The Good Wood Story
Vision
Good Wood Learning Co. empowers individuals, teams, and organizations to make and sustain the changes they need to be successful.
Mission
Good Wood Learning Co. makes the learning sciences accessible and relevant to everyday professionals through training and consulting.
About Me
My professional story started with earning a master’s degree from Utah State University in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Hydraulics & Water Resources. After graduation, I began working as an engineering consultant specializing in airfield and drainage engineering. I am a licensed engineer and have designed and managed projects throughout the western U.S.
Most of the knowledge and skills I use in my day-to-day work were not learned in school but while on the job. Besides doing plenty of my own learning, I have trained colleagues, presented at conferences, and even helped a client stand up a learning management system. In summary, learning and teaching have been important and enjoyable facets of my work as an engineer.
After ten years of engineering practice, I fulfilled a long-standing dream by graduating with a second master’s degree from USU, this time in Instructional Technology & Learning Sciences with a certificate in Instructional Coaching. This combination of backgrounds may be unconventional but completing an educational degree while working full time as an engineer was a transformative experience. I began to see education as a core element of the engineering profession, rather than an occasionally relevant but separate domain.
The technical aspects of civil engineering projects are relatively simple most of the time. It is people, not technical analysis, that reliably bring complexity (for better or for worse) to the work of civil engineers. Working for the benefit of civilization, civil engineers – by definition – work with many people with diverse interests, needs, and personalities. These people might include members of the public, clients, contractors, elected officials, agency staff, and colleagues. With that many cooks in the kitchen, it can sometimes be a challenge to remain a civil engineer.
As I began learning about the “how” and “why” of human thought processes, I changed the way I approached my engineering work. Because people are the heart of civil engineering projects, an increased understanding of people is necessary to solve the biggest problems civil engineers face. I learned that with this mentality, explaining technical decisions becomes less about combating ignorance and more about building understanding. Job performance becomes less about doing everything, and more about focusing energy on things that matter most. Working in a team becomes less about winning an argument and more about finding the collective good.
This mindset shift provided immediate and tangible results. Like anything good in life, it needed to be shared. And so, the seeds of Good Wood Learning Co. were planted.
With my distinctive background, I am uniquely positioned to help other everyday professionals harness the power of the learning sciences to improve their work and work life (and, hey, it works in your personal life, too). I can speak the language of civil engineering, airports, and related domains while providing expert guidance on how to harness human thought processes for good.
Feel free to drop me a line. Whether it's to learn more about my services, share an idea, or just say hello, I'd love to hear from you. Anyone who has read this far is worth hearing from. You can also subscribe to "The Lumber Yard" to stay up to date with the latest news from Good Wood Learning Co.
All the best,
Dane Hurst