November 2025 💭 Design Thinking Meets AI

Jeremy Mikla
Nov 3
3 min read

This month’s ECMECC Tech Integration Newsletter dives deep into the intersection of Design Thinking and AI in education—and how these two approaches can actually strengthen one another in the classroom.

Instead of focusing on restrictions, November’s edition is all about human-centered innovation. From reimagining how we design assignments to helping students use AI ethically and effectively, this issue is packed with tools, insights, and creative energy.

🧠 Using Design Thinking to Address AI Misuse in Assignments

Design Thinking invites us to slow down, empathize, and truly understand our learners before jumping into solutions. This month’s feature story shows how those same principles can help teachers rethink assignments vulnerable to AI misuse.

By pairing Design Thinking with smart prompting strategies in tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or MagicSchool, educators can make assignments more personal, creative, and thought-driven.

Each step—Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test—comes alive with sample prompts teachers can try right away. It’s a practical, reflective process that puts students’ voices and thinking at the heart of learning.

🎙️ New on the Integrate This! Podcast: Tech in 10

Jeremy and David have launched a new short-format series—Tech in 10—with 10-minute videos that explore how to integrate specific EdTech tools into your classroom.

Recent releases include:

Hidden Chrome Features for Teachers
Microsoft Co-Pilot for Educators
Google Classroom + Gemini Tools (Pt. 1 & 2)
NotebookLM
Google Classroom + Gemini Gems

Subscribe on YouTube, and don’t forget the weekly Integrate This! podcast episodes—fresh conversations with educators and innovators drop every Thursday on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

💬 Tech Tidbits: AI Feedback with Snorkl

October’s Tech Tidbit featured Snorkl, an AI-powered formative feedback tool that helps teachers and students engage in deeper reflection. You can watch the session replay or grab the presentation slides anytime from ECMECC’s Tech Tidbits page.

Next up? A session designed especially for primary teachers—using AI to generate Decodable Texts aligned with literacy and phonics goals. Watch your inbox for the date later this month!

🎬 EdTech Potpourri: New Tools Worth Exploring

This month’s “EdTech Potpourri” spotlights some incredible tools and resources:

Google Vids – A new video creation tool inside Google Workspace, perfect for combining slides, recording narration, and adding transitions.
EduGems Library – A collection of educator-built Gemini AI assistants for curriculum design, literacy, assessments, and more.
Class CrunchLabs – Free, standards-aligned middle school science resources developed by Mark Rober and the National Science Teaching Association.

🤖 AI Guidance, Not AI Restrictions

In partnership with Mykel Madera from SWWC Service Coop, this month’s AI Literacy Spotlight explores what students are really asking for when it comes to AI: guidance, not bans.

A recent Digital Education Council Global Student Survey revealed:

86% of students already use AI tools like ChatGPT.
72% want teachers to help them learn to use these tools properly.
65% believe AI will help in their future careers.

The takeaway? It’s time to move beyond fear and start teaching AI literacy—using the SEE approach:

Safely: Teach digital privacy and responsible use.
Ethically: Model transparency and attribution.
Effectively: Use AI for inquiry, analysis, and revision.

🌟 Final Thought

November’s edition reminds us that innovation doesn’t start with tools—it starts with empathy. Whether we’re designing an assignment, recording a lesson video, or helping students navigate AI, the goal is the same: keep people at the center of every decision.