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Axios CEO Jim VandeHei’s note to his kids: Blunt AI talk [VandeHei]

On 02/04/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, game-changing environment, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Jim VandeHei’s note to his kids: Blunt AI talk — from axios.com by CEO Jim VandeHei
Axios CEO Jim VandeHei wrote this note to his wife, Autumn, and their three kids. She suggested sharing it more broadly since so many families are wrestling with how to think and talk about AI. So here it is …

Dear Family:
I want to put to words what I’m hearing, seeing, thinking and writing about AI.

Simply put, I’m now certain it will upend your work and life in ways more profound than the internet or possibly electricity. This will hit in months, not years.
The changes will be fast, wide, radical, disorienting and scary. No one will avoid its reach.

I’m not trying to frighten you. And I know your opinions range from wonderment to worry. That’s natural and OK. Our species isn’t wired for change of this speed or scale.

My conversations with the CEOs and builders of these LLMs, as well as my own deep experimentation with AI, have shaken and stirred me in ways I never imagined.

All of you must figure out how to master AI for any specific job or internship you hold or take. You’d be jeopardizing your future careers by not figuring out how to use AI to amplify and improve your work. You’d be wise to replace social media scrolling with LLM testing.

Be the very best at using AI for your gig.

…more here.

Also see:

Also relevant/see:

From Rooms to Ecosystems: When Connection Becomes the Catalyst

Some gatherings change not just in size, but in meaning. What started as a small, intentional space to celebrate partners has grown into a moment that reflects how an entire ecosystem has matured. Each year, the room fills with more leaders, more relationships, and more shared language about what learning can look like when people are genuinely connected. It is less about an event on the calendar and more about what it represents: an education community that knows each other, trusts each other, and keeps showing up.

That kind of connection did not happen by accident. Through efforts like Get on the Bus, hosted by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, networking for education leaders has shifted from transactional to relational. Students lead. Stories anchor the work. Conversations happen across tables, sectors, and roles. System leaders, intermediaries, industry partners, and civic organizations are not passing business cards. They are building shared understanding and social capital that lasts long after the room clears.

This week’s newsletter carries that same energy. You will find examples of learning that travels beyond buildings, leadership conversations grounded in real tensions, and models that reflect what becomes possible when ecosystems are aligned. When people feel connected to one another and to a common purpose, the work gets clearer, stronger, and more human. That sense of belonging is not just powerful. It is foundational to what comes next.

Town Hall Recap: What’s Next in Learning 2026 — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark, Nate McClennen, Shawnee Caruthers, Victoria Andrews

As we enter 2026, the Getting Smart team is diving deep into the convergence of human potential and technological opportunity. Our annual Town Hall isn’t just a forecast—it’s a roadmap for the year ahead. We will explore how human-centered AI is reshaping pedagogy, the power of participation, and the new realities of educational leadership. Join us as we define the new dispositions for future-ready educators and discover how to build meaningful, personalized pathways for every student.

As seen on LinkedIn.com:

Philippa provides a link to:

How AI Agents Are Changing Corporate Learning with Dr. Philippa Hardman (Podcast Episode 7)

Global list of over 100 L&D conferences in 2026 — from donaldhtaylor.co.uk by Don Taylor

I’m a firm believer in conferences. This isn’t just because I have chaired the Learning Technologies Conference in London since 2000. It’s because they are invaluable in sustaining our community. So many in Learning and Development work alone or in small teams, that building and maintaining personal contacts is crucial.For a number of years, I have kept a personal list of the Learning and Development conferences running internationally. This year, I thought it would be helpful to share it.

What’s Happening to Jobs for New Grads — from linkedin.com by Jeff Selingo

No matter where you go to college, the job market math for new graduates is grim right now, as I write in a new article out yesterday in New York magazine.

There were 15% fewer entry-level and internship job postings in 2025 than the year before, according to Handshake, a job-search platform popular with college students; meanwhile, applications per posting rose 26%.

How much AI is to blame for the fragile entry-level job market is unclear. Several research studies show AI is hitting young college-educated workers disproportionately, but broader economic forces are part of the story, too.

As Christine Y. Cruzvergara, Handshake’s chief education strategy officer, told me, AI isn’t “taking” jobs so much as employers are “choosing” to replace parts of jobs with automation rather than redesign roles around workers. “They’re replacing people instead of enabling their workforce,” she said.

Today’s graduates are stuck in an in-between moment. Many started college before AI mattered and graduated into a labor market reshaped almost overnight, where entry-level roles are disappearing faster than students can adapt.

AI Is Quietly Rewiring the ADDIE Model (In a Good Way) [Hardman] + Generative AI for Course Design: Writing Effective Prompts for Multiple Choice Question Development [Najafi]

On 01/20/2026, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, bots, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning theories, liberal arts, Michigan, online learning, pedagogy, productivity / tips and tricks, teaching & learning, training / L&D, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

AI Is Quietly Rewiring the ADDIE Model (In a Good Way) — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
The traditional ADDIE workflow isn’t dead, but it is evolving

The real story isn’t what AI can produce — it’s how it changes the decisions we make at every stage of instructional design.

After working with thousands of instructional designers on my bootcamp, I’ve learned something counterintuitive: the best teams aren’t the ones with the fanciest AI tools — they’re the ones who know when to use which mode—and when to use none at all.

Once you recognise that, you start to see instructional design differently — not as a linear process, but as a series of decision loops where AI plays distinct roles.

In this post, I show you the 3 modes of AI that actually matter in instructional design — and map them across every phase of ADDIE so you know exactly when to let AI run, and when to slow down and think.

Also see:

Generative AI for Course Design: Writing Effective Prompts for Multiple Choice Question Development — from onlineteaching.umich.edu by Hedieh Najafi

In higher education, developing strong multiple-choice questions can be a time-intensive part of the course design process. Developing such items requires subject-matter expertise and assessment literacy, and for faculty and designers who are creating and producing online courses, it can be difficult to find the capacity to craft quality multiple-choice questions.

At the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation, learning experience designers are using generative artificial intelligence to streamline the multiple-choice question development process and help ameliorate this issue. In this article, I summarize one of our projects that explored effective prompting strategies to develop multiple-choice questions with ChatGPT for our open course portfolio. We examined how structured prompting can improve the quality of AI-generated assessments, producing relevant comprehension and recall items and options that include plausible distractors.

Achieving this goal enables us to develop several ungraded practice opportunities, preparing learners for their graded assessments while also freeing up more time for course instructors and designers.

Reflecting on Education in 2025 [Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth]

On 01/06/2026, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, education, education reform, ideas, K-12 related, student-related, teachers, trends, United States, by Daniel Christian

Reflecting on Education in 2025 — from by Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth

Educators have become more discerning about initiatives to invest in, tools to explore, and expectations to set. The question “Can we do this?” shifted to “Should we do this? And “Why?” Which then led to the “How” part.

This shift showed up in conversations around curriculum, assessment, technology use, and student well-being. Schools began reducing or being more selective rather than layering, which helped educators to adjust better to change. Leaders focused more on coherence instead of compliance. And in some conversations I had or articles I read, I noticed respectful pushback on practices that added complexity without improving learning.

I think this is why the recalibration mattered.

AI has become less about “cheating” and more about helping students and others learn how to think, evaluate, and create responsibly in an AI-infused world.
…
Educators have become more discerning about initiatives to invest in, tools to explore, and expectations to set. The question “Can we do this?” shifted to “Should we do this? And “Why?” Which then led to the “How” part.

At CES 2026, Everything Is AI. What Matters Is How You Use It — from wired.com by Boone Ashworth
Integrated chatbots and built-in machine intelligence are no longer standout features in consumer tech. If companies want to win in the AI era, they’ve got to hone the user experience.

Beyond Wearables
Right now, AI is on your face and arms—smart glasses and smart watches—but this year will see it proliferate further into products like earbuds, headphones, and smart clothing.

Health tech will see an influx of AI features too, as companies aim to use AI to monitor biometric data from wearables like rings and wristbands. Heath sensors will also continue to show up in newer places like toilets, bath mats, and brassieres.

The smart home will continue to be bolstered by machine intelligence, with more products that can listen, see, and understand what’s happening in your living space. Familiar candidates for AI-powered upgrades like smart vacuums and security cameras will be joined by surprising AI bedfellows like refrigerators and garage door openers.

Along these lines, see
live updates from CNET here.

ChatGPT is overrated. Here’s what to use instead. — from washingtonpost.com by Geoffrey A. Fowler
When I want help from AI, ChatGPT is no longer my default first stop.

I can tell you which AI tools are worth using — and which to avoid — because I’ve been running a chatbot fight club.

I conducted dozens of bot challenges based on real things people do with AI, including writing breakup texts and work emails, decoding legal contracts and scientific research, answering tricky research questions, and editing photos and making “art.” Human experts including best-selling authors, reference librarians, a renowned scientist and even a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer judged the results.

After a year of bot battles, one thing stands out: There is no single best AI. The smartest way to use chatbots today is to pick different tools for different jobs — and not assume one bot can do it all.

How Collaborative AI Agents Are Shaping the Future of Autonomous IT — from aijourn.com by Michael Nappi

Some enterprise platforms now support cross-agent communication and integration with ecosystems maintained by companies like Microsoft, NVIDIA, Google, and Oracle. These cross-platform data fabrics break down silos and turn isolated AI pilots into enterprise-wide services. The result is an IT backbone that not only automates but also collaborates for continuous learning, diagnostics, and system optimization in real time.

Nvidia dominated the headlines in 2025 — these were its 15 biggest events of the year — from finance.yahoo.com by Daniel Howley

It’s difficult to think of any single company that had a bigger impact on Wall Street and the AI trade in 2025 than Nvidia (NVDA).
…
Nvidia’s revenue soared in 2025, bringing in $187.1 billion, and its market capitalization continued to climb, briefly eclipsing the $5 trillion mark before settling back in the $4 trillion range.

There were plenty of major highs and deep lows throughout the year, but these 15 were among the biggest moments of Nvidia’s 2025.

How Your Learners Actually Learn with AI [Hardman] + another item re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 12/22/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, liberal arts, library / librarians, Microsoft, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, research, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

How Your Learners *Actually* Learn with AI — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
What 37.5 million AI chats show us about how learners use AI at the end of 2025 — and what this means for how we design & deliver learning experiences in 2026

Last week, Microsoft released a similar analysis of a whopping 37.5 million Copilot conversations. These conversation took place on the platform from January to September 2025, providing us with a window into if and how AI use in general — and AI use among learners specifically – has evolved in 2025.

Microsoft’s mass behavioural data gives us a detailed, global glimpse into what learners are actually doing across devices, times of day and contexts. The picture that emerges is pretty clear and largely consistent with what OpenAI’s told us back in the summer:

AI isn’t functioning primarily as an “answers machine”: the majority of us use AI as a tool to personalise and differentiate generic learning experiences and – ultimately – to augment human learning.

Let’s dive in!

Learners don’t “decide” to use AI anymore. They assume it’s there, like search, like spellcheck, like calculators. The question has shifted from “should I use this?” to “how do I use this effectively?”

8 AI Agents Every HR Leader Needs To Know In 2026 — from forbes.com by Bernard Marr

So where do you start? There are many agentic tools and platforms for AI tasks on the market, and the most effective approach is to focus on practical, high-impact workflows. So here, I’ll look at some of the most compelling use cases, as well as provide an overview of the tools that can help you quickly deliver tangible wins.
…
Some of the strongest opportunities in HR include:

Workforce management, administering job satisfaction surveys, monitoring and tracking performance targets, scheduling interventions, and managing staff benefits, medical leave, and holiday entitlement.
Recruitment screening, automatically generating and posting job descriptions, filtering candidates, ranking applicants against defined criteria, identifying the strongest matches, and scheduling interviews.
Employee onboarding, issuing new hires with contracts and paperwork, guiding them to onboarding and training resources, tracking compliance and completion rates, answering routine enquiries, and escalating complex cases to human HR specialists.
Training and development, identifying skills gaps, providing self-service access to upskilling and reskilling opportunities, creating personalized learning pathways aligned with roles and career goals, and tracking progress toward completion.

25 Big Ideas that will define 2026 [LinkedIn News]

On 12/22/2025, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Blockchain, bots, business, changing business models, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, health, ideas, legislatures / government / legal, social media, workplace, by Daniel Christian

25 Big Ideas that will define 2026 — from linkedin.com by LinkedIn News
This year’s predictions capture a world in flux, where technology and humanity will press closer than ever, fueling new opportunities and tensions.

Blockchain: Blockchain technology will create new ways for creators to keep more of their revenue by enabling them to host their own content, bypassing traditional social media platforms that take a cut of their earnings.

3.AI: Artificial intelligence will enhance creators’ ability to scale their personal brands exponentially — producing more content, creating virtual influencers and expanding reach in ways we’ve never seen.
…
Laws around artificial intelligence in mental health care are set to change dramatically in 2026, in the wake of lawsuits alleging harm or “psychosis” linked to AI tools. After years of rapid adoption — and little oversight — regulators will move to treat therapy chatbots more like medical devices than lifestyle apps.
…
Small businesses — which make up 90% of companies globally — will be the top destination for young jobseekers in 2026.
…
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is set to replace search engine optimization (SEO) as the way brands get discovered in the year ahead. As consumers turn to AI chatbots, agentic workflows and answer engines, appearing prominently in generative outputs will matter more than ranking in search engines.

Coursera to Combine with Udemy to Empower the Global Workforce with Skills for the AI Era

On 12/17/2025, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, change, changing business models, learning ecosystem, online learning, online media, pace of change, platforms, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Coursera to Combine with Udemy to Empower the Global Workforce with Skills for the AI Era — from investor.coursera.com

Highly Complementary Capabilities Will Create a Leading Technology Platform, Redefining Skills Discovery, Development, and Mastery for Learners and Organizations at Scale

Unites Udemy’s Dynamic AI-Powered Skills Development Marketplace with World-Class University and Industry Brands Under the Coursera Ecosystem, Expanding Value, Impact, and Choice Globally

Strengthens Combined Company’s Financial Profile with Pro Forma Annual Revenue of More Than $1.5 Billion and Anticipated Annual Run-Rate Cost Synergies of $115 Million Within 24 Months

“We’re at a pivotal moment in which AI is rapidly redefining the skills required for every job across every industry. Organizations and individuals around the world need a platform that is as agile as the new and emerging skills learners must master,” said Greg Hart, CEO of Coursera. “By combining the highly complementary strengths of Coursera and Udemy, we will be in an even stronger position to address the global talent transformation opportunity, unlock a faster pace of innovation, and deliver valuable experiences and outcomes for our learners and customers. Together, we will ensure our millions of learners, thousands of enterprise, university, and government customers, and expert instructors have a platform to keep pace with technology acceleration.”

AI working competency is now a graduation requirement at Purdue [Pacton] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 12/16/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Alternatives, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Australia, bots, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), India, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, microlearning, online media, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, training / L&D, trends, UK, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

AI Has Landed in Education: Now What? — from learningfuturesdigest.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman

Here’s what’s shaped the AI-education landscape in the last month:

The AI Speed Trap is [still] here: AI adoption in L&D is basically won (87%)—but it’s being used to ship faster, not learn better (84% prioritising speed), scaling “more of the same” at pace.
AI tutors risk a “pedagogy of passivity”: emerging evidence suggests tutoring bots can reduce cognitive friction and pull learners down the ICAP spectrum—away from interactive/constructive learning toward efficient consumption.
Singapore + India are building what the West lacks: they’re treating AI as national learning infrastructure—for resilience (Singapore) and access + language inclusion (India)—while Western systems remain fragmented and reactive.
Agentic AI is the next pivot: early signs show a shift from AI as a content engine to AI as a learning partner—with UConn using agents to remove barriers so learners can participate more fully in shared learning.
Moodle’s AI stance sends two big signals: the traditional learning ecosystem in fragmenting, and the concept of “user sovereignty” over by AI is emerging.

Four strategies for implementing custom AIs that help students learn, not outsource — from educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au by Kria Coleman, Matthew Clemson, Laura Crocco and Samantha Clarke; via Derek Bruff

For Cogniti to be taken seriously, it needs to be woven into the structure of your unit and its delivery, both in class and on Canvas, rather than left on the side. This article shares practical strategies for implementing Cogniti in your teaching so that students:

understand the context and purpose of the agent,
know how to interact with it effectively,
perceive its value as a learning tool over any other available AI chatbots, and
engage in reflection and feedback.

In this post, we discuss how to introduce and integrate Cogniti agents into the learning environment so students understand their context, interact effectively, and see their value as customised learning companions.

In this post, we share four strategies to help introduce and integrate Cogniti in your teaching so that students understand their context, interact effectively, and see their value as customised learning companions.

Collection: Teaching with Custom AI Chatbots — from teaching.virginia.edu; via Derek Bruff
The default behaviors of popular AI chatbots don’t always align with our teaching goals. This collection explores approaches to designing AI chatbots for particular pedagogical purposes.

Example/excerpt:

Not Your Default Chatbot: Five Teaching Applications of Custom AI Bots
Agile Learning
derekbruff.org/2025/10/01/five-teaching-applications-of-custom-ai-chatbots/

7 Legal Tech Trends That Will Reshape Every Business In 2026 — from forbes.com by Bernard Marr

Here are the trends that will matter most.

AI Agents As Legal Assistants
AI As A Driver Of Business Strategy
Automation In Judicial Administration
Always-On Compliance Monitoring
Cybersecurity As An Essential Survival Tool
Predictive Litigation
Compliance As Part Of The Everyday Automation Fabric

According to the Thomson Reuters Future Of Professionals report, most experts already expect AI to transform their work within five years, with many viewing it as a positive force. The challenge now is clear: legal and compliance leaders must understand the tools reshaping their field and prepare their teams for a very different way of working in 2026.

Addendum on 12/17/25:

Top 10 legal tech episodes in 2025 — from lawyersweekly.com.au
With AI and legal technology at the forefront of the profession’s mind now more than ever, The Lawyers Weekly Show and our special series LawTech Talks delivered in-depth explorations of these game-changing topics. Now, we’re highlighting the 10 most downloaded episodes that sparked conversation across the legal tech community.
eCourtDate Winner Of “LegalOps Platform of the Year” In 2025 LegalTech Breakthrough Awards Program — from globenewswire.com
Prestigious Annual Awards Program Recognizes Companies and Products Driving Innovation in the Global Legal Industry

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