When Ideas Light Up: An AI Creative Design Teacher Workshop at Sacred Heart High School
Returning to this classroom at Keelung Fu Jen Sacred Heart Senior High School brought a special sense of familiarity. Looking across the tables, chairs and lighting toward the equipment benches, we remembered the details we had discussed when planning the space. How could the tables encourage people to exchange ideas? Where should production equipment go to make it easy to use? Could students develop an idea and then make it in the very same room?
We documented the transformation in “A Classroom Reborn: Creating an AI Learning Space at Sacred Heart High School.” This return visit was an opportunity to take that original vision further.
Further reading: [A Classroom Reborn: Creating an AI Learning Space at Sacred Heart High School](https://www.jing-yeu.com/post/20250822)On August 24, 2026, Jing-Yeu International brought an AI-assisted creative design workshop to Sacred Heart High School, helping teachers turn their ideas into objects they could take home and use.
For this workshop, we prepared multicolor LED Bluetooth speakers and vintage-style lanterns.
A speaker for listening to music and a lamp to keep nearby are familiar everyday objects. Yet when you can create their designs yourself—and must consider how they will look when illuminated—you begin to see them differently.
Caption: Back in a familiar classroom, participants discuss creative materials and their potential classroom applications.
When we originally planned the classroom, we wanted it to accommodate different learning rhythms.
Sometimes, learners need to sit down and patiently work through an idea that is still taking shape. At other times, they need to step away from the screen, pick up materials and approach the equipment before they can work out what comes next.
That is why the connection between the ideation area and the production area has always mattered to us.
Ideation area: Describe the picture in your mind
Begin with discussion, observation and everyday experience. Practice explaining your ideas to AI, then refine the theme, colors and composition.
Production area: Bring designs into contact with real materials
Apply images to products, observe how materials, shapes and lighting affect the result, and bring those discoveries back into the design.
The two areas are only a short distance apart, but moving between them can transform an idea many times.
On this day, teachers used the space to move from understanding AI to creating work of their own.
Before beginning the practical work, we set aside time for AI literacy and application scenarios.
Generating an AI image is now relatively easy. In the classroom, however, teachers have much more to consider. What are students actually learning when they use the tool? Once an image appears almost instantly, how can a teacher guide the next step? How can students be encouraged to look again, think more deeply and make deliberate choices about their work?
These questions are worth exploring together before operating the tools.
Alongside AI literacy and application examples, we therefore discussed how teachers could lead the same learning process with their students.
The teachers were participating both as creators and as educators, viewing the entire process through both perspectives.
Will students understand a step that feels easy to the teacher? How many smaller steps should an operation be divided into? If a student dislikes a generated image, how can a teacher help articulate the feeling that something is wrong, even when the student cannot yet explain it?
We hoped teachers would take these experiences back to their classrooms. Having tried something yourself often makes it easier to help someone else get started.
By experiencing the creative process first, teachers can more readily recognize
where students need help—whether with operating a tool
or with finding the words to express an idea.
When people begin communicating with AI, describing what they want is often the first skill they need to practice.
You may have an image in mind without being able to put it into words immediately. You may know the mood you like, but explaining the colors, style, subject and composition takes time.
We helped teachers practice bringing those ideas into words, step by step.
What theme do you want to explore? What feeling should the work convey? What matters most in the image? And which product will eventually carry the design?
For people without a drawing background, AI offers an accessible starting point. Beginning with words gives an imagined scene a chance to become a visible image.
If the first result is not close enough, there is room to refine it. Add a little detail, explain the intended use and review the next result. Through this practice, creators gradually discover the direction they want to take.
To bring this process into a student lesson, teachers can start by helping learners clarify three things.
What do I want to express?
Identify the theme and feeling you want to convey. Start with personal interests, everyday experiences or the person who will receive the gift.
What should the image look like?
Describe the subject, style, colors and composition so that AI has a more specific direction to follow.
Where will this image be used?
Explain the product's purpose and design requirements, taking its dimensions, shape and lighting effects into account.
The clearer the intended use, the clearer the design direction becomes.
The same theme may need a different arrangement on a multicolor LED Bluetooth speaker than inside a vintage-style lantern. That is part of what makes this lesson interesting: there is still much to observe after an image has been generated.
An image may feel complete on a screen. Once it becomes part of a product, however, it must work with that product's physical characteristics.
The Bluetooth speaker's changing LED colors must be considered during design. Do the image colors work with the lighting? Is the main subject still clear? Which details could be simplified to give the light more room to contribute?
A vintage-style lantern calls for a different set of considerations.
The lantern's shape already creates a particular mood, and the image must be adjusted for its brightness. Will important details remain visible when the light is on? Will the balance of light and dark convey the intended feeling? Would a little more empty space improve the overall effect?
These questions become very concrete when the actual product is right in front of you.
Multicolor LED Bluetooth speaker | Design for changing light
Consider how the image palette works with the multicolor LEDs. Adjust the subject, details and empty space so that the design remains balanced when illuminated.
Vintage-style lantern | Let the design respond to brightness
Adjust tones, details and composition to suit the lantern's brightness and shape, allowing the image and light to create the atmosphere together.
We therefore wanted teachers to work with more advanced creative product blanks that call for closer observation and more design thinking.
Texture, shape and the way a product performs in use all influence design. When creators can hold, touch, use and examine their work from different angles, their expectations of the finished object naturally become more considered.
A detail they originally liked may need simplifying after they see the physical result. Another part may call for a revised prompt and another attempt.
Each revision has a purpose: making the theme clearer, improving the lighting effect or bringing the whole object closer to the original vision.
We value a lesson structure that leaves room for this kind of experimentation.
There is no need to resolve every detail at the start. Make a first version, then let the materials and product reveal what needs changing. Each revision helps creators understand what matters to them.
Start with an object, then explore teaching possibilities
Holding a real product makes an idea more concrete. Discussion moves from the feel of a material and the appearance of an image to helping students begin creating. These small objects become a starting point for connecting AI with classroom learning.
Gather together and take an idea further
Around the table, participants examined materials and exchanged ideas. How should an image fit the product? What changes when the light comes on? Through shared observation and discussion, a design direction gradually emerged.
Make it by hand and give imagination a form
Carefully aligning images and organizing materials, teachers turned their designs into finished objects step by step. Experiencing these details gave them practical knowledge to help students experiment and complete their own work later.
The product samples also provided a useful starting point for observation.
Seeing different pieces together reveals how changing a size, shape or material changes the effect of an image. Looking closely and comparing an actual product with an idea turns abstract design considerations into concrete references.
This approach to observation can also be brought into students' lessons.
When a student says they want to make something beautiful, a teacher can help them think further: Where will it go? Will they use it themselves or give it to someone? How should the recipient feel when they see it?
A few more questions give the design an audience and a story.
A lamp for one's own desk may call for a different expression from a gift for a family member. Each choice gives students an opportunity to organize their thoughts and practice expressing them.
As participants approached the production equipment, the nature of the learning changed again.
Words and images had been the focus; now attention shifted to material placement, image positioning and the sequence of equipment operation.
At the workbench, participants could connect the instructions they had heard with the actions in front of them. Demonstrations and discussion helped them understand what to check first and where to slow down.
We also wanted teachers to have time to resolve their questions at this stage. The more familiar they are with the process, the more calmly they can observe students and provide appropriate support when leading a class.
Caption: A demonstration at the flat heat press connects image creation with the practical use of production equipment.
Between the first idea and the finished object lie many small decisions.
A creator chooses a theme, then changes the color palette. A favorite detail is simplified after considering the product's appearance. A generated image looks attractive but must be revised because it does not suit the intended use.
These adjustments may seem small, but they are worth remembering.
The creator's own thinking is often embedded in these choices. Having experienced them personally, teachers can more easily notice the process behind a student's finished work.
Some students need to practice describing ideas; others need to learn how to make trade-offs. Still others discover the gap between design and practical use only by making something.
A practical lesson makes these different learning rhythms visible.
We hope students can explain their decisions when sharing their work. Why this theme? Why this lighting effect? Why was a particular detail changed at the end?
When a student is willing to explain the process, a creative product becomes a natural starting point for conversation.
The same lantern
A different scene
Lanterns of the same shape take on their own character through different designs. Adjusting tones and details for brightness lets a favorite scene gradually unfold in the light.
Let images and light
Tell a story together
Even a small speaker can hold a personal vision. From developing an AI image to adjusting it for multicolor lighting, every choice of color and composition brings the piece closer to the creator's intention.
Take this day
Into everyday life
Ideas from the classroom became lanterns and speakers to keep close at hand. Switching on a light or playing music can later recall the revisions and experiments that gradually brought the object into being.
Looking back on the lesson, we can see the back-and-forth rhythm of creating.
An idea becomes an image; the image meets a material; the material reveals something new. The creator returns to the design, adjusts it and makes the next attempt a little closer to the vision.
Ideate and express
Find a theme in everyday experience and practice explaining your ideas clearly to AI.
Make and observe
Bring images, materials and light together, then observe how the actual product looks.
Refine and try again
Revise the design using discoveries from making, then return to the creative process.
This movement between activities reflects the original purpose of connecting the ideation and production areas.
Some questions need time spent thinking at a desk; others can only be answered beside materials and equipment. When both kinds of learning happen naturally in one room, the space and the curriculum become more closely connected.
For the Jing-Yeu team, supporting this classroom from its redesign through to teachers creating inside it has been a particularly meaningful experience.
Our earlier conversations concerned furniture layouts, equipment locations and movement through the room. This time, the focus was on bringing teachers' ideas into their work and passing that experience on to students.
A teacher workshop may be just the beginning.
A prompt practiced today may guide a future lesson. Adjusting an image for lighting may become a student design task. Completing an object by hand may prompt a teacher to wonder how their students would interpret the same theme.
We value that continuity.
The influence of a lesson sometimes develops only after the event ends. When teachers revisit the experience and adapt it for their own students, the workshop gains a much longer life.
Thank you to Sacred Heart High School for allowing us to support this space from planning through to practical teaching applications.
We also thank the teachers for setting aside time to become learners: communicating with AI, exploring materials, refining designs and turning ideas into objects they can use in everyday life.
A speaker or lantern may eventually sit on a desk or in a room. Alongside the pleasure of a favorite design, using it can bring back the memory of starting with a simple idea and gradually completing it.
For us, that is one of the most moving aspects of practical learning. It leaves a tangible memory and builds anticipation for the next creative project.
Bring an ideas-to-objects experience to your school
If you would like teachers to experience AI-assisted creative design before bringing it into their students' lessons, talk to Jing-Yeu International.
Tell us who will participate, how much time is available and what you want participants to learn. Together, we can plan AI literacy, prompt practice, product design and hands-on production, or develop a course around your school's existing equipment and spaces.
Start with a teacher workshop and make the possibilities for your next lesson tangible.
#WhenIdeasLightUp | An AI Creative Design Workshop at Sacred Heart High School
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