From Curiosity to Confidence: Building Your AI Roadmap in Learning & Development -- Learning Trends & Innovations SIG (Virtual)
AI is moving fast and many L&D professionals are asking two questions: Where do I even start? And how can I keep up?
In this interactive session, your LTI SIG leaders will share how they’ve approached learning and using AI and facilitate the creation of a personalized, practical roadmap to level-up your own AI acumen. Whether you’re just beginning or experimenting daily, this session will help you move from curious to intentional.
You’ll leave with a roadmap that allows you to:
- Identify immediate and long-term goals for building your AI skills
- Leverage curated resources for and about the use of AI
- Begin working with AI agents responsibly
- Plan a pilot or experiment with confidence
Presenters
Julie Foster, Director of Talent Management, Progressive Insurance has over two decades of experience shaping talent and business strategies across organizations of all sizes - from global Fortune 500 companies to small non-profits. With a career that bridges commercial growth and HR leadership, Julie has led impactful initiatives in leadership development, talent strategy, and tech-enabled learning, consistently delivering results in both high-scale and high-touch environments.
Julie brings a curiosity-first approach to leadership and problem-solving. Her career path reflects this ethos - intentionally “squiggly” with strategic lateral moves, volunteer work in unfamiliar spaces, and a passion for experimenting with emerging technologies. She is known for leading from both the heart and the brain, balancing strategic rigor with empathy, and creating the conditions where people and performance excel. A champion for ethical, human-centered leadership, she regularly speaks on topics like curiosity-led leadership, AI experimentation, and building resilient, future-ready teams.
Wendy M. Morgan, PhD, is a learning strategy and digital product leader with 10+ years of experience building capability through modern learning ecosystems, performance support, and data-informed design. She leads learning strategy and implementation at UNC–Chapel Hill's Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, partnering with cross-functional teams to bring research-informed solutions into practice.
With an emphasis on emphasis on clarity, usefulness, and real-world adoption, Wendy shapes how learning is designed, delivered, and improved. She has led the design and iteration of AI-powered support experiences, including conversational agents, and brings a practical lens for translating emerging technology into workflows, guardrails, and experiments that L&D teams can actually run.
Candace Marles is a learning and development leader in the Research Triangle area with more than 20 years of experience designing impactful digital learning. She currently serves as Principal Informational Content Specialist at Oracle, where she develops learning experiences that help customers adopt analytics and AI technologies.
Over the course of her career, Candace has designed e-learning on topics ranging from Oracle Analytics AI tools and sentiment analysis to gender sensitivity, cultural humility, pharmaceutical drug development, and LMS administration. Her work with organizations such as the UN Development Programme and The Center for Black Health & Equity strengthened her commitment to inclusive design and learner-centered experiences.
Candace has co-led the ATD Research Triangle Area Learning Trends and Innovations SIG since 2019 and has used AI to support instructional design, translation, transcription, and scalable content development.
ATD Capability Model:
Personal: Lifelong Learning
Professional: Instructional Design, Technology Application, Learning Sciences
Organizational: Future Readiness
