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01 — Overview
01 — Overview
A fully structured, two-phase enterprise onboarding program designed for a large multi-campus school serving 3,000+ students and staff across six campuses in Melbourne. What began as a brief to digitise onboarding evolved into a comprehensive enterprise learning solution, built from the ground up using instructional design principles, AI-enhanced content production, and structured stakeholder co-design across eight directorates.
02 — The opportunity
02 — The opportunity
Sirius College is a growing, dynamic multi-campus school serving a diverse community of 3,000+ students and staff identified an opportunity to build a structured, modern digital onboarding experience that would reflect the college's values, support incoming staff from day one, and set a strong foundation for professional belonging across all six campuses.
The brief: design and build a scalable, engaging, and inclusive onboarding program that could serve all staff roles across the college — from classroom teachers to operational and support staff.
My role: Lead Learning Designer, with end-to-end ownership of:
03 — Two-phase structure
03 — Two-phase structure
The program was structured across two intentionally sequenced phases, each with a distinct purpose, timing, and learning focus ensuring a seamless onboarding experience from pre-arrival through the end of Week 1.
Program architecture — two-phase, twelve-module structure
Rise 360 learner view — full program as experienced by staff
04 — Eleven modules across eight directorates
04 — Eleven modules across eight directorates
Each module was co-designed with its directorate lead ensuring content was accurate, values-aligned, and reflective of how each area actually operates at Sirius College.
05 — Five-stage design cycle
05 — Five-stage design cycle
Every module in this program, regardless of topic, phase, or directorate, follows the same five-stage design cycle. This consistency was a deliberate instructional design decision: when learners know what to expect, they spend less cognitive energy navigating and more energy actually learning.
06 — UDL framework
06 — UDL framework
Universal Design for Learning provided the pedagogical foundation guiding every content, assessment, and engagement decision. Sirius College serves a richly diverse staff community spanning different cultural backgrounds, disciplines, campuses, career stages, and digital literacy levels. A one-size-fits-all approach would have left many staff behind from day one.
07 — Tools and technology
07 — Tools and technology
Each platform was chosen deliberately, selected because it was the right technology for a specific instructional purpose, not because it was familiar or available.
The complete learning design storyboard spans nine boards — covering discovery, research synthesis, user journey mapping, prototypes, design files, technical architecture, and delivery planning. Built in Miro before and during development to document every design decision.
08 — What I learned
08 — What I learned
Building this program was the most complex and rewarding learning design project of my career to date. These are the five most important things it taught me.
Stakeholder management is a design skill
Getting directors across eight directorates aligned required as much strategic thinking as building any module. Translating diverse priorities into one coherent learning experience is instructional design at its most demanding.
AI accelerates pedagogy still leads
AI raised the ceiling of what I could produce. Pedagogy determined whether any of it actually worked. The tool does not know what a learner needs. That judgement belongs to the designer.
Consistency builds learner confidence
Applying the same five-stage cycle to every module created a predictable learning rhythm. In an onboarding context where new staff are managing significant cognitive load, reducing that friction matters enormously.
Scale demands systems thinking
Designing eleven modules that work together as a unified program required holding the detail and the whole picture in mind simultaneously. This project taught me to think like a learning systems designer, not just a content creator.
Instructional design is strategic work
A well-designed onboarding program shapes how new staff understand the organisation, how they relate to its values, and how quickly they become confident contributors. This is a long-term organisational asset, not a support function.
The tools made the program possible. The pedagogy made it work. The people made it matter.
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