Learning Science & AI
As Executive Director of the NYU Stern Learning Science Lab and a Clinical Professor of Technology at NYU Stern, I work at the intersection of learning science, AI, and how people actually learn.
My most recent book, Essentials of Online Course Design, 3rd Edition (Routledge, 2025), reflects the same question I bring to everything I do: what does it actually take to design learning that works — and how is AI changing the answer?
The NYU Stern Learning Science Lab
As Executive Director of the Learning Science Lab, I lead a team of learning designers, educational technologists, and media specialists working with Stern faculty to design evidence-based learning environments — and to help them navigate what AI means for how they teach.
The Lab’s impact extends well beyond individual consultations. Since 2022, we’ve conducted over 1,200 faculty consultations, reach 300+ faculty through a regular newsletter, and have trained hundreds of Stern faculty and staff through hands-on workshops. We also created Stern’s first online degree program, a suite of online executive education certificates, and supported the development of the NYU Stern Online MBA program.
AI at the Learning Science Lab
In December 2025, we surveyed 100 Stern faculty on their use of AI. Two-thirds are comfortable using it and have communicated policies to students — but only half that number feel equipped to integrate it meaningfully into their teaching. Closing that gap is central to the Lab’s work.
Faculty Innovation Fellows
Launched in 2024, this program partners the Lab with Stern faculty running genuine experiments with generative AI in their courses. Fellows have built custom assignment feedback tools using ChatGPT, developed student AI focus groups, and designed personalized reflection systems using Gemini. Projects are documented, studied, and shared across the school.
AI Interview Series
We produced five video interviews with Stern faculty on integrating AI into their teaching — across accounting, communications, and technology — including my own conversation on how generative AI informs my teaching practice.
Workshops & Resources
We run regular faculty workshops on applying AI in the classroom, alongside a comprehensive Teaching & Learning with GenAI resource site and a 15-issue newsletter series on AI tools, concepts, and pedagogical integration.
Custom AI Tools
We build bespoke tools for faculty: custom GPTs for formative writing feedback, LLM-enabled scaffolding tools, interactive learning modules, and an “Ask LSL” chatbot — developed during an OpenAI pilot — that connects faculty directly to Lab resources.
Working Groups & Institutional Leadership
The Lab holds active roles in Stern’s GenAI & Assessment Working Group, the Dean’s AI Working Group, an OpenAI ChatGPT administrative pilot, an Airia AI orchestration pilot, and multiple NYU-wide committees on instructional technology and AI policy — including the Office of the Provost’s Teaching and Learning with GenAI group.
NYU School of Professional Studies (2005–2011)
In 2005, I joined NYU and founded the Office of Distance Learning at the School of Professional Studies. As director, I led the development of online master’s degrees, undergraduate and graduate online courses, and online certificates. I also served as Academic Director for NYU Online: Undergraduate Degrees for Adults, and as Faculty Chair for the Master of Science in Instructional Design blended online program. From 2011, I served as Assistant Dean of the Division of Programs in Business at NYU School of Professional Studies.
Building online programs from scratch — curriculum, faculty development, technology infrastructure, and student support — gave me a comprehensive view of what it takes to make online learning rigorous and effective at scale. That foundation shapes everything I do at Stern today.
Where It Started: CCNMTL (1999–2005)
From 1999 to 2005, I was a project manager at Columbia University’s Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL), one of the earliest centers of its kind in higher education. I led the design and development of digital learning environments for Columbia faculty across journalism, film, law, music, and the social sciences.
Notable projects:
News Reporting Simulation (2001–2005)
A simulation in which journalism students assumed the roles of reporters covering a breaking story in a fictitious small city — one of the earliest immersive digital simulations in journalism education.
Columbia News Service: Journalism Content Management System (2005)
A digital environment modeled on professional newsroom systems, designed to give journalism students an authentic experience with the revision and editorial process.
Journalism Radio Broadcast Content Management System (2002–2005)
A database-driven system that modeled the editorial decision-making and review process of live radio broadcasting for journalism students.
The Deconstructor: An Online Film Analysis Tool (2002–2005)
A tool for exploring cinema’s visual syntax: students watched a film scene, dissected it into shots, described each shot within a structural framework, and identified patterns of form and meaning.
Director’s Notebook (2003–2005)
A Flash-based digital notebook that scaffolded film students through the conceptualization, planning, and visualization stages of the direction process.
Image Annotation Tool (2004–2005)
A collaborative digital environment enabling students and faculty to organize images and coordinate analysis using visual content.
The Media Machine (2002)
A database allowing faculty to organize and reveal the multiple connections within a collection of digital assets — video, images, audio, text — for use in their courses.
Music Intellectual Property Case Studies (2002)
An online resource providing law students and copyright scholars with access to previously inaccessible materials on music copyright infringement.
Music Major Minor Training Environment (1999–2001)
An interactive training environment helping Music Humanities students learn to distinguish major and minor scales — a common obstacle for students without prior musical training.
Quantitative Methods in Social Sciences eLessons (2003)
Interactive lessons introducing users to fundamental issues in data-based social sciences and the statistical tools used in analysis and research.