Jason Torres, Ed.D.

About Me

Hi 👋🏼, I'm Jason! I am a learning professional with ∼20 years experience standing up new learning programs, designing learning experiences, building effective systems, and driving organizational transformation. I completed my Ed.D. in Instructional Technology at Texas Tech University and my B.A. in Government at The University of Texas-Austin. I am currently a Lead Learning Experience Designer with General Assembly.

Since beginning my career in teaching, I have been deeply fascinated by the use of digital technology to enhance learning and improve outcomes. This has been significantly bolstered by the rise of artificial intelligence and my use of the technology in my work and creative projects (e.g., this website). I am curious about ways to use AI to accelerate learning, along with the phenomenon of cognitive offloading and trust in AI. Some of my other interests include organizational systems design and developing teams.

Previously, I worked as an Instructional Designer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the International Monetary Fund, as a Curriculum Manager at Booz Allen Hamilton, as a Learning Consultant at the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency, and as a Director at The George Washington University. Across these, I have served in two inaugural roles, created new learning programs, built systems and products from scratch, and developed teams.

Aside from work, I enjoy spending time and trying new foods with my wife and kids, reading about historical topics, and brainstorming what I can do next with AI tools.

How I built my website

Updates

2026/07

I have taken on a contract with General Assembly as a Lead Learning Experience Designer managing Learning Experience Designers and the development of IT and AI training products for some large US companies.

2026/04

I completed a peer review of the MIRA-Sim for the Metacognitive Instructional Regulation Agents Lab led by Dr. Ji Hyun Yu at the University of North Texas. Through a challenging simulation, this tool aims to help teach learners work with AI agents in a way that preserves human cognition as the primary driver for decision-making. This directly addresses the phenomenon of cognitive offloading.

2026/04

I joined the ranks of substitute teachers for the Montgomery County Public School district. I'll occasionally fill-in for some high-school classes and get-in-touch with my teaching roots. It's going to be fun to hear from young people today! Additionally, I've completed the training Cultivate Teamwork and Collaboration from Harvard Business School.

2026/03

Over the past 2 months I completed some training through Anthropic Academy — AI fluency for Educators and AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations. As I use Claude in my job search and side projects, it's helpful to see how Anthropic thinks about the use of LLMs.

2026/01

I've completed the training Develop Talent and Coach for Success from Harvard Business School. I decided to pick-up the Build High-Performing Teams Specialization as I've reflected on the past 10+ years of work and how I want to be a better leader.

2025/11

I completed 2 trainings with Google — Google People Management Essentials Specialization and Google Prompting Essentials Specialization. During this reflection and downtime, I want to gather some input on my reflections. I also completed the Google course Crash Course on Python. I've wanted to learn some Python for a while and this gave me some good practice.

2025/06

I was laid off from The George Washington University this month as part of a restructuring and reduced funding in my department. I had a sense it was coming for sometime given financial struggle since COVID, cuts in federal funding, and new leadership with a different focus. I'm going to miss working with some great faculty and staff, and while I know the road ahead is uncertain, it's just another life shake-up and nothing worse than I've endured before. We'll see what happens, but change isn't a bad thing and I was already looking for it.

2025/01

I've completed a 1-year term serving as an adjudication panelist on the GW University Integrity and Conduct Council hearing cases involving student misconduct and making recommendations on university action.

2024/12

I've completed Leading Your Team Through Change workshop training with Prosci. I don't have the financial support right now to complete the Change Management Change Practitioner training, so this is the next best thing for me to try new methods for shepherding my team through a lot of on-going change.

2024/09

My team and I have completed the first 11 of 31 planned microlearning videos for a series entitled Getting Started with genAI. This series introduces faculty to ways they can leverage AI in course administration, building draft of course content and tools, and just brainstorming lectures.

2024/05

As part of the GWU Faculty Senate, Education Policy and Technology sub-committee on generative Artificial Intelligence (genAI), I contributed to a White Paper to inform on uses of AI in teaching and learning and make recommendations for future GWU policy affecting student use of AI.

2024/04

I've organized and facilitated a panel entitled The Enduring Fog of War: A.I. and the Future of Humans in National Security. Speakers include Aaron Bateman, Assistant Professor of History and International Affairs (and former USAF Intelligence Officer), Carol Kuntz, Strategic Technologies Program Researcher at Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Daniel Straub, Director of Naval Science, United States Merchant Marine Academy. Great discussion on AI in the security space and a turnout with many more students than faculty and staff!

2024/01

In a collaboration with Patty Dinneen, Director of Faculty Development and Irene Foster, Director of Inclusive Excellence and Professor of Economics, we've run the first GW undergraduate student survey examining undergrad use and attitudes toward generative Artificial Intelligence. Of 470 students 336 responded (71.5%), and without a doubt they are using AI. But they are also leery about its use and want guidance.

2024/01

I've organized and launched the first staff led university council that we're calling Generative Artificial Intelligence in Teaching. I'll be organizing monthly meetings and chairing for the time being. But the group has faculty membership from all colleges and schools. Opinions on AI are already across the board, but I aim to have the council serve as a place to make connections, discuss AI in depth, and both share work in the library and gather feedback to inform our direction.

2024/06

It has been a whirlwind responding to generative Artificial Intelligence, but over the past year I have designed and launched 10+ workshops on AI and digital skills in collaboration with my team members and Educational Developers. We are working hard to help upskill faculty and staff!

2023/05

I've completed Mastering Design Thinking training from MIT Sloan School of Management Executive Training. As I'm shifting more towards program building and getting participants hands-on with digital tools, I'm refreshing approaches learned while I was working at MIT and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

2022/07

I've completed Business Strategy & Design training from the Pragmatic Institute. I was looking for some training on bridging design work with business outcomes as I transform a team and develop a whole new system for learning operations.

2022/06

Finally back on campus and I've been able to launch the first 2 workshops in a new series entitled Communicating with Digital Media aimed at bolstering faculty digital literacy and skills with Adobe Creative Cloud. These are just the first of many workshops to come!

2021/03

In collaboration with Sylvain Guiriec, we won a $25,000 USD grant from Adobe with our proposal entitled Faculty development supporting the GW/Adobe creative initiative in science: Embedding the Adobe Creative Cloud in GW Physics courses, research and astronomy. We'll use the money to partially fund a physics lab and provide a stipend to faculty that collaborate with my team embedding Adobe Creative Cloud into science projects.

2021/02

I completed a short-term contract with the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency as a Learning Design Consultant helping them to architect and build their own Massive Open Online Courses on fiscal policy and tax administration. I've also provided guidance for building a multimedia team and launching the course.

2020/07

I've joined The George Washington University as the inaugural Director of Strategic Digital Learning Initiatives within the central library. This is an extraordinarily difficulty time, but I'm taking on the challenges of building programming that will enhance faculty (and staff) digital literacy and transform an existing team to a client-facing function so they may be digital leaders. I'm really excited to join this leadership and vision.

Experience + Portfolio

The work across my career has been purposefully diverse and driven by curiosity in how learning and communications are built across sectors. This has afforded me rich perspective on people and environments, a deep toolbox for solving problems, unique creative opportunities, and an ability to think with a hybrid academic and business mindset.

Collections

As much as I know, there is so much I don't. When work isn't taking all of my time, or when I find the right work/life balance, and/or when an idea is in my head, I pursue different ways to explore my curiosities. Below are some of those things I've continued learning, keep an eye on, and readings that have been very useful for me.

Professional Journey

My journey so far as included ups and downs, endless hours of work and study, full nights in the office, unexpected events, lulls in the road that have helped me reset, any many other experiences. Going back to the start of my timeline as a student at The University of Texas-Austin, I would not have expected any of it. This is what makes life an adventure. 😀

1. 2026 – present

   General Assembly

   Joined in a short-term contract role as a Lead Learning Experience Designer. Here I oversee the development of learning design projects and team members, developing training for technical audiences.

2. 2026 – present

   Montgomery County Public Schools

   Signed-on as an occassional Substitute Teacher for Montgomery County, MD. Wanted to do a little teaching and see what it's like in K-12 today. It was also useful for my reset between roles.

3. 2020 – 2025

   George Washington University

   Served in an inaugural role as Director of Strategic Digital Learning Initiatives leading digital fluency and AI literacy upskilling programs, including transformation of online learning development operations.

   Artifacts
4. 2020 – 2021

   Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency

   Served as a short-term Learning Design Consultant for the design and development of a new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on fiscal policy and tax administration.

   More info
5. 2018 – 2020

   Booz Allen Hamilton

   Joined as a Manager of Finance Learning & Development overseeing a multimodal firmwide finance curriculum, learning operations, and training for in-person and online environments.

6. 2014 – 2018

   International Monetary Fund

   Served as the inaugural Instructional Designer for the Institute for Capacity Development's Online Learning Program, creating 8 new Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) over my tenure.

   Artifacts
7. 2013 – 2014

   Massachusetts Institute of Technology

   Served as an Instructional Designer creating a new graduate-level engineering curriculum as part of establishing the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow, Russia.

   Artifacts
8. FEB 2013

   Dissertation defense

   After 1 year of intense research and writing, I successfully defended my dissertation to graduate with my Education Doctorate in Instructional Technology. Proud that I graduated in 5 years!

   Dissertation
9. 2008 – 2013

   Texas Tech University

   While a doctoral student, I served as a Graduate Assistant and as a Graduate Part-Time Instructor helping to train pre- and in-service K-12 teachers on effective educational technology use.

   Artifacts
10. 2003 – 2007

    Teaching in China

    Served as a Foreign Teacher within K-9 during year 1, grades 10-12 during year 2, and as an instructor for undergraduate business students during years 3 and 4. Taught 1000's of students in this time.

    Artifacts
11. 2000 – 2002

    The University of Texas-Austin

    I completed my Bachelor's degree with a major in Government with an emphasis on Comparative Politics, and a minor in Asian Studies with an emphasis on Chinese history.