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Welcome!

Hi, I’m Willow Neilson, a Learning Designer.

Creating experiences and crafting content for over 25 years.

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Get To Know Me

About Me

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Who Am I ?

I’m Willow Neilson a designer of games, learning and entertaining content.

Beginning my career as a professional performing saxophone player I went onto place third in 3 international performance competitions in Europe before the age of 25. I toured internationally performing at the Montreaux Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival and JZ Festival Shanghai among many others. I backed  musicians such as John Legend, DeeDee Bridgewater and O’Donel Levy. 

Always passionate to share my love of music with the next generation I taught music in Australia, China and the US. My love for education lead me to get my teaching credential in 2006 and my Masters of Learning Design and Technology in 2016. I was employed by Cultural Infusion and Age of Learning to develop interactive learning applications focused on music. 

Developing new ways people can interact with music for learning and entertainment will always be a fascination of mine. I continue to develop my skills in game development and interaction design to keep pushing forward new creative visions. I blog on this at musicgamedesign.com and will soon launch a YouTube channel of the same name. 

 

 

Resume

A Summary of My Resume

Education

Work Experience

2014-2016

Master of Learning Design & Technology

San Diego State University

This degree focused on designing engaging learning for a range of learning environments such as online, AR & VR.

2017-2023

Curriculum Designer

Age of Learning

Designed engaging core game loops, intuitive interfaces and seamlessy sequenced content for music education games.

1997-2000

Bachelor of Music

University of Sydney

I was a student of the jazz studies department of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, one of the oldest and most highly regarded performing institutions in Australia.

2015-2017

Learning Experience Designer

Cultural Infusion

Designed several games for the Joko’s World series to promote intercultural understanding with school age children through music.

2013-2103

Certificate of Leadership Coaching

Academy of Leadership Coaching & NLP

This 4 month training program provided me with a toolset to help people gain clarity on their vision and goals.

2013-2015

Freelance Learning Designer

Multiple Organizations

Designed games, elearning and created video content for a range of freelance clients including the Hoffman Center Australia, Target and others.

Contact

Contact Me

Sierra Madre, California, United States

+1 323 975 1908