Previous Projects Completed

  • Petroleum Rig-Hand Training program for immigrants. The barriers that new Canadians face when trying to obtain work in the oil and gas industry are numerous. The first and largest barrier is a lack of communication skills and a lack of understanding of the Canadian workplace (especially in with regards to cross-cultural communication, cultural adaptation, networking and workplace integration). Diana through her previous work with the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, CAODC, brought her contacts in the drilling industry and Enform (PITS), together with an immigrant serving agency to support a 15 week training program that Diana developed with funding from Alberta Employment & Immigration. It was the first of its kind in Canada.
  • Career Transition Training manual – developed a 170 page-training manual for a 3 week workshop specifically targeted for recent immigrants to Canada. In this manual a number of career development theories and approaches were incorporated into the content. In using a number of theories embedded into the approach of the Career Bridge Workshop, the facilitator can better meet the need of each individual client.
  • Employee Training Program Proposal Development – Reviewed and provided consulting services for the Integrated and Bridging Employment training programs’ development, monitored the program development process, reviewed and edited components of training programs as submitted by Coordinators, researched and wrote common components to all training programs, researched labour market information for the Calgary area, developed and reviewed budgets.
  • New Employee Orientation training – Consulted & developed the curriculum for the New Employee Orientation training and developed Cultural Competency training (16 hours), Business Ethics (8 hours), & Customer Service (8 hours), General overview to immigration and resettlement (4 hours) modules.
  • Foreign Trained Electrician Training (Needs Assessment & Curriculum Design) – Consulted, researched client information and conducted a labour market analysis; developed and implemented a market survey of employers to analysis hiring trends and training requirements, consulted with the apprenticeship board, employers and SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) to develop curriculum to license the program for eligibility for tuition based funding, and then wrote a final report and recommendations.
  • One-day workshop for Downhole Engineering Operations in the petroleum sector – researched and developed content.

E-Learning

Researched, developed online course content and assignments and designed material on the LMS (Learning management system) for the University of Calgary for the courses of:

  • International Human Resource Management
  • Performance Management Through Appraisal
  • Performance Management
  • Copywriting—Words That Sell
  • Professional Writing Basics

In addition, I am currently developing course content and assignments for a new online course assigned to me in the Writing Certificate program:  Publishing and Promoting Your Work.  I was also asked to research and develop a proposal, including learning objectives, for a potential course offering of:

  • Introduction to Content Marketing: How to Write Effective Content to Attract, Retain and Motivate Customers

“I am delighted to say that your copywriting course was fantastic. I learnt new writing techniques and it gave me great confidence in my copywriting abilities. Your assignments and exercises were challenging, your critique was very useful. And the class discussions were interesting and entertaining. …

I’m very grateful for your help. I have been lucky to learn from many great teachers throughout the writing certificate, but you surpass them all. Your dedication to providing valuable input to every discussion on the Discussion Board was outstanding, and something I’ve never seen before.

Thank you Diana. I hope that I’ll be able to inspire others the way you have inspired me.”

— Verity Skeet, student, Copywriting – Words That Sell Online Course, University of Calgary (2014)

“I really enjoyed this course, thanks for the great resources and feedback. I think this is the most useful course I have taken in my certificate.”

— Jack Nott, City of Calgary, Performance Management Online Course, University of Calgary (2014)

Face-to-Face Training

Mindwise Communications developed AAISA curriculum for the courses of:

  • 2B: Understanding Cultural Communities
  • 2C: Immigration Processes
  • 2F: Basic Counseling Skills in a cross-Cultural Context

And researched and developed course content and assignments for the University of Calgary for the course of:

  • Performance Management and Training

Trainer and Facilitation Services

I facilitated adult education for the past 12 years. From this experience and ongoing learning, I try to understand the needs of my adult learners and incorporate this understanding into my content development and facilitation for training.  Facilitation experience includes:

  • Teaching Tutorials for the Business Commerce Degree program – Business in a Global Context (1st term) and Managing Organization Issues (2nd term) at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia (part-time while attending full-time MBA studies).  I prepared course material and taught two tutorials per week (1.5 hours) with 45 students in each session.  I also provided support to students in answering questions during office hours and marked individual assignments and group presentations (8 months, 2004—2005)
  • Training customer service representatives in computers applications and business procedures in  five-day workshops, (8 hours a day) of a computer system integration and migration of accounts from Fido to Rogers Group of Companies Inc. (6 months, 2005)
  • Facilitating over 20 one- and two-day workshops in Leadership, Communications, Anger management, Time management, Business writing, and Employment law (2006-2008)
  • Training field operators on the geology section of a course (I developed) on Downhole Operations in the Petroleum Sector (2009)
  • Facilitating one-day workshops on logic model development and evaluation of client services (2011)
  • Facilitating two-day workshops on: 2B: Understanding Cultural Communities, 2C: Immigration Processes, 2F: Basic Counseling Skills in a cross-Cultural Context (2011— 2012)
  • Teaching as an Online Instructor for the Human Resources Management and Writing Certificate programs at the University of Calgary, Continuing Education (International Human Resource Management, Performance Management, Copywriting Words That Sell, Writing in the Workplace, Publishing and Promoting Your Work), (2010— Present, ongoing)