses, and ensuring materials align with organizational objectives. He strives to engage stakeholders and receives positive feedback.

1. JOEL THOMAS
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER & E-LEARNING SPECIALIST
I am an Instructional Designer and eLearning Specialist with more than 13 years of experience in various learning design development roles. I
possess a keen passion and dedication to design in every facet of my professional and personal life and I am well known for it.
I have worked on the needs analysis, design, development and delivery of a suite of learning projects from conception to production and feedback
based continual improvement. This includes printed and electronic learning solutions, blended learning and eLearning/mLearning. I value keeping
up to date on the latest learning design trends and innovations and implement these lessons into my everyday work.
I have a provable track record in aligning learning design activities with organisational change projects to meet developing business objectives,
delivered in a timely fashion. I strive for stakeholder engagement and consistently receive excellent stakeholder feedback.
EMPLOYMENT SUMMARY
COLES SUPERMARKETS | JAN 2012 - CURRENT
SEP 2013 – CURRENT | Instructional Designer & eLearning Specialist.
JAN 2012 – SEP 2013 | Instructional Designer & Technical Writer.
AGL ENERGY | MAY 2007 – DEC 2012
JUN 2010 – DEC 2012 | Learning & Development uPerform Website Manager.
MAY 2007 – JUN 2010 | Learning & Development Consultant.
ORIGIN ENERGY | SEP 2005 – MAY 2007
SEP 2005 – MAY 2007 | Business Trainer/Learning & Development Consultant.
EASTERN SUBURBS EVENING COLLEGE | JUN 2002 - AUG 2005
JUN 2002 - AUG 2005 | Adobe Photoshop & Dreamweaver and Microsoft
Office Trainer and course writer.
EDUCATION
1991 - 1994
BACHELORS DEGREE | University of New South Wales
Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Psychology and English.
FEB 2007 - JUL 2007
CERT IV WORKPLACE TRAINING & ASSESSMENT | Box Hill TAFE
14 week, one day per week, Certificate IV in Workplace Training and
Assessment.
FEB 2007 - CURRENT
SPECIALISED PROFESSIONAL COURSES | Various Providers
Various People Management, Adult Learning and Change Management
Methodology employer funded business courses.
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR
ADOBE CAPTIVATE
ARTICULATE STORYLINE
ANCILE UPERFORM
MICROSOFT OFFICE SUITE
0422 923 559
joel@workbyjoel.com.au
Melbourne, Australia
www.workbyjoel.com.au
GET IN TOUCH
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2. JOEL THOMAS
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER & E-LEARNING SPECIALIST
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
COLES SUPERMARKETS HEAD OFFICE | JAN 2012 - CURRENT
SEP 2013 – CURRENT | Instructional Designer & eLearning Specialist
RESPONSIBILITIES:
 In consultation with internal stakeholders and end user audiences, analyse needs, design, develop, implement and review
learning design solutions for the Coles Supermarkets 85,000 store team member end users. This includes HR learning
programs such as the “Coles & Me” store Induction program, Retail Leaders, The Coles Way store standards, Successful
Starts for new managers to Coles and various ongoing HR and IT software projects touching store team members.
 Manage, guide and review outsourced eLearning projects to ensure fit for purpose and mentor external consultants in
design expectation, technical requirements and software/design techniques ensuring Coles L&D standards are met.
 Design innovative, and engaging responsive eLearning/mLearning using Adobe eLearning suite and Articulate Storyline to
be used on store IPads and back office computers for various learning programs.
 Collect end user feedback to aid the re-evaluation and update of online materials as required.
 Suggest, research, promote and implement learning delivery support solutions such as LMS functionality, Cisco WebEx,
Adobe Forms Central and SharePoint mini-sites to supplement and enhance traditional information delivery solutions.
 Develop and design a range of materials including eLearning, instructional web pages, Intranet sites, printed user manuals,
reference cards, posters and information presentations to deliver user friendly information to store team members.
 Design and develop document and website templates for the Learning & Development template library using Photoshop,
Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver and Microsoft Office suite and train other team members from all over the business on
how to use them to produce well-rounded learning materials.
 Mentor and train other Learning & Development team members to improve their work to a highly professional standard.
KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:
 Developed from concept to completion, the “Coles & Me” Coles Supermarkets Induction handbook. This was presented to
the Coles Executive Board by the Supermarkets HR Manager as an example of Learning & Developments product.
 “Successful Starts” for new managers to Coles program also presented to the Coles Board as an example of the work L&D
was capable of producing and garnered excellent feedback from HR managers and Store Managers business wide.
 “Facilitate with Engagement” – the new and official Coles L&D “Train the Trainer” program developed, trialed and delivered
to Coles State Coach and Store Manager groups, garnering excellent feedback from all around the business.
JAN 2012 – SEP 2013 | Instructional Designer & Technical Writer
RESPONSIBILITIES:
 In consultation with end user audiences, analyse needs, design, develop, implement and review learning design solutions
for Coles Suppliers and Head Office support team members from Finance and Merchandise.
 Design innovative, engaging eLearning using Adobe eLearning suite which are hosted on the Coles Supplier Portal “Managing
My Accounts” and “Electronic Invoicing for Distribution Centres” web areas.
 Suggest, research, promote and implement learning delivery support solutions such as Cisco WebEx, Adobe Forms Central,
SharePoint and LMS to supplement and enhance traditional information delivery solutions.
 Develop and design a plethora of materials including eLearning/mLearning, instructional web pages, Intranet sites, printed
user manuals, reference cards, posters and training presentations to deliver user friendly learning information.
 Ensure that all materials released by Coles Project Vision to the Supplier Portal look well-presented and accurate.
KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:
 Developed from concept to completion, several suites of online learning materials that are hosted on the Coles Supplier
Portal, Managing My Accounts pages (which I also designed) which have received excellent feedback regarding the ease of
use from the Supplier audience of over 6000.
 Coles Over & Above recognition awards for “Electronic Invoicing for Distribution Centres” and “Direct to Stores” online and
printed support materials.
 Multiple enquiries to my Manager from various areas of Coles regarding who was producing the visually enticing training
materials over the 19 months I had this role which is a great compliment.
 Asked by Coles to design the ‘look and feel “user interface for the uPerform “Coles Help” knowledge repository website.
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3. JOEL THOMAS
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER & E-LEARNING SPECIALIST
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
AGL ENERGY | MAY 2007 – DEC 2012
JUN 2010 – DEC 2012 | Learning & Development Ancile uPerform Website Manager
Responsibilities:
 Design, develop and continually update AGL’s “iKnow” electronic knowledge repository website based on end user
feedback and current website trends to be visually exciting, enticing and easy to use. iKnow housed more than 12
thousand HR, business rule and SAP and other software instruction documents.
 Design innovative and engaging eLearning using Adobe eLearning suite (Captivate, Photoshop and Flash products)
 Design and develop document templates for the iKnow website using uPerform, Dreamweaver, In Design and
Microsoft Office suite.
 Based on solid Training Needs Analysis, design and improve current electronic documentation on the iKnow website.
 Act as a gatekeeper to review and re-write online documentation adhering to the AGL Style Guide.
 Act as a promoter to encourage eLearning materials and knowledge website end user engagement and facilitate end
user feedback work groups and implement suggestions.
 Deliver uPerform, Dreamweaver and Photoshop training to enable AGL content authors to produce quality work
instructions and reference documents for the iKnow website.
Key Achievements:
 SAP Australia referred potential uPerform and existing SAP Productivity Pak clients such as DHL, Coles, Woolworths,
Department of Human Services, Powercor/Citipower and Jemena to AGL, terming us their “flag ship” client due to the
extensive website enhancements I had implemented and the amount of innovative documents we housed on the
website.
 Funded by SAP Australia to be a special guest key note speaker at the 2011 Australasian iPUG/uPUG Sydney conference.
 Produced and promoted the knowledge repository website which the entire company know as the place to go for all the
information to do their jobs.
 Developed Customer Services/BPO specific compliance eLearning package that is dynamic and end user engaging as
compared to AGL’s corporate eLearning programs.
MAY 2007 – JUN 2010 | Learning & Development Consultant
Responsibilities:
 Develop and update SAP work instructions, regulatory reference documents and eLearning materials for the Customer
Credit & Payments department (approximately 150 on site staff plus BPO Manila), reflecting continually changing Energy
Industry regulations and company business decisions based on regulatory requirements.
 Design and develop, in conjunction with National Learning & Development Manager, a national training delivery
project as part of a major change program across the AGL Energy Retail division.
 Build and maintain deeply rooted stakeholder relationships to ensure a high L&D profile throughout the business.
 Identify training gaps and develop assessed training based on training needs analysis.
 Heavy involvement with the Quality & Compliance department in order to identify training requirements and outcomes
based on Q&C assessment of staff and then deliver training based on this feedback.
Key Achievements:
 First representative from the L&D department to be chosen by AGL to deliver training to AGL’s BPO support staff in
Manila, Philippines.
 Headed project to implement uniform templated contact notes through all front office, back office and outsourced third
party agencies in 2009.
 Designed, based on stakeholder training needs analysis, an innovative 5 day Induction course which has been delivered
to all existing and new staff throughout 2009 for the first time to exceptional participant and stakeholder feedback. Two
“Nice One” awards recognising and commending outstanding achievement.
 Identified a large training and knowledge gap in AGL and designed a “SAP Finance Screen” course as a project for the
business. Consequently delivered course to over 400 back office staff from various departments. “Nice One” award for
outstanding achievement in ability to tailor course and deliver to all areas of AGL from L&D.
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4. JOEL THOMAS
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER & E-LEARNING SPECIALIST
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
ORIGIN ENERGY | SEP 2005 – MAY 2007
SEP 2005 – MAY 2007 | Business Trainer/Learning & Development Consultant
Responsibilities:
 Provide new starters Induction with all Induction and training needs, including documentation and direction, while
settling into their roles.
 Assess trainee’s skills, and then train on various software applications and mentor until competent.
 Evaluate trainee’s suitability to move on to more complex tasks and provide the necessary learning solutions.
 Provide weekly progress reports to Management recommending ongoing training, special needs and recommend
changes to trainee’s responsibilities due to competence and requirements.
 Design and continually updated a library of work instructions.
Key Achievements:
 Created and maintained a supportive learning environment while encouraging staff to take the next step in their career
development.
 Identified the need for a uniform training document system. Responsible for the planning, document design and writing
of a training document library for Origin Energy comprising more than fifty different billing exceptions. Unbelievably, this
had never been attempted before.
 Implemented subsequent maintenance and updates to Training Document Library as any Australian Energy Industry
regulations or Origin company policy changed.
EASTERN SUBURBS EVENING COLLEGE | JUN 2002 - AUG 2005
JUN 2002 - AUG 2005 | Adobe Photoshop & Dreamweaver Trainer
Responsibilities:
After performing extensive Training Needs Analysis – designed courses, wrote all training materials and delivered four yearly 8
week semesters of classroom training in HTML using Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and Microsoft Office skills such as Word, Excel and
Outlook.
Key Achievements:
 Dreamweaver Introduction, Adobe Photoshop Introduction. Self-designed and delivered. Course never delivered before.
The courses were very popular and well received. Overwhelming requests for extra classes.
 Basic Computing for the beginner, Outlook Express Levels 1 & 2 and Microsoft Word levels 1 – 3 taught with rewritten
course materials and training documents
 Provided phone or onsite support and advice to students who had problems with the transition between classes and
practical usage.
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5. WORK EXAMPLES | COMPLETE PORTFOLIO at www.workbyjoel.com.au
ONE TEAM ELEARNING MODULE
COLES INDUCTION HANDBOOK
Coles is rolling out a brand new staff rostering system,
communications tool and staff reporting functionality
program for all Coles Supermarkets. I was assigned with
making an “electronic teaser” eLearning and mLearning
responsive module which would be viewed on store
IPads and back office computers. The module introduced
some of the new functionalities, roll out dates and
detailed what the end users would need to do to be
ready for the changes. The module was designed using
Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Articulate Storyline.
Click the image to learn more about the project.
The Coles Induction program hadn’t been updated for
several years. I rewrote and updated the old materials
and redesigned the “look and feel” making the Induction
handbook much more fun to use and relevant to a new
starters information needs. It was a massive job in
balance and negotiation to please all the different Coles
departments represented in the handbook. It was a very
humbling career moment for me when the Head of
Supermarkets HR showcased the “Coles & Me” Induction
handbook to the Coles Executive Board to demonstrate
the materials L&D produced. Click the image to learn
more about the project.
01
JOEL THOMAS
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER & E-LEARNING SPECIALIST
02
COLES L&D WAYS OF WORKING
I was tasked to make a brochure which the Coles
Supermarkets L&D team could use to inform our
stakeholders how we functioned as a team. The “Ways
of Working” brochure detailed how to engage the L&D
team and showcased some of the types of materials we
supplied. It laid out the step-by-step process for the
production of training materials or a training program,
and how long it would take to be completed. I created
the printed version in Microsoft PowerPoint and the
electronic version in Articulate Storyline. Click the image
to learn more about the project.
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