About Dean
Instructional designer, 25 years.
AI trainer.
Dean Ahlgren · Kailua, Oʻahu
Someone who knows how people learn, and where AI goes wrong.
Dean has spent 25 years designing training for people who had to get it right the first time: OSHA industrial safety, FDA pharmaceutical compliance, healthcare, construction, and higher education. In those fields, training that doesn’t stick is a violation, not an inconvenience. The habit he took from it is simple: watch how someone really works, find where the process leaks, build a fix they’ll actually use, and teach it so it stays used.
Over the past two years, Dean has worked on frontier AI training projects: evaluating outputs, writing the rubrics that define “good,” and leading a six-person team of domain experts checking the quality of AI training environments. It is meticulous, skeptical work. The job is to find where AI fails, not to be impressed by it. He holds AI certificates from Berkeley Haas and MIT.
That is the combination MakaWorks is built on. Someone who knows how people learn, and someone who knows where AI goes wrong.
In their words
What people who have worked with Dean say
“He excels at meeting individuals where they are, guiding them through the process with compassion, patience, and understanding.”
Missy Feigum, E-learning Developer and Project Manager, who supervised Dean for several of their 20 years working together“Working in a remote setting, Dean was consistently available and supportive, offering guidance whenever needed.”
Daniel J. Burt, Director of Sculpture, Academy of Art University
The name
The name, honestly.
MakaWorks is named after Maka, an Australian Shepherd from the Puna district of Hawaiʻi Island. As a puppy he had blue eyes set wide apart, and it looked for all the world like he was always watching us. So: Maka. Maka is Hawaiian for eye. His eyes have since settled into hazel, but the watching never stopped. Ranch hands on the Big Island look him over and call him a good working dog. In Kailua, people stop mid-walk to tell us he looks smart and kind, and little kids adore him.
The eye in the name isn’t only the one you see with. It’s the eye that keeps watch: the one that looks over the work, catches what’s off, and makes sure things are pono. That’s the job here. AI does the work. MakaWorks keeps an eye on it, and so do you.
What’s one task you’d like help with?
Tell me what repeats, who does it, and which tools you use. We’ll start with a free call. If training isn’t the right next step, I’ll say so.