❤️Reaction = I'd like to try this, interesting, etc.

<-- Look for the bold gray lines like this one within posts for key ideas, questions, and action items.

Coming and going? No problem. Jump in wherever you'd like.

• WHO are they? What experiences, knowledge, confidence, language abilities, digital literacy, and cultural contexts are they bringing?

  
  

• WHERE are they? Where are they in the participant journey: preparing, arriving, navigating, reflecting, returning, or applying?

  
  

• WHAT do they need? Information? Practice? Confidence? Connection? Reflection? Feedback? Challenge? Space to make meaning?

  
  

• WHAT might be getting in the way? Language, uncertainty, unfamiliar norms, information overload, confidence, time, access, or simply not knowing what questions to ask?

  
  

• WHAT do we want them to do or experience? Think more deeply? Talk to someone? Try something? Notice something? Make a connection? Apply learning?

  
  

• HOW DO WE KNOW? Are we assuming, or have we asked?What have participants actually told or shown us through goals, feedback, check-ins, observations, evaluations, or conversations?

  
  

• THEN ask: Could AI meaningfully help?

*KEY CONCEPT*

Don't ask:

“What can we use AI for?”

Instead ask:

“What do we want participants to experience, learn, notice, or do?”

AI shouldn't replace the exchange experience. 

It should help participants get more from it by helping participants notice, process, connect and apply more of what the experience is already teaching them.

STEP 1:

Think of a friction point participants experience in your program(s).

Examples:

• Navigating host workplace expectations.

• Knowing how to network.

• Making sense of cultural differences.

• Articulating reflections and lessons learned

STEP 2:

Design an AI Intervention

🎯 NEED
What does the participant need?

🤖 AI ROLE
How might AI help?

🧠 LEARNER ROLE
What should the participant still think or do?

🤝 HUMAN ROLE
What interaction should we protect?

⚠️ RISK
What could go wrong?

*Note: An intervention doesn't have to be an AI tool.
Design the learning experience first. Then ask where AI could make it more personalized, reflective, accessible, responsive, or scalable.

STEP 3:

➕ Create a post to add your idea to the board

and/or

💬 Comment on community contributions.

• ROLE: Act as an intercultural reflection coach.

• CONTEXT: I'm halfway through a professional exchange.

• GOAL: Help me identify what I'm learning about leadership.

• INTERACTION: Ask me one question at a time.

• GUARDRAIL: Don't write my reflection or assume one cultural approach is better.

Before adding AI to a participant experience, ask:

1. What should AI make easier?

2. What should the participant still think or do themselves?

3. What human interaction must we protect?

   
   

Keep an eye on:

🔐 Privacy & participant data
🌏 Cultural bias and stereotypes
❓ Assumptions / inaccurate information
🧠 Over-reliance on AI
🗣️ Loss of authentic participant voice
🤝 Replacing human relationships
♿ Accessibility and unequal AI access
📋 Organizational/funder policies

Explore some of the sample tools posted in this column or create a new post to share something you've tried, even if it's still experimental.

• Tool/Platform:

• Participant need:

• When (Before / During / After / Alumni)

• What are you doing with it?

• Favorite prompt/activity (optional):

• What have you learned?

Example:

🪞 AI-assisted weekly reflection

Tool: ChatGPT / Copilot / Claude

When: During

Need: Reflection + meaning-making

Instead of asking participants to “write a weekly reflection,” AI interviews them about an experience that surprised or challenged them. AI facilitates the reflection rather than writing it.

Prompt:

Something happened during my exchange that I interpreted this way: [experience]. Help me identify 3–4 possible explanations, including explanations unrelated to culture.

Don't tell me which is correct. Give me questions I could respectfully ask someone here to better understand the situation.

First-time Padlet users may this card/column to test out your engagement and get familiar with the platform before further editing the rest of the board.

Add a comment/post to share / react to this post.

Example: Create a new post including your name + program/team + one word describing how you currently feel about AI.

Curious? 🤔 Excited? 🤩 Skeptical? 🧐 Overwhelmed? 😵‍💫 Experimenting? 🧪

✈️ BEFORE

Prepare • Set goals • Build confidence • Anticipate

🌎 DURING

Navigate • Connect • Notice • Reflect

🏠 AFTER

Make meaning • Apply • Articulate growth

🌱 ALUMNI

Continue learning • Connect • Measure impact

Think about your program(s) and consider what participants may be learning, practicing, figuring out, reflecting on, or struggling with at a given stage.

Try it out. Change the context. See what happens.

What worked? What didn't? What would you change?

Feel free to comment or react directly within one of the 4 experiment cards after trying it out!

Save time • Automate • Summarize • Generate • Streamline

Today we're exploring a different question:

How can AI enhance participant learning and experience?

• Productivity asks:
  “How can AI help us do this more efficiently?”

  
  

• Learning asks:
  “How can AI help participants think, reflect, practice, connect or make meaning?”

The question isn't only "What can AI create?" It's "What can AI help someone learn?"

The goal isn't more AI. It's better participant experiences.

Keep this in mind as you explore the board.

Prompt:

Here are five things I've written down during my fellowship. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5...] Don't summarize them for me. Ask me questions that help me identify patterns, tensions, connections, or changes in my thinking across these experiences.

Potential AI roles:
Scenario simulator · Orientation coach · Language partner · Goal-setting coach

🌎 DURING

Potential AI roles:
Reflection partner · Intercultural coach · Professional learning coach · Connection finder

🏠 AFTER

Potential AI roles:
Growth interviewer · Action-plan critical friend · Storytelling coach · Re-entry reflection partner

🌱 ALUMNI

Potential AI roles:
Networking connector · Project coach · Learning curator · Impact reflection partner

DISCUSSION QUESTION:

Where do you think AI has the greatest potential to enhance participant learning or experience? (feel free to comment directly on this card)

Using AI to analyze feedback can helps staff recognize and respond to emerging participant needs while the exchange is still happening.

This keeps the AI support focused on the learning objective versus simply creating an activity.

Where would you deliberately NOT use AI in the participant journey? Why?

Where might using AI actually make the participant experience worse?

Can AI help create better human interactions rather than fewer human interactions?

✓ Sample prompts

✓ Crowdsourced tools & ideas

✓ Participant-centered design frameworks

✓ AI guardrails

✓ Additional resources

💭 Before you go... (comment below)

Please submit any questions you may have

or

Choose one moment in your participant journey where you want to experiment.
What participant need will you address?
What is one small thing you could try?

1. CREATE

🌎 Outcome → Moment → Intervention → AI Role → Human Role

Example: Community Engagement

• Need: Participant is struggling to make connections in their community outside of work.

• Outcome: Feel more connected to their host community.

• Intervention: Personalized Community Connection Challenge.

• AI Role: Suggest activities based on interests, comfort level, and access, and help set a realistic goal.

• Human Role: Encourage participant to seek advice from colleagues or others to provide local context, make introductions, and encourage meaningful participation.

Participant-facing AI Prompt: I'm spending a three months in [city] for a professional exchange and want to feel more connected to the local community outside of work. I enjoy [interests], have access to [transportation], and feel comfortable with [social preferences]. Help me brainstorm 5 realistic ways I could engage with the local community this week. Prioritize opportunities where I could interact with local people rather than just visit tourist attractions.

2. DIAGNOSE

🔦 Friction → Cause → Intervention 

FRICTION
What are we observing?

CAUSE
What might actually be behind it?

INTERVENTION
What support addresses that cause?

Example:

• FRICTION - Participant keeps missing important program deadlines or action items.

  
  

• CAUSE - Program information is spread across multiple emails and resources, making it difficult to identify what requires action.

  
  

• INTERVENTION - Create a simple, personalized “What Do I Need to Do?” roadmap organized by priority and timing.

🤖 AI could help: Synthesize program information into clear next steps, deadlines, and reminders.

3. CHECK

🪜 Scaffold → Support → Step Back

SCAFFOLD
What does the participant need help starting?

SUPPORT
How can AI help them practice, navigate, reflect, or make meaning?

STEP BACK
When should AI get out of the way so the participant can act, connect, or decide for themselves?

Example: Fellow needs help preparing for a networking event → AI is used to brainstorm questions → Fellow attends event and builds relationships themselves

🧪 TEST & LEARN

After an intervention is created, ask:

How will you know if it helped?
What would you look for, ask, or observe?

📅 Resources published
⏰ Important deadlines and recurring timelines
🌍 Cultural and awareness dates we highlighted
📢 Campaigns and key announcements
📝 Other recurring content themes

Having everything organized in one place makes planning future newsletters easier. I

As a bonus, I also ask AI to make the output ADHD-friendly while keeping it professional, using clear structure, visual hierarchy, and relevant emojis for faster scanning and easier information processing.

Participant response has improved and resulted in less reminders and follow up emails.