Studio Community Spark Talks

Below, you will find a collection of talks that have been given by friends and members of our Studio community. We have curated some of our favorites to provide you with a choose your own adventure!

Hear directly from Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, founders of the Life Design Lab about the initial steps they took to set up the lab that you know and see today!



Bill Burnett, Stanford University
Dave Evans, Stanford University

Conversation with Bill & Dave
Founders of the Stanford Life Design Lab

See an overview of Tulane's Life Design Course for first year students and experience a brief activity.




Julia Lang, Tulane University

Designing First Year Experiences
A Glimpse into Taylor Your Tulane

As AI becomes more prevalent in society, it is important to be aware of strategies to help instructors think through how generative AI tools can best become part of the teaching and learning space and enhance student learning. This talk is a short introduction to popular AI tools and ways you might incorporate them in your Life Design courses.



Nemo Shi, Harvard University
Dustin Liu, Stanford University

AI for Creative Learning & Teaching

What is a College & Career Compass and how does it complement Odysseys? Learn about a DYL-inspired canvas and process that uses the platform of new student orientation to encourage frosh to reframe their future.

Click here to access the College & Career Compass

Click here to access the DYMSU Canvas

Marc Hunsaker, Berry College

New Student Orientation
Designing Your MSU

This was a panel of higher education professionals from across different contexts discussing how life design programs and tools can be incorporated into Career Services.

Click here to access the University of Porto materials

Click here to access the Trinity College Design Your Experience guide

Yasir Kurt, PUrdue University
Elena Aguinaga, Texas Lutheran University
Ana Isabel Rodgigues, University of POrto
Maria Antonia Cadihe, University of Porto
Peter Maribei, Trinity College

The Power of Design Thinking in Career Education

This was a panel of higher education professionals from across different contexts discussing how life design programs and tools can be incorporated into Career Services.

Click here to access the overview of the peer mentor program

Click here to access the Texas A&M website

Dr. Yvonne Villanueva Russell
Sierra Jones
Cessia Gonzalez
Emily Koif
Texas A&M University - Commerce

Peer Mentor Demonstration: Creating a Purposeful College Experience

Learn about how Tulane incorporates equitable and inclusive activities into the life design programming. Part of this exploration is focusing on an activity based on the Kwanzaa principle that invites the opportunity to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

Samantha Fleurinor, Tulane University

Kujichagulia: Identity & Community Building

In this session, we will learn more about the Cycle of Non-Regret as a tool for acceptance in the face of fear. This session will work towards developing an empathetic connection to the tool and anticipate scenarios where the Cycle can be used to support students to generate ideas for how it can serve them in a practice of letting go and moving on.

Click here to access the Cycle of Non-Regret article

Dr. Afia Ofori-Mensa, Princeton University

The Cycle of Non-Regret

This session is an exploration of assessment tools that can be leveraged to assess the impact of Designing Your Life. The survey tool, developed by Dr. Heather Butler, has been used at CSUDH to capture the impact of the program on students.

Click here to access the assessment materials

Dr. Heather Butler, Cal State Dominguez Hills

Measuring How You Transform Lives