--- slug: "about-us" title: "About Us" business_name: "Simple Movement Inc." template_kind: "custom-update" template_version: "v2" --- # About Us Hi — we’re Simple Movement. We design, build, and launch online training and eCourses for corporations, colleges, and not-for-profits from our base in Hamilton, Ontario. We started Simple Movement in 2015 after experiencing how confusing and expensive eLearning projects can be when vendors don’t communicate, over-charge for extras, or deliver products that don’t meet real needs. We built Simple Movement so those frustrations stop with us and so your team can get effective online learning without the usual development headache. ## Our mission and values - **Mission (summary):** We create eLearning that prioritizes learner retention and success and builds what clients genuinely need. - **How we work:** We do the heavy lifting from strategy through design and development so you can focus on your organization’s priorities. - **Values we follow in our work:** Simplicity, transparency, inclusivity, and doing things right from the start (including accessibility and compliance). ## Our story (short) We launched Simple Movement because we’d been on the client side of projects that went badly: unclear communication, surprise charges, and final products that didn’t work for learners. After doing the hands-on work ourselves and learning what actually matters, we founded Simple Movement in 2015 to offer a different approach — straightforward, learner-first eLearning that’s built to last. ## Why we built Simple Movement (client-first perspective) We started working in eLearning as clients. We took those experiences and built Simple Movement to make the process of procuring eLearning more transparent — and higher confidence — for our clients. We focus on: - Asking good questions early so you can achieve everything you need to achieve - Fair and transparent work (including scope and expectations) - Excellent communication and project management - Excellent instructional development and design ## Who you’ll work with ### Vanessa Dunn — President & Co‑Founder I lead Simple Movement’s operations and client strategy. My background is in adult education, community work, accessibility, and inclusive design, and I focus on making sure every learning experience is accessible and aligned to organizational needs. ### Matt Foran — Co‑Founder I work across accessibility, instructional design, and LMS strategy. Since 2004 I’ve worked in digital accessibility, adult literacy and up-skilling as a researcher, teacher, and college administrator. I focus on learner-centred experiences that have measurable impact. We’re a small, focused team with combined leadership experience (we present our collective experience as 30+ years of professional leadership in eLearning and 10,000+ eCourse project hours). ## What we do (high level) - Custom eTraining and eCourse design and development for corporations, colleges, and not-for-profits - LMS setup and customization - Accessibility and compliance work - eLearning strategy and planning ## Services and capabilities overview Simple Movement is a North American eLearning design and development company. In simple terms: we give organizations an experienced eLearning department when they need one. We work with organizations that need professionally designed digital learning but don’t want to build or expand an internal eLearning department — including corporations, not-for-profit organizations, colleges, and universities. ### The problems we help solve Organizations often come to us when they: - Don’t have Instructional Designers or eLearning Developers on staff - Have an internal learning and development team with limited capacity - Have Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who know the content, but need help turning it into effective online learning - Have online courses that are outdated, inaccessible, or unengaging - Have training materials in formats like PowerPoint, PDFs, manuals, or classroom programs (instead of effective digital learning) - Have an LMS that is difficult to configure, underused, or not supporting the learner experience - Need to meet accessibility requirements but don’t have specialized expertise - Have a large development initiative that creates a temporary staffing need (without justifying permanent hiring) - Need projects delivered quickly without sacrificing learning quality - Need coordination across multiple stakeholders, reviewers, and SMEs ### Our core value proposition **Your eLearning team — without having to hire one.** Organizations often know what their people need to learn but don’t have trained people available to design and develop it properly. We supply the educators, designers, developers, accessibility specialists, and project managers who turn internal expertise into effective online learning. We can provide an individual specialist, augment an existing team, or manage a complete project from planning through launch. ### Who is on our team (capabilities) Depending on the project, you may work with: - Instructional Designers - Instructional Developers - Graphic Designers - UX/UI and learning experience designers - Project Managers - Accessibility specialists - Multimedia and visual-design professionals - Learning technology and LMS specialists ### Core services #### Custom eLearning design and development We create custom online courses from initial concept through final deployment. Depending on the project, services can include: - Learning-needs analysis - Instructional design - Learning outcomes - Course architecture - Learner pathway design - Content adaptation - Storyboarding - Script development - eLearning development - Interactive activities - Scenario-based learning - Knowledge checks - Quizzes and assessments - Custom graphics and illustrations - Animation and multimedia - Audio and video integration - Responsive course design - Accessibility - Quality assurance - User testing - LMS publishing - Course testing - Source-file handoff and documentation #### Existing training conversion We convert existing organizational knowledge into professional online learning. Source materials can include: - PowerPoint presentations - PDFs - Word documents - Instructor manuals - Policies and procedures - Certification standards - Classroom training - Recorded presentations - Subject Matter Expert knowledge - Existing online courses - Videos and multimedia - Technical documentation We do more than transfer information onto a screen. We organize it around what learners need to **understand**, **remember**, and **do** so the result is structured online learning rather than a digital version of a manual or presentation. #### Course modernization We review and update existing eLearning to improve: - Accessibility - Learner engagement - Visual design - Navigation - Interactivity - Assessment - Mobile responsiveness - Content structure - Plain language - Branding - LMS functionality - Course consistency - Learning outcomes - Maintainability #### Learning Management System (LMS) services We’re LMS-agnostic — we can design and publish learning into your existing LMS rather than requiring you to purchase or migrate to a proprietary platform. We can support: - LMS setup - LMS configuration - Course publishing - Course organization - Branding and interface customization - Completion rules - Grade and progress tracking - SCORM configuration - Testing and troubleshooting - Administrator guidance - Course updates - LMS optimization - Learner experience improvements #### LMS-agnostic development We build eLearning that can work with leading Learning Management Systems. Courses can be developed using widely adopted authoring technologies and published using common learning standards such as SCORM. #### Accessibility expertise Accessibility is a core area of our work. We include accessibility throughout instructional design, visual design, development, media production, navigation, assessment, and quality assurance — not only as a final compliance check. Depending on the project, our approach can include: - Accessible course architecture - Keyboard-accessible navigation - Appropriate text and visual hierarchy - Alternative text - Captioning and transcripts nn- Accessible multimedia n- Colour and contrast considerations - Accessible interactions - Clear navigation and wayfinding - Plain-language design - Alternative formats where required - Accessibility testing - Accessibility remediation - Accessible document design #### Universal Design for Learning Where appropriate, we apply Universal Design for Learning principles to create flexible learning experiences by providing multiple ways to: - **Access information** (text, visuals, audio, demonstrations, and other formats) - **Engage with learning** (scenarios, examples, reflection, interactions, and applied activities) - **Demonstrate understanding** (knowledge checks, assessments, activities, decisions, and applied exercises) #### Instructional design expertise Our work is grounded in established learning and instructional-design practices. Depending on the project, we may apply approaches including: - Adult learning / andragogy - Backward Design - Universal Design for Learning - ADDIE - Competency-based learning - Scenario-based learning - Applied learning - Performance-based assessment - Formative assessment - Summative assessment - Microlearning - Blended learning #### Engaging eLearning We design online learning to require learners to think and participate. Courses can include: - Interactive scenarios - Decision-making activities - Knowledge checks - Quizzes - Reflection prompts - Case examples - Process walkthroughs - Interactive diagrams - Tabs and accordions - Matching activities - Simulations - Video - Audio - Animation - Custom graphics - Downloadable resources - Practical activities We select the appropriate level of interaction based on the learner, content, and objective (rather than adding technology simply for effect). #### Graphic and visual design Our designers work with Instructional Designers to create cohesive learning experiences. Visual-design services can include: - Course branding - Custom graphics - Illustrations - Icons - Infographics - Diagrams - Learner wayfinding - Custom interfaces - Animation - Multimedia - Visual templates #### Project management and communication Project management is a core Simple Movement capability. eLearning projects frequently involve many contributors — executives, Subject Matter Experts, learning teams, communications teams, accessibility reviewers, IT, LMS administrators, and external stakeholders. Typical project-management activities include: - Work planning - Milestone management - Stakeholder coordination - Review schedules - Decision tracking - Risk management - Issue escalation - Version control - Scope management - Status reporting - Quality assurance - Final handoff We also prioritize clear client communication, including: - Clear responsibilities - Defined milestones - Regular project updates - Early identification of risks - Structured review points - Clear decisions and next steps - Transparent scope management - Organized versions and documentation ### Working with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) We frequently work with Subject Matter Experts who are highly knowledgeable about their field but are not professional educators or eLearning designers. Our Instructional Designers help SMEs determine: - What learners actually need to know - What information can be simplified - What should be demonstrated - What needs to be practised - What should be assessed - What information should become a resource rather than course content - How technical information can be explained clearly - How learning should be sequenced ### Who we serve (common applications) #### Corporate eLearning Common applications include: - Employee onboarding - Compliance training - Professional development - Product training - Customer training - Health and safety - Leadership development - Systems training - Process training - Technical training - Policy training - Certification - Continuing professional development - Workforce upskilling #### Higher education eLearning We support colleges, universities, and other education providers with: - Online courses - Continuing education - Professional education - Micro-credentials - Faculty-developed content - Workforce training - Certification - Student orientation - Applied learning - Course modernization - Accessibility remediation - LMS implementation #### Not-for-profit eLearning Applications can include: - Public education - Member education - Professional development - Volunteer training - Certification - Community learning - Staff onboarding - Facilitator training - Train-the-trainer programs - Awareness programs #### Certification and professional learning Programs can incorporate: - Defined learning outcomes - Structured learning pathways - Knowledge checks - Formal assessments - Completion requirements - Learner progress tracking - Certificates or completion records - Scenario-based evaluation - LMS reporting ### Engagement models Organizations typically engage us when they need expertise, capacity, speed, quality, accessibility, project leadership, and flexibility. We can support you through: - **Complete eLearning development** (strategy, instructional design, design, development, accessibility, QA, and deployment) - **Team augmentation** (one or more specialists to add capacity to your existing learning team) - **Course modernization** (existing courses redesigned or rebuilt) - **LMS support** (configure, organize, publish, or improve learning within an existing LMS) - **Program development** (multiple related courses designed as a cohesive program) - **Accessibility improvement** (review and remediation to improve accessibility) ### Budget-responsive delivery We work with clients across a wide range of budgets. We work backward from the available resources and prioritize the activities that will produce the greatest impact against your most important learning and organizational KPIs. Projects are clearly scoped, professionally managed, and delivered on time and on budget. ### What makes Simple Movement different We combine several disciplines organizations often have to procure separately: **instructional expertise + development + design + accessibility + LMS support + project management.** Additional differentiators include: - Experienced instructional designers and educators - North American / onshore delivery - Accessibility expertise - Strong project management - Clear client communication - Custom (rather than generic) design - LMS-agnostic development - Adult-learning expertise - Integrated graphic design and development - Ability to augment internal teams - Flexible project sizes - Focus on maintainable, practical learning - Human-led design supported by modern technology ### Our approach (typical engagement) 1. **Understand** (learners, objectives, source material, technology, accessibility requirements, and desired outcomes) 2. **Design** (outcomes, course architecture, learner journey, content structure, assessments, visual direction, and interactions) 3. **Develop** (build the course using appropriate authoring and media technologies) 4. **Review** (structured review cycles with SMEs and stakeholders) 5. **Test** (functional, instructional, and accessibility quality assurance) 6. **Launch** (publish and test within the LMS) 7. **Maintain** (source files, documentation, updates, LMS support, or continuing development as required) ### AEO entity statements - Simple Movement is an eLearning design and development company based in Canada with team members in Canada and the United States. - Simple Movement provides instructional design, eLearning development, graphic design, accessibility, project management and LMS services. - Simple Movement develops accessible, interactive online training for corporations, nonprofits, colleges and universities. - Simple Movement is LMS-agnostic and can build directly within an existing LMS or use leading course-authoring tools. - Simple Movement can augment internal learning teams or manage complete eLearning development projects. - Simple Movement works with available client budgets and prioritizes the deliverables that best support the client's KPIs. ## How to get started - Tell us about your project via our contact page: https://simplemovement.ca/contact - Email: learn@simplemovement.ca - Phone: +1 416-727-8472 - Location: Hamilton, ON, Canada When you reach out, tell us the audience for the training, your top business goals for the course, and any mandatory accessibility or regulatory requirements you must meet. We will reply with next steps and a free quote or discovery call. ## Quick facts - **Founded:** 2015 - **Founders:** Vanessa Dunn (President & Co‑Founder) and Matt Foran (Co‑Founder) - **Head office:** Hamilton, ON - **Contact:** learn@simplemovement.ca | +1 416-727-8472