Human First but AI Ready: Finding the Right Balance in Learning Design  

August 26 & 27, 2026 • All Online 

As AI capabilities expand, learning professionals face increasingly complex decisions about when to rely on automation and when human expertise is critical. Successfully integrating AI requires more than learning new tools; it requires thoughtful decisions about quality, trust, accessibility, and the human connections that support meaningful learning experiences. 

In this six-session online conference, you’ll explore practical approaches to integrating AI into learning design and gain a clearer understanding of where automation adds value, where human judgment is essential, and how to balance both in your own work. 

You’ll walk away with strategies to: 

  • Leverage AI effectively while retaining human judgment in critical areas 
  • Use AI safely in highly regulated or secure contexts 
  • Integrate AI into professional coaching without losing the human connection 
  • Streamline development with Articulate’s AI Assistant without compromising quality or accessibility 
  • And much more! 

Connect and exchange ideas with other attendees! At the end of each day, you’ll be invited to gather in small groups in our ThinkSpaces to reflect on key ideas from the sessions, share perspectives, and explore how you’ll apply what you’ve learned. 

Program

DAY 1: August 26

101: Cognitive Design for AI-Powered Learning

Shreya Gupta, Amazon

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM ET / 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM PT

As generative AI makes learning production effortless, capability development is no longer automatic. Rather, it must be intentionally designed. Many teams are accelerating content creation using AI. Far fewer are evaluating how those design decisions shape independent thinking, transfer, and mastery over time.
This session introduces the Cognitive Design Model, a practical decision framework that helps learning leaders determine when to automate, when to augment thinking, and when to preserve cognitive effort. you will learn to evaluate AI-enabled learning decisions using three criteria (STM):

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201: Speed & Quality? Achieve Both with AI Assistant in Articulate Storyline & Rise

Rose Kapucu, AdventHealth

Supriya Chaudhari, AdventHealth

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PT

Instructional designers are under pressure to create more learning content in less time while maintaining quality, accessibility, engagement, and compliance. The AI Assistant tool can accelerate development in Articulate Storyline and Rise, but many teams struggle with inconsistent outputs, weak instructional quality, accessibility issues, governance concerns, and inefficient workflows.

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301: Diagnose, Then Design: Using AI to Close the Gaps Training Alone Can’t Fix

Allegra Robinson, Northern Bank

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET / 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM PT

Most performance problems get diagnosed as a knowledge, skill, or will gap. But what happens when employees already know what to do, can do it, and want to do it and the behavior still doesn’t change? The missing piece is access: the workflows, systems, and environmental conditions that make the right behavior easy or hard. Traditional diagnosis misses it. And when we skip it, we keep prescribing training for problems training can’t fix.

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DAY 2: August 27

401: Tame SME Chaos with an Efficient AI? Powered Workflow

Rebecca DiMeo, Yale University

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM ET / 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM PT

Instructional designers regularly face the same challenge: SMEs provide a flood of information but little clarity about what learners actually need to do on the job. Designers must sort through excessive detail, conflicting priorities, and vague outcomes, slowing project design while increasing rework and weakening stakeholder alignment.

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501: Getting Real About AI in Professional Coaching: What to Do & What to Avoid

Olivia Savage, Mars Snacking

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PT

Many learning professionals are being asked to “use AI” without a lot of guidance on what that actually looks like in practice. This session presents an honest answer to that question.
In this case study, we will explore how I integrated AI tools into a coaching program designed for small business owners in the early stages of launching their businesses. These were people with big dreams and a lot of uncertainty, and we wanted to see if AI could help extend the reach and impact of human coaching without losing what makes coaching work in the first place.

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601: Use AI Effectively & Safely in High-Risk Environments

Kevin Pledger, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET / 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM PT

As AI tools become increasingly integrated into learning design workflows, many organizations are focusing on what AI can do, often overlooking the more critical question of what it should do. When instructional decisions carry real consequences, the use of AI introduces not just opportunity, but risk, especially when accountability cannot be delegated.

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