Welcome & Introductions

Hi, my name is Jen Montanye! I live in Chemung, NY, and work for Excellus BCBS as an Instructional Designer. I’m excited to dive deeper into AI Assistant and discover all the helpful tips and tricks it has to offer.

I have one dog Rocky, we adopted him during the pandemic, and he came with the name and the habit. Yes, Rocky eats rocks! He’s a big, lovable goof.

I’m looking forward to learning and connecting with everyone.

Hi everyone! I’m Erica from Southwest Florida, and I work as an Instructional Designer at Florida SouthWestern State College. In my day-to-day

Hercules (6yr old) and Zeus
(8month)

, I partner with faculty to design and revise online courses, align learning outcomes, build in Canvas, and ensure courses meet Quality Matters and accessibility standards.

I joined this Certification Cohort to continue sharpening my design skills, strengthen my workflow, and learn from other talented professionals in the field.

Bonus: Meet my two doggies, Hercules and Zeus 🐶🐶 They’re my daily reminder to take breaks and enjoy life beyond the screen.

Looking forward to learning with you all!

Hi, my name is Shelly and I am located in Connecticut. 

I work in the Clinical Education department at a healthcare facility, where my role focuses on designing and delivering both in-person and online training programs. Much of my eLearning development is created using Articulate Rise, and I am always looking for ways to enhance engagement and efficiency in our educational offerings.

I joined this cohort to deepen my understanding of AI and explore how to integrate it thoughtfully and effectively into my daily work—particularly in content development, workflow optimization, and innovative learning design.

Outside of work, my husband and I stay busy with our two children, ages 11 and 3. Our home is also shared with two beta fish—Fire Dragon and Toothless—and a very grumpy bearded dragon named Buddy.  

I am looking forward to learning more with all of you!

Hello Everyone!

My name is Justin Frisbey from the Atlanta area. I work in healthcare as an Instructional Designer with the Rev. Cycle department. Some of my day-to-day includes working on projects centered on creating training materials for the various parts of the department as well as for our new hire classes.

I joined this cohort to learn more about incorporating AI with Articulate and to become an expert at doing this. Hopefully the things that I learn I can teach others. Excited to get started! 

Hi everyone! I’m Angela Booth‑Tran, a Training Materials Content Specialist at Thomson Reuters. I live in Victoria, MN, a suburb of Minneapolis/St. Paul. I’m also a licensed attorney, which helps me bring both legal expertise and a learner‑focused perspective to the training materials I create. Outside of work, I share my home with my husband, our two children, and our two pets: Pua the cat and Moana, a black‑and‑tan coonhound mix who joined our family through rescue. I’m excited to learn alongside you all!

Hi everyone, My name is Shane Riley. I live in Lehi Utah and work at Ivanti. I am the Partner Program Manager and part of my job is creating the Consultant Certifications for our Internal and Partner Consultants. I am fairly new to this position and learning Rise and Storyline and really loving it. 

This is Simba and his brother Zenny. English Cream golden retrievers. 

Hi everyone! I’m Luis Greer, an Instructional Designer at Ascensus, coming to you live from Tucson, Arizona. I spend my days turning complex, compliance‑heavy content into learning experiences that people can actually understand and sometimes even enjoy. That usually involves Articulate, scenario design, a lot of SME wrangling, and asking questions like, “But what does the learner actually need to do?”

I joined this AI Assistant Certification because I’m deeply curious about what happens when instructional design meets AI that’s used thoughtfully (and not just to crank out faster first drafts). I want to experiment with AI as a creative co‑designer, one that helps me brainstorm, refine, and challenge my thinking while I stay firmly in charge of learning strategy, empathy, and good judgment. I’m excited to learn, test boundaries, and nerd out with this cohort as we figure out how AI can elevate our work instead of just adding more noise.

Say hello to Chromeo, my chrome balloon dog and most consistent coworker. He offers no feedback, all shine, and unwavering judgment. He doesn’t bark, fetch, or blink. He just vibes and reflects my questionable AI decisions.

Note: This whole intro was written by AI (M365 Copilot).

Hi! I’m Jess, joining from Seattle, WA. I work at a pharma/tech consulting firm on the Enterprise learning design team. My day-to-day work focuses on designing and supporting a mix of learning programs, including compliance training, new hire orientation, role‑based bootcamps, and ongoing skill development. My personal focus is on making learning accessible, clear, useful, and learner-centered. 

My team just added the Articulate AI to our license, and I want to maximize how I use it from the beginning. I’m hoping to pick up practical ideas and best practices for integrating AI in a way that actually improves how I design and build elearning.

Hi all! I'm Brittany from RI and I work for Walgreens in knowledge management, specializing in automated pharmacy fulfillment. My role involves everything from graphic design to authoring regulatory and compliance documents and I absolutely love it! I joined the cohort because I have worked with AI quite a bit over the past year or so and I'm excited to see how it can be applied to team member learning.

This is Cass, short for Castiel (shout out to my fellow Supernatural fans!)

Hi! I am Erin and I work for USAA. I have two boys (10 and 13), a Marine Officer Retired hubby and our recue dog Timmy! I have been in training for over 25 years and love what I do! Excited to dig into this course!