About Dr. David Guralnick

David Guralnick envisions a new approach to education and workplace learning. His vision integrates progressive learning theory, advanced technology, and creative, entertaining storytelling to create learning experiences that help people learn to think critically, reflect, and make thoughtful decisions. David holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, where his work synthesized concepts from the fields of computer science and artificial intelligence, instructional design, and cognitive psychology. Over the past 30 years, he has designed and evaluated a variety of simulation-based training applications, performance support systems, online courses, mobile applications, and authoring tools for corporate, non-profit, and university audiences.

David holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Northwestern University, where his work synthesized concepts from the fields of computer science/artificial intelligence, instructional design, and cognitive psychology. Over the course of his thirty years in online learning, he has designed and developed simulation-based training applications, electronic performance-support systems, and specialized authoring tools which allow non-technical people, such as writers and trainers, to build e-learning sites.

Among David’s most notable achievements are the creation of the first learn-by-doing simulation for corporate training purposes and the first authoring tool for a non-technical audience that was specific to e-learning. He has been the recipient of over 200 e-learning design awards, and his work has been featured in Wired magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and Training magazine (as an Editor's Choice). He has been a regular speaker at both industry and academic events since 1991. He is also the author of the recent book How Organizations Can Make the Most of Online Learning.

David is the current President and CEO of Kaleidoscope Learning. He is also the current president of the International E-Learning Association; founder and chair of The Learning Ideas Conference; Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal on Advanced Corporate Learning; Chair of the International E-Learning Awards; and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University.

About Dr. Diana Andone

Dr. Andone is the Director of the Department of Digital Education and Distance Education (previously the eLearning Center) at the Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania, where she's responsible for planning and implementing digital education.

She is an associate professor in multimedia, interactive and web technologies; an EDEN Senior Fellow; an IEEE Education Society 2021 Distinguished Chapter Leadership Award winner; and a member of the IEEE Education Society Board of Governors (2021-present), with extensive research and publication experience and more than 30 research and educational international projects.

Dr. Andone teaches course modules in universities from the UK, France, USA, Finland, Italy, and Greece.

About Dr. Eran Gal

Dr. Eran Gal is a digital learning and learning innovation expert with over 25 years of experience applying cross-company technology-based learning solutions.

Dr. Gal heads the graduate program at the Instructional Technologies Faculty, HIT. The program offers students a unique certification track in AI for learning applications in addition to M.A. in Instructional Technologies.

Dr. Gal teaches learning design using AI and learning innovation. He also oversees the research initiatives of the program focusing on empirical research of organizational and technologically enhanced learning.

Since January 2023, Dr. Gal's research and studies have been focused on successful implementation of GenAI services in academic and organizational learning.

About Dr. Gila Kurtz

Dr. Kurtz is the Dean of the Faculty of Instructional Technologies at the Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) in Israel. She has a wealth of experience, having served as the Academic Vice President at a company specializing in e-learning solutions for the corporate sector for several years.

Before joining HIT, she developed and managed an ICT and a Learning M.A. program at the College for Academic Studies in Israel. Dr. Kurtz has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) Graduate School in the Master of Distance Education and E-learning Program, where she co-developed and co-taught online courses.

Dr. Kurtz's other positions were head of interactive television satellite-based unit at the Open University of Israel (OUI) and director of an e-learning center at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. She was also the academic vice president of a company that provided e-learning solutions for the corporate industry. She served as a director and the secretary of The International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction, (IBSTPI) where she was a co-author of a book titled ""Online Learner Competencies: Attitudes, Knowledge, and Skills for Successful Learning.""

For several years, Dr. Kurtz was a member of the Steering Committee of the European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN). She serves as a member on the Peer Review Board of The Journal of Educators Online and The European Journal of Open and Distance Learning. For several years, Dr. Kurtz was the Editor-in-Chief of The Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Skills and Lifelong Learning (IJELL). She has been a visiting scholar at several academic institutions, including the University of California, Berkeley's School of Education and at Syracuse University.

What the Future Holds for GenAI in Higher Education

Generative AI (GenAI) is fundamentally reshaping the landscape of higher education (HE). This presentation explores the trajectory of these powerful tools, moving beyond current applications to examine their transformative potential. We will discuss emerging opportunities in personalized learning pathways and accelerated research paradigms. Concurrently, we will address the critical challenges, including evolving definitions of learning and teaching, with the need for robust ethical frameworks. This session aims to foster a forward-looking dialogue on how HE institutions can strategically navigate and harness the future of GenAI.

About Isabella Loaiza

Isabella Loaiza is a Computational Social Scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her research focuses on understanding the human capabilities that complement AI technologies, as well as the opportunities for worker augmentation and reskilling.

Insights from her work have informed corporate and policy discussions on the future of work. She has advised the Spanish Presidential Office on its labor force report, HispanIA 2025, and shared her perspectives with the Chilean Congress’s Committee on AI and Labor. Her work has been featured in ABC News, NPR's Planet Money, Telemundo and El Pais among others. She earned her Ph.D. in 2023 from the MIT Media Lab.

About Dr. Nafiza Akter

Nafiza Akter has an Ed.D. in Adult Learning and Leadership from Teachers College Columbia University. Prior to joining Pfizer, she had over 13 years of experience working in online course design in Higher Education, working across academic disciplines on graduate/undergraduate courses, executive education, and non-degree programming. She served as the Associate Director of Instructional Design at Teachers College, Columbia University. In 2021, she joined Pfizer's Research & Development team as an Associate Director, Training Development Lead. Her work involves creating engaging e-learning designs with inclusion, innovation, and evidence-based practices in mind. She leads the efforts to manage instructional tools, as well as adoption of organizational initiatives such as adopting matrixed ways of working, AI adoption, and leveraging critical thinking in everyday practices.

About Miki Wei

Miki Wei is a second-year graduate student at Teachers College, Columbia University, studying Developmental Psychology. Her research interests center on emotional development, perfectionism, and young adult well-being. As someone navigating learning across cultures and disciplines, she is particularly curious about how emerging technologies like AI might influence how students learn, stay motivated, and understand themselves in a rapidly changing world. She is excited to contribute a student voice to the conversation on AI, creativity, and education.

Panel Discussion: AI, Creativity, and Design

As generative AI access has become ubiquitous, LLMs have already had a substantial impact on the ways that people can produce creative work. In this panel session, we’ll discuss the different roles that LLMs can play in creative work, including roles in brainstorming and editing. We’ll also discuss the potential dangers of generative AI’s increased role in creative processes and concerns about AI’s impact on people’s critical thinking skills and overall work quality. Our panelists in this session bring experience and expertise from a variety of areas to this discussion.

About Casandra Silva Sibilin, Ed.D.

Dr. Casandra Silva Sibilin is a Lecturer in Philosophy at York College, City University of New York (CUNY). She is one of the organizers of “Don’t AI Alone,” a CUNY grassroots community bringing together faculty, staff, and students to discuss the challenges of AI in education. She has written about ChatGPT through the lens of philosophy of education and created open educational resources to empower faculty and students to develop their own AI tools. Beyond CUNY, Silva Sibilin is the founder and leader of the subgroup on Custom Bots/GPTs for “AI in Education,” a global community of educators dedicated to sharing resources related to the impact of AI on teaching and learning.

About Robert Stein

Robert Stein is the Chief Information Officer at the National Gallery of Art where he leads a dynamic team to advance the use of technology, data, and ai to ensure a secure, stable, and efficient IT operation that helps advance the strategic impact of the National Gallery.

Rob brings deep experience leading museums in many different areas from his former roles as Deputy Director at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, and Indianapolis Museum of Art. An active proponent of the role that art museums can play in our communities, Rob is a well-known champion for innovative applications of technology and the use of data to inform strategic decision-making across the cultural sector.

In addition to his work leading museums, he also served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Program officer of the American Alliance of Museums where he worked with museum leaders in the U.S. and abroad to highlight the essential role that museums play in the world.

Prior to his work in museums, Rob developed custom technologies in the field of high-performance computing where his work in human computer interface, scientific visualization, and virtual reality helped to create data-informed insights for the public and domain scientists.

About Dr. David Guralnick

David Guralnick envisions a new approach to education and workplace learning. His vision integrates progressive learning theory, advanced technology, and creative, entertaining storytelling to create learning experiences that help people learn to think critically, reflect, and make thoughtful decisions. David holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, where his work synthesized concepts from the fields of computer science and artificial intelligence, instructional design, and cognitive psychology. Over the past 30 years, he has designed and evaluated a variety of simulation-based training applications, performance support systems, online courses, mobile applications, and authoring tools for corporate, non-profit, and university audiences.

David holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Northwestern University, where his work synthesized concepts from the fields of computer science/artificial intelligence, instructional design, and cognitive psychology. Over the course of his thirty years in online learning, he has designed and developed simulation-based training applications, electronic performance-support systems, and specialized authoring tools which allow non-technical people, such as writers and trainers, to build e-learning sites.

Among David’s most notable achievements are the creation of the first learn-by-doing simulation for corporate training purposes and the first authoring tool for a non-technical audience that was specific to e-learning. He has been the recipient of over 200 e-learning design awards, and his work has been featured in Wired magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and Training magazine (as an Editor's Choice). He has been a regular speaker at both industry and academic events since 1991. He is also the author of the recent book How Organizations Can Make the Most of Online Learning.

David is the current President and CEO of Kaleidoscope Learning. He is also the current president of the International E-Learning Association; founder and chair of The Learning Ideas Conference; Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal on Advanced Corporate Learning; Chair of the International E-Learning Awards; and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University.

AI, New Technologies, and a Human-Centered Approach to Learning

Technology, particularly within the world of education, can all too easily be perceived as cold and impersonal. The way technology-based systems and learning experiences are designed in higher education, workplace learning, and other educational environments is often far from ideal. But AI and new technologies offer opportunities for us to create warm, meaningful, and personally-relevant learning experiences, if we follow a sound design approach.

In this session, we’ll discuss what such an approach can involve. By drawing from progressive learning theory and other areas, such as cognitive science and motivational theory, we can use technology in creative ways to produce experiences that resonate with learners and feel “warm” without feeling as if they’re pretending to be human replacements. This approach can created deliver meaningful, personal, engaging, immersive experiences on a large scale, designed to reach a wide audience and to allow people to learn in individualized ways.

About Dr. David Guralnick

David Guralnick envisions a new approach to education and workplace learning. His vision integrates progressive learning theory, advanced technology, and creative, entertaining storytelling to create learning experiences that help people learn to think critically, reflect, and make thoughtful decisions. David holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, where his work synthesized concepts from the fields of computer science and artificial intelligence, instructional design, and cognitive psychology. Over the past 30 years, he has designed and evaluated a variety of simulation-based training applications, performance support systems, online courses, mobile applications, and authoring tools for corporate, non-profit, and university audiences.

David holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Northwestern University, where his work synthesized concepts from the fields of computer science/artificial intelligence, instructional design, and cognitive psychology. Over the course of his thirty years in online learning, he has designed and developed simulation-based training applications, electronic performance-support systems, and specialized authoring tools which allow non-technical people, such as writers and trainers, to build e-learning sites.

Among David’s most notable achievements are the creation of the first learn-by-doing simulation for corporate training purposes and the first authoring tool for a non-technical audience that was specific to e-learning. He has been the recipient of over 200 e-learning design awards, and his work has been featured in Wired magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and Training magazine (as an Editor's Choice). He has been a regular speaker at both industry and academic events since 1991. He is also the author of the recent book How Organizations Can Make the Most of Online Learning.

David is the current President and CEO of Kaleidoscope Learning. He is also the current president of the International E-Learning Association; founder and chair of The Learning Ideas Conference; Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal on Advanced Corporate Learning; Chair of the International E-Learning Awards; and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University.