What happens when a veteran TV writer—whose credits include The Wonder Years, Dawson's Creek, and Disney's Tarzan—decides to build a film school inside North America's largest soundstage complex? You get a model that challenges nearly every assumption higher ed has about where learning happens, who should teach it, and what students actually need to succeed.

In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Jeffrey Stepakoff, founder of the Georgia Film Academy and now President and co-founder of the Trilith Institute. Jeffrey has spent 40 years in entertainment, has over 1 million books in print, and has built two groundbreaking programs that bridge the gap between academia and industry. The Georgia Film Academy grew to serve 2,500 students a year across 30 institutions, helping grow Georgia's film production spending from $2 billion to $4.4 billion during his tenure.

Now at Trilith, Jeffrey is taking the model further—launching "Semester at Trilith," a 15-week, 15-credit immersive program that drops students into a working studio environment. He argues that in an era of AI abundance, the most valuable thing we can teach isn't craft—it's taste, critical thinking, and the ability to discern what stories actually deserve to be told.

For anyone in higher ed wrestling with questions of workforce relevance, industry partnerships, or the future of experiential learning, this episode offers a bold, practical, and deeply human vision.

Key Takeaways

• Partnership Is the Engine of Success: The Georgia Film Academy succeeded because it brought together labor unions, state leadership, production studios, and 30 higher education institutions—including universities, technical colleges, and private schools—all aligned around a shared goal.

• Credit Portability Is a Political Problem, Not a Technical One: The mechanics of transferring credits are doable. The challenge is institutional anxiety about losing students and resources. The solution is a consortium model with an R1 institution (like Clemson) serving as the accrediting body—similar to a semester-at-sea model.

• Own Less, Access More: Institutions shouldn't be building their own soundstages or buying equipment that will be obsolete in 18 months. The future is about buying access to industry infrastructure, not owning it. Trilith partners with a 34-soundstage complex so students train on professional equipment in a professional environment.

• In an Age of Abundance, Taste and Curation Are the Valuable Skills: AI can generate endless content. The scarce skill is knowing what deserves to be made—developing taste, critical thinking, and the ability to discern what stories matter and why.

• What Do You Have to Say? Craft can be taught in a weekend. The deeper question is: who are you as a person? What stories are only you equipped to tell? That's what educators should be spending their time on.

• The Goal Is to Build a New Creative Hub, Not Just a Factory: Georgia grew its production infrastructure to serve Hollywood. But the real opportunity is to build a self-sustaining industry based on original intellectual property—where writers, directors, and creators live, work, and tell stories that originate in the region.

• Economic Impact Requires Measurable Metrics: To convince legislators and policymakers, programs must track outcomes—credit hours, job placements, industry spend. Accountability builds credibility and long-term investment.

• The Future of Higher Ed Is About Partnership, Not Replacement...

• (00:00:00) - What is content?
• (00:00:44) - Jeffrey Stepakov on the Georgia Film Academy
• (00:02:07) - The Hardest Place In The World
• (00:02:51) - In the Elevator With Georgia Film Academy's Founder
• (00:06:23) - Getting the institutions to join the film and television consortium
• (00:08:42) - Clemson on Campus and Credit Portability
• (00:14:38) - Film Programs and the Equipment Problem
• (00:16:28) - Higher Ed: The Need for AI Skills
• (00:18:07) - What is content in a world of abundance?
• (00:20:17) - The role of the university
• (00:21:24) - What should we be teaching students?
• (00:25:04) - Georgia's film and television industry
• (00:29:56) - The Signal: Where Learning happens

What if the real crisis AI has exposed in higher education isn't student dishonesty, but the fact that we've been treating final papers as evidence of thinking—when AI can now simulate that thinking in seconds?

In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Michael Leggs, who has taught English at St. Paul College for 21 years and is the founder of Smartlby, an AI‑powered revision tutor designed to help students strengthen their writing through guided reflection—without writing for them. Michael brings a rare perspective: he's not a technologist or an administrator talking about AI in the abstract. He's the person reading the papers, watching students struggle, and redesigning assignments in real time.

Michael argues that detection software is a triage response, not a long‑term solution. The deeper problem is that our curriculum and assessment models were already fragile—AI just made it visible. He explains why surveillance tools create environments of mistrust, why revision should be treated as evidence of thinking, and how tools like Smartlby can guide students through a Socratic dialogue about their own writing without ever rewriting a single sentence.

For any faculty member, department chair, or academic leader trying to figure out what actually works in the AI era, this episode offers a grounded, practical, and deeply human perspective.

Key Takeaways

• The Real Problem Isn't Cheating—It's Assessment Design: AI didn't create the problem; it exposed a weakness that was already there. We've been treating final papers as evidence of thinking, but AI can now simulate that product. The solution isn't more surveillance—it's redesigning how we assess learning.

• Detection Software Is a Triage Response, Not a Solution: Institutions rushed to buy detection tools because it was something they could control. But surveillance creates environments of mistrust—students know we don't trust them, and that damages the learning relationship.

• Revision Is Evidence of Thinking: The shift needs to be from product assessment to process assessment. When a student revises, they are thinking. Tools that track revision give instructors visible evidence of that thinking process.

• Process Assessment Is Instructionally Scalable—Not Just Technically Scalable: Many tools are technically scalable (they work at scale) but not instructionally scalable (they don't actually help teachers teach better). Smartlby was designed by a teacher with 21 years of classroom experience, so it solves problems faculty actually face.

• AI Closes the Production Gap—But the Learning Gap Is Still Open: Students can produce more effectively with AI assistance. But producing more isn't the same as learning more. The goal should be to close the learning gap, not just the production gap.

• Redesign Starts at the Grassroots Level: Faculty sharing ideas about how they're redesigning assignments is where real change begins. It doesn't have to be a top‑down mandate. Department‑level collaboration on assignment types can create scalable, shared solutions.

• Surveillance Tools Should Be Abolished in Five Years: Michael's hope is that within five years, institutions will stop policing student writing and instead focus on ethical AI use, assistive tools, and redesigning assignments that actually teach students how to think—not just how to produce.

The Signal Newsletter:
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• (00:00:00) - The Real Problem with AI in Higher Education
• (00:02:11) - The Name of Smartlby
• (00:03:02) - What Pulled You Back into the Classroom?
• (00:04:47) - The Tipping Point for Academic Writing
• (00:06:44) - SmartAlby on How to Prevent Student Cheating
• (00:15:41) - Does generative AI Close the Production Gap?
• (00:21:33) - How to Keep AI Out of the Composition Classroom

Jeff talks to Raffi DerSimonian, VP and Chief Strategy Officer at ERI, a digital agency that has been building for colleges and universities since 2005. Raffi came up on the institutional side—alumni relations at Becker College, then marketing and communications at Maine College of Art—before moving to the agency side. He brings a rare combination: deep empathy for campus dynamics and a strategist's eye for what actually moves the needle.

Raffi shares the story behind ikiGuide.ai, a tool that takes the Japanese concept of Ikigai—the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for—and turns it into a guided college search experience. Instead of handing a student a list of programs, ikiGuide gives them a path and the reasoning behind it, pulling in not just curricular offerings but also clubs, activities, study abroad, and stories of students and alumni who have walked similar paths.

The conversation also tackles the shifting role of the college website in an AI-driven discovery landscape. Raffi argues that with nearly half of prospective students now consulting AI before visiting a website, the site's purpose is no longer to provide facts—it's to provide a "vibe check," a sense of connection, and evidence that a student can see themselves there. He also offers a sobering challenge to institutions: if your differentiators sound like they could apply to any school in America, it's time to go back to the drawing board.

Key Takeaways

• Start with Purpose, Not a Major: The traditional college search process begins with "what do you want to study?"—a question many 17‑year‑olds can't answer. ikiguide flips that by asking who you are, what brings you joy, and what you're good at, then connecting those answers to a full ecosystem of opportunities.

• Only 30% of Gen Z Students Feel Prepared for Life After High School: According to Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation, the majority of students enter higher education without a clear sense of direction. Colleges have a responsibility to help them explore, not just funnel them into a predetermined path.

• The College Website's Role Has Shifted from Facts to Vibe: With nearly half of prospective students now consulting AI before ever visiting a site, the website is no longer the primary source of information. Its job is to provide a sense of connection, evidence of differentiation, and a clear path forward—all within the first three seconds.

• AI Is Moving the Discovery Upstream—But Websites Still Matter: Students are coming to websites already briefed by AI, with comparisons and assumptions already formed. The site needs to validate that they can see themselves there, not just repeat the facts they already know.

• Personalization Requires Judiciousness: Over‑personalization can backfire if the institution can't fulfill the expectations it creates. The safer approach is to let users opt in to sharing their interests and then use that data to surface relevant opportunities—not to make assumptions about them.

• Write for Both Humans and the Machines That Read for Them: AI is now summarizing institutions on behalf of students. Content needs to be findable for AI while still resonating with the human who will eventually read it. The line between the two is blurring rapidly.

• Differentiation Is the Only Defense Against Sameness: Most higher ed websites look and feel identical. Institutions that clearly articulate what sets them apart—with evidence, not just claims—are the ones that win attention in...

• (00:00:00) - The Signal: The Future of Higher Ed Websites
• (00:01:51) - In the Elevator With a Consultant
• (00:04:31) - Exploring Ikigai: The College Search
• (00:14:36) - The Future of the University Website
• (00:20:21) - Will Higher Ed Content Be Personalized by AI?
• (00:24:25) - Higher Ed: The Need for Personalization
• (00:28:42) - The Future of Higher Ed: Reimagining the Signal