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7+ items regarding AI in our learning ecosystems

On 08/26/2024, in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), business, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, graphics, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, multimedia, music, neurodivergent/special needs, pace of change, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, student-related, teaching & learning, training / L&D, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

What Students Want: Key Results from DEC Global AI Student Survey 2024 — from digitaleducationcouncil.com by Digital Education Council

  • 86% of students globally are regularly using AI in their studies, with 54% of them using AI on a weekly basis, the recent Digital Education Council Global AI Student Survey found.
  • ChatGPT was found to be the most widely used AI tool, with 66% of students using it, and over 2 in 3 students reported using AI for information searching.
  • Despite their high rates of AI usage, 1 in 2 students do not feel AI ready. 58% reported that they do not feel that they had sufficient AI knowledge and skills, and 48% do not feel adequately prepared for an AI-enabled workplace.

Chatting with WEF about ChatGPT in the classroom — from futureofbeinghuman.com by Andrew Maynard
A short video on generative AI in education from the World Economic Forum

The Post-AI Instructional Designer — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
How the ID role is changing, and what this means for your key skills, roles & responsibilities

Specifically, the study revealed that teachers who reported most productivity gains were those who used AI not just for creating outputs (like quizzes or worksheets) but also for seeking input on their ideas, decisions and strategies.

Those who engaged with AI as a thought partner throughout their workflow, using it to generate ideas, define problems, refine approaches, develop strategies and gain confidence in their decisions gained significantly more from their collaboration with AI than those who only delegated functional tasks to AI.  

Leveraging Generative AI for Inclusive Excellence in Higher Education — from er.educause.edu by Lorna Gonzalez, Kristi O’Neil-Gonzalez, Megan Eberhardt-Alstot, Michael McGarry and Georgia Van Tyne
Drawing from three lenses of inclusion, this article considers how to leverage generative AI as part of a constellation of mission-centered inclusive practices in higher education.

The hype and hesitation about generative artificial intelligence (AI) diffusion have led some colleges and universities to take a wait-and-see approach.Footnote1 However, AI integration does not need to be an either/or proposition where its use is either embraced or restricted or its adoption aimed at replacing or outright rejecting existing institutional functions and practices. Educators, educational leaders, and others considering academic applications for emerging technologies should consider ways in which generative AI can complement or augment mission-focused practices, such as those aimed at accessibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Drawing from three lenses of inclusion—accessibility, identity, and epistemology—this article offers practical suggestions and considerations that educators can deploy now. It also presents an imperative for higher education leaders to partner toward an infrastructure that enables inclusive practices in light of AI diffusion.

An example way to leverage AI:

How to Leverage AI for Identity Inclusion
Educators can use the following strategies to intentionally design instructional content with identity inclusion in mind.

  • Provide a GPT or AI assistant with upcoming lesson content (e.g., lecture materials or assignment instructions) and ask it to provide feedback (e.g., troublesome vocabulary, difficult concepts, or complementary activities) from certain perspectives. Begin with a single perspective (e.g., first-time, first-year student), but layer in more to build complexity as you interact with the GPT output.

Gen AI’s next inflection point: From employee experimentation to organizational transformation — from mckinsey.com by Charlotte Relyea, Dana Maor, and Sandra Durth with Jan Bouly
As many employees adopt generative AI at work, companies struggle to follow suit. To capture value from current momentum, businesses must transform their processes, structures, and approach to talent.

To harness employees’ enthusiasm and stay ahead, companies need a holistic approach to transforming how the whole organization works with gen AI; the technology alone won’t create value.

Our research shows that early adopters prioritize talent and the human side of gen AI more than other companies (Exhibit 3). Our survey shows that nearly two-thirds of them have a clear view of their talent gaps and a strategy to close them, compared with just 25 percent of the experimenters. Early adopters focus heavily on upskilling and reskilling as a critical part of their talent strategies, as hiring alone isn’t enough to close gaps and outsourcing can hinder strategic-skills development. Finally, 40 percent of early-adopter respondents say their organizations provide extensive support to encourage employee adoption, versus 9 percent of experimenter respondents.

7 Ways to Use AI Music in Your Classroom — from classtechtips.com by Monica Burns

Change blindness — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick
21 months later

I don’t think anyone is completely certain about where AI is going, but we do know that things have changed very quickly, as the examples in this post have hopefully demonstrated. If this rate of change continues, the world will look very different in another 21 months. The only way to know is to live through it.

My AI Breakthrough — from mgblog.org by Miguel Guhlin

Over the subsequent weeks, I’ve made other adjustments, but that first one was the one I asked myself:

  1. What are you doing?
  2. Why are you doing it that way?
  3. How could you change that workflow with AI?
  4. Applying the AI to the workflow, then asking, “Is this what I was aiming for? How can I improve the prompt to get closer?”
  5. Documenting what worked (or didn’t). Re-doing the work with AI to see what happened, and asking again, “Did this work?”

So, something that took me WEEKS of hard work, and in some cases I found impossible, was made easy. Like, instead of weeks, it takes 10 minutes. The hard part? Building the prompt to do what I want, fine-tuning it to get the result. But that doesn’t take as long now.

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“Let’s Make a Movie Teaser With AI” [Nest] & 9+ other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 08/20/2024, in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, art, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assistive technologies, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), career development, change, communications, creativity, digital audio, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, higher education, ideas, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, law schools, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, legislatures / government / legal, media/film, multimedia, neurodivergent/special needs, NVIDIA, parents/guardians, participation, personalized/customized learning, productivity / tips and tricks, teaching & learning, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

One thing often happens at keynotes and conferences. It surprised me…. — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

AI is welcomed by those with dyslexia, and other learning issues, helping to mitigate some of the challenges associated with reading, writing, and processing information. Those who want to ban AI want to destroy the very thing that has helped most on accessibility. Here are 10 ways dyslexics, and others with issues around text-based learning, can use AI to support their daily activities and learning.

    • Text-to-Speech & Speech-to-Text Tools…
    • Grammar and Spelling Assistants…
    • Comprehension Tools…
    • Visual and Multisensory Tools…
    • …and more

Let’s Make a Movie Teaser With AI — from whytryai.com by Daniel Nest
How to use free generative AI tools to make a teaser trailer.

Here are the steps and the free tools we can use for each.

  1. Brainstorm ideas & flesh out the concept.
    1. Claude 3.5 Sonnet
    2. Google Gemini 1.5 Pro
    3. …or any other free LLM
  2. Create starting frames for each scene.
    1. FLUX.1 Pro
    2. Ideogram
    3. …or any other free text-to-image model
  3. Bring the images to life.
    1. Kling AI
    2. Luma Dream Machine
    3. Runway Gen-2
  4. Generate the soundtrack.
    1. Udio
    2. Suno
  5. Add sound effects.
    1. ElevenLabs Sound Effects
    2. ElevenLabs VideoToSoundEffects
    3. Meta Audiobox
  6. Put everything together.
    1. Microsoft Clipchamp
    2. DaVinci Resolve
    3. …or any other free video editing tool.

Here we go.

Is AI in Schools Promising or Overhyped? Potentially Both, New Reports Suggest — from the74million.org by Greg Toppo; via Claire Zau
One urges educators to prep for an artificial intelligence boom. The other warns that it could all go awry. Together, they offer a reality check.

Are U.S. public schools lagging behind other countries like Singapore and South Korea in preparing teachers and students for the boom of generative artificial intelligence? Or are our educators bumbling into AI half-blind, putting students’ learning at risk?

Or is it, perhaps, both?

Two new reports, coincidentally released on the same day last week, offer markedly different visions of the emerging field: One argues that schools need forward-thinking policies for equitable distribution of AI across urban, suburban and rural communities. The other suggests they need something more basic: a bracing primer on what AI is and isn’t, what it’s good for and how it can all go horribly wrong.

Bite-Size AI Content for Faculty and Staff — from aiedusimplified.substack.com by Lance Eaton
Another two 5-tips videos for faculty and my latest use case: creating FAQs!

I had an opportunity recently to do more of my 15-minute lightning talks. You can see my lightning talks from late winter in this post, or can see all of them on my YouTube channel. These two talks were focused on faculty in particular.

Also from Lance, see:

AI in Education: Leading a Paradigm Shift — from gettingsmart.com by Dr. Tyler Thigpen

Despite possible drawbacks, an exciting wondering has been—What if AI was a tipping point helping us finally move away from a standardized, grade-locked, ranking-forced, batched-processing learning model based on the make believe idea of “the average man” to a learning model that meets every child where they are at and helps them grow from there?

I get that change is indescribably hard and there are risks. But the integration of AI in education isn’t a trend. It’s a paradigm shift that requires careful consideration, ongoing reflection, and a commitment to one’s core values. AI presents us with an opportunity—possibly an unprecedented one—to transform teaching and learning, making it more personalized, efficient, and impactful. How might we seize the opportunity boldly?

California and NVIDIA Partner to Bring AI to Schools, Workplaces — from govtech.com by Abby Sourwine
The latest step in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plans to integrate AI into public operations across California is a partnership with NVIDIA intended to tailor college courses and professional development to industry needs.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and tech company NVIDIA joined forces last week to bring generative AI (GenAI) to community colleges and public agencies across the state. The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO), NVIDIA and the governor all signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlining how each partner can contribute to education and workforce development, with the goal of driving innovation across industries and boosting their economic growth.

Listen to anything on the go with the highest-quality voices — from elevenlabs.io; via The Neuron
The ElevenLabs Reader App narrates articles, PDFs, ePubs, newsletters, or any other text content. Simply choose a voice from our expansive library, upload your content, and listen on the go.

Per The Neuron

Some cool use cases:

  • Judy Garland can teach you biology while walking to class.
  • James Dean can narrate your steamy romance novel.
  • Sir Laurence Olivier can read you today’s newsletter—just paste the web link and enjoy!

Why it’s important: ElevenLabs shared how major Youtubers are using its dubbing services to expand their content into new regions with voices that actually sound like them (thanks to ElevenLabs’ ability to clone voices).
Oh, and BTW, it’s estimated that up to 20% of the population may have dyslexia. So providing people an option to listen to (instead of read) content, in their own language, wherever they go online can only help increase engagement and communication.

How Generative AI Improves Parent Engagement in K–12 Schools — from edtechmagazine.com by Alexadner Slagg
With its ability to automate and personalize communication, generative artificial intelligence is the ideal technological fix for strengthening parent involvement in students’ education.

As generative AI tools populate the education marketplace, the technology’s ability to automate complex, labor-intensive tasks and efficiently personalize communication may finally offer overwhelmed teachers a way to effectively improve parent engagement.
…
These personalized engagement activities for students and their families can include local events, certification classes and recommendations for books and videos. “Family Feed might suggest courses, such as an Adobe certification,” explains Jackson. “We have over 14,000 courses that we have vetted and can recommend. And we have books and video recommendations for students as well.”

Including personalized student information and an engagement opportunity makes it much easier for parents to directly participate in their children’s education.

Will AI Shrink Disparities in Schools, or Widen Them? — edsurge.com by Daniel Mollenkamp
Experts predict new tools could boost teaching efficiency — or create an “underclass of students” taught largely through screens.

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Augmented Course Design: Using AI to Boost Efficiency and Expand Capacity [Fang & Broussard] + other items re: AI’s impact on ID

On 08/15/2024, in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assistive technologies, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), business side of he, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, faculty/staff, graphics, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, liberal arts, lifelong learning, multimedia, online learning, online media, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, strategy, teaching & learning, tools, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Augmented Course Design: Using AI to Boost Efficiency and Expand Capacity — from er.educause.edu by Berlin Fang and Kim Broussard
The emerging class of generative AI tools has the potential to significantly alter the landscape of course development.

Using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or CoPilot as intelligent assistants in instructional design can significantly enhance the scalability of course development. GenAI can significantly improve the efficiency with which institutions develop content that is closely aligned with the curriculum and course objectives. As a result, institutions can more effectively meet the rising demand for flexible and high-quality education, preparing a new generation of future professionals equipped with the knowledge and skills to excel in their chosen fields.1 In this article, we illustrate the uses of AI in instructional design in terms of content creation, media development, and faculty support. We also provide some suggestions on the effective and ethical uses of AI in course design and development. Our perspectives are rooted in medical education, but the principles can be applied to any learning context.
…
Table 1 summarizes a few low-hanging fruits in AI usage in course development.
.

Table 1. Types of Use of GenAI in Course Development
Practical Use of AI Use Scenarios and Examples
Inspiration
  • Exploring ideas for instructional strategies
  • Exploring ideas for assessment
  • Course mapping
  • Lesson or unit content planning
Supplementation
  • Text to audio
  • Transcription for audio
  • Alt text auto-generation
  • Design optimization (e.g., using Microsoft PPT Design)
Improvement
  • Improving learning objectives
  • Improving instructional materials
  • Improving course content writing (grammar, spelling, etc.)
Generation
  • Creating a PowerPoint draft using learning objectives
  • Creating peripheral content materials (introductions, conclusions)
  • Creating decorative images for content
Expansion
  • Creating a scenario based on learning objectives
  • Creating a draft of a case study
  • Creating a draft of a rubric

.

Also see:

10 Ways Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming Instructional Design — from er.educause.edu by Rob Gibson
Artificial intelligence (AI) is providing instructors and course designers with an incredible array of new tools and techniques to improve the course design and development process. However, the intersection of AI and content creation is not new.

I have been telling my graduate instructional design students that AI technology is not likely to replace them any time soon because learning and instruction are still highly personalized and humanistic experiences. However, as these students embark on their careers, they will need to understand how to appropriately identify, select, and utilize AI when developing course content. Examples abound of how instructional designers are experimenting with AI to generate and align student learning outcomes with highly individualized course activities and assessments. Instructional designers are also using AI technology to create and continuously adapt the custom code and power scripts embedded into the learning management system to execute specific learning activities.Footnote1 Other useful examples include scripting and editing videos and podcasts.

Here are a few interesting examples of how AI is shaping and influencing instructional design. Some of the tools and resources can be used to satisfy a variety of course design activities, while others are very specific.

Taking the Lead: Why Instructional Designers Should Be at the Forefront of Learning in the Age of AI — from medium.com by Rob Gibson
Education is at a critical juncture and needs to draw leaders from a broader pool, including instructional designers

The world of a medieval stone cutter and a modern instructional designer (ID) may seem separated by a great distance, but I wager any ID who upon hearing the story I just shared would experience an uneasy sense of déjà vu. Take away the outward details, and the ID would recognize many elements of the situation: the days spent in projects that fail to realize the full potential of their craft, the painful awareness that greater things can be built, but are unlikely to occur due to a poverty of imagination and lack of vision among those empowered to make decisions.

Finally, there is the issue of resources. No stone cutter could ever hope to undertake a large-scale enterprise without a multitude of skilled collaborators and abundant materials. Similarly, instructional designers are often departments of one, working in scarcity environments, with limited ability to acquire resources for ambitious projects and — just as importantly — lacking the authority or political capital needed to launch significant initiatives. For these reasons, instructional design has long been a profession caught in an uncomfortable stasis, unable to grow, evolve and achieve its full potential.

That is until generative AI appeared on the scene. While the discourse around AI in education has been almost entirely about its impact on teaching and assessment, there has been a dearth of critical analysis regarding AI’s potential for impacting instructional design.

We are at a critical juncture for AI-augmented learning. We can either stagnate, missing opportunities to support learners while educators continue to debate whether the use of generative AI tools is a good thing, or we can move forward, building a transformative model for learning akin to the industrial revolution’s impact.

Too many professional educators remain bound by traditional methods. The past two years suggest that leaders of this new learning paradigm will not emerge from conventional educational circles. This vacuum of leadership can be filled, in part, by instructional designers, who are prepared by training and experience to begin building in this new learning space.

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DSC: Think about the impacts/ramifications of global, virtual, real-time language translations!

On 08/12/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assistive technologies, business, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, education technology, emerging technologies, Europe, experimentation, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, languages and translation, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Open AI, society, technologies for your home, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

ChatGPT Voice Mode Is Here: Will It Revolutionize AI Communication?

Advanced Voice Mode – FAQ — from help.openai.com
Learn more about our Advanced Voice capabilities.

Advanced Voice Mode on ChatGPT features more natural, real-time conversations that pick up on and respond with emotion and non-verbal cues.

Advanced Voice Mode on ChatGPT is currently in a limited alpha. Please note that it may make mistakes, and access and rate limits are subject to change.

From DSC:
Think about the impacts/ramifications of global, virtual, real-time language translations!!! This type of technology will create very powerful, new affordances in our learning ecosystems — as well as in business communications, with the various governments across the globe, and more!

 

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AI-assisted job fraud is spiking [Krietzberg] + other items re: AI in general

On 07/19/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, communications, creativity, digital audio, digital video, ethics, morals/values, multimedia, NVIDIA, online media, Open AI, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, robotics, society, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

AI-assisted job fraud is spiking — from thedeepview.co by Ian Krietzberg

A recent report published by the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) found that data from 2023 shows “an environment where bad actors are more effective, efficient and successful in launching attacks. The result is fewer victims (or at least fewer victim reports), but the impact on individuals and businesses is arguably more damaging.”

One of these attacks involves fake job postings.

The details: The ITRC said that victim reports of job and employment scams spiked some 118% in 2023. These scams were primarily carried out through LinkedIn and other job search platforms.

    • The bad actors here would either create fake (but professional-looking) job postings, profiles and websites or impersonate legitimate companies, all with the hopes of landing victims to move onto the interview process.
    • These actors would then move the conversation onto a third-party messaging platform, and ask for identity verification information (driver’s licenses, social security numbers, direct deposit information, etc.).

Hypernatural — AI videos you can actually use. — via Jeremy Caplan’s Wonder Tools

Hypernatural is an AI video platform that makes it easy to create beautiful, ready-to share videos from anything. Stop settling for glitchy 3s generated videos and boring stock footage. Turn your ideas, scripts, podcasts and more into incredible short-form videos in minutes.

GPT-4o mini: advancing cost-efficient intelligence — from openai.com
Introducing our most cost-efficient small model

OpenAI is committed to making intelligence as broadly accessible as possible. Today, we’re announcing GPT-4o mini, our most cost-efficient small model. We expect GPT-4o mini will significantly expand the range of applications built with AI by making intelligence much more affordable. GPT-4o mini scores 82% on MMLU and currently outperforms GPT-41 on chat preferences in LMSYS leaderboard(opens in a new window). It is priced at 15 cents per million input tokens and 60 cents per million output tokens, an order of magnitude more affordable than previous frontier models and more than 60% cheaper than GPT-3.5 Turbo.

GPT-4o mini enables a broad range of tasks with its low cost and latency, such as applications that chain or parallelize multiple model calls (e.g., calling multiple APIs), pass a large volume of context to the model (e.g., full code base or conversation history), or interact with customers through fast, real-time text responses (e.g., customer support chatbots).

Also see what this means from Ben’s Bites, The Neuron, and as The Rundown AI asserts:

Why it matters: While it’s not GPT-5, the price and capabilities of this mini-release significantly lower the barrier to entry for AI integrations — and marks a massive leap over GPT 3.5 Turbo. With models getting cheaper, faster, and more intelligent with each release, the perfect storm for AI acceleration is forming.

Nvidia: More AI Waves Are Taking Shape — from seekingalpha.com by Eric Sprague

Summary

  • Nvidia Corporation is transitioning from a GPU designer to an AI factory builder.
  • AI spending will continue to grow in healthcare, government, and robotics.
  • CEO Jensen Huang says the AI robot industry could be bigger than the auto and consumer electronics industries combined.

Byte-Sized Courses: NVIDIA Offers Self-Paced Career Development in AI and Data Science — from blogs.nvidia.com by Andy Bui
Industry experts gather to share advice on starting a career in AI, highlighting technical training and certifications for career growth.

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Free Sites for Back to School [Restifo]

On 07/19/2024, in animation, art, career development, chemistry, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, data related items, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, educational games / serious games, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, Google, graphics, history, ideas, K-12 related, languages and translation, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, legislatures / government / legal, mathematics, multimedia, music, new media literacies, online media, passions, pedagogy, platforms, play, productivity / tips and tricks, science, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, United States, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, web-based collaboration, writing, youth, by Daniel Christian

Free Sites for Back to School — from techlearning.com by Diana Restifo
Top free and freemium sites for learning

An internet search for free learning resources will likely return a long list that includes some useful sites amid a sea of not-really-free and not-very-useful sites.

To help teachers more easily find the best free and freemium sites they can use in their classrooms and curricula, I’ve curated a list that describes the top free/freemium sites for learning.

In some cases, Tech & Learning has reviewed the site in detail, and those links are included so readers can find out more about how to make the best use of the online materials. In all cases, the websites below provide valuable educational tools, lessons, and ideas, and are worth exploring further.

Two bonus postings here! 🙂 

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Text-to-video from various vendors; + video-to-audio; + other items re: AI

On 06/19/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, digital audio, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, graphics, Microsoft, multimedia, new media literacies, platforms, tools, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Kuaishou Unveils Kling: A Text-to-Video Model To Challenge OpenAI’s Sora — from maginative.com by Chris McKay

Generating audio for video — from deepmind.google

LinkedIn leans on AI to do the work of job hunting — from  techcrunch.com by Ingrid Lunden

Learning personalisation. LinkedIn continues to be bullish on its video-based learning platform, and it appears to have found a strong current among users who need to skill up in AI. Cohen said that traffic for AI-related courses — which include modules on technical skills as well as non-technical ones such as basic introductions to generative AI — has increased by 160% over last year.

You can be sure that LinkedIn is pushing its search algorithms to tap into the interest, but it’s also boosting its content with AI in another way.

For Premium subscribers, it is piloting what it describes as “expert advice, powered by AI.” Tapping into expertise from well-known instructors such as Alicia Reece, Anil Gupta, Dr. Gemma Leigh Roberts and Lisa Gates, LinkedIn says its AI-powered coaches will deliver responses personalized to users, as a “starting point.”

These will, in turn, also appear as personalized coaches that a user can tap while watching a LinkedIn Learning course.

Also related to this, see:

Unlocking New Possibilities for the Future of Work with AI — from news.linkedin.com

Personalized learning for everyone: Whether you’re looking to change or not, the skills required in the workplace are expected to change by 68% by 2030. 

Expert advice, powered by AI: We’re beginning to pilot the ability to get personalized practical advice instantly from industry leading business leaders and coaches on LinkedIn Learning, all powered by AI. The responses you’ll receive are trained by experts and represent a blend of insights that are personalized to each learner’s unique needs. While human professional coaches remain invaluable, these tools provide a great starting point.

Personalized coaching, powered by AI, when watching a LinkedIn course: As learners —including all Premium subscribers — watch our new courses, they can now simply ask for summaries of content, clarify certain topics, or get examples and other real-time insights, e.g. “Can you simplify this concept?” or “How does this apply to me?”

 

Roblox’s Road to 4D Generative AI — from corp.roblox.com by Morgan McGuire, Chief Scientist

  • Roblox is building toward 4D generative AI, going beyond single 3D objects to dynamic interactions.
  • Solving the challenge of 4D will require multimodal understanding across appearance, shape, physics, and scripts.
  • Early tools that are foundational for our 4D system are already accelerating creation on the platform.
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“NYC High School Reimagines Career & Technical Education for the 21st Century” [Bauld] + several other items re: the K12 learning ecosystem

On 06/17/2024, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), career development, change, changing business models, collaboration, communications, creativity, digital audio, digital video, education, education reform, education technology, engagement / engaging students, engineering, entrepreneurship, experimentation, ideas, innovation, instructional design, journalism, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, maker movement, media/film, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, neurodivergent/special needs, play, podcasting, real-world assignments, robotics, skills, society, sociology, strategy, student-related, teachers, United States, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, by Daniel Christian

NYC High School Reimagines Career & Technical Education for the 21st Century — from the74million.org by Andrew Bauld
Thomas A. Edison High School is providing students with the skills to succeed in both college and career in an unusually creative way.

From DSC:
Very interesting to see the mention of an R&D department here! Very cool.

Baker said ninth graders in the R&D department designed the essential skills rubric for their grade so that regardless of what content classes students take, they all get the same immersion into critical career skills. Student voice is now so integrated into Edison’s core that teachers work with student designers to plan their units. And he said teachers are becoming comfortable with the language of career-centered learning and essential skills while students appreciate the engagement and develop a new level of confidence.
…
The R&D department has grown to include teachers from every department working with students to figure out how to integrate essential skills into core academic classes. In this way, they’re applying one of the XQ Institute’s crucial Design Principles for innovative high schools: Youth Voice and Choice.
.

Learners need: More voice. More choice. More control. -- this image was created by Daniel Christian

Student Enterprise: Invite Learners to Launch a Media Agency or Publication — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark

Key Points

  • Client-connected projects have become a focal point of the Real World Learning initiative, offering students opportunities to solve real-world problems in collaboration with industry professionals.
  • Organizations like CAPS, NFTE, and Journalistic Learning facilitate community connections and professional learning opportunities, making it easier to implement client projects and entrepreneurship education.

Important trend: client projects. Work-based learning has been growing with career academies and renewed interest in CTE. Six years ago, a subset of WBL called client-connected projects became a focal point of the Real World Learning initiative in Kansas City where they are defined as authentic problems that students solve in collaboration with professionals from industry, not-for-profit, and community-based organizations….and allow students to: engage directly with employers, address real-world problems, and develop essential skills.

Portrait of a Community to Empower Learning Transformation — from gettingsmart.com by Rebecca Midles and Mason Pashia

Key Points

  • The Community Portrait approach encourages diverse voices to shape the future of education, ensuring it reflects the needs and aspirations of all stakeholders.
  • Active, representative community engagement is essential for creating meaningful and inclusive educational environments.

The Portrait of a Graduate—a collaborative effort to define what learners should know and be able to do upon graduation—has likely generated enthusiasm in your community. However, the challenge of future-ready graduates persists: How can we turn this vision into a reality within our diverse and dynamic schools, especially amid the current national political tensions and contentious curriculum debates?

The answer lies in active, inclusive community engagement. It’s about crafting a Community Portrait that reflects the rich diversity of our neighborhoods. This approach, grounded in the same principles used to design effective learning systems, seeks to cultivate deep, reciprocal relationships within the community. When young people are actively involved, the potential for meaningful change increases exponentially.

Q&A: Why Schools Must Redesign Learning to Include All Students — from edtechmagazine.com by Taashi Rowe
Systems are broken, not children, says K–12 disability advocate Lindsay E. Jones.

Although Lindsay E. Jones came from a family of educators, she didn’t expect that going to law school would steer her back into the family business. Over the years she became a staunch advocate for children with disabilities. And as mom to a son with learning disabilities and ADHD who is in high school and doing great, her advocacy is personal.

Jones previously served as president and CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities and was senior director for policy and advocacy at the Council for Exceptional Children. Today, she is the CEO at CAST, an organization focused on creating inclusive learning environments in K–12. EdTech: Focus on K–12 spoke with Jones about how digital transformation, artificial intelligence and visionary leaders can support inclusive learning environments.

Our brains are all as different as our fingerprints, and throughout its 40-year history, CAST has been focused on one core value: People are not broken, systems are poorly designed. And those systems are creating a barrier that holds back human innovation and learning.

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Several items re: text-to-video (and even images-to-video)

On 06/14/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, communications, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, media/film, multimedia, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Dream Machine is an AI model that makes high quality, realistic videos fast from text and images.

It is a highly scalable and efficient transformer model trained directly on videos making it capable of generating physically accurate, consistent and eventful shots. Dream Machine is our first step towards building a universal imagination engine and it is available to everyone now!

Text-to-Video Emergence for July 2024 — from ai-supremacy.com by Michael Spencer
Who needs Sora?

There have been some incredible teasers in the text-to-video arena of Generative AI. Namely I’m watching:

“OpenAI seems to have the ability to create video in Sora, send it to ChatGPT for a script, use Voice Engine for voice over and put it all together.”
byu/MassiveWasabi insingularity

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Daniel Christian: My slides for the Educational Technology Organization of Michigan’s Spring 2024 Retreat

On 06/13/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Access to Justice (A2J), adjunct faculty, Adobe, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business side of he, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, creativity, culture, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, media/film, microlearning, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), new business models, NVIDIA, online media, online tutoring, Open AI, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, reinvent, skills, society, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, teachers, technologies for your home, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, training / L&D, TVs, United States, universities, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Last Thursday, I presented at the Educational Technology Organization of Michigan’s Spring 2024 Retreat. I wanted to pass along my slides to you all, in case they are helpful to you.

Topics/agenda:

  • Topics & resources re: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
    • Top multimodal players
    • Resources for learning about AI
    • Applications of AI
    • My predictions re: AI
  • The powerful impact of pursuing a vision
  • A potential, future next-gen learning platform
  • Share some lessons from my past with pertinent questions for you all now
  • The significant impact of an organization’s culture
  • Bonus material: Some people to follow re: learning science and edtech

 

Education Technology Organization of Michigan -- ETOM -- Spring 2024 Retreat on June 6-7

PowerPoint slides of Daniel Christian's presentation at ETOM

Slides of the presentation (.PPTX)
Slides of the presentation (.PDF)

 

Plus several more slides re: this vision.

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Introducing Stable Audio Open – An Open Source Model for Audio Samples & Sound Design [stability.ai]

On 06/06/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, creativity, digital audio, media/film, multimedia, new media literacies, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Introducing Stable Audio Open – An Open Source Model for Audio Samples and Sound Design — from stability.ai; via Rundown AI

Key Takeaways:

  • Stable Audio Open is an open source text-to-audio model for generating up to 47 seconds of samples and sound effects.
  • Users can create drum beats, instrument riffs, ambient sounds, foley and production elements.
  • The model enables audio variations and style transfer of audio samples.

Some comments from Rundown AI:

Why it matters: While the AI advances in text-to-image models have been the most visible (literally), both video and audio are about to take the same leap. Putting these tools in the hands of creatives will redefine traditional workflows — from musicians brainstorming new beats to directors crafting sound effects for film and TV.

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Hybrid learning through podcasts: a practical approach [Chambers]

On 06/06/2024, in A/V -- audio/visual, blended learning, digital audio, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty/staff, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, hybrid learning, ideas, learning, Learning Experience Design, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, podcasting, skills, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Hybrid learning through podcasts: a practical approach — from timeshighereducation.com by Catherine Chambers
Adapting practice-based learning to a blend of synchronous and asynchronous delivery gives learners more control and creates opportunities for real-world learning of skills such as podcast production, writes Catherine Chambers

Hybrid learning provides students with greater control over their learning and enables the development of employability skills, supporting practice-based group work through in situ activities.

Aligned with Keele’s curriculum expectations framework, the module was designed around podcasts to support inclusivity, active learning, digital capability and external engagement.

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23 videos re: GPT-4o [OpenAI]

On 05/22/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, corporate / business world, digital audio, digital video, emerging technologies, experimentation, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Open AI, tools, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, by Daniel Christian

26 videos re: the new GPT-4o LLM

Per OpenAI:
“Say hello to GPT-4o, our new flagship model which can reason across audio, vision, and text in real time.”

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AI’s New Conversation Skills Eyed for Education [Coffey]

On 05/17/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, colleges, communications, community colleges, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, Open AI, personalized/customized learning, platforms, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

AI’s New Conversation Skills Eyed for Education — from insidehighered.com by Lauren Coffey
The latest ChatGPT’s more human-like verbal communication has professors pondering personalized learning, on-demand tutoring and more classroom applications.

ChatGPT’s newest version, GPT-4o ( the “o” standing for “omni,” meaning “all”), has a more realistic voice and quicker verbal response time, both aiming to sound more human. The version, which should be available to free ChatGPT users in coming weeks—a change also hailed by educators—allows people to interrupt it while it speaks, simulates more emotions with its voice and translates languages in real time. It also can understand instructions in text and images and has improved video capabilities.
…
Ajjan said she immediately thought the new vocal and video capabilities could allow GPT to serve as a personalized tutor. Personalized learning has been a focus for educators grappling with the looming enrollment cliff and for those pushing for student success.

There’s also the potential for role playing, according to Ajjan. She pointed to mock interviews students could do to prepare for job interviews, or, for example, using GPT to play the role of a buyer to help prepare students in an economics course.

 

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A major step towards much more natural human-computer interaction: OpenAI introduces GPT-4o

On 05/14/2024, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assistive technologies, bots, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education, education technology, emerging technologies, Emotion, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, IT in HE, K-12 related, languages and translation, law schools, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, liberal arts, lifelong learning, mathematics, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), online tutoring, Open AI, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, smart classrooms, student-related, technologies for your home, television, tools, TVs, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, by Daniel Christian

Hello GPT-4o — from openai.com
We’re announcing GPT-4o, our new flagship model that can reason across audio, vision, and text in real time.

GPT-4o (“o” for “omni”) is a step towards much more natural human-computer interaction—it accepts as input any combination of text, audio, image, and video and generates any combination of text, audio, and image outputs. It can respond to audio inputs in as little as 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds, which is similar to human response time in a conversation. It matches GPT-4 Turbo performance on text in English and code, with significant improvement on text in non-English languages, while also being much faster and 50% cheaper in the API. GPT-4o is especially better at vision and audio understanding compared to existing models.

Example topics covered here:

  • Two GPT-4os interacting and singing
  • Languages/translation
  • Personalized math tutor
  • Meeting AI
  • Harmonizing and creating music
  • Providing inflection, emotions, and a human-like voice
  • Understanding what the camera is looking at and integrating it into the AI’s responses
  • Providing customer service

With GPT-4o, we trained a single new model end-to-end across text, vision, and audio, meaning that all inputs and outputs are processed by the same neural network. Because GPT-4o is our first model combining all of these modalities, we are still just scratching the surface of exploring what the model can do and its limitations.

From DSC:
I like the assistive tech angle here:

 

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