Designing with Love
What does it take to design learning experiences that truly work? Join Jackie Pelegrin, award-winning instructional designer and Grand Canyon University (GCU) adjunct instructor, as she explores instructional design, e-learning, and AI integration. Expect actionable tips, real-world insights, and conversations with students, alumni, and industry leaders shaping the future of learning.
Episodes
116 episodes
AI Quality Assurance: Catching Hallucinations, Bias, and Brand Drift
AI can write training content that looks flawless, sounds professional, and still quietly mislead your learners. That’s the problem we tackle today, along with a practical fix you can use immediately: a fast QA scan that keeps AI speed while pr...
Claim Your Calling with Daniel Bernabe
What if the clearest path to your calling is simpler than you think? Host Jackie Pelegrin sits down with artist, pastor, author, and motivator Daniel Bernabe for a candid look at how grief, faith, and relentless practice can turn raw potential ...
Human-in-the-Loop: The Review Workflow That Prevents Rework
AI can crank out a draft in minutes, but if the audience is wrong, the tone is off, or the facts don’t match policy, you’ll lose every “saved” hour in rework. In this episode, Jackie breaks down the shift she keeps seeing in instructional desig...
Practical AI Strategies for K-12 and Higher Ed with John Williamson
What if AI became your most thoughtful co-teacher instead of a shortcut students hide behind? Jackie had an engaging and insightful conversation with John Williamson, lead curriculum developer at Grand Canyon University and founder of Olive and...
Data Literacy for IDs: The Basics You Need to Work Smarter with AI
Training can look successful on paper and still fail where it counts: on the job. We’re digging into the data literacy instructional designers and educators actually need right now, especially as AI tools speed up decisions and raise new privac...
Creativity Over Compliance with Michaell Magrutsche
Creativity isn’t extra; it’s how we unlock potential. That’s the heartbeat of this conversation with Austrian‑Californian multimedia artist and creativity awareness educator Michaell Magrusche, whose neurodiversity shaped a human‑centered appro...
AI Guardrails 101: Policies and Permissions
AI isn’t just a time-saver anymore, it’s a trusted choice. When instructional designers paste the wrong thing into the wrong tool, the risk isn’t abstract: it can touch learner privacy, employee data, internal documents, proprietary processes, ...
From Classroom to Corporate Learning with Jessica Smith
Ever wondered how a teacher’s instincts translate into real business value? We sit down with Jessica Smith, a former secondary Spanish teacher turned corporate instructional designer at ADP, to unpack the exact moves that make the leap from edu...
The New Instructional Designer: What AI Changes and What It Doesn’t
AI can generate outlines, quizzes, and scripts in minutes, but that doesn’t mean your learners will do the right thing on Monday. We zoom out to see what AI is really changing in instructional design and what remains stubbornly, beautifully hum...
Autonomy That Actually Works with Hamza Sami
Autonomy isn’t about handing learners the wheel and hoping for the best. We explore how freedom becomes fuel—when it’s matched to the stakes, the setting, and the supports. With guest Hamza Sami, we compare college courses where risk is a learn...
How to Navigate ID Careers Across Industries
Switching industries shouldn’t feel like starting over. We walk through a Career GPS for instructional designers that turns uncertainty into a plan: define your core strengths, translate your experience into the right industry dialect, pick an ...
Ethical AI, Authentic Voice, and the Joy of Progress with Jade Arthur
What if job hunting could feel more like leveling up than burning out? Jackie sits down with language and mindset coach Jade Arthur to explore how AI and game design thinking can transform ESL learning, portfolios, and interview prep, especiall...
Freelance or Full-Time: Choose Your Best Fit
Choosing between freelancing and a full-time role can feel like a high-stakes fork in the road. We take the pressure off with a five–mile marker roadmap that helps you define what matters most right now and match the path to your life, not your...
Measure What Matters, Then Make It Human with David Sanchez
A frontline nurse turned founder changes how we think about “marketing” by treating it like care extended. David Sanchez, RN, shares how clinical empathy, clear language, and the right tools help healthcare organizations and educators reach the...
Networking Tips That Advance Your ID Career
What if networking could feel calm, kind, and effective—without the awkward pitch? We walk through five connection moves that help instructional designers and educators build real relationships: a mindset reframe, tiny weekly actions, breadcrum...
Teaching and Curriculum Design in the Age of AI with Hamza Sami
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 har...
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your ID Portfolio
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 measu...
Choose Love Over Fear to Guide Learning with Tommy Kilpatrick
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 sim...
Virtual Playgrounds: Bringing Learning to Life
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 s...
Why Starting With Where Changes Everything with Tommy Kilpatrick
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 M...
Personalization Unleashed: Adaptive Learning in Action
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, ...
AI Made Practical for Teachers and Designers with Sairam Sundaresan
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 d...
Guiding the Classroom with AI Copilots
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 ...
Paragraphs, Not Panic: Dyslexia-Smart Strategies with Russell Van Brocklen
What if a fifth grader could turn a pile of ideas into a clear, grounded paragraph—every time—without leaning on AI? We bring back dyslexia researcher Russell Van Brocklen for part three of our series to show exactly how: start with a hero, a u...
Navigating the New Realities: Unpacking VR, AR, and MR for Lasting Impact
Forget the headset hype: real learning impact starts with a clear problem, a focused outcome, and a modality that actually fits the job. We dig into how to choose between VR for safe practice, AR for in-the-flow guidance, and MR for complex 3D ...
