Devika Toprani
Founder, Somagraphic Learning™ Framework
Seattle, Washington, United States
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Devika Toprani is an independent researcher and visual learning specialist based in Seattle, WA.
She developed the Somagraphic Learning™ Framework, a structured pre-AI thinking, human-first model that reduces automation bias in learning environments. Prototype-tested with STEM learners, USPTO trademarked, and published on OSF.
Devika's professional journey spans K-12 and higher education across the US, UAE, and India, including national accreditation coordination at UIUC and supported training and onboarding at George Mason University.
Academic background:
BA & BS Psychology and MS in Management STEM (UIUC).
Substack (Soulful Learning with AI)
Writes to 500+ Substack subscribers on human-centered AI in learning.
Core philosophy:
Learning is not AI-made. It is soul-made.
Somagraphic Learning™ Framework: A human-first, AI-supported visual cognitive approach
🔗 https://doi.org/10.35542/osf.io/fnk7z_v2
Available for U.S based educational consulting and implementing Somagraphic Learning™ and Somatic AI Literacy™
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Area of Expertise
Topics
Not AI-made. Soul-made: Reimagining Learning in a Human-First Era
AI now produces information faster than most learners can absorb it. This makes clarity one of the biggest challenges in digital education. Somagraphic Learning™ introduces a visual grammar that uses simple shapes and motion cues to explain ideas. These visuals give learners a quick sense of meaning before they encounter text, formulas, or technical detail. This session will show how a visual grammar can add a clarity-first layer to online and web-based learning. It reduces overwhelm, supports neurodiverse learners, and makes complex topics easier to understand. Participants will learn practical ways to include these visuals in slides, LMS modules, and AI-supported lessons. They will also see how this approach makes digital learning feel more human, accessible, and emotionally engaging.
● Event: Conference (University of Illinois WebCON 2026)
● Mode: 60 min Zoom session
● Link to conference: https://doodlesbydevika.substack.com/p/not-ai-made-soul-made
● Audience: Web designers, developers, social media marketers, content managers, and tech enthusiasts from higher education and EdTech interested in the latest digital trends and technologies.
AISW #104: Devika Toprani, USA-based founder of Somagraphic Learning
➡️ Devika's multi-cultural background and influences on her views about AI and feedback
➡️ Using AI for research, drafting, summarizing, and checking for errors, but not writing or developing her Somagraphic Learning Framework
➡️ Why AI tools are only used in the third phase of Somagraphic Learning (Refine) and not in the first two (Attempt and Map)
➡️ The time an AI summary omitted “Soul” when summarizing her works in “Soulful Learning With AI”, along with other misinterpretations
➡️ Training an AI image generator tool on her own Doodles by Devika artworks
➡️ Thoughts on the feedback loop of students using of AI tools for writing, which helps to train the tools, which in turn shape students’ future writing
➡️ How bots on Instagram are confounding her ability to understand what resonates most with her audience
● Mode: 60 audio interview with Karen Smiley, the founder of SheWritesAI.
● Audience: Professionals, educators, and creators interested in the ethical and practical intersections of human cognition ("wetware") and AI-based software.
Links
● Co-authored audio interview on Substack: https://sixpeas.substack.com/p/aisw-104-ai-software-wetware-devika-toprani-usa?
● Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/6-ps-in-ai-pods-ai6p/id1757212178
Introducing Somagraphic Learning to the Women Who Rule community at Gies College of Business UIUC
Explored Somagraphic Learning, a human-first framework for thinking and learning in an AI-rich world.
The conversation focused on the idea that learning doesn’t start with prompts or tools, it starts with how we sense, interpret, and make meaning. Shape, motion, emotion, and meaning were offered as precursors to language and AI output, inviting us to pause before jumping to answers.
What stood out most was the discussion that followed. Many of us found ourselves asking practical questions about application, especially what this kind of embodied, exploratory learning could look like in K-12 environments, where movement, drawing, and experimentation are already part of how students learn.
● Mode: 45 min Zoom session
● Audience: Forward-thinking women leaders, alumnae, and business students at UIUC who are interested in leveraging somatic intelligence and Somagraphic techniques to enhance leadership, professional resilience, and holistic career development.
What AI Can't Replace: Why Human-Led Learning Still Wins with Devika Toprani
What happens when learners reach for AI before they reach for understanding?
In this episode of Empowered by AI, Michelle sits down with Devika Toprani, creator of the IP-protected Sonographic Learning framework, to explore what might be missing in today’s AI-integrated education landscape.
With a background in psychology and quantitative sciences from the University of Illinois, and global academic experience across Oman, Dubai, India, and the United States, Devika brings both data and lived insight to a pressing question:
Are we moving too fast for real learning to happen?
Together, they unpack what it means to slow down thinking before refining with AI — and why that sequence matters more than ever.
● Mode: 60 min Zoom session/Podcast featured on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and shared on LinkedIn.
● Audience: Educators, lifelong learners, and academic professionals seeking to balance the speed of AI integration with the preservation of deep cognitive understanding and human-centered learning frameworks.
Link to Podcast:
YouTube: https://youtu.be/tnvKipYrOI0?si=ybxjNPK9PB16mVNG
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6CN3iW798yj5RX4bWHsf53
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/learning-is-not-ai-made-its-soul-made-with-devika-toprani/id1786474112?i=1000750496896
The “Soul-Made” Learner: Deepening Insight through the Somagraphic Framework
A session centered on Devika's core idea that learning is soul-made, not AI-made. Demonstrate how AI can support deeper reflection, creative expression, and human agency while keeping discernment and critical thinking at the center.
● Event: She Leads AI, Invited Speaker (weekly Social Saturdays) May 2, 2026
● Mode: 60 min Zoom session
● Audience: Women professionals and aspiring leaders within the She Leads AI community who are focused on mastering AI tools and strategies for career advancement and technological empowerment.
Soul-Made Learning: Bridging the Clarity Gap Between AI and Human Sense-Making
As generative AI increasingly automates the "final product," higher education faces a crisis of cognitive atrophy. When AI provides solutions instantly, it skips the "earned struggle" essential for long-term retention. This session introduces Somagraphic Learning™: a human-first visual cognitive framework designed to bridge the Clarity Gap between AI data volume and human sense-making capacity.
Moving beyond traditional "AI-first" workflows, this interactive presentation demonstrates how to reposition AI as a "Follower" rather than a "Leader". Participants will engage with the Shape-Emotion Grammar™, a pre-verbal language that uses perceptual cues like circles for safety, boxes for structure, and arrows for movement to anchor understanding before a single prompt is typed.
We will workshop a virtual "Attempt → Map → Refine" process, where learners externalize ideas through hand-drawn motion (on paper or digital whiteboards) before utilizing AI for optimization. By the end of this session, educators will possess a replicable strategy to protect the "Human Edge", ensure academic integrity through somatic principles, and foster a "soul-made" environment where technology supports, rather than replaces, the human mind.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to: Diagnose the "Clarity Gap" in current digital curricula, identifying where AI-generated output prematurely terminates student sense-making. Apply Shape-Emotion Grammar™ to translate abstract academic concepts into pre-verbal visual anchors (circles, boxes, arrows), reducing early cognitive load. Facilitate the virtual "Attempt → Map → Refine" workflow, successfully repositioning AI as a "Follower" that optimizes student-led inputs. Implement "Somatic Mirroring" principles to create verifiable proof of human effort and intention, enhancing academic integrity in virtual, AI-integrated assignments.
This online session utilizes the Attempt → Map → Refine workflow to drive active participation. We begin with a "Silent Sketch" exercise where participants use either a digital whiteboard or physical paper to map a complex concept using Shape-Emotion Grammar™, activating embodied cognition before digital logic. I will then lead a "Virtual Somatic Mirroring" demo, showing how to "read" the time, energy, and intention behind these strokes to generate specific AI feedback. Finally, attendees will engage in a "Clarity Gap" Peer Review, using basic shapes to critique each other's maps, fostering social interaction and real-world problem-solving.
● Event: Conference (TEACHx 2026, Northwestern University)
● Mode: 45 min Online Interactive Presentation
● Audience: Instructors, students, learning designers, and technology specialists from higher education institutions interested in showcasing innovative experiments and collaborations in teaching and learning with technology.
Doodles, Difficulty, and Deep Learning with Devika Toprani
Michael Wish sits down with Devika Toprani, creator of the Somagraphic Learning Method, to explore how doodling, shape-emotion grammar, and embodied learning can serve as a visual scaffold before AI enters the classroom. They discuss desirable difficulty, why learners are prioritizing speed over understanding, and how the Attempt-Map-Refine cycle works in both higher education and corporate teams.
● Mode: 25 min audio interview with Michael Wish, co-founder of White Feather AI
● Link to podcast session (includes links to Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music)
https://teachcoachmentor.org/episodes/devika-toprani
TEACHx 2026 Upcoming
Session: Soul-Made Learning: Bridging the Clarity Gap Between AI and Human Sense-Making
As generative AI increasingly automates the "final product," higher education faces a crisis of cognitive atrophy. When AI provides solutions instantly, it skips the "earned struggle" essential for long-term retention. This session introduces Somagraphic Learning™: a human-first visual cognitive framework designed to bridge the Clarity Gap between AI data volume and human sense-making capacity.
Moving beyond traditional "AI-first" workflows, this interactive presentation demonstrates how to reposition AI as a "Follower" rather than a "Leader". Participants will engage with the Shape-Emotion Grammar™, a pre-verbal language that uses perceptual cues like circles for safety, boxes for structure, and arrows for movement to anchor understanding before a single prompt is typed.
We will workshop a virtual "Attempt → Map → Refine" process, where learners externalize ideas through hand-drawn motion (on paper or digital whiteboards) before utilizing AI for optimization. By the end of this session, educators will possess a replicable strategy to protect the "Human Edge", ensure academic integrity through somatic principles, and foster a "soul-made" environment where technology supports, rather than replaces, the human mind.
Devika Toprani
Founder, Somagraphic Learning™ Framework
Seattle, Washington, United States
Links
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