Week 1 Welcome & Introductions

Kia ora koutou, hello everyone.

I’m Sonya, a Senior Learning Designer at NZ Post, Tukurau Aotearoa. I’ve been with NZ Post for seven years and have worked in instructional design and learning more broadly for way longer than that. While my role is mainly focused on learning design, my heart really belongs to creative and meaningful e‑learning, work that feels human, useful, and actually changes what people do - more than just tick a compliance box.

We live in Warkworth, just north of Auckland, where beaches, bush, and good coffee (and vineyards) are never far away. Having space and connection to nature makes a big difference to our whānau (family).

I’m really looking forward to learning alongside this cohort and seeing how others are exploring AI in practical, thoughtful ways. He waka eke noa, we’re all in this together.

Rosie is our much‑loved labradoodle who is happiest when walks are long, the sun is out, and everyone is where she can see them.

Ngā mihi nui,
Sonya

Hello Everyone, my name is Natacha, I work at Surge Learning, a healthcare-focused learning technology company. My day-to-day is a mix of instructional design, eLearning development, and content strategy, all built around one goal: making sure the people who care for Canadians have learning that actually reflects the work they do. We serve over 600,000 users across the country. I have join the cohort to find out more about AI. 

And yes, I have to introduce Toby. He's a Border Collie mix and he is absolutely, unapologetically spoiled. He takes his job as office supervisor very seriously, reminds me that it is time for breaks and walks. 

Looking forward to learning alongside everyone here!

 

Kia ora from New Zealand. I am Izette and I work in the L&D space within the logistics sector. One of my absolute favourite things is looking at photos of my own pet, Freya, and my second favourite is seeing everyone else’s pet pics – I absolutely loved everyone’s introductions.🐾

I currently work in a large team of L&D practitioners spanning a wide range of disciplines across learning and development. The area I sit in focuses on the digital side, including learning systems and eLearning development. After more than 15 years working with Articulate, I am still a big fan!

Hi all — I’m Rachel Darner, based in Newport, Oregon, and I’m the Senior Director of Compliance at Vituity.

Vituity is a physician-owned, physician-led healthcare partnership that staffs and manages care in emergency departments, hospitals, and outpatient settings across the U.S. I’ve been with Vituity for 22 years and have had the chance to grow through several roles ~ from RCM operations manager, to leading our Learning & Development team, and now into compliance. My work today sits right at the intersection of patient care, operations, and regulatory responsibility.

Most of our compliance eLearning courses are built in-house by my phenomenally talented team, but I still love getting my hands into course design. I spend time developing learning experiences for our clinicians around Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), the federal law that governs patient care in emergency departments, translating dense regulation into practical, scenario-based learning.

I joined this cohort to get better at using AI inside Articulate Storyline. I rarely use Articulate Rise, but I’ve experimented with AI text-to-speech and AI image support in Storyline and have been really impressed. I’m excited to learn how others are using AI to make eLearning design faster, smarter, and more creative.

These are my two dachshund girls (covid babies). They turned 6 this year :) Our house motto is "everything we do, we do it for dogs." 🐶🧡🖤

Daphne Moon PiePenelope Buttercup

Hello from Wichita Kansas!

I'm Rob Gibson and I'm the Dean of Academic Services at WSU Tech. I've been using the Articulate products for about 4 years or so. Anxious to learn alongside all of you!

I'll share a picture of my three Standard poodles tomorrow. One just got a haircut today.

Hello from Orlando! My name is Tamara. I am an Instructional Designer at Blue Origin where I develop online and in-person training for technicians building rockets and more! Check us out: https://www.blueorigin.com/

Understanding AI tools is a must to continue working in today's AI-crazy world. I want to learn more about which AI Assistant features keep course content inside the Storyline/Rise desktop applications, versus features that send data outside the desktop applications (ex: third-party AI sub-processors).

We have a bird, but the firewall blocked my photo. He is a Conure with a talent for spitting tomato seeds on the window...even though he doesn't have lips!

Looking forward to working with everyone next week!

Tamara

Hi everyone. I am Jodi, an Instructional Designer with a Crown Corporation in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I design curriculum, training, and evaluation activities for thousands of people in a variety of roles. I also design programming for contractors and stakeholders, including high school students across the province.

I joined because we just got access to AI Assistant and I am looking for some tips on how I can best use it and pass it on to my team.

I have two furry friends but can't upload to my work computer. :)

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

 

Hi, everyone! I'm Jeremy and joining this cohort from Lincoln, Nebraska - Go Big Red!!! I'm a Learning & Deployment Consultant Lead for Businessolver. We're a technology company and our core product is a benefits management platform. 

Like most of us, I wear a lot of hats - discovery, development, delivery/deploy live and eLearning courses. I train/develop training for our employees and our clients. I focus a lot of my efforts on helping our team build content development processes to deliver high quality courses as efficiently as possible. 

We've been using the AI Assistant almost since it's inception. I joined the cohort to sharpen my skills, see how others use it, and make sure we're getting the most out of it that we can. I'm excited to learn from you all.

Our dog, Mabel, is usually under/near my feet. In this picture, she decided to build a pillow fort while we were making the bed. She's a border collie/lab/heeler mix. She's a rescue and when we adopted her we were told she would need a job. So far, she's been a full time sleeper.

Cheers, everyone!

 

Hello,

My name is Samantha Laframboise and I live in Vermont, USA. I work for Worldwide Clinical Trial as an Organizational Learning Advisor, Enterprise Systems. I work with system SME is creating adult learning material. I am joining this Cohort to obtain a better understand on how AI can assist me with creating effective and fun trainings.

I have 2 Senior doggies and would love to share their photos but due to corporate security limitations I am unable to at this time.

Looking forward to chatting with you all and learning more about you. ~Sam

 

Hi everyone! My name is Shayna, and I am the Manager of eLearning Design & Development at HealthStream, where I lead a fantastic team of Instructional Designers/Developers and Technical Writers who create customer-facing learning resources (self-paced eLearning courses, how-to videos, and online help documentation). I'm based in Nashville, TN, and collaborate with colleagues from all over the country.

I joined this cohort to increase my exposure to and hands-on experience with the Articulate AI Assistant in Rise.

Looking forward to learning alongside everyone here!