EdTech depth
Learning Engineering
Nineteen years turning learning design into shipped software - Excelsoft products and custom delivery for US, UK, and Australia education customers - with pedagogy, evidence, and interoperability treated as engineering requirements, not afterthoughts.
Pedagogy in the product
Bloom's-aligned GenAI assessment generation, Bayesian Knowledge Tracing for adaptive practice, a Remediation Agent, and in-content learning support (summaries, guided help) - shipped on OpenPage under Excel AISprints guardrails and privacy-first AI governance. Pedagogy is a product requirement, not a slide deck after the build.
Evidence in the platform
xAPI event pipelines and learning analytics turn millions of learner events into retention and course-risk signals for faculty and leadership. As Data Science Manager for Cognowise, I delivered student retention and course-success models for Brigham Young University-Idaho at ~91% precision on millions of events, with US executive engagement on product strategy.
Earlier delivery for BYU-Idaho also included the Educational Positioning System - mobile-first tools for career exploration, major choice, course planning, and academic performance - and AdvisorTrac for advising-center scheduling and interaction records. Student planning and advising sit next to analytics, not outside it.
Assessment engineering - two decades
Assessment systems have been a through-line since early career:
- OMR question banks (2004) - flatbed scanner workflows for large answer-sheet runs.
- Pegasus Assessment (2008 - 2011) - Tech Lead on the Assessment module for a US Higher Education and K12 e-learning portal (Pearson Education), with Canada on-site support.
- Standards-based delivery - QTI, LTI, xAPI (Tin Can), LRS, and Open Badges treated as engineering contracts, not optional integrations.
- Guarded GenAI item generation today - Bloom's-aligned quiz and assessment generation under the same quality and privacy gates as other product AI.
Learning experiences beyond the textbook
- VoiceLr (2012 - 2013) - Product Owner and Tech Lead for a cross-platform audio learning product (web and mobile) for education publishers.
- Operation Management Simulations (2015 - 2017) - real-life scenario simulations for Pearson Education, US; business analysis through delivery; minor customization and support after 2017.
- LarkLore (2015 - 2017) - game-event analytics and reporting for Pearson Education, Australia.
- GMLP (2015 - 2017) - reports with Pearson analytics for the Global Math Learning Progression Framework (UK) - reports only, not a game.
- World Languages Single Solution (2015 - 2017) - single delivery tool grouping Duolingo, Learnosity, and VitalSource for Pearson Education, US.
- SARAS Learning Spaces (2007 - 2008) - Web 2.0 e-learning portal (blog, wiki, RSS, forum, podcast, collaboration) integrated with assessment and publisher tools.
Platform scale lives on Work (OpenPage) and Results & impact. This page is the learning-design depth behind those products.
Pearson ecosystem (2008 - Present)
Architecture and delivery partner across Pearson Education (US, UK, Australia) and Pearson Learning Services since 2008 - assessment, simulations, games, analytics, language delivery, and current CRX work. Legal title stays with Excelsoft; this is client delivery, not Pearson employment. Do not read this as a claim to have launched PTE Academic.
| Period | Program | Role / scope |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Pearson Test of English (PTE) / PLT | First Pearson contribution - computer-based English proficiency (listening, reading, speaking, writing) |
| 2008 - 2011 | Pegasus Assessment | Tech Lead on the Assessment module for US Higher Ed and K12 |
| 2015 - 2017 | Operation Management Simulations | Active development; minor customization / support after 2017 through 2023 |
| 2015 - 2017 | LarkLore | Game-event analytics and reporting (Australia) |
| 2015 - 2017 | GMLP | Analytics reports for Global Math Learning Progression (UK) |
| 2015 - 2017 | World Languages Single Solution | Duolingo, Learnosity, and VitalSource in one delivery (US) |
| Oct 2025 - Present | Pearson Learning Services / CRX | Architecture contributor and services delivery owner - microservices for a new program and integration with other Pearson domain services |
Standards and interoperability
QTI · LTI · xAPI / Tin Can · LRS · Open Badges. These are engineering requirements on the products above - not a separate consulting brand.
Research direction
Queued practitioner research on Cognitive Debt / Augmentation vs Replacement for AI in embedded EdTech (eBook, LMS, study plans, self-learning tools) under Writing. The site stays the source of truth when that piece ships.