In-Person AI Workshops
A half or full-day experience that turns a divided, uncertain staff into a team with a shared language, a clear direction, and a plan for AI in your schools that they helped build.
It makes no difference what new tools you choose for your district, but it matters a great deal whether your people felt like those tools were chosen for them.
School Leaders Are Naturally Resistant To New Strategies – And Understandably So
Technology is moving at warp speed. The future of AI & technology poses risks, but that just makes it even more important educators are equipped to participate in the conversation.
When AI is rolled out to individuals through one-off training, adoption sits at 32%.
When staff are brought into the process and the approach is designed around them, that number rises to 67%.
Workshops Make All The Difference
Before your staff ever hears the word "AI," they need a shared language, a shared framework, and a genuine conversation about what they need.
A workshop is different than a typical PD day. You’ll leave with a team that didn't just sit through a presentation but helped build a plan they actually want to follow.
Live, In-Person AI Workshops
Sabba's half-day and full-day workshops are hands-on, team-oriented experiences that take educators and leaders from inspiration to action — using design thinking and AI integration to tackle the real challenges their school or district is facing.
Each session is tailored to what your school district needs and hyper-focused on helping you work through specific goals that will ultimately create the greatest impact for your educators and students.
Introducing
You’ll Choose The Workshop That’s Most Relevant For Your Schools
& We'll Apply Designing Thinking To That Particular Topic
For District Leaders
Building Human + AI Teams
Redesign Work Before Adding More Tools
Most AI training focuses on helping individuals complete isolated tasks faster. This workshop helps teams identify friction in their systems, reconsider roles and responsibilities, and design shared AI-supported workflows with clear owners, expectations, and safeguards. Participants leave with two to three workflow concepts connected to their district’s priorities.
The AI-Ready District
Align Vision, People, and Practice
AI readiness is not measured by how many tools a district has purchased. Leadership teams use the Three Cs - Culture, Conditions, and Competencies - to examine where they are now, align technology with district priorities and the graduate profile, and select a meaningful area for redesign. They leave with shared language, a clearer direction, and a practical next step.
For Educators
From Answers to Evidence
Redesign Assessment To Make Thinking Visible
When AI can produce a polished final product in seconds, that product tells us less about what a student understands. Educators redesign an existing assessment to capture the thinking, decisions, reflection, and growth behind the work through performance tasks, portfolios, presentations, and other forms of evidence. They leave with a practical assessment they can use - not merely a conversation about academic integrity.
The Classroom Redesign Lab
Rethink Learning For An AI World
Educators bring a lesson or unit and move it through a hands-on design process grounded in student needs. They explore how AI can support deeper thinking, creativity, feedback, and agency without replacing the parts of learning students need to experience themselves. Everyone leaves with a redesigned classroom experience they can test with students.
For Students
The Design Thinking Challenge
Solve a Problem That Matters
Students work in teams to understand a real problem, listen to the people affected, generate possibilities, and build a prototype they can test. This highly interactive experience develops empathy, creativity, collaboration, and the confidence to improve an idea when the first attempt does not work.
The AI Decision Lab
Make Thoughtful Choices With AI
Students move beyond lists of what AI is “allowed” or “not allowed” and learn how to make sound decisions for themselves. Through realistic scenarios and interactive challenges, they practice evaluating AI-generated information, deciding when AI adds value, and explaining how and why they used it.
Here’s What We Can Include:
Every Workshop Is Built Around Your Team
Practical AI Integration Strategies
Every participant leaves with concrete strategies they can bring back to their classroom or team the following week. Specific, actionable approaches that fit the way your educators already work.
Design Thinking Activities
Your staff works through the challenges your district is facing using design thinking to define problems clearly, question assumptions, and build solutions together. Most teams leave surprised by what they came up with.
Fully-Custom Workshop
Before the day itself, Sabba works with your leadership team to understand what you're navigating, what your staff needs, and what success looks like for your district. The agenda is built entirely around that.
Human Centered AI Classroom Course
Give every participant a year of continued learning to build on what they started in the workshop. Teachers get the tools and confidence to keep integrating AI into their classrooms — one lesson at a time.
(Optional — $99/seat)
Designing Schools Book
Provide a copy of Sabba's book for every attendee. A practical, research-backed framework for building schools where design thinking drives decisions and every student graduates prepared for a world where AI is part of everyday life.
(Optional Add-On)
Path Into The AI Power Circle
Districts who are ready to go deeper can move directly into the AI Power Circle — a six-month engagement where we build a full AI strategy together from the ground up.
(Optional)
Step 01
We'll talk about what your district is navigating, what your staff needs, and what you want the day to produce. Sabba uses that conversation to build the workshop agenda around your specific goals — before anyone sets foot in the room.
Schedule a Call
step 02
Sabba leads your staff through a hands-on design thinking experience built around your district's real challenges. Your team defines problems, questions assumptions, and builds solutions together. By the end of the day, you have concrete ideas, a shared language, and a plan your staff actually helped create.
Workshop
Step 03
You leave with a clear next step and the alignment to act on it. Your staff already understands the approach because they helped design it. That's what makes the difference between a plan that gets implemented and a PD day that gets forgotten.
Roll Out Your AI Strategy
"Designing Schools partnership with the Santa Ana Unified School District has been pivotal in designing an AI integration plan aligned with our mission and values. Dr. Quidwai’s expertise in design thinking and innovation has empowered our staff with the tools to rethink strategies and implement solutions that directly benefit our learning community. Her sessions blend professionalism, empathy, and actionable insight, leaving a lasting impact on our team’s growth and readiness for AI integration."
Dagan, Director of K-8 Capstone, Hawaii
"I've had the great opportunity of working with Designing Schools to build my LinkedIn account as a sophomore in high school. She was able to help me envision who I am, what I’m about, and to appropriately showcase my work on LinkedIn. Sabba is an expert in providing an organized structure (she calls it Design Thinking) that guides you toward transforming your resume into an online portfolio that allows you to present yourself to future employers, coworkers, and collaborators. She helped me to hone my voice and now thanks to her, I have the ability to demonstrate my skills more confidently and and promote my business and volunteer efforts more effectively."
EME WILLIAMS | THE ATHENIAN SCHOOL
"“Amidst the myriad of AI learning options available, this course stands out for its unique approach. It goes beyond the technical jargon of prompting, algorithms, machine learning, and neural networks. While these AI-related terminologies are indeed covered, the course offers so much more. It delves into the human impacts of various technological evolutions and encourages introspection on what energizes us and how we spend our time. It explores the ethical considerations of technology, such as the Turing Trap, and introduces design thinking and problem framing. The course fosters a culture of empathy and innovation, focusing on strengths, values, and radical alignment.
This is not 'just' a primer on what AI is and what it can be used for. It's about shaping our mindsets and approaches as educators in an AI-driven world. After all, AI on its own is just a tool. I highly recommend this course to anyone looking to navigate the AI landscape with a human-centered perspective.”"
EME WILLIAMS | THE ATHENIAN SCHOOL
"Creating a portfolio early on was invaluable in developing professional experiences. The first thing most people do is look you up on LinkedIn to see who you are and what you care about so a solid online presence is crucial to success in any field. I am very grateful for getting a head start and believe anyone can position themselves for the role they want."
alumni | SAFWAAN KHAN
PRODUCT MANAGER | MARVEL SNAP
"This experience not only taught me how to network effectively and build a professional online presence, but it opened my eyes to the value of the title ‘Student.’ As a high schooler living in a rapidly advancing technological world, I believe it is essential for my education to stay ahead of the curve. I now realize that everyday activities like attending a club meeting or volunteering at a community event are chances to connect with new people and build my network. The skills I have learned in this course will undoubtedly be a valuable asset to me in my future endeavors, and I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to take it."
JORDAN CHAVER | MINEOLA HIGH SCHOOL
Have Questions About If A Workshop Is Right For You?
Is this right for us?
Workshops are built for district leaders who want to get their staff thinking differently about AI — and want a structured, facilitated process to do it. They work well as a starting point for districts who aren't ready for a full engagement yet, and as a complement to an existing AI initiative.
A typical PD day brings in a trainer to present information to your staff. This is different. Sabba works with your leadership team beforehand to understand your specific challenges, then guides your staff through a design thinking process built around those challenges. Your team does the thinking. Sabba facilitates it.
Yes. Many districts come in mid-rollout. The workshop helps your staff build a shared framework around whatever you're already doing — and surface what's working and what needs to change.
The Process
Expect one focused session per month plus check-ins between sprints. We work in predictable cycles so the time commitment is manageable alongside everything else you're running.
Staff resistance is almost always a design problem — it happens when people are handed something they had no say in. The Power Circle is built to bring your educators into the process, not push something down to them. Plus - we may decide AI is not the right approach for your school. If that’s the case, we’ll decide that together.
Most professional development is one day, one tool, one trainer. The AI Power Circle is six months of guided work built around your specific district. Your leadership team is involved from day one. Your educators help shape the approach. That's why it sticks.
After the Engagement
A fully custom AI strategy, a step-by-step rollout plan, a Design Council, and Innovation Cohorts running across your sites. Everything co-designed by your team and owned by your district.
Districts who want to stay connected can continue with community access, monthly updates, and on-demand coaching.
Investment
AI Power Circle is designed around your districts’ specific needs. Please schedule a call to request a custom scope.
That's worth weighing against the cost of getting it wrong. A district-wide tool rollout that nobody uses, educators who disengage, and a strategy you have to redo in 18 months — that's expensive too. We're happy to talk through what's possible at different investment levels.
After The Workshop, You Will
A framework your educators can apply immediately — in their classrooms, in their planning, and in their conversations with students and parents
A leadership team and staff who are speaking the same language about AI — for the first time
A shared understanding of what your district actually needs from an AI strategy — based on real conversations, not assumptions
The foundation for a district-wide AI strategy your whole community can get behind
A staff that feels heard, equipped, and ready to move forward — instead of handed something and told to comply
Concrete ideas your staff generated together, with clear ownership over what happens next
