How To Episodes

A suffix can look like a tiny detail on paper, but it can carry an entire family story. Jackie sits down with Dr. Tamara Nall to talk about Junia, a formal naming tradition designed to give daughters the kind of visible legacy marker that “Junior” has long given sons. The conversation starts with naming, then opens into something bigger: identity, representation, and what changes in a culture when we finally give language to what has been missing. Dr. Nall shares the personal roots behind the m...

What if making great learning videos felt like finishing a slide deck—familiar, fast, and oddly satisfying? Jackie sat down with Pictory co‑founder Vikram Chalana to unpack a clear path from messy tools to simple, repeatable workflows that help educators and L&D teams publish short, accessible videos at scale. No timeline acrobatics. No blank‑screen dread. Just practical steps that turn content you already trust into engaging microlearning. Vikram shares the three design choices that shaped Pic...

What if your best presentation didn’t just earn applause—it moved people to act? Jackie sat down with Dr. Danny Brassell to map a clearer path from inspiration to conversion, blending hard-won classroom lessons with decades on the stage to show exactly how to make talks that stick, spread, and sell without feeling salesy. We start with the only scoreboard that matters: how many listeners take the next step with you. From there, Danny breaks down his Five Cs—clarity, connect, content, call to ac...

AI output isn’t mysterious; it’s measurable. When we prompt like we’re chatting, we get content that feels generic and unpredictable. When we prompt like instructional designers, with audience, outcomes, constraints, and a definition of “good,” the same AI tool starts producing drafts you can actually reuse. In this episode, Jackie walks through a simple mindset shift that changes everything: a prompt is a mini design document. From there, we name the three biggest reasons one-off prompts fail ...

Ever feel like your tools change faster than your lesson plans? Jackie sat down with tech translator and founder Charly Leetham to unpack a calmer, smarter way to work with technology—one that starts with first principles, respects human limits, and favors preparation over firefighting. From story-rich field experience to practical classroom routines, this conversation is a guide to making tech serve the teaching, not the other way around. If you’re ready to replace panic with process and guess...

AI can write training content that looks flawless, sounds professional, and still quietly mislead your learners. That’s the problem we tackle today, along with a practical fix you can use immediately: a fast QA scan that keeps AI speed while protecting trust, accuracy, and credibility. In this episode, Jackie walks through three failure modes that show up again and again in AI-generated eLearning and microlearning drafts: accuracy issues like invented details or wrong policy claims, bias that s...

What if the clearest path to your calling is simpler than you think? Host Jackie Pelegrin sits down with artist, pastor, author, and motivator Daniel Bernabe for a candid look at how grief, faith, and relentless practice can turn raw potential into enduring impact. From a teenage moment of loss to the steady drumbeat of “seek first,” Daniel charts the habits and heart postures that helped him become a painter, publisher, and encourager who serves from his strengths without burning out. We dig i...

AI can crank out a draft in minutes, but if the audience is wrong, the tone is off, or the facts don’t match policy, you’ll lose every “saved” hour in rework. In this episode, Jackie breaks down the shift she keeps seeing in instructional design teams: the new bottleneck isn’t creating content, it’s creating trusted content. That’s why human-in-the-loop review isn’t an extra process. It’s the difference between fast and frustrating. Jackie walks through a simple four-step workflow you can apply...

Training can look successful on paper and still fail where it counts: on the job. We’re digging into the data literacy instructional designers and educators actually need right now, especially as AI tools speed up decisions and raise new privacy questions. If you’ve ever stared at completions, seat time, or quiz scores and wondered, “So what do I do with this information?”, this conversation is built for you. We walk through the mindset shift that makes measurement useful: data is evidence, not...

A frontline nurse turned founder changes how we think about “marketing” by treating it like care extended. David Sanchez, RN, shares how clinical empathy, clear language, and the right tools help healthcare organizations and educators reach the people who need them most. We unpack the journey from ER shifts to launching a recovery program and a patient-first agency, then translate that experience into steps any small team can take to grow with integrity. We go deep on foundations that matter: s...

Hiring managers don’t want a gallery of artifacts; they want proof you can solve real performance problems. We walk through a clear, house-style blueprint for building an instructional design portfolio that highlights your judgment, shows measurable impact, and makes it effortless to find your best work. To help your work get found, we align language across your site, resume, and LinkedIn, weave in job-aligned keywords naturally, and create a light sharing plan. Add your portfolio to LinkedIn’s...

Short doesn’t automatically mean effective. We dig into the craft of microlearning that actually changes behavior on the job, moving past buzzwords to a clear blueprint you can use this week. You’ll hear the green‑yellow‑red fit test, a tight scoping method, and five delivery patterns that make small learning moments do real work without bloating your course catalog. Ready to ship something meaningful in seven days? Try the micro sprint, share your results, and help a teammate build their first...

Thunder cracked over San Cristóbal as Queen Michele told us how a retired teacher, armed with a suitcase and a stubborn sense of purpose, found her soul in Mexico and a mission for the most connected generation on earth. What followed is a story of reinvention, caregiving, and building a mindfulness curriculum that teaches middle schoolers to center before they swipe. We unpack Generation Alpha—kids born into a 24/7 feed—whose attention is shaped by platforms that never power down. Queen shares...

Want learners to finish training, remember it, and use it on the job? We walk through a no-fluff approach to gamification that starts with clear outcomes and ends with measurable behavior change. Instead of throwing points at problems, we show how to pair decision-based practice, tight feedback, and meaningful rewards to build real skill. The heart of the episode is a practical toolkit: five common pitfalls and exactly how to flip them, plus the metrics that prove impact. We cover mastery rate,...

Most training fails not because the storyboard is weak, but because the learning lands in an environment full of competing priorities and fuzzy signals. That’s the tough-love truth James Gilchrist brings to our mic as we unpack how people-first design—and authentic leadership—turns content into real performance. James’s winding path from actor and musician to L&D leader sharpened skills we often overlook: presence, narrative, and connection. Those talents power the “lightbulb moments” when knowl...

What if your greatest creative potential isn't something you need to find, but something you simply need to remember? As a creativity expert, Patrick Williams joined me to reveal how we've all been born with incredible creative abilities that often get suppressed as we grow older. The conversation offers surprisingly simple yet powerful practices anyone can implement: connecting with nature, practicing intentional breathing, keeping creativity journals, and experiencing different art forms m...

Want a smarter way to stay current without spinning your wheels? In this episode, Jackie walks through a practical playbook that helps instructional designers and learning leaders filter hype, design for real performance, and ship small wins that scale. It’s a clear path from “interesting idea” to measurable impact, built around five practice trends, a lean trend filter, and a two-week micropilot you can start right away. We begin by shifting to skills-first, evidence-driven design: define a li...

The fear of AI taking over jobs has dominated headlines, but what if we're missing the opportunity to harness this technology as a powerful ally? In this enlightening conversation, T. Renee Smith reveals how artificial intelligence became her unexpected partner in navigating the challenges of raising a neurodiverse child and eventually led to her book, "She Leads with AI." Whether you're an instructional designer, educator, entrepreneur, or simply curious about integrating AI into your life ...

What if reviews felt collaborative instead of confrontational? In this episode, I walk through a practical, five-pour framework to collect and use feedback from peers, stakeholders, SMEs, QA and accessibility reviewers, and—most importantly—learners, so your projects move faster and land stronger. You’ll get short scripts, simple prompts, and a clear structure to keep conversations focused on outcomes instead of opinions. If you want feedback to become fuel, not friction, this guide gives you t...

Scope creep doesn’t arrive with a siren; it shows up as “just one more” request and quietly doubles your workload. In this episode, I break down a practical, humane way to protect your timeline and still make room for good ideas—so you ship value now and again soon, without burnout. We start by drawing clean edges around the work: a one‑page scope brief, an explicit out‑of‑scope list, and a shared definition of done. From there, we name one final approver to end circular edits, set a simple cha...

Dr. Norina Columbaro brings nearly three decades of instructional design wisdom to this thought-provoking conversation about performance-focused learning. Drawing from her extensive experience across 60+ organizations worldwide, she reveals how the most successful learning initiatives prioritize measurable performance outcomes rather than just creating training materials. Whether you're new to instructional design or a seasoned professional, you'll appreciate Dr. Columbaro's practical insights ...

What happens when a tech industry veteran gets frustrated with complicated video editing software? They build something better. In this captivating conversation, Jeremy shares his journey from early-2000s startups like Sling Media to leadership roles at media giants before launching his AI-powered video editing platform. Whether you're an instructional designer looking to enhance learning materials, a marketer seeking to increase your content output, or an entrepreneur considering your next ven...

What makes a learning experience stick long after the course ends? We pull back the curtain on the “secret sauce” of Learning Experience Design, also known as LXD, and break it into five essential ingredients—empathy, storytelling, interactivity, accessibility, and feedback—that you can apply right away to elevate any course, workshop, or training program. In this episode, you’ll get practical reflection prompts, examples you can copy, and a focused action step to build momentum this week. Alon...

What happens when passionate curiosity meets unconventional research methods? Dr. Sheldon Greaves reveals the power of "guerrilla scholarship," which is a creative approach to intellectual work that flourishes outside traditional academic walls. For instructional designers, educators, or anyone seeking to pursue intellectual work without institutional backing, this episode provides both practical guidance and inspiring possibilities. Dr. Greaves reminds us that meaningful learning thrives in co...