Samantha Black
Learning Experience & Content Strategy Leader
I design and lead learning and content systems that make complex work feel clear and human. Over the past 14 years, I’ve focused on building scalable learning systems that support the people creating the work, the learners engaging with it, and the outcomes organizations care about most.
Case Studies
These case studies showcase how I lead complex learning and content initiatives by combining systems thinking, cross-functional partnership, and measurable impact.
Scaling Course Production with New Workflows
Scaling Course Production with New Workflows
Reduced production timelines by 50% and cut course postponements by 23%.
Reduced production timelines by 50% and cut course postponements by 23%.
Challenge
Course production across 23 academic departments operated on a 30-week cycle. Builds were frequently delayed, with an average postponement rate of 41% between 2019-2023. These delays created downstream issues for faculty, operations, and learners.
Action
Led a cross-functional initiative to redesign the production cycle by introducing a 15-week schedule beginning in 2024.
Partnered with HR and Legal to update contract language, including stricter deadlines and contract termination clauses for SMEs who fell behind content submission deadlines.
Implemented Agile project management practices and AI-powered tools to automate repetitive production tasks and improve visibility.
Result
Reduced production timelines by 50% and increased productivity by 30%.
Postponement rates improved dramatically: from 41% (2019–2023) → 21% (2024) → 16% (2025).
Achieved a 23% decrease in course build postponements over two years since implementing the new schedule and contract framework.
Takeaway
This project highlights my ability to redesign and lead large-scale content production cycles, while building efficient, agile systems that reduce delays, improve quality, and enable sustainable delivery of learning experiences at scale.
Made with Figma
Digitizing Contracts & Building a Scalable Tracking System
Centralized 4,000+ contracts to enable long-term planning and compliance.
Challenge
Contract management for 200+ annual subject matter experts (SMEs) was fragmented across departments. Paper-based agreements (over 4,000 records) were difficult to track, non-compliant, and there was no central system for contract management or build history. Leadership lacked visibility into key metrics such as how many courses were built per cycle, SME utilization, or annual contractor costs, making it difficult to forecast budgets and allocate resources effectively.
Action
Digitized 4,000+ existing contracts and built a centralized SharePoint site to house all contract and course build data.
Designed a custom recall and version tracking system, addressing the absence of built-in versioning within the LMS.
Established a master list of all course builds and contracts, then created department-specific lists linked through Power Automate flows that updated automatically whenever changes were made to the main list.
Partnered with HR and Legal to ensure compliance by integrating contract deadlines, status tracking, and termination clauses directly into the system.
Result
Created a single source of truth for six years of historical and current course build and contract data.
Enabled leadership and departments to track builds per cycle, SME frequency, departmental output, and annual contract costs with clarity.
Significantly improved compliance and accountability, reducing the risk of contract lapses and compliance issues.
Established a robust foundation for accurate budget forecasting and long-term operational planning.
Takeaway
This project shows how I build scalable operations and content tracking systems that strengthen compliance, improve transparency across departments, and enable data-driven decision-making needed to support global education programs.
Annual Builds Per Academic Department
Large-Scale LMS Migration & Content Governance
Executed 3,000+ course LMS migration with version continuity and no content loss.
Challenge
The organization needed to migrate 3,000+ courses into a new LMS, but the new system lacked the capacity to track versioning of courses. This posed a serious risk of losing course histories, duplicating content, and departments being unable to monitor their migration progress.
Action
Directed a comprehensive audit of 1,800+ online courses to establish a baseline before migration.
Created a SharePoint site to track each department’s migration status, giving stakeholders real-time visibility into their courses.
Designed a custom version tracking system to solve the LMS’s lack of built-in versioning, ensuring continuity and consistency across migrated content.
Coordinated cross-department collaboration with IT, faculty, and compliance teams to align on standards and migration processes.
Result
Successfully migrated all 3,000+ courses into the new LMS on time.
Ensured no courses were lost or forgotten during the migration process.
Each department gained clear visibility into the status of its course migrations.
Maintained consistent version numbers throughout the migration, solving a major gap in the new system.
Takeaway
This initiative demonstrates my skill in orchestrating complex, cross-functional content migrations while creating governance and tracking systems that ensure quality, consistency, and global visibility, which are capabilities that translate directly to managing education content ecosystem.
Example of Department SharePoint Migration List
Testimonials
Feedback from academic and executive leaders I’ve partnered with over the past 15 years.
Chief Academic Officer
"I’ve worked with Samantha for nearly 15 years, and she remains a trusted and respected colleague. Her leadership is grounded in integrity, professionalism, and a deep commitment to building systems that truly work.Samantha brings clarity to complex challenges and designs solutions that are effective, sustainable, and responsive to organizational needs. Her calm, thoughtful approach fosters trust, and her insight elevates every project she’s involved in. She would be an asset to any organization."
Executive Vice President, Online Education Academics and Services
"Samantha challenges the status quo while maintaining integrity and focus. She consistently analyzes complex situations, develops practical solutions, implements them, and evaluates results with measurable impact.She supports stakeholders across the University and is someone I rely on for process improvement, employee engagement, and organizational effectiveness. Samantha is professional, responsive, and deeply committed to the institution’s mission."
Vice President of Online Education
"Samantha would be a transformational addition to any team. She's exceptional in her abilities to connect, synthesize, organize and communicate.On our team, she navigated an environment of constantly reduced resources, big personalities, and demanding deadlines. She embodied integrity and ensured our standards never slipped, always advocating for students while understanding the needs of the business. I can't recommend Samantha highly enough."
Production Director - Direct Report
“I appreciate Sam’s adeptness at keeping track of an endless string of details through custom-designed systems to keep things organized and optimized across our entire organization. I also admire her ability to process complex situations and communicate them efficiently with various stakeholders, to keep things running smoothly. She's an integral asset to our team!”
Production Administrator - Former Direct Report
“Samantha is an exceptionally analytical and solution-oriented as a leader. She stepped into the role seamlessly, was extremely knowledgeable and articulate, and was ready to undertake any and all challenges. Furthermore, Samantha made the effort to check on her team members personally and nurture her relationships with everyone. It showed she truly cared and that made her an absolute pleasure to work with and for.”
Let's Connect
Explore how I lead strategy, content ecosystems, and cross-functional teams at scale.
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[email protected]
808-896-1374
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Remote, based in Hilo, HI