Want a smarter way to work with AI in the classroom without losing what makes learning human? Jackie had an engaging and insightful conversation with academic manager and curriculum designer Hamza Sami to unpack practical ways educators can harness generative AI as a learning partner while strengthening integrity, critical thinking, and authentic assessment.

We start by reframing generative AI with simple language students can use: it’s the confident friend who doesn’t always have the facts right. From there, we outline day-one norms that encourage curiosity and set clear boundaries—what’s green-light brainstorming, where caution applies, and when only original work is acceptable. Hamza shares why instructor AI literacy comes first, how to discuss bias and hallucinations in plain terms, and why students’ “I feel like I’m cheating” reactions signal values worth guiding, not suppressing.

Looking ahead, we land on the capacity every student needs next year and beyond: moral awareness paired with critical thinking. If the internet went down, could you still perform? Would you hire yourself? Like calculators, AI should sharpen our work, not replace our minds. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review to help more educators build classrooms where AI supports deeper, more honest learning.

🔗 Website and Social Links:

Please visit Hamza Sami’s website and social media links below.

Hamza Sami’s Website

Hamza’s LinkedIn Page

📢 Call-to-Action: Need a hand bringing your learning ideas to life, whether curriculum design, instructional strategy, or even creative production? Reach out on LinkedIn, and let’s explore how we can make learning more engaging together.

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Hiring managers don’t want a gallery of artifacts; they want proof you can solve real performance problems. We walk through a clear, house-style blueprint for building an instructional design portfolio that highlights your judgment, shows measurable impact, and makes it effortless to find your best work.

To help your work get found, we align language across your site, resume, and LinkedIn, weave in job-aligned keywords naturally, and create a light sharing plan. Add your portfolio to LinkedIn’s Featured section, include the link in your email signature, and send targeted notes that point to two relevant projects. Ask focused questions for feedback—“Is it clear what I do in ten seconds?”—and iterate fast. We wrap with a memorable reminder: start simple, refine early, and improve as you go.

If this helped you sharpen your portfolio, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review. It helps more instructional designers find the tools and confidence to land their next role.

🔗 Episode Links:

Please check out the resources mentioned in the episode. Enjoy!

Top 7 Principles for a Stand-Out Instructional Design Portfolio: A 15-minute video from Scott Schmitt through Delvin Peck’s ID Bootcamp on how to create a solid ID portfolio using seven key principles.

Portfolio House Blueprint: An interactive visual with hotspots for each step that you can reference at any time.

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What if the key to tomorrow’s lesson lives in what lit you up at age seven? We bring back Tommy Kilpatrick to turn that early spark into practical, compassionate teaching—linking identity, choice, and classroom design. Together, we unpack a simple ten-minute exercise to replay your earliest memories and name the gift you were eager to share. That clarity becomes a compass for lesson tweaks you can implement this month, aligning activities with purpose and giving students a language for who they are becoming.

We also explore a set of powerful “forks” that shape behavior: whether you see yourself as a spirit having a human experience, a human seeking herd safety, or a human reaching for spiritual connection. Each choice expands or contracts your field of courage. Tommy demonstrates how educators can coach struggling learners by broadening their perspective, guiding them to choose love over fear, and teaching them to reassess when a path closes. The conversation stays grounded with three concrete practices: a personal habit of gratitude and giving, a classroom move that defuses conflict by affirming and then guiding, and a team ritual that pairs courage with compassion to define maturity.

Throughout, we return to a working definition of love—“I give”—and mercy as extreme kindness, turning classroom management into human development. We close by inviting you to sketch your own owner’s manual: a living set of axioms, forks, and practices that keep your teaching aligned with your deepest values.

Listen, pick one idea, and put it into motion this week. Subscribe, share with a colleague who needs encouragement, and leave a review to tell us which practice you’ll try first.

🔗 Website and Social Links:

Please visit Tommy Kilpatrick’s website and social media links below.

Tommy Kilpatrick’s Website

Tommy Kilpatrick’s Facebook Page

📢 Call-to-Action: Click the link to obtain a free book and a free 15-minute consultation with the author: Debt Relief

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🌐 Check out the show's website here: Designing with Love

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👍🏼 Please make sure to like and share this episode with others. Here's to great learning!

What if your course felt less like a checklist and more like a world your learners return to, level up in, and prove real growth? We walk through a practical framework for building a virtual playground that mirrors the work, builds measurable skills, and motivates through clarity rather than gimmicks.

🔗 Resources and Related Episodes:

If you would like to explore today’s topic further, here are a few resources to check out:

📚 Virtual Playground Resources

Digital Playgrounds: Driving Workforce Performance through Play and Experimentation: In this blog post by Jaxon Avery at Ridiculous Engineering, explore how digital playgrounds drive workforce performance through play and experimentation.

From Duolingo to Wordle: How Educational Games Are Changing the Way We Learn: In this article by James Lane at NCFE, learn how educational games can help improve knowledge retention by making learning more active and interactive.

📝 Canva Template

Virtual Playground Mission Control Blueprint: A worksheet to help you design a persistent learning world with progression, feedback, resources, and measurable impact.

🎧 Listen Next: Related Episodes

Episode 44: Designing for Everyone: A Guide to Universal Design for Learning: An introduction to UDL principles and how to design from the start with variability in mind, so more learners can access and engage with your experiences.

Episode 65: Accessibility in Action: Inclusive Design for Every Learner: Practical strategies for designing with accessibility at the forefront—from structure and media choices to small tweaks that make a big difference for every learner.

Episode 85: Gamification Strategies to Improve Learner Engagement: A practical tool

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🗣️ Want to be a guest on Designing with Love? Send Jackie Pelegrin a message on PodMatch, here: Be a guest on the show

🌐 Check out the show's website here: Designing with Love

📱 Send a text to the show by clicking the Send Jackie a Text link above.

👍🏼 Please make sure to like and share this episode with others. Here's to great learning!

What if the fastest route to clarity is the one we usually skip—where are you, when is it, and who are you—before asking what to do next? In this episode, Jackie sat down with Tommy Kilpatrick to explore his book, Human Occidental Owner’s Manual, and translate big human questions into practical habits for teachers, creators, and lifelong learners. Using a crisp computer setup analogy, we reset our defaults: location determines time, identity shapes action, and context beats assumptions.

From there, we unpack communication through vivid sports metaphors that actually change how you host conversations. Conversation plays like tennis with cooperative volleys, debate ranges from elegant fencing to MMA intensity, dialogue becomes chess for co-solving, and discussion moves like rugby with many roles carrying the ball. We also map single-voice modes—lecture, rant, sermon, story—and show how choosing the right mode prevents conflicts and keeps teams, classes, and families aligned.

We close with the “first fork,” the early identity choice that silently guides a life. Write one sentence for each of the four essential human questions, choose your fork for the week, and watch momentum return. If this conversation helped you reset your settings, subscribe, share it with a colleague, and leave a review to help others find the show. What’s the first question you’ll answer today?

🔗 Website and Social Links:

Please visit Tommy Kilpatrick’s website and social media links below.

Tommy Kilpatrick’s Website

Tommy Kilpatrick’s Facebook Page

📢 Call-to-Action: Click the link to obtain a free book and a free 15-minute consultation with the author: Debt Relief

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Support the show

💟 Designing with Love + allows you to support the show by keeping the mic on and the ideas flowing. Click on the link above to provide your support.

☕ Buy Me a Coffee is another way you can support the show, either as a one-time gift or through a monthly subscription.

🗣️ Want to be a guest on Designing with Love? Send Jackie Pelegrin a message on PodMatch, here: Be a guest on the show

🌐 Check out the show's website here: Designing with Love

📱 Send a text to the show by clicking the Send Jackie a Text link above.

👍🏼 Please make sure to like and share this episode with others. Here's to great learning!

Ready to move beyond one-size-fits-all courses? We explore a practical path to adaptive learning that uses the content and tools you already have—no massive rebuilds, no mystery AI required. By focusing on three simple levers—sequence, pacing, and practice—we demonstrate how to direct learners to the right support at the right time and convert feedback into fuel for mastery.

The goal is simple: design smart checkpoints, not clones, and honor learner differences without inflating complexity. If you’re an instructional designer, educator, or L&D leader looking for higher pass rates, faster time to mastery, and more confident learners, this guide to adaptive learning will help you start small and win early. Subscribe, share this with a colleague who builds courses, and leave a review to tell us which module you’ll pilot first.

🔗 Resources and Related Episodes:

If you would like to explore today’s topic further, here are a few resources to check out:

📚 Adaptive Learning Resource

6 Benefits You Should Know About Adaptive Learning in Corporate Training: In this article by Suresh Kumar at eLearning Industry, read about the six benefits of how you can utilize adaptive learning in corporate training to provide custom-tailored learning experiences for learners.

📝 Canva Template

Adaptive Mini-Pilot Map: A roadmap to help you pilot adaptive learning without rebuilding your course. You’ll map a pre-check, two simple pathways (refresh + fast), and one metric to see what’s working.

🎧 Listen Next: Related Episodes

Episode 44: Designing for Everyone: A Guide to Universal Design for Learning: An introduction to UDL principles and how to design from the start with variability in mind, so more learners can access and engage with your experiences.

Episode 65: Accessibility in Action: Inclusive Design for Every Learner: Practical strategies for designing with accessibility at the forefront—from structure and media choices to small tweaks that make a big difference for every learner.

Send Jackie a Text

Support the show

💟 Designing with Love + allows you to support the show by keeping the mic on and the ideas flowing. Click on the link above to provide your support.

☕ Buy Me a Coffee is another way you can support the show, either as a one-time gift or through a monthly subscription.

🗣️ Want to be a guest on Designing with Love? Send Jackie Pelegrin a message on PodMatch, here: Be a guest on the show

🌐 Check out the show's website here: Designing with Love

📱 Send a text to the show by clicking the Send Jackie a Text link above.

👍🏼 Please make sure to like and share this episode with others. Here's to great learning!

Think AI can do everything? We put that assumption under the microscope with AI engineering leader and author Sairam Sundaresan, and walk away with a playbook that’s practical, ethical, and built for real classrooms and design teams. We break down why narrow, well-scoped tasks are where AI shines, how to turn prompting into a repeatable workflow, and what it looks like to treat a model like a new hire you’re onboarding—clear roles, examples, and tight feedback loops.

We dig into the big wins for educators and instructional designers: personalized learning at scale, faster feedback cycles, and smarter revisions between sessions. Imagine a 24/7 teaching assistant that adapts to your students’ levels, flags weak spots, and helps you adjust the curriculum without waiting for the next term. Pair that with your human superpowers—reading the room, motivating learners, and connecting dots—and you get a learning ecosystem that’s both efficient and deeply human. Along the way, we share hands-on tips with tools like Notebook LM, Canva, Gamma, and Genially to prototype content, translate assets, and build interactive experiences without months of overhead.

Enjoyed the episode? Follow the show, leave a quick review, and share it with a colleague who’s experimenting with AI in education. Your support helps more educators discover practical, ethical ways to use these tools.

🔗 Website and Social Links:

Please visit Sairam Sundaresan’s website to subscribe to his newsletter.

Sairam Sundaresan’s Website

📢 Call-to-Action: Want to explore AI in a way that feels clear and approachable? Connect with Sairam Sundaresan and check out his book AI For the Rest of Us. You’ll find practical insights, real-world examples, and guidance on how to use AI responsibly in work, learning, and life. Visit Sairam’s website to learn more and access resources designed to help you confidently navigate the AI era.

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💟 Designing with Love + allows you to support the show by keeping the mic on and the ideas flowing. Click on the link above to provide your support.

☕ Buy Me a Coffee is another way you can support the show, either as a one-time gift or through a monthly subscription.

🗣️ Want to be a guest on Designing with Love? Send Jackie Pelegrin a message on PodMatch, here: Be a guest on the show

🌐 Check out the show's website here: Designing with Love

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👍🏼 Please make sure to like and share this episode with others. Here's to great learning!

AI can feel like a runaway train in classrooms and training programs—powerful, fast, and a little scary. We take the controls and show how to turn generative tools into true co-pilots: clear roles, simple guardrails, and small pilots that free us to focus on coaching, feedback, and real human connection.

You’ll hear role-based examples across K-12, higher education, and corporate learning: differentiated reading passages and exit tickets, outcome-aligned case prompts and quiz banks, and realistic scenario practice plus microlearning nudges for on-the-job performance.

Want to put this into action? Grab the pilot checklist from the show notes, try one workflow this week, and tell us what changed. If this helped, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a review so more educators and L&D pros can build ethical, effective AI co-pilots.

🔗 Resources and Related Episodes:

If you’d like to explore today’s topic further, here are a few resources to check out:

📝 Interactive Resource

AI Copilot Pilot Checklist: A ready-to-use guide you can copy and adapt to your context. Use this template to plan, run, and debrief a small AI copilot pilot—from choosing one workflow and setting guardrails to defining success and capturing what you’ll keep, tweak, or toss.

📊 Research Report

2025 AI in Education: A Microsoft Special Report: This research report, produced by Microsoft, provides key insights into how AI is transforming nearly every aspect of our society worldwide.

🎧 Listen Next: Related Episodes

Episode 54: Beyond Learning Outcomes: Designing for Humans or Learners?: A practical look at human-centered design, focusing on how to move beyond check-the-box objectives and create learning experiences that serve real people, real needs, and real contexts.

Episode 79: Top Emerging Technologies Shaping Instructional Design: A tour of five emerging tools, including VR, AR, and MR, and how they’re reshaping the way we design for real-world skills and authe

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Support the show

💟 Designing with Love + allows you to support the show by keeping the mic on and the ideas flowing. Click on the link above to provide your support.

☕ Buy Me a Coffee is another way you can support the show, either as a one-time gift or through a monthly subscription.

🗣️ Want to be a guest on Designing with Love? Send Jackie Pelegrin a message on PodMatch, here: Be a guest on the show

🌐 Check out the show's website here: Designing with Love

📱 Send a text to the show by clicking the Send Jackie a Text link above.

👍🏼 Please make sure to like and share this episode with others. Here's to great learning!