Turn Your “Blue Sky” Designs Into Reality with AI

I recently embarked on a quest to explore the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in learning design. What started as a simple prompt to create a proposal about AI and gamification for a learning conference quickly snowballed into a journey of discovery. Emboldened by the initial results, I pushed the boundaries further, challenging the AI to realize one of my ambitious learning concepts. 

I tasked Claude with creating a gamified experience that taught the learners about the similarities and differences in style between the vibrant prints of Marimekko, a Finnish lifestyle design company, and the colorful patterns of Alexander Girard, a renowned architect and designer. The results were astounding — detailed game mechanics, quests, skill trees, and even social features materialized before my eyes. But I didn't stop there. I ventured into the realm of escape rooms, prompting the AI to design an immersive learning experience. With each iteration, I refined my prompts to extract increasingly detailed designs for Augmented Reality (AR) clues, interactive installations, and collaborative puzzles. 

Through this process, I gathered enough information to create an escape room in a fraction of the time it would have taken me without the AI. While I could have eventually achieved this on my own, it would have consumed days or weeks, leaving other projects neglected. 

This experience illuminated the transformative potential of AI in learning design. It goes beyond merely accelerating content creation; it brings our learning visions to life. This shift enables us to step into the role of “experience curators,” weaving various learning elements together to create innovative solutions. 

With AI-improved efficiency, we now can focus on: 

• Deeper learner research: AI gives us more time to invest into meaningful activities that foster a deeper connection with our learners, such as interviews and surveys. AI-based tools can assist by taking notes and transcribing conversations, enabling us to fully engage in the learners’ world without distractions. 

• Data-driven insights: AI is able to process and generate insights from vast amounts of data on learner behavior and performance, allowing us to refine and optimize the learning experience continuously. We no longer focus on analyzing data, but interpreting and telling the story behind it to understand what works, what doesn’t, and why. 

• Personalized and inclusive learning paths: AI can be used to customize learning paths to individual needs and preferences. Our role now is more focused on selecting the appropriate tools, configuring them to meet the learning goals, integrating them seamlessly with other resources, and ensuring the experiences align closely with performance goals and organizational objectives.
  

• Enhanced engagement: AI gives us another option to prototype — to explore and test interactive and immersive learning environments such as gamification, virtual and augmented reality, and social learning platforms. By simulating these solutions in a cost-effective manner, AI helps us to experiment with innovative approaches without the risks and expenses associated with traditional trial-and-error methods. This enables us to make more informed decisions and implement effective learning strategies that engage learners and drive better outcomes. 

 
As we embrace this AI-driven transformation, the role of learning professionals will continue to evolve. We're entering an era where we can realize our wildest ideas, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in learning and development. AI is here to make our learning dreams come to life, and the future of learning design has never looked more exciting.