Jace Hargis, PhD
AI in Ed Research • Learning Design • Faculty Development
Course Design Studio (CDS)
For more than two decades, my work has focused on translating research about how people learn into practical decisions about teaching, assessment, course design, and technology. That work began with CDS and has continued to evolve through faculty development, SoTL, active learning, formative assessment, learning design systems, and now AI. The technologies have changed considerably, but the underlying questions have remained remarkably consistent.
Trace the evolution of CDS through alignment matrices, learning theory, assessment, active learning, emerging tech, and today's AI supported CDS.
Explore the Research Program Charter describing the questions, intellectual commitments, research directions, and principles guiding the current work.
See how AI can translate learning research into practical course design decisions involving assessment, alignment, active learning, and syllabus design.
CDS: An Eight Part Learning Series
CDS translates research on learning into a practical process for designing courses, assessments, learning experiences, and academic policies. This eight part series follows the CDS process from foundational AI literacy and backward design through learning outcomes, evidence, learning experiences, syllabus design, and teaching as inquiry.
Across the series, AI is treated not as a separate technology topic, but as a new design condition. Each presentation considers where AI can support faculty work, where human judgment remains essential, and how course design can preserve meaningful cognitive activity, valid evidence of learning, and learner agency. Explore the complete series in sequence or select the topic most relevant to your work. Each presentation includes a narrated video and a downloadable slide PDF.
