What if education worked with your life, not against it—and helped you build a life worth learning from?
By Design, Not by Default: Designing education that works with life, not against it
Hosted by Christina Carrasquilla
Higher education was designed for a different time—when life could be paused for four years and careers followed a predictable path. That's no longer the world we live in.
By Design, Not by Default explores what it means to rethink higher education for today's learners—people balancing work, family, finances, and an uncertain future. Through conversations, research, and real-world examples, this podcast examines how we can move beyond rigid systems and toward a model of learning that works with life, not against it.
From the student experience to institutional change, each episode challenges assumptions and offers a new vision: one where education is flexible, relevant, and integrated across a lifetime.
Season One: The Shift
Higher education wasn't designed for the world we live in today—and yet, we continue to operate within its assumptions.
Season One: The Shift examines the growing disconnect between traditional academic systems and the realities of modern life. From rising concerns about cost, career outcomes, and well-being to the challenges faced by today's “new majority” of learners, this season explores why the current model feels increasingly out of sync.
But this isn't just about identifying problems. It's about changing how we think.
Through research, real-world examples, and a reimagining of what learning can be, this season introduces a new perspective: one where education is not bound by time, place, or rigid pathways—but integrated into the full complexity of life.
Because meaningful change doesn't begin with solutions. It begins with a shift.
Episode 1—The Problem: The System Isn't Working
May 2026
Higher education isn't broken—but it is misaligned with the realities of modern life.
Episode 2—The Shift: From Awareness to Implementation
May 2026
Impactful change grows from the bottom up— at the unit level
Episode 3—The Model: Life-Integrated Learning
May 2026
What if education didn't interrupt life—but moved with it?
Episode 4—The Solution: New American Polytechnic
May 2026
What happens when the poltechnique meets The New American University?
Episode 5—The Case Study: TPS + GIT
May 2026
What happens when these ideas are applied in practice?
Episode 6—The Vision: The Future of Learning
May 2026
Education as a lifelong partner, not a one-time transaction
Season Two: The Movement
If Season One is about rethinking the system, Season Two is about redesigning it—together.
Season Two: The Movement brings together educators, students, industry partners, and leaders who are actively working to transform higher education from the inside out. These are the people challenging assumptions, testing new models, and building systems that align learning with real life.
From classrooms to communities, and from academic units to institutional strategy, this season explores what it takes to move from ideas to action. It highlights the role of collaboration, design, and leadership in creating change that is not only innovative—but sustainable.
Because a shift in thinking is only the beginning. Real impact happens when people move.
Episode 7—Why Design Educators Are Uniquely Positioned
June 2026
Design isn't just a discipline—it's a leadership approach to systems change.
Episode 8—Voices from the UCDA Design Educators Summit
June 2026
What happens when design educators come together to rethink the future?
Episode 9—Faculty as Change Agents
June 2026
It starts with how faculty design learning experiences, courses, and connections.
Episode 10—Students as Co-Designers
June 2026
Students aren't just participants—they are partners in shaping more relevant, inclusive, and meaningful learning.
Episode 11—Industry as a Learning Partner
June 2026
Learning doesn't end at graduation—industry can be embedded as an active partner in the educational experience.
Episode 12—What Comes Next
June 2026
A shift in thinking becomes a movement through action—so what does it take to design change on purpose?