Back to Prep End-of-Month Meeting Prep — March 2026

End-of-Month Meeting Prep — March 2026

Format: What did we do? → Trends → Stories → What should we change?

1. What did we do?

ISTE / Flash Lab Scaling

  • OTL meeting (Mar 9) — two-tier IP model confirmed (open curriculum + proprietary TTT). WSA path, not formal IP license.
  • Copyright notice + Terms of Use added to designkit.stanford.edu
  • SMART goals finalized with Josh (Mar 12) — 2 publishable case studies + 1.5x engagement by Q2
  • Flash Lab special sauce analysis written — six differentiators, “vibecoding is phase 2” framing
  • LAUSD Foundation meeting (Mar 19) — Did not happen. Rescheduled to fall.
  • Gregory Wilson Flash Lab planning — Mar 30 on-campus session for York Scholars (HS juniors/seniors from NY)
  • Lake Forest visit planning (Mar 30 - Apr 1) — Christine Bywater + CSET. Isabelle added Hillary Chan (Bei Shan Foundation, Hong Kong) — potential international expansion for AI teacher literacy.

Build-a-Bot

  • Andy Hock (Eugene 4J, Oregon) independently adapted Build-a-Bot for CTE teacher conference — strongest scaling proof point yet
  • Health Coach Bot regroups (Mar 18 + Mar 24) — Priya Talreja joined team. Decisions: cloud sync as IRB default, bot version tracking for research, A/B experiment design (editable vs fixed bots), multi-stage moderation pipeline, provenance for health responses.
  • Gregory Wilson completed Build-a-Bot facilitator training walkthrough (Mar 3)

Studio Services / Seed Grants

  • CRISPRkit intake (Mar 23) — new tEquity seed grant. Affordable CRISPR for K-12 ($1-2/experiment vs $18-42K). Reuben as strategist, consulting on cross-platform app + chatbot.
  • AI Comic Studio data structure overhaul — timestamps, view counts, structured page timing, second-level precision. All done for Marisol Liu (Cathy’s visiting researcher).
  • HarmonAI Cheddar speakerphone adapter completed — Elizabeth Schumann: “WOW!!!!! This looks amazing!!!” Chengyi Xing printing during Spring Break.
  • Learning Design Challenge judging for Keith Bowen — 4 projects evaluated

Strategic Connections

  • Leon Furze connection initiated (Mar 10) — international AI-in-ed thought leader, warm intro via Josh
  • VFT moderation architecture sent to Sarah Williams-Habibi — she’s passing to Howard for implementation. Rachel Wolf suggested disseminating across GSE.
  • Rachel Wolf endorsed Flash Lab toolkit for USDA ag education grant — “exactly the scaffolding that would work”
  • Isabelle engaged OTL (Mar 4), then drove LAUSD meeting + Hillary Chan addition

Events Attended

  • SAL All-Hands (Mar 17) — ANKO/Shriram III
  • GSE All-Staff (Mar 18) — new Sr. Associate Dean Olivia Crawford
  • CRAFT Team Meeting (Mar 19)
  • SofIA / Studio Services design team (Mar 19)
  • Stanford Open Minds: Staff Edition (Mar 25) — optional

International pull is growing. Leon Furze (Australia), Hillary Chan/Bei Shan Foundation (Hong Kong), Oman follow-up threads, Rachel Wolf (USDA). Flash Lab and Build-a-Bot attract interest without active outreach.

Build-a-Bot is traveling independently. Andy Hock adapted materials himself for a CTE conference. Courtney Garza delivered at TCEA. Gregory Wilson trained. The train-the-trainer model is working in the wild — formats hold up without Reuben in the room.

Moderation/safety is a cross-project theme. Came up in VFT (Sarah/Howard), Health Coach Bot (multi-stage pipeline), and AI Comic Studio (moderator bot) this month. Shared patterns across projects — could become a workshop topic or reusable architecture.

Equity angle strengthening. CRISPRkit ($1-2 vs $18K experiments) targeting Title I schools. LAUSD is the 2nd largest US district. Health Coach Bot studying exercise snacks for accessible behavior change. Good narrative alignment for Isabelle and the new dean conversation.

3. What stories are emerging?

Candidates for Airtable “Stories” field and/or quoted impact.

Story Tags Why it matters
Andy Hock ran Build-a-Bot solo at CTE conference — “Everyone was able to navigate the platform. I think people really got a lot out of the revelation that their experience on an AI was designed.” [MULTIPLIER] [SCALE-MOMENT] Format traveling without Reuben in the room. Independently adapted materials.
Rachel Wolf — designkit.stanford.edu is “exactly the scaffolding” for USDA ag education grant [MULTIPLIER] [SPARK] Flash Lab crossing into agricultural education. New domain, new funding source.
Elizabeth Schumann — “WOW!!!!! This looks amazing!!! I could not love it more!!!” (Cheddar speakerphone adapter) [CO-CREATE] [BOOST] Cross-department collaboration (Music + Accelerator Studio). 3D printing for research tools.
OTL two-tier IP model confirmed — open curriculum + proprietary TTT, WSA path [SCALE-MOMENT] [STUDIO-BUILD] Institutional milestone. First formal IP/licensing structure for Flash Lab.
Hillary Chan joining Lake Forest visit — Hong Kong expansion interest at GSE advisory council level [BRIDGE-BUILD] International pull initiated by Isabelle. Bei Shan Foundation connection.
LAUSD Foundation — rescheduled to fall — Still on radar but not a March story
Health Coach Bot “coaching your coach” — users editing their own health bot as engagement mechanism [SPARK] [CO-CREATE] Novel research angle. Marily (married to Dan Schwartz) validates Build-a-Bot as research platform.
VFT moderation architecture — Rachel suggested disseminating across GSE [RIPPLE] [VALUE-VISIBLE] Work product recognized as having GSE-wide value beyond the original project.

4. What should we change?

Airtable hygiene still inconsistent. February entries done Mar 3 (12 records). March entries not started yet. Many activities to capture. Run /monthly-airtable before this meeting.

Tag analysis plan agreed but not started. Josh wants slow and steady — AI-analyze Airtable for possible tags, manual review, confident data by July. Need to write the 3-month rollout and start.

CRM survey draft still pending. Josh waiting for async review. Blocking the re-engagement pipeline and Goal 3 (scalable capacity).

Cooling seed grants. DeVeaux (dancing) and King (Our Voice) have gone quiet. Flag for discussion — intentional cooling or needs a check-in?

Meeting notes capture. Server inbox wasn’t being checked by the process-inbox workflow — fixed Mar 24. Notes from dashboard quick capture now flow into the system.

Airtable Status

Last batch update: Mar 3 (Feb 2026 — 12 records) March entries needed: OTL meeting, SMART goals finalized, special sauce analysis, Leon Furze, VFT moderator bot, copyright on designkit, LAUSD Foundation, Andy Hock BaB, Rachel Wolf Flash Lab, Health Coach Bot regroups, CRISPRkit intake, AI Comic Studio data overhaul, HarmonAI Cheddar, Lake Forest planning, Hillary Chan addition, Learning Design Challenge judging. Quoted impact to enter: Andy Hock (Mar 17), Rachel Wolf (Mar 16), Elizabeth Schumann (Mar 20), Sarah Williams-Habibi (Mar 13), Rachel Wolf x3 (Mar 13).

Prepared: 2026-03-24

Source: prep/2026-03-31-end-of-month.md