Liz Dyer, M.S.
As someone who has hired a team, I get why resumes are supposed to be as few pages as possible. I really do. Fundamentally, though, how much of yourself can you actually fit on one or two 8.5x11 pages?
So, I want to try something different here. Instead of traditional job description bullets, this page tells stories about how I got to where I am today. My story starts with college at the top, and flows naturally down to present day.
Through this page, I hope you can understand how everything I've done, even the non-ID stuff, has made me into the designer I am today. If you're not a reader, you probably won't love this page, so here's a standard copy of my resume. It leaves out a lot of the good stuff though.
Education
Mississippi State University
I went to college thinking I'd go to vet school after four years of undergrad. Well.... that didn't happen. (Have you ever taken biochemistry??) But, I was inspired. One of my favorite classes was an introductory animal science class, and I LOVED my teacher so much that she made me want to teach animal science.
So, when I finished undergrad, I went right into a Master's program to teach animal science. I was incredibly lucky to student teach at a high school in rural Mississippi that had a literal farm, and I had an awesome experience. However, I knew teaching in Mississippi wasn't for me. But you know what was for me? COWS. More on that in a minute.
I came away with two degrees from Mississippi State that I am so proud of. I earned a Bachelor's in Animal Science and a Master's in Agricultural and Extension Education. I've loved animals since I was little, but my Master's program helped me realized how much I loved learning and teaching.
Work Experience
trans ova genetics
Cattle Production Assistant
March 2017 - June 2018
This is where the cows come into play. Here's something that may be news to you: There is an entire population of people who do IVF on their cows (and other livestock). That is what Trans Ova Genetics (TOG) does, in super simple terms. And it's actually fascinating. You know how humans will sometimes use surrogates to have babies? Yeah, people do that with animals too. Don't get me started on cloning. So cool.
Anyway, when I realized I didn't want to be a high school agriculture teacher, I explored my options for a while. I always wanted to do something with animals, so this was my first "big girl" job out of college. I was essentially a vet tech for egg retrievals and IVF procedures.
This job was a unique and super fun experience, but I wasn't really using my brain. I also didn't love the winters in Northwest Iowa, so I took myself back down south.
Quarter life Crisis
June 2018 - July 2019
So here's where my story gets a little unconventional. When I left Iowa and came to Arkansas, I had a plan. I was going to join the Peace Corps for 27 months and work as an ag teacher in a foreign country. Buuuut, I chickened out. So I had a proverbial gap year - building a network, doing a LOT of volunteering (ask me about Ivan Dawson), and figuring myself out. In hindsight, I would have been in a developing country during COVID, so I'm okay with how things worked out.
Arkansas PBS
Education & Instruction Coordinator
Education & Instruction Specialist
July 2019 - January 2022
This was my first real instructional design job, and it still holds a special place in my heart. At Arkansas PBS (now Arkansas TV), I was part of a team of educators that worked under an organization called Arkansas IDEAS, which stands for Internet Delivered Education for Arkansas Schools. This small organization was funded by a grant written into Arkansas law, and we provided free professional development for teachers and school staff across the state. Super cool, right?
I really discovered my love for writing and course building in this job. I built some of the most impactful courses of my career (see my Projects page for more info), then jumped from an entry-level role to a mid-level role where I was building content for one LMS while managing a separate one for a completely different audience.
Since I was at Arkansas PBS during COVID, I got to work through some unique projects. Not only did we create Rise and Shine (also on my Projects page), but we also filtered through the entire national PBS archives to air educational TV for Arkansans. We literally had to watch every second of every documentary and PBS Kids cartoon to determine if it could air in Arkansas.
I really loved this job, but I outgrew it. By the end of 2021, I was ready for a lot more. I wanted to learn instructional design principles, technologies, and work with different audiences.
bank ozk
Lead Instructional Designer
Instructional Designer III
Instructional Designer II
January 2022 - Present
Bank OZK has been so pivotal to my career. I started as a lil baby Instructional Designer II at the beginning of 2022, and I've made my way up to a Lead Instructional Designer with my own team.
When I first started, I was an individual contributor - building courses, videos, and resources for several different departments across the bank, but I wasn't specialized in any specific area. As I gained experience and built relationships with internal clients, I began leading my own projects for retail banking.
As a leader, I get to create the strategy behind our retail training. We have made some massive shifts over the last couple years. First, we actually have real learning plans now! This has created a much better experience for eLearning, which is a large portion of onboarding. Next, we flipped our virtual classes. Instead of learning everything and practicing for the first time in a virtual class, new bankers are introduced to the material before they come to class, then they get to practice skills with peers and experts in class. And finally, simulations. Instead of pointing learners to our policies and procedures, we are actually teaching them how to do their jobs, thanks to Storyline.
All Gravy
Freelance Instructional Designer
February 2026 - Present
This year I started my first freelancing gig with All Gravy, which is a tech start-up based in Copenhagen. They've built an AI-powered app for hospitality workers. Basically, when someone gets hired at a restaurant, bar, or hotel in the UK, they use All Gravy for onboarding, compliance training, and HR purposes.
My role at All Gravy has been to build the compliance training, and lemme tell ya. It has been FUN. It's a massive change of pace from my corporate job, but I've learned so much. I start with the regulatory documents from the governing bodies in the UK, then I turn them into a video script, broken down into several short chapters. From there, I work with a video producer to build videos in Synthesia. The videos then get added to the All Gravy app, where I build quiz questions, short articles, and final exams for each course.
All Gravy has been such a fun addition to my day job, and they even asked me to be in one of their vlogs! Check it out: