World’s largest projection mapping snags Guinness World Record — from inavateonthenet.net
A nightly projection mapping display at the Tokyo metropolitan government headquarters has been recognised by Guinness World Records as the largest in the world.

 

Scammers trick company employee using video call filled with deepfakes of execs, steal $25 million — from techspot.com by Rob Thubron; via AI Valley
The victim was the only real person on the video conference call

The scammers used digitally recreated versions of an international company’s Chief Financial Officer and other employees to order $25 million in money transfers during a video conference call containing just one real person.

The victim, an employee at the Hong Kong branch of an unnamed multinational firm, was duped into taking part in a video conference call in which they were the only real person – the rest of the group were fake representations of real people, writes SCMP.

As we’ve seen in previous incidents where deepfakes were used to recreate someone without their permission, the scammers utilized publicly available video and audio footage to create these digital versions.


Letter from the YouTube CEO: 4 Big bets for 2024 — from blog.youtube by Neal Mohan, CEO, YouTube; via Ben’s Bites

.

#1: AI will empower human creativity.

#2: Creators should be recognized as next-generation studios.

#3: YouTube’s next frontier is the living room and subscriptions.

#4: Protecting the creator economy is foundational.

Viewers globally now watch more than 1 billion hours on average of YouTube content on their TVs every day.


Bard becomes Gemini: Try Ultra 1.0 and a new mobile app today — from blog.google by Sissie Hsiao; via Rundown AI
Bard is now known as Gemini, and we’re rolling out a mobile app and Gemini Advanced with Ultra 1.0.

Since we launched Bard last year, people all over the world have used it to collaborate with AI in a completely new way — to prepare for job interviews, debug code, brainstorm new business ideas or, as we announced last week, create captivating images.

Our mission with Bard has always been to give you direct access to our AI models, and Gemini represents our most capable family of models. To reflect this, Bard will now simply be known as Gemini.


A new way to discover places with generative AI in Maps — from blog.google by Miriam Daniel; via AI Valley
Here’s a look at how we’re bringing generative AI to Maps — rolling out this week to select Local Guides in the U.S.

Today, we’re introducing a new way to discover places with generative AI to help you do just that — no matter how specific, niche or broad your needs might be. Simply say what you’re looking for and our large-language models (LLMs) will analyze Maps’ detailed information about more than 250 million places and trusted insights from our community of over 300 million contributors to quickly make suggestions for where to go.

Starting in the U.S., this early access experiment launches this week to select Local Guides, who are some of the most active and passionate members of the Maps community. Their insights and valuable feedback will help us shape this feature so we can bring it to everyone over time.


Google Prepares for a Future Where Search Isn’t King — from wired.com by Lauren Goode
CEO Sundar Pichai tells WIRED that Google’s new, more powerful Gemini chatbot is an experiment in offering users a way to get things done without a search engine. It’s also a direct shot at ChatGPT.


 

 


From voice synthesis to fertility tracking, here are some actually helpful AI products at CES — from techcrunch.com by Devin Coldewey

But a few applications of machine learning stood out as genuinely helpful or surprising — here are a few examples of AI that might actually do some good.

The whole idea that AI might not be a total red flag occurred to me when I chatted with Whispp at a press event. This small team is working on voicing the voiceless, meaning people who have trouble speaking normally due to a condition or illness.

Whispp gives a voice to people who can’t speak


CES 2024: Everything revealed so far, from Nvidia and Sony to the weirdest reveals and helpful AI — from techcrunch.com by Christine Hall

Kicking off the first day were some bigger announcements from companies, including Nvidia, LG, Sony and Samsung. Those livestreams have ended, but you can watch most of their archives and catch up right here. And with the event still ongoing, and the show floor open, here’s how you can follow along with our team’s coverage.

Or, to dive into each day’s updates directly, you can follow these links:

 

 
 

Prompt engineering — from platform.openai.com

This guide shares strategies and tactics for getting better results from large language models (sometimes referred to as GPT models) like GPT-4. The methods described here can sometimes be deployed in combination for greater effect. We encourage experimentation to find the methods that work best for you.

Some of the examples demonstrated here currently work only with our most capable model, gpt-4. In general, if you find that a model fails at a task and a more capable model is available, it’s often worth trying again with the more capable model.

You can also explore example prompts which showcase what our models are capable of…


Preparedness — from openai.com

The study of frontier AI risks has fallen far short of what is possible and where we need to be. To address this gap and systematize our safety thinking, we are adopting the initial version of our Preparedness Framework. It describes OpenAI’s processes to track, evaluate, forecast, and protect against catastrophic risks posed by increasingly powerful models.


Every Major Tech Development From 2023 — from newsletter.thedailybite.co
The yearly tech round-up, Meta’s smart glasses upgrade, and more…

Here’s every major innovation from the last 365 days:

  • Microsoft: Launched additional OpenAI-powered features, including Copilot for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365, enhancing business functionalities like text summarization, tone adjustment in emails, data insights, and automatic presentation creation.
  • Google: Introduced Duet, akin to Microsoft’s Copilot, integrating Gen AI across Google Workspace for writing assistance and custom visual creation. Also debuted Generative AI Studio, enabling developers to craft AI apps, and unveiled Gemini & Bard, a new AI technology with impressive features.
  • Salesforce: …
  • Adobe: …
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS): …
  • IBM:  …
  • Nvidia:  …
  • OpenAI:  …
  • Meta (Facebook):
  • Tencent:
  • Baidu:

News in chatbots — from theneurondaily.com by Noah Edelman & Pete Huang

Here’s what’s on the horizon:

  • Multimodal AI gets huge. Instead of just typing, more people will talk to AI, listen to it, create images, get visual feedback, create graphs, and more.
  • AI video gets really good. So far, AI videos have been cool-but-not-practical. They’re getting way better and we’re on the verge of seeing 100% AI-generated films, animations, and cartoons.
  • AI on our phones. Imagine Siri with the brains of ChatGPT-4 and the ambition of Alexa. TBD who pulls this off first!
  • GPT-5. ‘Nuff said.

20 Best AI Chatbots in 2024 — from eweek.com by Aminu Abdullahi
These leading AI chatbots use generative AI to offer a wide menu of functionality, from personalized customer service to improved information retrieval.

Top 20 Generative AI Chatbot Software: Comparison Chart
We compared the key features of the top generative AI chatbot software to help you determine the best option for your company…


What Google Gemini Teaches Us About Trust and The Future — from aiwithallie.beehiiv.com by Allie K. Miller
The AI demo may have been misleading, but it teaches us two huge lessons.

TL;DR (too long, didn’t read)

  1. We’re moving from ‘knowledge’ to ‘action’. 
    AI moving into proactive interventions.
  2. We’re getting more efficient. 
    Assume 2024 brings lower AI OpEx.
  3. It’s multi-modal from here on out. 
    Assume 2024 is multi-modal.
  4. There’s no one model to rule them all.
    Assume 2024 has more multi-model orchestration & delegation.

Stay curious, stay informed,
Allie


Chatbot Power Rankings — from theneurondaily.com by Noah Edelman

Here’s our power rankings of the best chatbots for (non-technical) work:

1: ChatGPT-4Unquestionably the smartest, with the strongest writing, coding, and reasoning abilities.

T1: Gemini Ultra—In theory as powerful as GPT-4. We won’t know for sure until it’s released in 2024.

2: Claude 2Top choice for managing lengthy PDFs (handles ~75,000 words), and rarely hallucinates. Can be somewhat stiff.

3: PerplexityIdeal for real-time information. Upgrading to Pro grants access to both Claude-2 and GPT-4.

T4: PiThe most “human-like” chatbot, though integrating with business data can be challenging.

T4: Bing ChatDelivers GPT-4-esque responses, has internet access, and can generate images. Bad UX and doesn’t support PDFs.

T4: BardNow powered by Gemini Pro, offers internet access and answer verification. Tends to hallucinate more frequently.

and others…


Midjourney + ChatGPT = Amazing AI Art — from theaigirl.substack.com by Diana Dovgopol and the Pycoach
Turn ChatGPT into a powerful Midjourney prompt machine with basic and advanced formulas.


Make music with AI — from aitestkitchen.withgoogle.com re: Music FX


 

 

Animate Anyone — from theneurondaily.com by Noah Edelman & Pete Huang

Animate Anyone is a new project from Alibaba that can animate any image to move however you’d like.

While the technology is bonkers (duh), the demo video has stirred up mixed reactions.

I mean…just check out the (justified) fury on Twitter in response to this research.

To the researchers’ credit, they haven’t released a working demo yet, probably for this exact concern.


 

34 Big Ideas that will change our world in 2024 — from linkedin.com

34 Big Ideas that will change our world in 2024 -- from linkedin.com 

Excerpts:

6. ChatGPT’s hype will fade, as a new generation of tailor-made bots rises up
11. We’ll finally turn the corner on teacher pay in 2024
21. Employers will combat job applicants’ use of AI with…more AI
31. Universities will view the creator economy as a viable career path

 

Exploring blockchain’s potential impact on the education sector — from e27.co by Moch Akbar Azzihad M
By the year 2024, the application of blockchain technology is anticipated to have a substantial influence on the education sector

Areas mentioned include:

  • Credentials that are both secure and able to be verified
  • Records of accomplishments that are not hidden
  • Enrollment process that is both streamlined and automated
  • Storage of information that is both secure and decentralised
  • Financing and decentralised operations
 

Expanding Bard’s understanding of YouTube videos — via AI Valley

  • What: We’re taking the first steps in Bard’s ability to understand YouTube videos. For example, if you’re looking for videos on how to make olive oil cake, you can now also ask how many eggs the recipe in the first video requires.
  • Why: We’ve heard you want deeper engagement with YouTube videos. So we’re expanding the YouTube Extension to understand some video content so you can have a richer conversation with Bard about it.

Reshaping the tree: rebuilding organizations for AI — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick
Technological change brings organizational change.

I am not sure who said it first, but there are only two ways to react to exponential change: too early or too late. Today’s AIs are flawed and limited in many ways. While that restricts what AI can do, the capabilities of AI are increasing exponentially, both in terms of the models themselves and the tools these models can use. It might seem too early to consider changing an organization to accommodate AI, but I think that there is a strong possibility that it will quickly become too late.

From DSC:
Readers of this blog have seen the following graphic for several years now, but there is no question that we are in a time of exponential change. One would have had an increasingly hard time arguing the opposite of this perspective during that time.

 


 



Nvidia’s revenue triples as AI chip boom continues — from cnbc.com by Jordan Novet; via GSV

KEY POINTS

  • Nvidia’s results surpassed analysts’ projections for revenue and income in the fiscal fourth quarter.
  • Demand for Nvidia’s graphics processing units has been exceeding supply, thanks to the rise of generative artificial intelligence.
  • Nvidia announced the GH200 GPU during the quarter.

Here’s how the company did, compared to the consensus among analysts surveyed by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

  • Earnings: $4.02 per share, adjusted, vs. $3.37 per share expected
  • Revenue: $18.12 billion, vs. $16.18 billion expected

Nvidia’s revenue grew 206% year over year during the quarter ending Oct. 29, according to a statement. Net income, at $9.24 billion, or $3.71 per share, was up from $680 million, or 27 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.



 

The Beatles’ final song is now streaming thanks to AI — from theverge.com by Chris Welch
Machine learning helped Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr turn an old John Lennon demo into what’s likely the band’s last collaborative effort.


Scientists excited by AI tool that grades severity of rare cancer — from bbc.com by Fergus Walsh

Artificial intelligence is nearly twice as good at grading the aggressiveness of a rare form of cancer from scans as the current method, a study suggests.

By recognising details invisible to the naked eye, AI was 82% accurate, compared with 44% for lab analysis.

Researchers from the Royal Marsden Hospital and Institute of Cancer Research say it could improve treatment and benefit thousands every year.

They are also excited by its potential for spotting other cancers early.


Microsoft unveils ‘LeMa’: A revolutionary AI learning method mirroring human problem solving — from venturebeat.com by Michael Nuñez

Researchers from Microsoft Research Asia, Peking University, and Xi’an Jiaotong University have developed a new technique to improve large language models’ (LLMs) ability to solve math problems by having them learn from their mistakes, akin to how humans learn.

The researchers have revealed a pioneering strategy, Learning from Mistakes (LeMa), which trains AI to correct its own mistakes, leading to enhanced reasoning abilities, according to a research paper published this week.

Also from Michael Nuñez at venturebeat.com, see:


GPTs for all, AzeemBot; conspiracy theorist AI; big tech vs. academia; reviving organs ++448 — from exponentialviewco by Azeem Azhar and Chantal Smith


Personalized A.I. Agents Are Here. Is the World Ready for Them? — from ytimes.com by Kevin Roose (behind a paywall)

You could think of the recent history of A.I. chatbots as having two distinct phases.

The first, which kicked off last year with the release of ChatGPT and continues to this day, consists mainly of chatbots capable of talking about things. Greek mythology, vegan recipes, Python scripts — you name the topic and ChatGPT and its ilk can generate some convincing (if occasionally generic or inaccurate) text about it.

That ability is impressive, and frequently useful, but it is really just a prelude to the second phase: artificial intelligence that can actually do things. Very soon, tech companies tell us, A.I. “agents” will be able to send emails and schedule meetings for us, book restaurant reservations and plane tickets, and handle complex tasks like “negotiate a raise with my boss” or “buy Christmas presents for all my family members.”


From DSC:
Very cool!


Nvidia Stock Jumps After Unveiling of Next Major AI Chip. It’s Bad News for Rivals. — from barrons.com

On Monday, Nvidia (ticker: NVDA) announced its new H200 Tensor Core GPU. The chip incorporates 141 gigabytes of memory and offers up to 60% to 90% performance improvements versus its current H100 model when used for inference, or generating answers from popular AI models.

From DSC:
The exponential curve seems to be continuing — 60% to 90% performance improvements is a huge boost in performance.

Also relevant/see:


The 5 Best GPTs for Work — from the AI Exchange

Custom GPTs are exploding, and we wanted to highlight our top 5 that we’ve seen so far:

 

Introductory comments from DSC:

Sometimes people and vendors write about AI’s capabilities in such a glowingly positive way. It seems like AI can do everything in the world. And while I appreciate the growing capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) and the like, there are some things I don’t want AI-driven apps to do.

For example, I get why AI can be helpful in correcting my misspellings, my grammatical errors, and the like. That said, I don’t want AI to write my emails for me. I want to write my own emails. I want to communicate what I want to communicate. I don’t want to outsource my communication. 

And what if an AI tool summarizes an email series in a way that I miss some key pieces of information? Hmmm…not good.

Ok, enough soapboxing. I’ll continue with some resources.


ChatGPT Enterprise

Introducing ChatGPT Enterprise — from openai.com
Get enterprise-grade security & privacy and the most powerful version of ChatGPT yet.

We’re launching ChatGPT Enterprise, which offers enterprise-grade security and privacy, unlimited higher-speed GPT-4 access, longer context windows for processing longer inputs, advanced data analysis capabilities, customization options, and much more. We believe AI can assist and elevate every aspect of our working lives and make teams more creative and productive. Today marks another step towards an AI assistant for work that helps with any task, is customized for your organization, and that protects your company data.

Enterprise-grade security & privacy and the most powerful version of ChatGPT yet. — from openai.com


NVIDIA

Nvidia’s Q2 earnings prove it’s the big winner in the generative AI boom — from techcrunch.com by Kirsten Korosec

Nvidia Quarterly Earnings Report Q2 Smashes Expectations At $13.5B — from techbusinessnews.com.au
Nvidia’s quarterly earnings report (Q2) smashed expectations coming in at $13.5B more than doubling prior earnings of $6.7B. The chipmaker also projected October’s total revenue would peak at $16B


MISC

OpenAI Passes $1 Billion Revenue Pace as Big Companies Boost AI Spending — from theinformation.com by Amir Efrati and Aaron Holmes

OpenAI is currently on pace to generate more than $1 billion in revenue over the next 12 months from the sale of artificial intelligence software and the computing capacity that powers it. That’s far ahead of revenue projections the company previously shared with its shareholders, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.

OpenAI’s GPTBot blocked by major websites and publishers — from the-decoder.com by Matthias Bastian
An emerging chatbot ecosystem builds on existing web content and could displace traditional websites. At the same time, licensing and financing are largely unresolved.

OpenAI offers publishers and website operators an opt-out if they prefer not to make their content available to chatbots and AI models for free. This can be done by blocking OpenAI’s web crawler “GPTBot” via the robots.txt file. The bot collects content to improve future AI models, according to OpenAI.

Major media companies including the New York Times, CNN, Reuters, Chicago Tribune, ABC, and Australian Community Media (ACM) are now blocking GPTBot. Other web-based content providers such as Amazon, Wikihow, and Quora are also blocking the OpenAI crawler.

Introducing Code Llama, a state-of-the-art large language model for coding  — from ai.meta.com

Takeaways re: Code Llama:

  • Is a state-of-the-art LLM capable of generating code, and natural language about code, from both code and natural language prompts.
  • Is free for research and commercial use.
  • Is built on top of Llama 2 and is available in three models…
  • In our own benchmark testing, Code Llama outperformed state-of-the-art publicly available LLMs on code tasks

Key Highlights of Google Cloud Next ‘23— from analyticsindiamag.com by Shritama Saha
Meta’s Llama 2, Anthropic’s Claude 2, and TII’s Falcon join Model Garden, expanding model variety.

AI finally beats humans at a real-life sport— drone racing — from nature.com by Dan Fox
The new system combines simulation with onboard sensing and computation.

From DSC:
This is scary — not at all comforting to me. Militaries around the world continue their jockeying to be the most dominant, powerful, and effective killers of humankind. That definitely includes the United States and China. But certainly others as well. And below is another alarming item, also pointing out the downsides of how we use technologies.

The Next Wave of Scams Will Be Deepfake Video Calls From Your Boss — from bloomberg.com by Margi Murphy; behind paywall

Cybercriminals are constantly searching for new ways to trick people. One of the more recent additions to their arsenal was voice simulation software.

10 Great Colleges For Studying Artificial Intelligence — from forbes.com by Sim Tumay

The debut of ChatGPT in November created angst for college admission officers and professors worried they would be flooded by student essays written with the undisclosed assistance of artificial intelligence. But the explosion of interest in AI has benefits for higher education, including a new generation of students interested in studying and working in the field. In response, universities are revising their curriculums to educate AI engineers.

 

What value do you offer? — from linkedin.com by Dan Fitzpatrick — The AI Educator

Excerpt (emphasis DSC): 

So, as educators, mentors, and guides to our future generations, we must ask ourselves three pivotal questions:

  1. What value do we offer to our students?
  2. What value will they need to offer to the world?
  3. How are we preparing them to offer that value?

The answers to these questions are crucial, and they will redefine the trajectory of our education system.

We need to create an environment that encourages curiosity, embraces failure as a learning opportunity, and celebrates diversity. We need to teach our students how to learn, how to ask the right questions, and how to think for themselves.


AI 101 for Teachers



5 Little-Known ChatGPT Prompts to Learn Anything Faster — from medium.com by Eva Keiffenheim
Including templates, you can copy.

Leveraging ChatGPT for learning is the most meaningful skill this year for lifelong learners. But it’s too hard to find resources to master it.

As a learning science nerd, I’ve explored hundreds of prompts over the past months. Most of the advice doesn’t go beyond text summaries and multiple-choice testing.

That’s why I’ve created this article — it merges learning science with prompt writing to help you learn anything faster.


From DSC:
This is a very nice, clearly illustrated, free video to get started with the Midjourney (text-to-image) app. Nice work Dan!

Also see Dan’s
AI Generated Immersive Learning Series


What is Academic Integrity in the Era of Generative Artificial intelligence? — from silverliningforlearning.org by Chris Dede

In the new-normal of generative AI, how does one articulate the value of academic integrity? This blog presents my current response in about 2,500 words; a complete answer could fill a sizable book.

Massive amounts of misinformation are disseminated about generative AI, so the first part of my discussion clarifies what large language models (Chat-GPT and its counterparts) can currently do and what they cannot accomplish at this point in time. The second part describes ways in which generative AI can be misused as a means of learning; unfortunately, many people are now advocating for these mistaken applications to education. The third part describes ways in which large language models (LLM), used well, may substantially improve learning and education. I close with a plea for a robust, informed public discussion about these topics and issues.


Dr. Chris Dede and the Necessity of Training Students and Faculty to Improve Their Human Judgment and Work Properly with AIs — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard
We need to stop using test-driven curriculums that train students to listen and to compete against machines, a competition they cannot win. Instead, we need to help them augment their Judgment.


The Creative Ways Teachers Are Using ChatGPT in the Classroom — from time.com by Olivia B. Waxman

Many of the more than a dozen teachers TIME interviewed for this story argue that the way to get kids to care is to proactively use ChatGPT in the classroom.

Some of those creative ideas are already in effect at Peninsula High School in Gig Harbor, about an hour from Seattle. In Erin Rossing’s precalculus class, a student got ChatGPT to generate a rap about vectors and trigonometry in the style of Kanye West, while geometry students used the program to write mathematical proofs in the style of raps, which they performed in a classroom competition. In Kara Beloate’s English-Language Arts class, she allowed students reading Shakespeare’s Othello to use ChatGPT to translate lines into modern English to help them understand the text, so that they could spend class time discussing the plot and themes.


AI in Higher Education: Aiding Students’ Academic Journey — from td.org by J. Chris Brown

Topics/sections include:

Automatic Grading and Assessment
AI-Assisted Student Support Services
Intelligent Tutoring Systems
AI Can Help Both Students and Teachers


Shockwaves & Innovations: How Nations Worldwide Are Dealing with AI in Education — from the74million.org by Robin Lake
Lake: Other countries are quickly adopting artificial intelligence in schools. Lessons from Singapore, South Korea, India, China, Finland and Japan.

I found that other developed countries share concerns about students cheating but are moving quickly to use AI to personalize education, enhance language lessons and help teachers with mundane tasks, such as grading. Some of these countries are in the early stages of training teachers to use AI and developing curriculum standards for what students should know and be able to do with the technology.

Several countries began positioning themselves several years ago to invest in AI in education in order to compete in the fourth industrial revolution.


AI in Education — from educationnext.org by John Bailey
The leap into a new era of machine intelligence carries risks and challenges, but also plenty of promise

In the realm of education, this technology will influence how students learn, how teachers work, and ultimately how we structure our education system. Some educators and leaders look forward to these changes with great enthusiasm. Sal Kahn, founder of Khan Academy, went so far as to say in a TED talk that AI has the potential to effect “probably the biggest positive transformation that education has ever seen.” But others warn that AI will enable the spread of misinformation, facilitate cheating in school and college, kill whatever vestiges of individual privacy remain, and cause massive job loss. The challenge is to harness the positive potential while avoiding or mitigating the harm.


Generative AI and education futures — from ucl.ac.uk
Video highlights from Professor Mike Sharples’ keynote address at the 2023 UCL Education Conference, which explored opportunities to prosper with AI as a part of education.


Bringing AI Literacy to High Schools — from by Nikki Goth Itoi
Stanford education researchers collaborated with teachers to develop classroom-ready AI resources for high school instructors across subject areas.

To address these two imperatives, all high schools need access to basic AI tools and training. Yet the reality is that many underserved schools in low-income areas lack the bandwidth, skills, and confidence to guide their students through an AI-powered world. And if the pattern continues, AI will only worsen existing inequities. With this concern top of mind plus initial funding from the McCoy Ethics Center, Lee began recruiting some graduate students and high school teachers to explore how to give more people equal footing in the AI space.


 

10 ways for students to get repetitions for practice — from ditchthattextbook.com by Matt Miller

If we want students to remember – to lock new information or ideas into long-term memory – getting meaningful repetitions still is key. And the science of learning still backs that up.

So … if we want students to get repetitions to make new learning permanent, how can they do it? Here are 10 ways to help students get repetitions for practice – and how classroom technology can help.


MUST-TRY FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL ACTIVITY IDEAS – EASY EDTECH PODCAST 225 — from classtechtips.com by Dr. Monica Burns

In this episode, I share ten engaging activities that combine education, technology, and plenty of fun to make the first week of class super memorable. From digital scavenger hunts to virtual field trips, hear about a few of my favorite ways to create an interactive start to your school year.

Tips for First Week of School Activity Ideas

  • Establish routines in a fun way.
  • Provide opportunities for collaboration.
  • Introduce tech tools that will be used all year.

From DSC:
Dr. Burns has a great list of tools/tips/resources in this posting.


Teaching: What does it take to elevate good teaching? A lot. — from chronicle.com by Beth McMurtrie

Advice guides for teaching
As the fall approaches, we want to remind readers that The Chronicle offers a range of free advice guides designed to help improve your teaching. They’re written by experts for instructors who want to gather ideas on creating a syllabusteaching a good first day of classmaking your teaching more engagingimproving classroom discussion, making your teaching more inclusive and being a better online teacher.


Four directions for assessment redesign in the age of generative AI— from timeshighereducation.com by Julia Chen
The rise of generative AI has led universities to rethink how learning is quantified. Julia Chen offers four options for assessment redesign that can be applied across disciplines

Direction 1: From written description to multimodal explanation and application

Direction 2: From literature review alone to referencing lectures

Direction 3: From presentation of ideas to defence of views

Direction 4: From working alone to student-staff partnership


Absenteeism Mires Recovery from Pandemic Learning Losses — from educationnext.org by Phyllis W. Jordan
But simple measures by schools can encourage better student attendance

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

With the latest national test results showing a dispiriting lack of progress in catching students up academically in the wake of the pandemic, one potential explanation stands out: stubbornly high rates of student absenteeism. Vast numbers of students haven’t returned to class regularly since schools reopened.

From DSC:
Shouldn’t that tell us something? 

 


From DSC:
Which reminds me of some graphics:

The pace has changed -- don't come onto the track in a Model T

 

AI for Education Webinars — from youtube.com by Tom Barrett and others

AI for education -- a webinar series by Tom Barrett and company


Post-AI Assessment Design — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
A simple, three-step guide on how to design assessments in a post-AI world

Excerpt:

Step 1: Write Inquiry-Based Objectives
Inquiry-based objectives focus not just on the acquisition of knowledge but also on the development of skills and behaviours, like critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration and research skills.

They do this by requiring learners not just to recall or “describe back” concepts that are delivered via text, lecture or video. Instead, inquiry-based objectives require learners to construct their own understanding through the process of investigation, analysis and questioning.

Step 1 -- Write Inquiry-Based Objectives

.


Massive Disruption Now: What AI Means for Students, Educators, Administrators and Accreditation Boards
— from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard; via Will Richardson on LinkedIn
The choices many colleges and universities make regarding AI over the next 9 months will determine if they survive. The same may be true for schools.

Excerpts:

Just for a minute, consider how education would change if the following were true

  • AIs “hallucinated” less than humans
  • AIs could write in our own voices
  • AIs could accurately do math
  • AIs understood the unique academic (and eventually developmental) needs of each student and adapt instruction to that student
  • AIs could teach anything any student wanted or need to know any time of day or night
  • AIs could do this at a fraction of the cost of a human teacher or professor

Fall 2026 is three years away. Do you have a three year plan? Perhaps you should scrap it and write a new one (or at least realize that your current one cannot survive). If you run an academic institution in 2026 the same way you ran it in 2022, you might as well run it like you would have in 1920.  If you run an academic institution in 2030 (or any year when AI surpasses human intelligence) the same way you ran it in 2022, you might as well run it like you would have in 1820.  AIs will become more intelligent than us, perhaps in 10-20 years (LeCun), though there could be unanticipated breakthroughs that lower the time frame to a few years or less (Benjio); it’s just a question of when, not “if.”


On one creative use of AI — from aiandacademia.substack.com by Bryan Alexander
A new practice with pedagogical possibilities

Excerpt:

Look at those material items again. The voiceover? Written by an AI and turned into audio by software. The images? Created by human prompts in Midjourney. The music is, I think, human created. And the idea came from a discussion between a human and an AI?

How might this play out in a college or university class?

Imagine assignments which require students to craft such a video. Start from film, media studies, or computer science classes. Students work through a process:


Generative Textbooks — from opencontent.org by David Wiley

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

I continue to try to imagine ways generative AI can impact teaching and learning, including learning materials like textbooks. Earlier this week I started wondering – what if, in the future, educators didn’t write textbooks at all? What if, instead, we only wrote structured collections of highly crafted prompts? Instead of reading a static textbook in a linear fashion, the learner would use the prompts to interact with a large language model. These prompts could help learners ask for things like:

  • overviews and in-depth explanations of specific topics in a specific sequence,
  • examples that the learner finds personally relevant and interesting,
  • interactive practice – including open-ended exercises – with immediate, corrective feedback,
  • the structure of the relationships between ideas and concepts,
  • etc.

Also relevant/see:


.


Generating The Future of Education with AI — from aixeducation.com

AI in Education -- An online-based conference taking place on August 5-6, 2023

Designed for K12 and Higher-Ed Educators & Administrators, this conference aims to provide a platform for educators, administrators, AI experts, students, parents, and EdTech leaders to discuss the impact of AI on education, address current challenges and potentials, share their perspectives and experiences, and explore innovative solutions. A special emphasis will be placed on including students’ voices in the conversation, highlighting their unique experiences and insights as the primary beneficiaries of these educational transformations.


How Teachers Are Using ChatGPT in Class — from edweek.org by Larry Ferlazzo

Excerpt:

The use of generative AI in K-12 settings is complex and still in its infancy. We need to consider how these tools can enhance student creativity, improve writing skills, and be transparent with students about how generative AI works so they can better understand its limitations. As with any new tech, our students will be exposed to it, and it is our task as educators to help them navigate this new territory as well-informed, curious explorers.


Japan emphasizes students’ comprehension of AI in new school guidelines — from japantimes.co.jp by Karin Kaneko; via The Rundown

Excerpt:

The education ministry has emphasized the need for students to understand artificial intelligence in new guidelines released Tuesday, setting out how generative AI can be integrated into schools and the precautions needed to address associated risks.

Students should comprehend the characteristics of AI, including its advantages and disadvantages, with the latter including personal information leakages and copyright infringement, before they use it, according to the guidelines. They explicitly state that passing off reports, essays or any other works produced by AI as one’s own is inappropriate.


AI’s Teachable Moment: How ChatGPT Is Transforming the Classroom — from cnet.com by Mark Serrels
Teachers and students are already harnessing the power of AI, with an eye toward the future.

Excerpt:

Thanks to the rapid development of artificial intelligence tools like Dall-E and ChatGPT, my brother-in-law has been wrestling with low-level anxiety: Is it a good idea to steer his son down this path when AI threatens to devalue the work of creatives? Will there be a job for someone with that skill set in 10 years? He’s unsure. But instead of burying his head in the sand, he’s doing what any tech-savvy parent would do: He’s teaching his son how to use AI.

In recent months the family has picked up subscriptions to AI services. Now, in addition to drawing and sculpting and making movies and video games, my nephew is creating the monsters of his dreams with Midjourney, a generative AI tool that uses language prompts to produce images.


The AI Dictionary for Educators — from blog.profjim.com

To bridge this knowledge gap, I decided to make a quick little dictionary of AI terms specifically tailored for educators worldwide. Initially created for my own benefit, I’ve reworked my own AI Dictionary for Educators and expanded it to help my fellow teachers embrace the advancements AI brings to education.


7 Strategies to Prepare Educators to Teach With AI — from edweek.org by Lauraine Langreo; NOTE: Behind paywall


 
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