Three Ways to Deal with Learners Who Skip the Content & Go to the Quiz — from blogs.articulate.com by Tom Kuhlmann
Excerpt:
Quiz Tip #1: Provide a Pre-Test
Don’t fight skipping to the quiz. Instead, put it up front. Give the learners who know the content the opportunity to prove it upfront.
If they can pass the quiz, then they demonstrate they know the content (or at least to the level that you’re quizzing). Pass the quiz, get credit for completion. Don’t pass the quiz, go to page 1 of the course.
On a somewhat relevant note, see:
Creating Better Video For Learning, Part 3 — from elearningindustry.com by Patti Shank
Summary:
Which principles are valuable for making instructional video better for mental processing? Part 3 of my series on better video for learning primarily discusses processing issues and Mayer’s (2021) and Brame’s (2016) instructional video design principles.
Start Building Your Knowledge About Artificial Intelligence — from learningguild.com by Bill Brandon
Excerpt:
In this article I have listed some resources that I believe will help readers get started on the journey toward more fully understanding the technology and its applications to the field of learning and development.
7 ways to think and act strategically in your organisation about AI in learning — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark
Excerpt:
Above all, you need to see it strategically. There is no imperative to use this tech but there is an imperative to consider its use. Sure, it’s OK to say no but you should have a reason for saying no, as this is the technology of the age. I’ve been saying this in three books, lots of articles and a ton of keynotes for 7 years and it is now happening. This is the new internet, only smarter.
Why The Education Economy Is The Next Big Thing For The American Workforce — from fastcompany.com by Brandon Busteed
How can integrating our educational system, our employers, and our job creators affect our modern economy?
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
Though the economy and education have long been topics of top concern to Americans, we haven’t created strong linkages between the two.
The topics are more like two castles with a large moat between them. Yet there is nothing more important we can do as a country than to build the world’s most effective “educonomy,” which would seamlessly integrate our educational system, our employers, and our job creators.
…
All told, we collected the voices of close to 1 million Americans on this subject in the past year alone. And what we’ve learned is alarming:
Student engagement in school drops precipitously from 5th grade through 12th grade. About three quarters of elementary school kids (76%) are engaged in school, while only 44% of high school kids are engaged. The longer students stay in school, the less engaged they become. If we were doing this right, the trend would be going in the exact opposite direction.
From DSC:
I appreciated the imagery of the economy and education being like two castles with a large moat between them. I, like many others, also use the term siloed to describe our various learning ecosystems — PreK-12, higher education and vocational programming, and the corporate/business world (I realize I could also include those who work in other areas such as the government, but hopefully folks get the gist of what I’m trying to say).
But here’s the most disturbing part (albeit likely not a surprise to those working within K-12 environments):
About seven in 10 K-12 teachers are not engaged in their work (69%), and as a profession, teachers are dead last among all professions Gallup studied in saying their “opinions count” at work and their “supervisors create an open and trusting environment.” We also found that teacher engagement is the most important driver of student engagement. We’ll never improve student engagement until we boost teachers’ own workplace engagement first.
Our older daughter works in an elementary school where several of the teachers left prior to Christmas and more have announced that they are leaving after this academic year. For teachers to leave halfway through the year, you know something is majorly wrong!
I think that legislators are part of the problem, as they straight-jacket teachers, principals, and administrators with all kinds of standardized testing.
I would think that such testing dictates the pace and the content and the overall agendas out there. I don’t recall taking nearly as many standardized tests as our youth do today. Looking back, each of my teachers was engaged and seemed to be happy and enthusiastic. I don’t think that’s the case any longer. Let’s ask the teachers — not the legislators — why that is the case and what they would recommend to change things (before it’s too late).
Instructional Design 2023: Experts Share Top Predictions — from td.org by Jes Thompson
“As technology options continue to increase for IDs, they’ll have a lot to choose from to create useful learning experiences. To prove our worth to the organizations we work for, it will be more important than ever to focus on the solution rather than the technology—especially as layoffs continue in the tech industry. Hopefully we’ll see a greater presence in events and online networks as people try to find new roles. I think we’ll continue to see an influx of educators coming into the profession too. As a field, we’re in a great place to learn from the experience of others and to use technology to find innovative ways to support our learners.”
—Heidi Kirby, Customer Education Manager and Co-Founder, Useful Stuff
“I think we’ll continue to see an influx of educators coming into the profession too.” — which brings me to another article:
Edtech Career Opportunities: 7 Tips To Stand Out At A Job Fair — from teachercareercoach.com
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
Are you a transitioning teacher looking for an edtech career? If so, you’re in luck! Jeff Patterson, the CEO of Gaggle, hosts virtual Edtech Career Fairs.
…
This is a great chance to learn about the edtech industry and connect with key players. So, grab your pen and paper and get ready to take notes! We’ll be sharing some insight to help you make the most of your experience and stand out from the crowd. Let’s get started!
Making Change: How America’s Workforce is Responding to Rising Costs — from insights.guildeducation.com
Taken together, the results show an American workforce focused on the long-term. Workers are managing to costs, but more than that, they’re making down payments on their future. This is a workforce motivated more than ever by a path to career growth and economic stability.
Introducing: ChatGPT Edu-Mega-Prompts — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman; with thanks to Ray Schroeder out on LinkedIn for this resource
How to combine the power of AI + learning science to improve your efficiency & effectiveness as an educator
From DSC:
Before relaying some excerpts, I want to say that I get the gist of what Dr. Hardman is saying re: quizzes. But I’m surprised to hear she had so many pedagogical concerns with quizzes. I, too, would like to see quizzes used as an instrument of learning and to practice recall — and not just for assessment. But I would give quizzes a higher thumbs up than what she did. I think she was also trying to say that quizzes don’t always identify misconceptions or inaccurate foundational information.
Excerpts:
The Bad News: Most AI technologies that have been built specifically for educators in the last few years and months imitate and threaten to spread the use of broken instructional practices (i.e. content + quiz).
The Good News: Armed with prompts which are carefully crafted to ask the right thing in the right way, educators can use AI like GPT3 to improve the effectiveness of their instructional practices.
As is always the case, ChatGPT is your assistant. If you’re not happy with the result, you can edit and refine it using your expertise, either alone or through further conversation with ChatGPT.
For example, once the first response is generated, you can ask ChatGPT to make the activity more or less complex, to change the scenario and/or suggest more or different resources – the options are endless.
Philippa recommended checking out Rob Lennon’s streams of content. Here’s an example from his Twitter account:
Everyone’s using ChatGPT.
But almost everyone’s STUCK in beginner mode.
10 techniques to get massively ahead with AI:
(cut-and-paste these prompts?)
— Rob Lennon ? | Audience Growth (@thatroblennon) January 3, 2023
Also relevant/see:
3 Trends That May Unlock AI’s Potential for L&D in 2023 — from learningguild.com by Juan Naranjo
Excerpts:
AI-assisted design and development work
This is the trend most likely to have a dramatic evolution this year.
…
Solutions like large language models, speech generators, content generators, image generators, translation tools, transcription tools, and video generators, among many others, will transform the way IDs create the learning experiences our organizations use. Two examples are:
1. IDs will be doing more curation and less creation:
2. IDs will spend less, and in some cases no time at all, creating learning pathways
AI engines contained in LXPs and other platforms will select the right courses for employees and guide these learners from their current level of knowledge and skill to their goal state with substantially less human intervention.
The Creator of ChatGPT Thinks AI Should Be Regulated — from time.com by John Simons
Excerpts:
Somehow, Mira Murati can forthrightly discuss the dangers of AI while making you feel like it’s all going to be OK.
…
A growing number of leaders in the field are warning of the dangers of AI. Do you have any misgivings about the technology?
This is a unique moment in time where we do have agency in how it shapes society. And it goes both ways: the technology shapes us and we shape it. There are a lot of hard problems to figure out. How do you get the model to do the thing that you want it to do, and how you make sure it’s aligned with human intention and ultimately in service of humanity? There are also a ton of questions around societal impact, and there are a lot of ethical and philosophical questions that we need to consider. And it’s important that we bring in different voices, like philosophers, social scientists, artists, and people from the humanities.
Whispers of A.I.’s Modular Future — from newyorker.com by James Somers; via Sam DeBrule
Excerpts:
Gerganov adapted it from a program called Whisper, released in September by OpenAI, the same organization behind ChatGPTand dall-e. Whisper transcribes speech in more than ninety languages. In some of them, the software is capable of superhuman performance—that is, it can actually parse what somebody’s saying better than a human can.
…
Until recently, world-beating A.I.s like Whisper were the exclusive province of the big tech firms that developed them.
Ever since I’ve had tape to type up—lectures to transcribe, interviews to write down—I’ve dreamed of a program that would do it for me. The transcription process took so long, requiring so many small rewindings, that my hands and back would cramp. As a journalist, knowing what awaited me probably warped my reporting: instead of meeting someone in person with a tape recorder, it often seemed easier just to talk on the phone, typing up the good parts in the moment.
Microsoft Teams Premium: Cut costs and add AI-powered productivity — from microsoft.com by Nicole Herskowitz
Excerpt:
Built on the familiar, all-in-one collaborative experience of Microsoft Teams, Teams Premium brings the latest technologies, including Large Language Models powered by OpenAI’s GPT-3.5, to make meetings more intelligent, personalized, and protected—whether it’s one-on-one, large meetings, virtual appointments, or webinars.
Top List: The Best Mobile Learning Content Development Companies (2023) — from elearningindustry.com by Christopher Pappas
Summary:
Working remotely has brought a major shift to corporate training, making mobile learning more important than ever. Your top assets, and frankly your whole staff, will need to adjust to this new reality. To help you out, we decided to gather the best content providers for mobile learning in one place. Explore our top list and find the right partner to start your mobile learning project or even develop your own mobile app. Are you ready?
6 Free Tools for Evaluating Web Accessibility — from boia.org
Excerpt:
Can you evaluate your website’s accessibility on your own?
Not necessarily. To ensure conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), you’ll need to test your content regularly by using both manual and automated tools. Ideally, manual tests should be performed by human testers who have disabilities.
However, as you learn about the concepts of WCAG, you can use free tools to test your website for common barriers. If you’re a web designer or developer, online tools can be a vital resource as you incorporate the best practices of inclusive design.
Below, we’ll discuss six free tools that can help you make better design decisions.
From DSC:
Let’s put together a nationwide campaign that would provide a website — or a series of websites if an agreement can’t be reached amongst the individual states — about learning how to learn. In business, there’s a “direct-to-consumer” approach. Well, we could provide a “direct-to-learner” approach — from cradle to grave. Seeing as how everyone is now required to be a lifelong learner, such a campaign would have enormous benefits to all of the United States. This campaign would be located in airports, subway stations, train stations, on billboards along major highways, in libraries, and in many more locations.
We could focus on things such as:
NOTE:
The URL I’m using above doesn’t exist, at least not at the time of this posting.
But I’m proposing that it should exist.
A group of institutions, organizations, and individuals could contribute to this. For example The Learning Scientists, Daniel Willingham, Donald Clark, James Lang, Derek Bruff, The Learning Agency Lab, Robert Talbert, Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain, Eva Keffenheim, Benedict Carey, Ken Bain, and many others.
Perhaps there could be:
