#1057: Introducing IDEAL: An Intelligent Design Environment for Active Learning

Text-based curriculum tools inadequately represent spatial, temporal, and interactive dimensions of active learning design in active learning classrooms. Although generative AI offers accessible visualization options, existing approaches prioritize aesthetic plausibility over spatial correspondence with real classrooms. This poster presents the AI-assisted storyboarding component of IDEAL (Intelligent Design Environment for Active Learning), developed over three years of iterative design from 2022 to 2025. Our photobook-based approach constrains AI generation using systematic documentation of a specific classroom, including furniture inventory, technology layout, and spatial configurations, producing planning artifacts that help teachers judge the spatial plausibility of instructional scenarios before implementation. Exploratory validation with one experienced instructor suggests proof-of-concept feasibility, while also surfacing design tensions around fixation and cognitive load.