Donald E. Smith, President of LEARNINGSHIP International ®, has nearly 50 years experience as an Instructional Systems Design (ISD) expert, designer, facilitator, and evaluator. Dr. Smith has developed scores of learning curricula using ISD methodology; he has facilitated/instructed over 200 Train-the-Trainers courses, many of them in developing countries; and has facilitated/ instructed management, leadership, teambuilding and maintenance, coaching, and management of change learning programs in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East , and the South Pacific in English, and throughout Latin America , in Spanish and Portuguese.
Don has published articles on numerous aspects of learning and performance technologies. He has edited manuals on program evaluation, the evolution of management and leadership principles and practices, the impact of change and technology on organizational effectiveness, and measurements of learning and performance activities. He has worked with CIDA and USAID since the late seventies, designing and facilitating Food for Peace Learning programs, and has provided management development to Central American municipal leaders through various programs during the 90s.
He has been a manager, educator, and organizational change architect with both private and public sector enterprises. He has worked as a learning and management consultant in Canada and the United States as well as 39 other countries. Since 1982 he has been a part-time professor with the Graduate School of Education at the University of Ottawa , and with the Continuing Education Department of Carleton University in Ottawa . He was the lead Management and Leadership faculty member of the International Air Transport Association Training Institute in Montreal , where he designed and facilitated their managerial leadership and team development programs, in Montreal , and around the world. He was also the Director of Leadership Development for PGF in Ottawa , Canada.
In the public sector, he has served as a learning and development manager, with the Department of National Defense, the Public Service Commission, and with Transport Canada . Recently, he became an active associate program designer and facilitator with Hemsley Fraser, a UK and US global leadership development consulting firm
His major contributions to international organizational renewal have been in the areas of learning and organizational needs assessment; organizational renewal strategies; multi-cultural and diversity learning; employee planning, management and leadership; time management and personnel planning; managing transitions; executive coaching, multi-level team building; and, evaluation of program impact, employee performance, and organizational results. In the fall of 2004, he worked in Sudan as a Training and Education Specialist under Southern Sudan Capacity Development Needs Assessment project. There, he identified qualified and capable institutions (in-country, regional, and international) which could launch and provide skills training and capacity development; determined the extent to which skills training was currently taking place and assessed available skills training materials and training methodologies; identified other organizations and agencies, including USG, other development partners, private sector institutions, and regional organizations, which were engaged in skills training capacity building and job creation, and which could become current or potential partners in USAID’s capacity development initiative; designed training programs for teachers, supervisors, managers and leaders within the educational sector, (these programs could be customized to the other sectors of the project: ie. health, peace-building/conflict mitigation, democracy and governance, and economic development; and, wrote report upon completion of study making practical and immediate, and long-term recommendations for USAID to implement to support
|
