Week 1 Welcome & Introductions

Hi everyone! My name is Holly Fuemmeler, and I'm based in Leawood, Kansas. I work in Cyber Security Education, where I focus on helping employees build the knowledge and skills they need to stay secure in their daily work. My day-to-day includes developing and managing security awareness programs, creating educational content, coordinating training initiatives, supporting phishing simulations, and helping drive a culture of cybersecurity across the organization.

I joined this AI Assistant Certification Cohort because I'm excited about the potential of AI to enhance learning, improve productivity, and help people work more effectively. As someone who develops education and awareness programs, I want to better understand how AI assistants can be used responsibly and effectively in the workplace. I'm hoping to gain practical skills, learn from others' experiences, and discover new ways to incorporate AI into training, communication, and day-to-day workflows.

Looking forward to learning alongside all of you!

Hi everyone! I'm Sofia Perez from Southern California. I work as a Senior Instructional Designer and Training Specialist, creating training and learning solutions for a wide range of employees—from leadership development and customer service to field operations. 

I joined the AI Assistant Certification Cohort because I’m excited to learn how AI can help me work smarter, be more creative, and enhance the learning experiences I design. I'm looking forward to building my AI knowledge and gaining practical skills.

Looking forward to learning with all of you! 😊

P.S. I don't have any photos on my laptop, but I’m a proud dog mom to two beautiful pups, Frida and Coco. 🐾💕

Hi everyone I'm Rohini, located in Toronto. I'm a training specialist and as part of my role I create training modules for in house call center associates and external clients. I joined the Cohort to learn how to use AI to it's best so that I could create training that is engaging, save development time and enhance my ID skills. 

Greetings from Wisconsin!
My name is Julie (and this is Whiskey 🐶). I'm a training designer at Protective. In my day-to-day role, I design training programs to help employees learn new processes, systems, and soft skills. Much of my work involves creating scenario-based and system-based trainings to give learners hands-on practice navigating systems and processing insurance claims.

I joined the AI Assistant Certification Cohort to enhance my efficiency and effectiveness as a training designer. I'm interested in using AI to accelerate training development, generate new ideas, and help me think through design challenges from different perspectives. I see AI as a thought partner that can help spark creativity, improve productivity, and uncover approaches I may not have considered on my own. I'm looking forward to learning practical ways to incorporate AI into my work.

Hello everyone! My name is Paula DeBates, and I work for MU Health Care in Columbia, Missouri, supporting the Compliance and Privacy teams as a Training Coordinator. I create annual mandatory training modules, quick reference guides, just-in-time training resources, and manage monthly compliance and privacy quizzes featured in our employee newsletter.

I joined the AI Assistance Certification Cohort to learn new ways to use AI, Rise, and Storyline to create more effective and engaging training content and to explore additional opportunities to use these tools in my role.

I've also included a photo of my dog, Ziggy, who is my loyal sidekick and favorite coworker!

I look forward to learning and sharing this time everyone!

Ziggy

Hi everyone! I'm Allison, I work at UKG on the Revenue Enablement team. I have a background in Learning & Development, and my day-to-day is a mix of supporting learning programs, improving processes, and managing projects that help our go-to-market teams be more successful.

I'm hoping to build practical skills, discover new ways to work more efficiently, and learn from everyone else's experiences along the way!

This is Tillie, our Bernedoodle who sleeps under my desk and loves to join me on work calls (/barks every time she hears a Teams notification!). 

Hi all, my name is Melanie Frasca (she/her). I am located in Michigan, and I work at Consumers Energy as an Instructional Designer. I specialize in accessibility and experiential learning. I am a part of this cohort at the suggestion of my supervisor. Also, I have a dog but sadly don't have any pictures of him on my work laptop.

Greetings from Appleton, WI. I am the Manager of Instructional Technology & Design at Community First Credit Union. Which is fancy way of saying I'm the instructional designer and manage our LMS. I am a design team of one and have been an Articulate user for a long time, like 14-15 years if I did the math correctly. I found my way to ID after leaving the higher ed field, starting out at a manufacturing organization creating service and sales training for external audiences.

As my job responsibilities have expanded and diversified at the credit union I haven't had as much time to stay on top of all the changes and updates with the AI tools in Articulate. I use some features but I know I am missing opportunities, so I thought this cohort was a good way to jump to learning more. 

My home office proximity associates 🐾 LittleMan and Rory are always sure to remind me when its breakfast, lunch and/or dinner time. And not to body shame, but you can tell they are VERY good at reminding me. I think my favorite part of this photo is that the maine coon is the little spoon 😄. I also volunteer with a local animal rescue and have a dedicated foster room, so they are often joined by kittens on the way to the their forever family. 

• Hi! My name is Dore, and I'm located in New Jersey - I am a former high school mathematics teacher turned corporate L&D specialist. I write documentation and create LMS courses for my company. 
• I joined the Cohort because I use Rise and Storyline daily - I've used AI Assist with Rise (life changing) but am excited to see what is new in Storyline! I am hoping it helps to cut down on some of my more tedious tasks. 
• No pets here! But love seeing everyone's pics! 

Hi everyone! I'm Libby and I live in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. I work for Banner Health as a Talent Management Specialist, where I oversee our monthly on-demand learning implementation and our Emerging Leader Program! I love the balance of creativity and structure that LXD brings to my day-to-day work. 

Rise has transformed the way my team and I create a learning experience for our program participants, so I am looking forward to learning how to continue to elevate that through this AI Assistant Certification Cohort! I'm looking forward to learning how to create more continuity with images, complex scenarios, and interactivity to help our team members stay engaged and further develop our culture of continous learning. 

I don't have any furry friends, but am loving to see yours! Looking forward to chatting more throughout this cohort! 🤩