It takes more than an expert in subject matter to design a college course. It also takes an expert in teaching and learning. To ensure the classes students take are intentionally crafted to maximize students’ ability to absorb and learn class material, Rasmussen College employs instructional designers.

Helen Murphy is one such instructional designer. Murphy started at the College over six years ago and brings vast experience to Rasmussen College outside of her own education and years working in higher education. Prior to becoming an instructional designer, Murphy was a member of the United States Army Signal Corps.

After her military career, Murphy discovered her love for teaching and education. She completed two Master’s degrees in Education and Online Teaching, which led Murphy to her current career in instructional design.

Murphy works on a team with more than a dozen other instructional designers, who each work on designing between four and five courses at once. For any given course the goal is to take the materials and information given by the instructor, the subject matter expert, and develop course materials that have the intentional objective of teaching students.

While subject matter experts are the experts in their given fields, Murphy, and the others on her team, are experts in education and teaching.

“Our job is to make sure the course makes sense,” Murphy states. “There is a science to it.”

Ensuring students learn exactly what the instructor intends them to is where Murphy becomes a crucial component to the course development. Murphy connects with her subject matter experts weekly to discuss their work and ensure it is heading in the correct direction, keenly focused on career readiness and student success.

“The course should tell a story,” Murphy states when reflecting on a piece of advice given to her soon after starting at Rasmussen College.

Each time she looks at course, she looks at it like a story. Murphy explains how a course needs to be logical and have a flow. She needs to bring the students along a learning journey.

Murphy enjoys working with multiple subject matter experts at once, juggling deadlines and being a part of her instructional design team. Murphy’s work ethic and team collaboration abilities are two skills she carried with her from her years in the military.

Murphy joined the Army Signal Corps in September of 1974, when the United States had already been at war in Vietnam for nearly 20 years. It was at this time that the Army opened up combat support jobs to women, and Murphy was part of approximately 50,000 women, from 1973 – 1975, to take advantage of this new opportunity.

“在决定上有很多争议让妇女成为战斗支持苔藓。它绝对对我的服务有影响，“墨菲说道。

Combat support roles, including Murphy’s Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) as a Voice Radio Operator, were positioned five miles behind the enemy lines, a concept that was effective in previous wars. However, in the Vietnam War these battle lines weren’t clear, as guerilla warfare became prominent. This affected Murphy’s role in the military. Her battalion was tasked with providing communications support for the 101^stAirborne Division of the US Army. The battalion would be expected to defend their communications placement for as long as possible, so the airborne units could coordinate their actions.

在她的基本训练中，她和她的队友被指导，由于他们正在进行战斗支持作用，并且预计不会直接与敌人联系起来，因此队友被认为是几乎没有战斗训练。然而，墨菲的钻子警长已经去过越南，并了解士兵会反对的东西。钻子警长看到他们经历了“自卫”训练，以及在M-16A1步枪上训练。据报道戈登堡，乔治堡，墨菲向她的永久工作站报告，墨菲收到了捍卫其沟通单位的额外培训。

“The thing that I remember most was that everyone in my battalion, company, platoon and squad were communication techs first and soldiers second,” Murphy stated. “We had to be to accomplish our mission.”

Murphy left the Army after becoming pregnant with her first child.

她在军队中的时间加深了她对她的国家的爱。她解释说，虽然该国并不完善，但她认为美国达成了需要帮助改善生活的社区。墨菲在拉斯穆森学院看到了与此平行，她很自豪能成为拉斯穆森大学社区的一部分。

“Working at Rasmussen is like an opportunity to continue serving the public,” Murphy stated. “If I can help a student learn, then the better they are educated and then they go out in the world. It’s all a good thing.”

拉斯穆森学院致力于建立一个学生，教职员工社区，他们为教育和改善生活而分享激情。在Rasmussen在Rasmussen工作等人士丰富了学院和整个社区。

Rasmussen College感谢Helen Murphy，以及所有在军队致力于我们国家的所有教师，员工，学生和校友都没有被忽视。