Joanna Wroblewska, Sr. Instructional Designer, Puget Sound Energy | Mentor, ATD Puget Sound Chapter
Joanna Wroblewska is a Senior Instructional Designer at Puget Sound Energy and a Mentor at the ATD Puget Sound Chapter. With a strong background in instructional design, corporate learning, and mentoring, she has dedicated her career to helping individuals and organizations reach their learning potential. Joanna is passionate about building connected learning ecosystems that empower both trainers and learners to thrive. Her approach blends technology, strategy, and human connection to drive measurable performance and long-term organizational growth.
Nolan Hout, Senior Vice President, Growth, Infopro Learning
Nolan Hout is the growth leader and host of this podcast. He has over a decade of experience in the Learning & Development (L&D) industry, helping global organizations unlock the potential of their workforce. Nolan is results-driven, investing most of his time in finding ways to identify and improve the performance of learning programs through the lens of return on investment. He is passionate about networking with people in the learning and training community. He is also an avid outdoorsman and fly fisherman, spending most of his free time on rivers across the Pacific Northwest.
Every L&D professional today faces a common challenge: how to use technology to strengthen learning without losing human connection. In this insightful episode, Joanna and Nolan explore how organizations can build learning ecosystems that align people, strategy, and tools to drive measurable growth and engagement at every level.
Listen to the episode to find out:
- How to align technology investments with organizational learning goals.
- What makes a strong learning ecosystem across leadership, L&D, and learners.
- Why strategy—not tools—drives successful AI adoption in L&D.
- How trainers can use AI to enhance, not replace, human connection.
- Ways to foster a culture of continuous learning and growth.
- How to measure learning success through ROI and performance outcomes.
- Tools like Gamma and Notebook LM that elevate learning design and delivery.
- Practical steps to integrate digital learning into your organizational strategy.
Technology is a wonderful tool, but it’s not the strategy. The real strategy is connecting people, learning, and purpose across every level of the organization.
Sr. Instructional Designer, Puget Sound Energy | Mentor, ATD Puget Sound Chapter
Introduction
Nolan: Welcome to the Learning and Development podcast sponsored by Infopro Learning. As always, I’m your host, Nolan Hout. Joining me today is Joanna Wroblewska, who has over 15 years of experience designing corporate learning experiences, instructional design, LMS, and all types of experiences, working with some of the world’s largest organizations like Bristol-Myers Squibb, Microsoft, Google, et cetera. Today, we’re going to talk with Joanna about her journey through L&D and some of the things she’s learned along the way. Specifically, we will discuss how we can use technology to elevate learning regardless of your role in L&D, whether organizational, trainer, facilitator, or individual learner. But with that, we’re not going to learn from me today. Let’s learn from our guest, Joanna. Welcome to the podcast. Pleasure to have you on.
Joanna’s Career Journey
Joanna: Thank you for inviting me. It’s a pleasure to be here. Maybe I’ll start a little bit by telling you about myself. As you mentioned, I have a lot of experience working in L&D, or maybe training in general, and mentoring people. Currently, I’m a mentor at ATD Puget Sound. I support some individuals on their journey, which is exciting. I also have a mentor because in the learning industry, I think growth never ends.
Nolan: Yeah, it doesn’t. Whether you’re in the learning industry or not, let’s hope the growth never ends.
Joanna: Exactly. I graduated with a master’s degree and one month later, I landed in the US where I started my journey at colleges and universities. Having all this knowledge and experience as a student, I started my career teaching in college. That was a fantastic experience, and I always remember it as a perfect first job. I connected to learners immediately. I tried to understand what they wanted to achieve, how they understood the material, and how we could prepare better material for them. That was my first experience, and it stayed with me. Now, I am a senior instructional designer at Puget Sound Energy, and I love what I do.
The Learning Ecosystem: Leadership, L&D, and Learners
Joanna: During my journey, I’ve gained insights into how we as people can elevate our experience in L&D and in organizations. We have three levels of focus: leadership at the executive level; L&D trainers, instructional designers, program managers; and learners. I sometimes use the metaphor that we live in a learning ecosystem where we need to function together, create connections, and a good vibe to achieve company goals. This connection is very important.
Now, about technology, how technology can help us achieve those goals and elevate the learning experience. I’ve watched your podcasts many times and noticed you have fantastic guests. Thank you for sharing.
Nolan: No, thanks to them for joining this schlub on the podcast.
The Role of Technology in Elevating Learning
Joanna: It’s fascinating to hear different reflections and perspectives on learning and development. We live in a technological era, where everything is focused on this tool, that platform, AI, and how we can use AI in L&D. I love it. I’m the person who usually emails my manager about software updates.
Nolan: Right, yeah, this new thing.
Joanna: Even with these amazing tools, we need to focus more and align our efforts at the organizational level.
AI Adoption and the Need for Strategy
Nolan: I was speaking last week at the Training Industry Strategy conference about leveraging AI strategy. I did research into the strategy component of AI and noticed many people are doing hands-on use of AI but lack an overall strategy. The rate of AI adoption is unparalleled—40% adoption in two years in the US, compared to 12 years for computers. This rapid change generates chaos, and people react by buying tools without fitting them into their ecosystem. A report by MIT Sloan revealed only 5% of AI projects achieve rapid revenue recognition because companies lack strategic integration.
The right way to look at technology is how it fits within the ecosystem, not just for one role or job. But beware—strategy can suffocate if you wait for perfection before acting. Structured chaos might be better: let the team find the best tools, acquire them, and report back. Not having any strategy is worse. Randomly buying software without integration or learning is ineffective. Sometimes, a simple strategy is to go learn and share.
Aligning Learning Goals with Business Outcomes
Joanna: At the executive level, companies have goals. We in L&D align our strategy to support these goals by preparing people for performance. We know our target audience and their personas and which technology benefits them.
I get multiple LinkedIn messages weekly from developers of L&D tools. They are great tools, but do we really need more when we already have good ones? Can it be elevated? Yes. But does it align with our strategy?
Nolan: Lots of money is made by SaaS companies creating tools that solve non-critical problems. If you chase every tool, you’ll be in demos all day with no progress. It’s important to stay sharp but careful about what you adopt. I take some calls just to learn, not always to buy. It’s good to keep fresh and add to your repertoire. Every day there’s a new AI tool promising to create courses in five minutes, but that doesn’t really exist. I’ve tried many. Creating quality courses takes more time.
Building Learning Culture through Technology
Nolan: What should organizations focus on with technology to support learning ecosystems?
Joanna: First, establish company goals and size. Training delivery differs for large and small organizations. Then consider LMS systems. Having an LMS doesn’t mean effective L&D. Sometimes companies think buying the system is enough. It’s just the first step to delivering training. For example, Cornerstone LMS can have plugins like Edcast or LinkedIn to add resources.
These platforms provide employees many free training opportunities, which supports learning culture. Very big. Even small things like Toastmasters or leadership development promote this culture. Additional resources empower employees.
Nolan: Culture drives learning. Without it, even money spent will have limited impact.
Joanna: Yes, otherwise, employees resist training.
Empowering Trainers with AI Tools
Nolan: How is technology helping trainers and facilitators?
Joanna: Trainers have a playground with many tools: microlearning, blended training, labs with newest technology for hands-on learning. Technology won’t replace trainers, just elevate their role.
Nolan: Right. The trainer’s role is changing. They become connectors, helping learners navigate information. I leverage AI tools like Claude and Gamma to create and polish presentations. These tools save time and offer quality results. Also, using AI tools like notebook LM, facilitators can generate podcasts as leave-behind materials, summarizing key points.
Technology and the Individual Learner
Joanna: Technology enhances the learner experience with better metrics and resources. Some learners may feel intimidated asking questions, so online versions allow reviewing materials on their own.
Measuring Impact through ROI and Learning Models
Nolan: Connection to business goals is key. I saw critiques of Kirkpatrick’s model but believe the problem is in implementation, not the model itself. Engaged employees perform better, and career development is a great way to engage. Connecting learning to business outcomes brings success.
Joanna: We need to connect the three layers—leaders, trainers, learners—and use technology as a helpful tool, not a strategy itself. Most organizations don’t reach the four levels of Kirkpatrick evaluation due to time and energy constraints.
Nolan: Even marketing struggles with attribution despite billions invested. Technology and AI allow delivering more with less effort right now.
Joanna: That’s fantastic.
Nolan: We have time now to revisit these evaluations.
The Future of Learning and Collaboration
Nolan: Thank you, Joanna, for sharing your wisdom and insights on leveraging technology across organizational levels.
Joanna: I want to leave listeners with this message: we need to cooperate like a family, build relationships, have constant dialogue about needs, and how we can achieve goals together using available resources.
Closing Thoughts
Nolan: Absolutely. Thank you, Joanna. I hope to meet you sometime in Seattle.
Joanna: Thank you. Have a good day.
