About this episode

In this episode, Dan Thomas interviews Jason Kennedy about the importance of assignment design in education and how it impacts student learning and engagement.

What if the biggest problem in education right now… isn’t student motivation? What if it’s assignment design? In this episode of the Tech Ed Clubhouse Podcast, I sit down with curriculum director, author, and learning designer Jason Kennedy to unpack the difference between teaching and designing learning. We dig into: compliance vs real engagement why “doing the work” doesn’t always mean learning how AI can help teachers create better learning experiences why some students thrive in art, STEM, shop, and music classes how success criteria and feedback change everything what teachers can do tomorrow without completely overhauling their classroom Jason also shares practical ways teachers can redesign tasks so students do more of the thinking, decision-making, and learning themselves. This conversation connects directly to recent episodes around assignment design, independence, and why AI didn’t break education—it exposed weaknesses that were already there. 🎯 Key Takeaways Engagement is not entertainment Compliance can hide a lack of learning Tasks should be designed, not just assigned Feedback matters more than grades AI can reduce teacher workload while increasing personalization…

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