James Kruck, PhD (opens in a new tab) ← jameskruck.com (opens in a new tab)
Applied portfolio

Turning learning research into AI-enabled tools people actually use.

A selection of learning-design and generative-AI work for business and professional education, with the project leadership behind it, grounded in accessibility and evidence.


Applied AI and learning design

Tools built from educational objectives

Each of these started as a learning goal and ended as something a learner or instructor can open and use. The labels note what the work demonstrates in an applied-research and tool-development context.

Generative AIMBANebula OneProject contribution

MBA Career Agent

A multi-phase generative AI agent built on Ivey's Nebula One platform, supporting MBA students through the Careers curriculum. I contribute to the design and development, translating curricular objectives into agent behaviour alongside faculty and the technical team.

Demonstrates

Translating program learning objectives into working AI features for a degree program, the same problem space as an AI-enabled learning dashboard.

Internal to Ivey · not publicly linkable
Generative AIBusiness caseBuilt tool

AI Chatbot Strategy Course

A three-phase experience that moves learners from analysing a retail business case to building a working chatbot prototype, with virtual MBA peers powered by a language model and a hands-on build in Chatbase.

Demonstrates

End-to-end design of an AI-mediated learning experience for business learners, including the working tool itself. Built as a demonstration project for the Learning Experience Designer role I now hold at Ivey.

Faculty developmentAI adoptionInteractive

GenAI in Teaching and Learning Workshop

A four-part interactive workshop that takes faculty from first experiments to practical classroom use, built around the gap between high student adoption of AI and much lower faculty use.

Demonstrates

Knowledge translation for educators, turning research on adoption into a usable professional-development tool.

Generative AIScenario designBuilt tool

AI-Powered Adaptive Case Studies

An interactive tool that adapts hazard case studies across six industries, so one scenario framework serves very different professional audiences without rebuilding the content each time.

Demonstrates

Using AI to scale case-based learning, directly relevant to case-method business education.

AI literacyFaculty resourceBuilt tool

Analogue AI Learning Inspiration Card Deck

Fifty activities that introduce faculty to AI as a partner for brainstorming and problem-solving, designed for low-stakes experimentation and browsing by theme.

Demonstrates

Lowering the barrier to AI adoption for educators through a designed, approachable resource.

AccessibilityUDLInteractive

UDL Plus One Workshop

An experiential workshop that introduces practitioners to Universal Design for Learning through the practical Plus One approach, using a concrete procedure to show how existing content can be enhanced rather than rebuilt.

Demonstrates

Inclusive-design practice translated into a hands-on tool, supporting the equity and accessibility side of the work.


Adult and professional learning at scale

Where the practice was built

Before Ivey, I led curriculum for a national occupational health and safety provider, designing learning for a workforce of adult professionals. Over nine years I built more than 130 competency-based learning experiences across online, blended, and in-person formats, established the quality assurance and learning-analytics processes behind them, and brought all digital content into AODA and WCAG 2.1 compliance.

That work is the foundation under the AI and learning-design projects above. The instinct to start from a real learner need, design for adults who are busy and self-directed, and finish with something usable comes directly from it.


Scholarship and dissemination

Sharing the work as it matures

I bring applied work to peer audiences as it becomes transferable practice, and I am building toward a sustained record of conference contributions in higher-education pedagogy.


Teaching foundation

Built on classroom teaching

The work here rests on years of university teaching at the University of Illinois, Quest University, Western, and Manitoba, and on certification as an Instructional Skills Workshop facilitator. My full teaching record, including philosophy, classroom observations, and sample syllabi, lives on the main site.

See the teaching record ↗ (opens in a new tab)