Instructional Designer · Learning Experience Designer · PhD
Where learning science meets
emerging technology
I design curriculum and learning programs, with CS & STEAM curriculum reaching ~4,000 learners a year across 10+ sites, and I build interactive courses that explain how AI actually works to people who aren't engineers.
Years Experience
Learners Reached Annually
Women Empowered
Publications
Degrees (PhD, MS, BSc)
About Me
I'm a learning designer who can also code — and a technologist who understands how people actually learn. With a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction, an MS in Educational Technology, and a BSc Hons in Computing, I bring a rare combination of research depth and technical fluency to everything I build.
Over 10 years, I've designed and managed learning programs across K–12, higher education, nonprofits, and community organizations — from teaching computer science in Nepal, to building a 3-year literacy program for 150+ women, to now overseeing CS and STEAM curricula reaching ~4,000 learners annually at Code For Fun. I train 50+ instructors a year for programs that deliver 49,000+ instruction hours, and I've built programs from scratch in fast-growing environments where nothing existed before.
Why AI + Learning
AI is changing what people need to learn — and how they learn it. But most organizations are stuck between two extremes: ignoring AI entirely, or adopting it without any instructional framework. The gap isn't technology. It's learning design.
My work sits at this intersection. I bring both the learning science and the hands-on technical fluency most AI-adoption efforts are missing — so I can design systems that help people develop real fluency with AI: not just awareness, but the ability to collaborate with it effectively.
I've put this into practice: I built Zero to Live, an open-source interactive course that teaches anyone to build professional websites using Claude Code. I designed the curriculum, wrote the content, and built the entire site — all through human-AI collaboration. It's not just a project about AI. It's a project made with AI, proving the methodology it teaches.
I took the same approach to teaching AI itself with AI Decoded, a free 6-lesson crash course that walks curious professionals from neural networks to LLMs to agents — using the same instructional design that makes K–12 curriculum effective to give adults an accurate mental model of how the technology actually works.
I believe the most important skill in the age of AI isn't syntax — it's strategy. The people and organizations that thrive will be the ones who learn how to learn with AI. That's the problem I want to solve.
Featured Projects
Zero to Live: Building with Claude Code
Built an 11-page portfolio using an AI agent, then documented the entire process as a free interactive course for technical and non-technical creators.
Challenge
Building a production-ready portfolio without traditional web development experience, while creating a repeatable framework others could follow.
Approach
- Used Claude Code as an autonomous CLI agent
- Created a CLAUDE.md “syllabus” to scaffold AI behavior
- Applied instructional design principles to human-AI collaboration
- Documented the workflow as an interactive step-by-step course
Impact
- 11 pages built with zero frameworks
- 48 repo clones in the first week
- Course features interactive checklist, progress tracking, and collapsible lessons
AI Decoded: A Crash Course in AI Fundamentals
Designed and built a free, interactive 6-lesson course that teaches curious professionals how AI actually works — from neural networks to LLMs to agents.
Challenge
Most AI explainers are either hand-wavy hype or dense math that assumes a CS background — leaving curious non-experts without a real mental model of how AI works.
Approach
- Scaffolded 6 lessons from “what is AI?” to agents
- Paired plain-language explanations with expandable deep dives
- Added knowledge checks with retry on every lesson
- Gated completion so quizzes must be passed to advance
Impact
- A free, no-prerequisite path to genuine AI fluency
- Active learning with progress saved in the browser
- Single HTML file, zero dependencies, deployed for free
Teaching Model Evaluation to Developers
Storyboarded, scripted and produced a five-minute video lesson on evaluating a trained logistic regression model — for software developers who can code but are new to machine learning.
Challenge
ML material for developers either assumes fluency in linear algebra or strips out so much that nothing transfers. Five minutes buys one concept — taught so it holds.
Approach
- Restructured four source “steps” into three — the first was setup, not action
- Three named outputs to keep working-memory load carryable
- Recap mirrors the preview verbatim
- Scope deliberately bounded; adjacent concepts deferred
Impact
- 8-slide storyboard with full speaker notes
- Produced video under five minutes
- Reveals hand-edited so terms appear as spoken
Owning the Curriculum for a K–12 Coding Program
I make the content and curriculum decisions across five program lines at Code For Fun (CS League, after-school, camps, workshops and private coaching), reaching ~4,000 learners a year across 10+ sites.
Challenge
Five program lines and many content creators, but no shared reference for how a lesson should be built. The flagship program, CS League, ran six months, too short for students to go deep into concepts.
Approach
- Wrote the Lesson Design Reference every content creator now follows
- Led the CS League redesign into a year-long, ten-tier Hero → Titan → Legend ladder for ages 6–15
- Built the placement system that puts each student in the right tier
- Built a four-pillar framework for teaching AI, mapped tier by tier
Impact
- One lesson standard across all five program lines
- A full year in CS League instead of six months, with room to go deeper
- 50+ instructors a year trained, with feedback every two weeks
- ~4,000 learners and 49,000+ instruction hours a year
3-Year Community Literacy System Design
Designed and implemented a multi-year adult learning and digital skills program serving 150+ women in underserved communities.
Challenge
Limited access to structured learning opportunities required a sustainable, scalable training model with measurable outcomes.
Approach
- Designed a longitudinal learning pathway spanning foundational literacy to digital skills
- Structured assessment frameworks and learner progression milestones
- Built community-based delivery models
- Aligned program with local capacity and sustainability goals
Impact
- 150+ women progressed through a structured literacy-to-digital-skills pathway
- Designed a replicable framework adopted for ongoing community-based delivery
- Created measurable progression milestones tracking learner growth across 3 years
Skills & Expertise
Bridging education research with technology to design scalable learning experiences.
Program Management
End-to-end learning program design and delivery, cross-functional team leadership, stakeholder alignment, and scaling training initiatives across organizations and distributed sites.
AI Literacy & Collaboration
Developing AI literacy programs, including a framework for teaching AI responsibly, and integrating emerging technologies into learning experiences.
Learning Science & Research
Learning program design grounded in research, published author in education technology, experienced in UDL, backward design, needs assessment, and competency-based frameworks.
Cross-Functional Leadership
I work at the seam between educators and engineers — turning what teachers and learners actually need into clear, buildable requirements, and working with engineers when a project calls for it, while keeping the instructional design grounded in research, not guesswork.
Technical Skills
Built in
Familiar with
Professional Experience
A decade of designing learning systems — from community programs in Nepal to training programs across Silicon Valley.
Curriculum Manager
Code For Fun • Sunnyvale, CA • Promoted from Curriculum Designer (Contract), Dec 2024
- Make the content and curriculum decisions across five program lines, including AI literacy, reaching ~4,000 learners a year across 10+ sites
- Led the redesign of CS League into a year-long, ten-tier progression for ages 6–15
- Wrote the Lesson Design Reference every content creator follows
- Manage the curriculum team and train 50+ instructors a year
Graduate Research & Teaching Assistant
ISU — Dept of Teaching & Learning • Terre Haute, IN
- Taught undergraduate education courses and ran qualitative research on learner engagement in online classes
- Delivered the department’s part of the university-wide Blackboard → Canvas migration: converted and tested courses, then fixed issues for faculty after the switch
Graduate Assistant
Office of the President & Provost, ISU • Terre Haute, IN
- Built interactive SoftChalk modules for the university’s Online Teaching Certificate program
- Wrote the training manual and social media guidelines for university managers, and managed official communications including ISU Today
Curriculum Developer
Hands In Outreach (HIO) • Sheffield, MA
- Designed a three-year literacy and digital skills curriculum for 150+ women in Kathmandu, where no curriculum existed before
- Built it so local facilitators could teach it without curriculum training; the program still runs today
- Also designed the Career Days program for sponsored students
Graduate Assistant
Office of Education Abroad, ISU • Terre Haute, IN
- Supported international education programs, student advising, and outreach
Opinion Columnist & Writer
Indiana Statesman (ISU campus newspaper) • Terre Haute, IN
- Published opinion columns on education, culture, and international student experience
Computer Science Teacher, Curriculum Designer & Education Technologist
Lalitpur Secondary Boarding School (LMV) • Lalitpur, Nepal
- Designed and taught the Grades 5–6 computer science curriculum, including grading rubrics for every assignment and exam
- Launched the school’s after-school Junior Coding Club, and ran a recurring faculty training program on classroom technology new to the school
- Founded the annual IT & Communication Fair — the first in the region, and it still runs — and co-coordinated Lalitpur’s first Students Quality Circle Convention
Education
PhD in Curriculum & Instruction
Indiana State University
Technology integration in education
MS in Educational Technology
Indiana State University
Instructional technology & online learning
BSc Hons in Computing (IT)
London Metropolitan University
Computing & software development
Publications
Sitaula, A. (2026). The Experience of South Asian International Students in Online Classes (Publication No. 32701309) [Doctoral dissertation, Indiana State University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
View Publication →Sitaula, A. (2024). The Kaleidoscope of Connections. In Bridging Cultures, Empowering Futures: Global Citizenship and International Education (pp. 15-18). STAR Scholar Press.
View Publication →Sitaula, A., & Sitaula, G. (2021). Lap of Mount Everest Our Lab of Learning: The Education Structure of Nepal. In J. McConnell-Farmer (Ed.), World of Children: Perceptions and Connections in Sustainability with Reflections during the Pandemic (pp. 181-202). Linton Atlantic Books, USA.
Let's Connect
I'm always open to connecting with people who are building learning systems, thinking about how teams develop new skills, or working at the intersection of education and technology. If that sounds like your world, I'd love to hear from you.
Based in Mountain View, CA