Episode 18: What Happens When a 2000 Course Audit Takes 90 Minutes?- Louis NeJame on the Early Evidence That Freeing Up Time Actually Unlocks More Demand for Real Expertise

Summary: In this episode of the Learning Experience Operations Show, Jason Gorman interviews Louis NeJame, co-founder and CEO of Bevel, an AI-powered platform built for higher ed instructional design teams. They explore what happens when instructional designers spend 60 to 70 percent of their time on operational tasks like course audits, accessibility fixes, and content maintenance instead of actual learning design. Louis shares how his background in strategy consulting at Titan Partners and AI product development at McGraw-Hill led him to build Bevel, and how conducting over 200 interviews with higher ed instructional designers revealed a massive misallocation of talent. The conversation covers the tension between what AI can do and what it should do in education, how automating tedious quality checks is already unlocking demand for the relational and strategic work that matters most, and why the entry-level job market disruption from AI will reshape higher education itself. Louis also reflects on the philosophical difference between finite and infinite games and how that shapes his approach to building in ed tech. Takeaways: 60 to 70 percent of instructional designers' time goes to operational tasks, not learning design Just because AI can do something doesn't mean it should Change management is the hard part, not building course materials Automating audits increases demand for designers rather than replacing them Baseline AI literacy is a prerequisite for productive strategy conversations Quality checks now cost near zero, shifting evaluation from summative to formative AI job market disruption will ripple directly through higher education Existing courses need competency mapping too, not just new programs Instructional designers are positioned to be change agents during this disruption The pace of AI change is outrunning society's adaptive systems Watch the full episode: What Happens When a 2000 Course Audit Takes 90 Minutes?- Louis NeJame on the Early Evidence That Freeing Up Time Actually Unlocks More Demand for Real Expertise