Designing the Future of Work: How Northwestern Students Helped EDSI Explore AI Solutions
How can organizations embrace artificial intelligence in ways that keep people at the center? That’s the question Educational Data Systems Inc. (EDSI)—a 900-person training and consulting company headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan—brought to students in the Master of Science in Learning and Organizational Change (MSLOC) program.
Guided by MSLOC co-instructors Ryan Smerek and Kim Bayma, students in the Designing for Organizational Effectiveness (DOEC) certificate program partnered with EDSI to explore innovative, human-centric approaches to AI adoption. The collaboration illustrates how DOEC equips participants to lead complex organizational change—and how clients benefit from fresh, innovative ideas.
“How do you drive adoption to help people work with people?”
— Kevin Schnieders, CEO, EDSI & MSLOC Alum
Kevin Schnieders’ question captured the heart of the challenge: ensuring that AI augments rather than replaces human connection and creativity.
A Human-Centered Design Challenge
At the heart of the course is the MSLOC Design Methodology, a three-phase process of discovery, ideation, and prototyping. This structured approach empowers student teams to tackle real organizational problems and co-create actionable solutions with their clients.
Students began by immersing themselves in EDSI’s culture and operations, identifying key opportunities where AI could reduce friction and enhance the employee experience. From there, they worked closely with EDSI leaders to prioritize ideas and design prototypes aimed at improving how people learn, share knowledge, and serve customers.
Turning Insights into Action
Through iterative collaboration, students developed five to six “framed opportunities,” from which EDSI leaders selected the most promising direction. Two standout prototypes emerged:
- AI Guilds – internal communities of practice to help employees share knowledge, experiment, and build confidence in using AI.
- AI Tutor Chatbot – an always-available digital assistant to guide employees as they incorporate AI tools into daily tasks.
These concepts gave EDSI concrete pathways for leveraging AI while keeping human needs front and center.
“Bringing the teams’ perspectives, ideas and expertise to our challenges and goals was incredibly valuable. The insights and hard work obviously applied here give us some great pathways to explore. Most impactfully, I think parts of both teams’ solutions are easily adoptable in creation and roll-out.”
— Jamie Boyes, Digital Transformation and Technology UX Manager, EDSI
Collaboration that Builds Capability
Throughout the project, students and EDSI leaders engaged in co-creation—sharing ideas, refining concepts, and charting a path forward together. This spirit of partnership embodies the DOEC’s philosophy: effective organizational change is something you design with people, not for them.
The initiative also lays the groundwork for future cross-program projects. Next year, students in DOEC and Northwestern’s Leading AI-Powered Organizational Change (AIOC) certificate will collaborate on similar client challenges, combining expertise in organizational design and artificial intelligence to help organizations navigate emerging technologies.
“The DOEC capstone class enabled us to put the frameworks we've learned across the curriculum into practice on a real client challenge. We were able to apply Design Thinking, Organizational Design best practices and more to develop ideas against a relevant current issue - how to guide a company through digital transformation and specifically adoption of AI. This sparked ideas I can leverage in my own work.”
Andrea Galambos Souza, MSLOC/DOEC Student
An Invitation to Innovators and Change Leaders
This real-world success story shows how the Designing for Organizational Effectiveness certificate benefits both students and clients:
- Students gain a powerful, hands-on experience applying design methods to real organizational challenges.
- Clients receive actionable strategies and prototypes, crafted in partnership with motivated teams.
If you are ready to design change that keeps people at the center—even in an AI-driven world—consider joining the next Designing for Organizational Effectiveness (DOEC) or Leading AI-Powered Organizational Change (AIOC) cohort. And if your organization faces complex challenges and wants innovative, research-backed solutions, explore opportunities to become a client partner.
Together, we can design the future of work—one discovery, one idea, and one prototype at a time.