David Manning

Hi there! My name is David Manning, and I’m a soon-to-be graduate from Athabasca University’s Master of Education program. During my time in the program, I have lived in the cities of Whistler, Vancouver, and Toronto. My true passion in life is skiing (both teaching and doing), and I work as a training program manager for a financial consulting firm. I am also an avid board game and video game player.

My journey with Athabasca began in 2010, or five years after I had become an instructional designer. Before joining Athabasca, I had attended professional courses on training and instructional design. Although the courses I had built up to that time were efficiently structured and technically effective, they were also entirely bland.  (Retrospectively, I recognize that I was following a paint-by-number approach that resulted in cookie cutter courses.)

Then in 2009 I had a wake-up call: after losing a dear family member, it dawned on me that I was paralyzed in my development, directionless in my career, and afraid of failing. It became clear that I needed to make major changes in my life to become happy again.

While the immediate outcome of that discovery was to pack up and move across the country to Whistler, I also enrolled in a single MDE course with the intent of becoming un-stuck. Thanks to Athabasca’s open learning model, which offered me incremental opportunities to attain success and progress along my journey, I was able to overcome the fears that were holding me back.

Program Goals

My initial learning goals in the program were thoroughly simplistic; I wanted to:

• become a better facilitator
• become a better instructional designer

At the time of my first enrolment, my intent was merely to complete the certificate in instructional design. That said, as I completed each course while applying skills and knowledge in real life, my attitudes, beliefs, and goals transformed.

The Master of Education program has enabled me to grow professionally from my role as an instructional designer into broader capacities, first as a training consultant, then as a training project manager, and finally into my current role as a training program manager with a financial consulting firm located in Toronto, Ontario.

In my volunteer life, the Master of Education program has enabled me to succeed as both a ski instructor and president of the High Park Ski Club, a travelling club of 1,000 members. Annually, our club runs 8 charter trips across the world, 8 multi-day trips across eastern North America, and over 50 single-day trips to resorts across Ontario. As president, I lead a board of 10 directors to enable the success of our club. Courses such as MDDE665 (Collaboration and Mentoring in Educational Environments) and MDDE660 (Professional Seminar on Leadership in Education Innovation) have equipped me with leadership skills that apply broadly across disciplines.