Alicia Willis, MA Ed.

Alicia Willis, MA Ed., is a Senior Instructional Design Specialist at the Center on Education and Training for Employment. She designs and develops instructional programs, provides curriculum recommendations, and consults on curriculum and instructional design projects.

With more than 20 years of experience, Alicia began her Instructional Design work by developing and delivering on-the-job training to her peers. Later, she designed online-learning programs for career-technical education courses, including the creation of project-based learning assessments, learning engagement, animations, videos, and interactive games. Recently, she developed more than 80 online learning modules, including three modules within the Center’s international award-winning Go Digital Training Collection. Alicia also develops presentations, podcast episodes, videos, and animations to share her knowledge and skills with other learning and development professionals.

Since 2015, Alicia has led the Center’s Instructional Design Cohort. This cohort has expanded to include 34 Instructional Designers across 18 colleges and departments within The Ohio State University and The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

Alicia also served as a member of CETE’s Steering Team for the Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) Movement from its inception in 2020 until 2023. In line with the REDI movement, Alicia prioritizes her own professional development on accessible, equitable, and inclusive instructional practices to ensure programs and products meet the needs of all learners.

Originally from Northwest Ohio, Alicia moved to Columbus to attain a Bachelor of Arts in English at The Ohio State University. She went on to acquire a Master of Arts in Education, with a focus on Curriculum and Instruction, from the University of Phoenix.

Alicia spends her personal time reading, kayaking, hiking, and playing board games.

Research Interests:

• Instructional Design
  • Accessibility
  • Curriculum and Instruction
  • Learning Design
  • Learning Technologies
  • User Experience Design
• Adult Learning
• Adult Literacy
• Career and Technical Education
• Workforce Development and Education