Week 1 Welcome & Introductions

Good morning from Ohio! I am 4 years into my role as an instructional designer at my current job, and prior to that I was teaching high school for 15 years. Most days I am found creating, researching or sometimes training compliance training for our ethics and compliance program.   While I have some basic AI background, I am looking forward to learning more and helping to take our content up a notch with this! 

Hello — I'm Melinda from Portland, Oregon. I'm an instructional designer/developer at Kaiser Permanente. I've been in the eLearning space for 25+ years and am looking forward to learning more about the AI features in Storyline and Rise.

I have 2 Beagles and a cat. 😊

Hello!  I'm Barb Jacobson and I'm located in Maplewood, MN.  I work for the MN Dept of Agriculture as a Training and Standards Administrator, tracking and recording training standards for our food safety inspectors as required by the FDA.  I also have the golden opportunity to develop trainings in Articulate periodically. 

 I joined this Certificate Cohort, because I'm a skeptic when it comes to using AI (I don't want to lose my independence and rely on AI to do what I currently do) but also because with the right prompting, I'm confident it will help me save precious time, and still allow me to practice many of the skills I've worked so hard to learn over the years while being creative.

No pets anymore, although over the years we've had Golden Retrievers, a Black Lab, and an English Setter.

Hello, I'm Gracia, from Fort Mill SC. I work as an Instructional Designer for Spectrum, where I'm part of the team that designs training for the bulk services department.

I joined this cohort to improve my designing skills with the use of AI, and I hope that I get to know all the AI resources now available in Rise and Storyline.

I have a westie terrier, named Jake 😊.

Hi everyone! I'm Matea, based in Croatia, and I work as a Product Education Specialist. My day-to-day work revolves around creating educational content that helps customers get the most out of our product. That includes designing self-paced eLearning courses, producing product videos, writing documentation, and working closely with product, customer success, and sales teams to improve the overall learning experience.

I joined this AI Assistant Certification Cohort because AI has already become an important part of how I create content, and I want to learn how to use it more effectively and strategically. I'm hoping to discover new ways to streamline content creation and automate repetitive tasks.

Hey everyone! I'm Mikey, and I work for Sherwin-Williams as the Instructional Designer for the industrial/commercial side of the house. We're currently rebuilding onboarding programs for our teams from the ground up, and it's a daunting but exciting project that have had lots of wins already!

This project has definitely made me lean heavily into AI to meet deadlines and make sure we're staying on target, so my biggest hope for this is to learn how to more effectively use AI Assistant so we can still create meaningful resources while saving ourselves time.

Cal is my 9-year-old Chihuahua-Terrier mix! He's the best. 🐶

Hello from Maryland! My name is Jennifer, and I'm a Technology Educator at Penn State Health. I spend most of my days designing and developing e-learning courses using Articulate Storyline and Rise. I partner with subject matter experts to create engaging learning experiences that support our organization's education and training needs.

I joined this AI Assistant Certification Cohort to learn more about the possibilities AI can bring to instructional design, particularly within Storyline and Rise. My coworker and I will be leading efforts to help our team of instructional designers use AI effectively, responsibly, and safely when creating learning content. I'm excited to explore practical applications, best practices, and new ways to improve our development process.

 My two office mates, Phinneas and Fionna, are pictured below. Yes they snore the day away, very loudly!

Hi everyone! 👋

My name is Michelle Filippini, and I’m based in St. Petersburg, Florida. I work for Duke Energy as a Senior RS Technical Training Specialist in the Residential Solutions organization. My role focuses on designing and delivering training programs that support a wide range of audiences, including Enrollment, Technical Services, Customer Care Operations, contractors, and field technicians. I create computer-based learning (CBL) courses using Articulate Storyline, develop microlearning videos with Camtasia and Vyond, and help ensure employees and contractors have the knowledge and skills they need to support our home protection programs. I also evaluate training effectiveness and continuously improve learning experiences based on feedback and performance metrics. 

I joined the AI Assistant Certification Cohort because I’m excited about the possibilities AI offers for learning and development. As a training professional, I’m always looking for ways to create more engaging content, streamline development processes, and improve the learner experience. I’m hoping this cohort will help me better understand how to leverage AI tools to increase efficiency, enhance creativity, and discover new ways to support training and performance outcomes.

Bonus: Meet Finn! 🐾
My favorite coworker is my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Finn. He’s always nearby while I’m working from home, providing plenty of furry hugs and keeping me company throughout the day. Whether I’m building a course, recording a video, or attending meetings, Finn is usually right by my side and makes every workday a little better!

I’m looking forward to learning with all of you and seeing the creative ways everyone is using AI in their work! 😊

Hello!

My name is Debbie and I'm one of the peer guides for the August AI Assistant Cohort!

I went through the certification cohort back in May and had a great time. I learned quite a bit about all the abilities the AI Assistant can do in Reach 360 and it really helped me with a Storyline 360 course I worked on at the time. I think I really annoyed my team with how much I was singing the praises of the AI Assistant and all it could do to help us with our work.

I'm located in Atlanta, GA and work for Emory Healthcare as an Instructional Designer for the Patient Access Services division. I am also the LMS Administrator for the training program.

I have a fun update since May regarding my pet situation. I introduced the May cohort to Gerard, my void 6 year-old cat, but as of last Friday we now have an 8-week old void named Abraham in our household. The settling in and introductions are going well and it's hard not to squee every time I see the smol boi bouncing around the house.

We adopted Abraham so my son (almost 10) could have a cat to bond with, so he named him after the 16th US President. He's a budding history nerd which makes me proud.

I look forward to meeting and working with everyone over the next two weeks! I hope everyone gets as much out of the program as I did. You're in great hands with Alyssa. 

Hello everyone!  Allison here.  I am located in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.  I am a Coordinator of Learning Experiences & Programs at a nonprofit that serves grants managers.  My job is all encompassing.  I plan the courses, work with SMEs, build the courses, work with review SMEs, manage projects, manage the LMS and run live learning activities.  Because I am an eLearning team of 1, I joined this cohort to learn skills that will help me work more efficiently and quickly.  Excited to learn more!