Smarter Campus Podcast

In this episode of The Smarter Campus Podcast, Zach sits down with Tawnya Means, Founding Partner of Inspire Higher Ed, to explore what it really takes to move AI adoption from conversation to classroom practice. As more institutions experiment with generative AI, Tawnya focuses on the real work of helping faculty build confidence, experiment safely, and integrate these tools into teaching and learning.

The discussion highlights a growing shift across campuses: educators are no longer just debating AI—they’re asking for hands-on time to try it. Tawnya shares what she’s seeing succeed in workshops and faculty training, from building custom AI assistants to rethinking assignments to identify where human insight matters most.

The conversation also explores the psychological barriers faculty face, including fear of replacement, discomfort with unfamiliar tools, and the pressure of teaching technologies they’re still learning themselves. Through practical strategies like peer storytelling, dedicated learning time, and clearly defining what work remains uniquely human, Tawnya offers a thoughtful roadmap for institutions navigating AI implementation in higher education.

For our 50th episode of The Smarter Campus Podcast, we’re stepping back to ask a bigger question: What is school actually for in an age of AI?

Zia Hassan—educator, professional coach, and PhD researcher at Johns Hopkins University—joins Zach for a thoughtful conversation about how generative AI is reshaping student motivation, classroom dynamics, and the very purpose of learning. Rather than focusing on tools or tactics, Zia explores how students mature in their AI use over time—learning to protect the parts of their work that make them feel “alive and human” while outsourcing the mundane.

The episode challenges control-based approaches to academic integrity and reframes AI not as a shortcut to police, but as a catalyst forcing education to move from “getting the right answer” to “asking the right questions.” Zia makes a compelling case for ungrading, personal knowledge management, and designing productive struggle—all while keeping relationships at the center.

As we mark 50 episodes, this conversation captures what the podcast has always been about: not hype, not fear—but deep thinking about how AI can help us build more humane, motivation-driven learning environments.

In this episode of The Smarter Campus Podcast, Zach sits down with Kyle Atkins—AI strategist, ethical innovation leader, and PhD candidate in Higher Education Administration—to explore what it really means to bring generative AI into academic environments with intention. Rather than focusing on tools or tactics, the conversation centers on governance, ethics, and the deeper questions institutions should be asking before adoption.

Kyle challenges the fixation on prompt engineering and AI detection, arguing that these conversations miss the bigger picture. If AI can easily complete an assignment, the issue isn’t the tool—it’s the design of learning itself. The discussion reframes academic integrity as a human problem, not a technical one, and invites educators to rethink how assessment can better reflect critical thinking, creativity, and growth.

The episode also highlights AI’s potential as an equalizer, particularly for students with learning differences who have long been underserved by traditional systems. By positioning AI as a thought partner rather than a shortcut, this conversation offers higher-ed leaders a thoughtful lens on how AI can support more humane, inclusive, and future-ready education.

This special episode of The Smarter Campus Podcast features a conversation from inside the BoodleBox team. Zach sits down with Reilly Stanton, Lead Data Scientist at Boodle AI, to unpack how the platform’s philosophy around safety, clarity, and human-centered design shows up at the technical level.

Reilly offers a rare, engineer-first look at how large language models actually work—moving past hype and fear to explain embeddings, tokens, and probability in plain terms. By demystifying the technology, the episode helps educators and administrators better understand both the capabilities and the limits of AI, and why misunderstanding those fundamentals can lead to risky classroom use and misguided policy.

Using the metaphor of a “sensible car” versus a Ferrari, the conversation explores why educational AI needs guardrails by design. It also makes a strong case for teaching communication, critical thinking, and ethical reasoning as core AI skills—keeping humans firmly in the loop as AI becomes a normal part of teaching and learning.

In this episode of the Smarter Campus Podcast, Zach sits down with Christian Carmody, a doctoral researcher at the University of New Hampshire, to explore one of the most under-discussed questions in AI and education:

What is AI doing to our intellectual character?

Christian draws a powerful distinction between moral character (how we behave) and intellectual character (how we pursue truth, knowledge, and understanding). Through personal reflection, philosophy, and cognitive science, he unpacks how generative AI introduces a uniquely tempting shortcut—one that doesn’t just risk academic integrity, but quietly reshapes how we think.

This conversation explores:

• The difference between moral wrongdoing and intellectual self-deception
• The seductive “glimmering ticket” AI offers when we’re overwhelmed
• “Knowledge laundering” and why unearned understanding erodes trust
• The long-term risk of reasoning atrophy when thinking is outsourced
• Why the real harm of AI misuse isn’t grades—but habit formation
• A Kantian ethical framework educators can use to guide AI decisions

Rather than focusing on detection or punishment, this episode reframes the conversation around who students are becoming in an AI-rich world—and what responsibility educators have to explicitly teach intellectual character, not just content.

This episode pairs especially well with conversations around post-plagiarism pedagogy and transparent AI policies, offering the philosophical and human counterweight to institutional approaches.

In this episode of the Smarter Campus Podcast, Zach is joined by Peter Harris to unpack a hard truth about AI in education: tools don’t replace mastery—practice does.

Peter introduces the idea of “reps” as the foundation of real expertise. Whether it’s building 100 financial models by hand or defending an investment thesis out loud, deep understanding only comes from repeated, manual engagement. AI can accelerate learning—but only if it’s used as a coach, not a crutch.

This conversation dives into:

• Why experiential learning beats textbook theory
• The difference between outsourcing thinking vs. sharpening it with AI
• Why verbal accountability is becoming the most honest form of assessment
• How AI is reshaping the workforce toward orchestration, not task execution
• Why liberal arts skills—psychology, judgment, communication—are becoming more valuable, not less
• What educators must redesign now to ensure students can explain, not just submit, their work

For educators, employers, and students alike, this episode is a wake-up call: in an AI-accelerated world, understanding beats output—and reps still matter.

In this episode of the Smarter Campus Podcast, Zach sits down with Michelle Kassorla to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping pedagogy, assessment, and what it truly means to learn.

Dr. Kassorla introduces a powerful reframing of Bloom’s Taxonomy for the AI era. If AI can now create first, then the real intellectual work for students begins afterward—through evaluation, analysis, application, and reflection. Rather than resisting this shift, she argues that educators should redesign learning to emphasize process over product.

Together, they discuss:

• Why AI should be treated as a starting point, not an endpoint
• How “Inverted Bloom’s Taxonomy” changes assignment design
• Why grading the journey eliminates the incentive to cheat
• The limits of AI detection and the harm of adversarial classrooms
• How shared vulnerability between faculty and students builds trust
• Practical ways to scaffold assignments and assess AI transparency

This episode offers a concrete, actionable framework for educators ready to move beyond detection and toward learning environments that reward thinking, iteration, and human judgment.

In this episode of the Smarter Campus Podcast, Zach sits down with Jose Bowen, author of Teaching with AI and longtime higher-education leader, to explore one of the most important shifts education has ever faced.

Dr. Bowen argues that while the internet changed our relationship with knowledge, AI is changing our relationship with thinking itself. As information becomes abundant—but increasingly unreliable—educators are no longer just teaching content. They’re teaching how to think, how to evaluate, and how to work alongside intelligent systems.

In this conversation, they discuss:

• Why AI should be viewed as a thinking partner, not just a tool
• What it means to teach when you’re no longer the “expert in the room”
• How AI reshapes writing, feedback, and learning processes
• Why metacognition and bias awareness are now core educational skills
• How faculty can prepare students for a world where thinking itself is augmented

This episode is essential listening for faculty, instructional designers, and academic leaders navigating what teaching looks like when AI is embedded into how humans reason, write, and decide.

In this episode of the Smarter Campus Podcast, Zach sits down with Judith Cardenas, a higher-education leader and consultant who has been working on AI strategy long before generative AI went mainstream.

Judith shares what she’s learned from more than a decade of consulting with institutions and leadership teams—and why AI leadership today has far less to do with being technical and far more to do with curiosity, courage, and comfort with ambiguity.

Together, they explore:

• Why AI leadership is not about being a “techie”
• How fear (not technology) is the biggest blocker to adoption
• Why faculty need guardrails, not bans
• What it means to lead when no one has all the answers yet
• How institutions can balance integrity, innovation, and trust

This conversation is especially relevant for presidents, provosts, deans, CIOs, and faculty leaders navigating AI strategy at the institutional level. Rather than focusing on tools, this episode focuses on mindset, governance, and human leadership in an era of rapid change.

If you’re responsible for guiding others through AI adoption—and feel the weight of that responsibility—this episode is for you.

In this episode of the Smarter Campus Podcast, host Zach Kinzler is joined by Matt Newlin, a higher education consultant with over 20 years of experience in financial aid, equity, and student success.

Matt brings a powerful rural perspective to the AI conversation, framing artificial intelligence as a democratizing force—one that has the potential to level the playing field for rural, first-generation, and low-income students if implemented thoughtfully.

The conversation explores why many rural educators feel hesitant to adopt AI, the risks of blanket bans, and how institutions can build faculty capacity while still prioritizing critical thinking, equity, and durable skills. Matt also shares practical examples of how AI can support admissions, recruiting, faculty workflows, and student learning—without replacing human judgment.

This episode is a grounded, honest look at how AI can expand access and opportunity in higher education, especially in communities that are often left out of emerging technology conversations.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why AI can be a leveling force for rural and underserved students
• The real fears educators have about “getting AI wrong”
• How AI can build faculty capacity instead of adding workload
• Why institutions need nuanced AI policies—not blanket bans
• The importance of teaching critical thinking alongside AI literacy