AI can help faculty think beyond static course content and toward learning experiences where students practice, reflect, receive feedback, and connect ideas to their own interests.

For this June Summer Short, Andrew Everett revisits three conversations about AI and course design. Dr. David Wiley discusses how generative AI may change the future of open educational resources by creating more customized learning conversations. Dr. Rafael Pacheco shares how an AI-powered adaptive learning tool can provide immediate feedback and support students with different levels of preparation. Arthur Takahashi, Jeff Mastromonico, and Andrew also return to the idea of vibe coding and how faculty can start small with AI-assisted building through announcements, content pages, study guides, and other low-risk course materials.

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Dr. Patrice Buckner Jackson, also known as Dr. PBJ, joins Speaking of Higher Ed to discuss faculty burnout, recovery, and reconnecting with purpose. She explains how burnout differs from ordinary end-of-semester exhaustion, why productivity fixes often fall short, and how faculty can recognize signs of surviving, overwhelm, and burnout.

The conversation explores compassion fatigue, boundaries, guilt around rest, and how institutions can better support faculty well-being. Dr. Jackson also offers practical ways faculty can pause, recover, and reset their rhythm before the next academic year.

You can also request this episode’s free Continuing the Conversation Activity by visiting our show page and selecting “Request the Activity.”

In this episode, Arthur Takahashi talks with Dr. Rafael Pacheco, associate professor and associate dean for digital technologies at the Dental College of Georgia, about how he is using AI to create more personalized learning experiences for students. Dr. Pacheco shares his path from dentistry and computer science to higher education, explains the teaching challenges that led him to build an adaptive learning tool for his courses, and discusses how immediate feedback, branching pathways, and confidence-based decision points can support student learning. He also reflects on using generative AI for smaller instructional tools through vibe coding and considers what great teaching may look like in a future where faculty increasingly serve as guides for critical thinking and human judgment. You can also request this episode’s free Continuing the Conversation Activity by visiting our show page and selecting “Request the Activity.”