About Me

Digital Learning Design | Children's Media

I am a writer, product manager, learning designer, editor, and content developer with experience working with diverse teams, communicating and problem-solving across departments, design thinking, and creating and delivering quality educational content. I have a background in content development and educational publishing, and I offer project management skills along with a passion for creating quality educational experiences in children's media and games. I am available for freelance editing and writing as well as job opportunities in the education sector.

I earned my Master's in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in the Technology, Innovation, and Education program. My interests are in literacy instruction and the science of reading, informal learning, educational games, learning through play, and learning design. 

I'm a writer and editor with expertise in editing pre-submission book chapters, journal articles, and conference paper manuscripts for educational researchers, as well as in editing dissertations and theses for graduate students. I offer tiered pricing based on the complexity and level of support needed. Email me for a quote on your manuscript.

I work with you as my client to make sure your paper reflects your science accurately and your findings articulately. I proofread and edit for grammar, spelling, clarity, and sense and can ensure that your paper meets APA formatting and journal-specific formatting guidelines. I also have experience with preparing NSF grants, including writing and editing sections to match NSF-formatting and organizing relevant files.

My clients include researchers and graduate students at MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, and Intel. I have my Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Technology, Innovation, and Education, and I have edited papers on topics ranging from assessment, game-based learning, educational data mining, affect and education, teacher practice spaces, and grit and resilience.

Learning Design Portfolio

Below are some of the projects I've worked on. Additional writing samples are available upon request.

Work Experience

Heinemann Publishing

2023-PRESENT

Product Manager

Managing portfolio of literacy products including soliciting customer feedback, prototyping, iterating, building MVP products, and setting roadmaps and strategies for programs

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2019-2022

Product Manager

Managing portfolio of phonics program and Advanced Placement and Electives titles, including soliciting customer feedback, prototyping, iterating, building MVP products, and setting roadmaps and strategies for programs

Whitlock Editing

2018 - Present

Editor and Writer

Editing pre-submission journal and conference papers, book chapters, and dissertations for grammar, spelling, clarity, sense, and APA formatting for education research scientists at MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and Intel

Seeking freelance opportunities working with educational researchers and graduate students. Email me for rates and availability.

Woobo, INc.

2017-2019

Learning Designer and Content Developer

Writing and developing stories and games to promote learning goals, including social-emotional development, healthy eating, and STEM

Researching educational theories and practices and child development to guide content creation, and synthesizing research basis of work for parent audience

Bespoke Group

2017-2018

English Language Consultant

Writing and developing cloze tests, essays, and passages with accompanying questions for science and history topics aligned to CEFR standards for beginning English language learners at a Japanese education company.

Teaching Systems Lab, MIT

2017

Learning Designer

Developed curriculum for teacher candidates at the Woodrow Wilson Academy of Teaching and Learning, including ideation, research, prototyping, testing, and iterating learning experiences

Facilitated playtests, transcribing and coding data from playtests; co-authored paper on implementing game-based learning

Revised lesson plan drafts to create curriculum materials for teachers implementing educational games in their classroom

2017

Design Fellow Intern

Internship to help the Teaching Systems Lab and Woodrow Wilson Academy of Teaching and Learning develop curriculum for Design Fellows year, including ideation, research, prototyping, testing, and iterating learning experiences.

Cashtivity

2016

Education Outreach Intern

Internship to help edtech start-up focused on project-based learning for middle school math with education outreach, UX/UI design, bug testing, and proofreading marketing materials.

Pearson Arts & Sciences

2013 – 2016

Project Manager

Project manager for digital learning environments and print textbooks for Higher Education mathematics list.

2009 – 2013

Content Editor, Associate Content Editor

Editorial project manager for digital learning environments and print textbooks for Higher Education developmental mathematics list.

2006 – 2009

Assistant Editor, Editorial Assistant

Project manager for print supplements programs for Higher Education mathematics list.

Synapse Firing Squad

2008 – 2013

Co-Founder, Writer, Designer

Co-founded independent game studio, writer and designer for Flash and tabletop games.

Writing: PUblications & Blog Posts

Pavlov, O., Kim, Y. J., and Whitlock, C. (in press). Food fight: Teaching systems thinking and ecosystems. In K. Schrier (Ed.), Learning, Education and Games (Vol. 3): 100 games to use in the classroom and beyond. Pittsburgh, PA: ETC Press (Carnegie Mellon).

Whitlock, C. (2018, July 24). How to raise kind, compassionate, and empathetic children [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@christine.whitlock/how-to-raise-kind-compassionate-and-empathetic-children-305d94afaafa

Whitlock, C. (2018, August 7). Do parents value academic success over kindness? [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@christine.whitlock/do-parents-value-academic-success-over-kindness-cefe8f32d4ee

Whitlock, C. (2019, January 23). Where are you during your child’s screen time? [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://blog.woobo.io/what-joint-media-engagement-is-and-why-you-should-be-doing-it/

Technical Skills

IDeating & Prototyping

Balsamiq

Invision

Sketch

Adobe XD

Miro

Mural

Content Creation

Illustrator

Photoshop

Acrobat

Project Management

Asana

Trello

GitHub

Basecamp

Jira

Data Analysis

Dedoose

Dovetail

Programming & File Management

HTML

CSS

Twine

Amazon Web Services

cPanel

Teaching

Canvas

Coursework

Designing and Developing Games for Learning

Project-based course to explore the process of building and testing models in games and simulations. Explores various approaches to learning with games and simulations, criteria for developing the most appropriate simulation/model/game mechanics for a given situation, and methods for evaluating the success and utility of models. Projects include developing a curriculum for an existing game; developing and designing an educational board game; and developing and designing an educational digital game.

Informal Learning

A practicum course to learn from researchers, creative talent, and senior executives from Sesame Workshop, as well as local museums, community centers, after-school programs, and summer camps to develop a new informal learning venture. Final project is a group project to create a proposal for a large-scale, multimedia-based informal learning intervention, presented orally to media industry participants, and submitted as a final written proposal. Course skills required formative evaluation, proposal writing, pitch presentation, and oral and written communication.

Advanced Design Studio

This project-based course introduces advanced topics in the design and development of technology for education, including design thinking for educators, service and human-centered design practices and web programming for interactive learning applications. Final project develops an educational technology product from problem framing to solution prototyping.

Growing Up in a Media World

A course to explore the impact of media in educating and socializing children and teenagers. Introduction to psychological, sociological, and survey research, exploration of variety of content, documenting the developing child's patterns of use and understanding of media, examining theories and methods for assessing media effects, reviewing research on the role of media in shaping identity and relationships, and analyzing public policies that affect media creators, consumers, and citizens. Projects included content analysis and interviewing a child on their media use.

Innovation by Design

A project-based course to explore research-based design process in a technology-based project. Activities included research, ideating, prototyping, wireframing, UI/UX design, and iterating.

Formative Evaluation

This project-based course covers methodologies and issues related to the evaluation of educational products. Course project focuses on designing and implementing an evaluation study, conducting human subject research, and analyzing data to inform the design of an educational product, to be presented in an oral presentation and final written report.

Designing for Learning by Creating

A project-based course that investigates the theoretical foundations of learning by creating and explore how to design learning experiences and technologies that support creating as a central activity. Topics include constructivist and constructionist theories of learning, the role of digital and physical materials in learning, supporting interest and motivation, the social nature of learning, and reflective learning practices. Final project is related to the theme of "designing for learning by creating".

Managing Financial Resources in Non-profit Organizations

A general introduction to financial management practices and problems of nonprofit organizations. Course topics include budgeting, financial accounting, cost accounting, cost containment and retrenchment, management control systems, analyzing and assessing financial reports, and understanding strategic planning in nonprofit organizations. 

Negotiation Workshop

A practitioner-focused, experiential course introducing frameworks, tools, and skills to effectively manage negotiations in a variety of professional and personal settings. Coursework include hands-on negotiation simulations and exercises designed to enhance skills, demonstrate particular concepts, and provide opportunities to experiment with various negotiation techniques. Course topics include preparation, value creation, distribution, difficult tactics, advanced listening, difficult conversations, and multiparty negotiation.