In this episode of Yin Yak, we dig into a question a lot of designers, educators, and leaders are quietly wrestling with:

If AI can deliver knowledge and hold real conversations with learners, what’s left for us to design?

To explore this, I’m joined by Eric Newman, Associate Director of Academic Innovation at Boston University. Eric has been shaping some of BU’s most forward-thinking programs—including the Online MBA that Forbes called one of the most disruptive in higher ed.

We yak about:

• How AI study buddies and dialogic AI shift the role of instructional designers

• What RAG-powered learning means for content, context, and practice

• Why “knowledge delivery” is no longer the design challenge

• The rise of AI-enabled practice

• What a new course design playbook looks like and what stays human

Along the way, we dive into prompting, AI fluency, meaningful constraints, low-stakes practice, and why good design still matters more than ever.

If you're an instructional designer, learning strategist, educator, or just someone curious about the future of learning, this one’s for you.

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