digital learning

This $10K AI School Promises to Future-Proof Your Career [Urwin]

On 05/12/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, accessibility / UDL, Alternatives, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, education reform, education technology, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, experimentation, faculty/staff, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, Microsoft, pace of change, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, real-world assignments, reinvent, skills, staying relevant, student-related, teaching online, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

This $10K AI School Promises to Future-Proof Your Career — from builtin.com by Matthew Urwin
Khan Academy, TED and ETS are starting a new program to equip students and professionals with the skills to thrive in an increasingly AI-driven economy. Here’s what you need to know.

Summary: The Khan TED Institute is a higher-education program that will teach students and workers how to use AI through interactive learning. The program’s AI-centric curriculum is an unproven approach, though, casting doubt on whether it will actually improve learning outcomes and career prospects.

Higher education might be on the verge of a radical overhaul to bring it up to speed in the age of artificial intelligence. At the TED2026 conference, Khan Academy, TED and ETS announced that they’re partnering to establish the Khan TED Institute — a new program that reorients the college curriculum around AI. By joining forces, the education technology trio aims to develop an alternative to traditional universities that better tracks student progress, teaches more relevant skills and provides a more personalized learning experience.

Accessibility is another major tenet of the Khan TED Institute. Its virtual nature allows anyone with an internet connection to participate in the program and makes it easier for students to move at their preferred pace. And because its curriculum prioritizes competency over course credits, advanced learners can complete the program in a shorter period. Time isn’t the only thing students can save on, either: The Institute promises a bachelor’s degree for less than $10,000, offering a much more affordable alternative to the typical four-year degree.

From DSC:
Faculty senates don’t do well with this pace of change. But to their credit, few organizations can begin to deal with this pace of change.

The “Cognitive Offloading” Paradox [Hardman]

On 04/19/2026, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, colleges, community colleges, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, Europe, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning theories, student-related, teaching & learning, UK, United States, by Daniel Christian

The “Cognitive Offloading” Paradox — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
New research shows that offloading learning tasks to AI can improve – rather than erode – human thinking and learning

The Rise of the “Offloading Paradox”
In March 2026, the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education published a study that went beyond the question “does offloading hurt?” and asked a harder one: when students form genuine partnerships with AI — treating it as an intellectual collaborator rather than a passive tool — what actually happens to the way they think and learn? Specifically, do two cognitive responses — critical evaluation of AI outputs (what the researchers call cognitive vigilance) and strategic delegation to AI (cognitive offloading) — compete with each other, or can they coexist?

Based on previous research, Wang and Zhang hypothesised that cognitive offloading would hurt transformative learning. They expected the familiar story: delegation reduces cognitive struggle, struggle is where learning happens, therefore delegation undermines learning.

The study — 912 students across China, Europe, and the United States, using a three-wave time-lagged survey design that measured partnership orientation first, cognitive strategies two weeks later, and learning outcomes two weeks after that — found something more interesting than a simple reversal.

Make learning accessible to all in higher education — from The Times Higher Education

When accessibility is placed at the heart of teaching and learning, rather than treated as a bolt-on, every student benefits. This week’s spotlight guide offers advice on designing universally accessible learning, in-person and online. Find out how to ease the burden of disability disclosure with universal design for learning, better support neurodivergent students and students with hearing or vision issues, design more accessible assessments and ensure digital tools work for all.

The quest to build a better AI tutor [Barshay]

On 04/06/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, 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, learning theories, online learning, participation, personalized/customized learning, research, student-related, teachers, technologies for your home, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

The quest to build a better AI tutor — from hechingerreport.org by Jill Barshay
Researchers make progress with an older ed tech idea: personalized practice

One promising idea has less to do with how an AI tutor explains concepts and more with what it asks students to practice next.

A team at the University of Pennsylvania, which included some AI skeptics, recently tested this approach in a study of close to 800 Taiwanese high school students learning Python programming. All the students used the same AI tutor, which was designed not to give away answers.

But there was one key difference. Half the students were randomly assigned to a fixed sequence of practice problems, progressing from easy to hard. The other half received a personalized sequence with the AI tutor continuously adjusting the difficulty of each problem based on how the student was performing and interacting with the chatbot.

The idea is based on what educators call the “zone of proximal development.” When problems are too easy, students get bored. When they’re too hard, students get frustrated. The goal is to keep students in a sweet spot: challenged, but not overwhelmed.

The researchers found that students in the personalized group did better on a final exam than students in the fixed problem group. The difference was characterized as the equivalent of 6 to 9 months of additional schooling, an eye-catching claim for an after-school online course that lasted only five months.
…
To address this, Chung’s team combined a large language model with a separate machine-learning algorithm that analyzes how students interact with the online course platform — how they answer the practice questions, how many times they revise or edit their coding, and the quality of their conversations with the chatbot — and uses that information to decide which problem to serve up next.

“The Future of College in an AI World” [Selingo] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 03/18/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, digital learning, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, liberal arts, Michigan, multimedia, music, Open AI, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

The Future of College in an AI World — from linkedin.com by Jeff Selingo
In today’s issue: The tension over AI in higher ed; application inflation continues and testing is back; what’s the future of the original classroom technology, the learning management system.

Hundreds of higher ed and industry leaders gathered Tuesday for a summit
on AI and the future of learning at the University of Michigan.
.

Conversations like the one we had at Michigan this week are necessary, but the action rarely matches the ambition.

We say the humanities are the operating system of an AI world, yet students and parents don’t believe it. They’re voting with their feet toward STEM, business, and narrowly tailored majors they believe will lead to a job.
Meanwhile, colleges are quietly eliminating the very humanities degrees the panelists were championing, employers are cutting the entry rungs off the career ladder for new graduates, and as Podium Education co-founder Christopher Parrish reminded us yesterday, there’s a yawning gap between demand for experience and the internships that actually exist.

AI Music Generators: Teaching With These Catchy AI Tools — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
AI music generators are getting better and better, and there are more applications in the classroom as a result.

Are All AI Music Generators More Or Less The Same?
No. After experimenting with a few various free ones, I found a wide range of quality with the same prompts.

Gemini is the only one I’d currently recommend. It’s user-friendly but limited and only creates 30-second clips. Other music generators could potentially outperform Gemini with prompt adjustments. The ones I tried did better with the instrumentals but struggled more with the lyrics, and that kind of defeated the purpose of the tool for me.

ChatDOC: Teaching With The AI Summarizing Tool — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
ChatDOC lets users turn any PDF into an AI chatbot that can summarize the text, answer questions, and generate quizzes.

What Is ChatDOC?
ChatDOC is an AI designed to help users interact with PDFs of various types, be it research papers, short stories, or chapters from larger works. Users upload a PDF and then have the opportunity to “chat” with that document, that is speak with a chatbot that bases its answers off of the uploaded text.

ChatDOC can perform tasks such as provide a short summary, search for specific terms, explain the overall theme if it’s a work of literature, or unpack the science in a research paper.

Other similar tools are out there, but ChatDOC is definitely one of the better PDF readers I’ve used. Its free version is quick and easy-to-use, and delivers on its promise of providing an AI that can discuss a given document with users and even quiz them on it.

From AI access to workforce readiness — from chieflearningofficer.com by Johnny Hamilton, Amy Stratbucker, & Brad Bigelow
Is your workforce using the right tool with an outdated mindset and playbook? Why old playbooks fall short — and what learning leaders must do next.

The leadership opportunity
Organizations do not need to predict every future AI capability. They need systems that allow people to explore with curiosity, practice safely, reflect deeply and adapt continuously — starting with what they already have and extending as capabilities evolve.

For CLOs, this is a moment to lead from the center of change — designing workforce readiness that keeps pace with accelerating technology while making work more rewarding for employees and more valuable for the organization. That is how AI moves from the promise of transformation to demonstrated readiness and, ultimately, from promise to performance.

Addendums on 3/19/26:
How to Build Practice-Based Learning Activities with AI — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr Philippa Hardman
Four evidence-based methods for designing, building & deploying active learning activities with your favourite LLM

Most L&D teams are using AI to make content faster. The real opportunity is using it as a practice engine.

The Synthesia 2026 AI in L&D Report f2026 AI in L&D Report found that the fastest-growing areas of planned AI adoption aren’t in content creation — they’re in assessments and simulations (36%), adaptive pathways (33%), and AI tutors (29%). In other words: L&D teams are starting to realise that the most powerful use of AI isn’t producing learning materials. It’s creating environments where learners actually practise.

And you can build these right now — no dev team, no custom platform, no code. Each method below includes a prompt you can paste into your preferred AI tool to generate a working interactive prototype: a self-contained practice activity with a briefing screen, a live AI interaction, and a debrief — all running in the browser, ready to share with stakeholders or deploy to learners.

OpenAI Adds Interactive Math and Science Learning Tools to ChatGPT — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

Key Takeaways

ChatGPT adds interactive learning tools: OpenAI introduced interactive math and science visualizations that allow users to explore formulas, variables, and relationships in real time.
The tool currently covers over 70 core math and science topics and is aimed initially at high school and college-level learners.
Users can adjust variables, manipulate formulas, and immediately see how changes affect graphs and outcomes.

“Teach Smarter with AI” [Caplan & Eaton] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 03/08/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, liberal arts, platforms, skills, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Teach Smarter with AI — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan and Lance Eaton
10 tested strategies from two educators who actually use them

I recently talked with Lance Eaton, Senior Associate Director of AI and Teaching & Learning at Northeastern University and writer of AI + Education = Simplified. We traded ideas about what’s actually working. We came up with 10 specific, practical ways anyone who teaches, coaches, or leads can put AI to work.

Watch the full conversation above, or read highlights below.

Beyond Audio Summaries: How to Use NotebookLM to *Actually* Design Better Learning — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
Five methods to maximise the value of NotebookLM’s features

In practice, what makes NotebookLM different for learning designers is four things:

Answers grounded in your sources (with citations):
Source toggling:
Multi-format studio & multi-source summaries:
Persistent workspace:

…
5 Evidence-Based Methods NotebookLM Operationalises…

Shadow AI Isn’t a Threat: It’s a Signal — from campustechnology.com by Damien Eversmann
Unofficial AI use on campus reveals more about institutional gaps than misbehavior.

Key Takeaways

Shadow AI is widespread in higher education: Faculty, researchers, students, and staff are using AI tools outside official IT channels, including consumer platforms and public cloud services that may involve sensitive data.
Unauthorized AI use creates data, compliance, and cost risks: Consumer AI tools may store or reuse user data, while uncoordinated adoption drives redundant licenses, unpredictable cloud costs, and weaker security oversight.
Institutions are shifting from restriction to enablement: Some campuses are making approved paths easier by offering ready-to-use research environments, campus-managed AI tools, clear guidance on data and vendors, and streamlined approval processes.

How L&D Can Lead in the Age of AI Even If Your Company’s Not Ready — from learningguild.com

How to lead even when your company doesn’t allow AI
Even if your corporation isn’t ready for AI, you can still research tools personally to stay ahead of the curve, so when organizational restrictions lift, you are ready to use AI for learning right away. Here are some tools you can test at home if they’re restricted in your workplace:

Content generation – Start testing text-based tools to get a taste of how AI can accelerate content creation. Then take it to the next level by exploring tools that generate voices, music, and sound effects.
AI coaching tools – Have AI pose as a customer co-worker or customer to get a taste of what it’s like to use it as a conversation coach. Next, use the voice and video capabilities in an app like ChatGPT to explore how AI can coach someone through tasks.
In-the-flow learning assistants – Test turning documents into a conversational avatar and interacting with it to see how it feels. Then think about how the technology could potentially transform static content into dynamic learning experiences for employees.
Vibe-coded simulations – Experiment with this technology by creating a simple, fun game. Afterwards, brainstorm some ideas on how it could quickly create simulations for your learners in the future.

The Higher Ed Playbook for AI Affordability — from campustechnology.com by Jason Dunn-Potter

Key Takeaways

Affordable AI adoption focuses on evolving existing systems: Universities are embedding AI into current devices, workflows, and legacy systems rather than rebuilding infrastructure or investing in new data centers.
Edge AI reduces costs and improves access: Running AI models on local devices or networks lowers cloud processing costs, enhances security, and supports learning use cases such as tutoring, translation, transcription, and adaptive learning.
Enterprise integration and governance drive impact: Institutions are applying AI across admissions, advising, facilities, and research workflows, supported by shared resource hubs, data governance, AI literacy, and outcome-driven implementation.

5 of the Best Tools To Teach Storytelling — from techlearning.com by Luke Edwards
Use these best tools to teach storytelling to help students progress towards mastery

The best tools to teach storytelling can also be some of the most ideal ways to engage students, both creatively and more generally with education. From sparking their imaginations to helping structure a creative toolset, these digital assistants can be powerful in the classroom and beyond.

Giving a student the ability to structure and tell a compelling story can help to empower them in terms of literacy, empathy, and critical thinking.

Students can be given the opportunity to explore historical perspectives, dive into personal narratives, build fictional worlds, and present research in a story form. All of which helps strengthen communication skills while learning at the same time.
.

L&D Global Sentiment Survey 2026 [Taylor]

On 02/25/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Africa, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Augmented Reality (AR), Australia, bots, business, Canada, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, human-computer interaction (HCI), India, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learner profiles, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, lifelong learning, microlearning, personalized/customized learning, skills, social learning / networks, strategy, tools, training / L&D, trends, UK, United States, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, workplace, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

L&D Global Sentiment Survey 2026 — from linkedin.com by Donald H. Taylor

Make Gatherings More Engaging — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan
Tested tools for quizzes, online discussions, & shareable docs

The hardest part of teaching — or leading meetings — is sparking engagement. Getting people to engage enthusiastically with something new can be tough. It’s especially challenging if people are overwhelmed, super busy, or just tired.

As we aim to stretch people’s thinking in a new direction, tools are just one part of the overall picture. But they can help. Last week I shared five tools for creating learning paths, interactive lessons, and new kinds of digital notebooks. Today’s follow-up recommendations focus on creative engagement.

You don’t have to be a teacher to find these resources for opening up participation useful. If you lead a team, run meetings, or collaborate with colleagues, you can benefit from these tools.

I’ve baked into this post multiple ways to engage.

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:

Farewell to Traditional Universities | What AI Has in Store for Education [Jensen Huang, NVIDIA]

On 01/31/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business side of he, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, IT in HE, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, society, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Farewell to Traditional Universities | What AI Has in Store for Education

Premiered Jan 16, 2026

Description:

What if the biggest change in education isn’t a new app… but the end of the university monopoly on credibility?

Jensen Huang has framed AI as a platform shift—an industrial revolution that turns intelligence into infrastructure. And when intelligence becomes cheap, personal, and always available, education stops being a place you go… and becomes a system that follows you. The question isn’t whether universities will disappear. The question is whether the old model—high cost, slow updates, one-size-fits-all—can survive a world where every student can have a private tutor, a lab partner, and a curriculum designer on demand.

This video explores what AI has in store for education—and why traditional universities may need to reinvent themselves fast.

In this video you’ll discover:

How AI tutors could deliver personalized learning at scale
Why credentials may shift from “degrees” to proof-of-skill portfolios
What happens when the “middle” of studying becomes automated
How universities could evolve: research hubs, networks, and high-trust credentialing
The risks: cheating, dependency, bias, and widening inequality
The 3 skills that become priceless when information is everywhere: judgment, curiosity, and responsibility

From DSC:
There appears to be another, similar video, but with a different date and length of the video. So I’m including this other recording as well here:

The End of Universities as We Know Them: What AI Is Bringing

Premiered Jan 27, 2026

What if universities don’t “disappear”… but lose their monopoly on learning, credentials, and opportunity?

AI is turning education into something radically different: personal, instant, adaptive, and always available. When every student can have a 24/7 tutor, a writing coach, a coding partner, and a study plan designed specifically for them, the old model—one professor, one curriculum, one pace for everyone—starts to look outdated. And the biggest disruption isn’t the classroom. It’s the credential. Because in an AI world, proof of skill can become more valuable than a piece of paper.

This video explores the end of universities as we know them: what AI is bringing, what will break, what will survive, and what replaces the traditional path.

In this video you’ll discover:

Why AI tutoring could outperform one-size-fits-all lectures
How “degrees” may shift into skill proof: portfolios, projects, and verified competency
What happens when the “middle” of studying becomes automated
How universities may evolve: research hubs, networks, high-trust credentialing
The dark side: cheating, dependency, inequality, and biased evaluation
The new advantage: judgment, creativity, and responsibility in a world of instant answers

…the 5 min technique that’s had the biggest impact on how my students work with AI

If we are truly educating for a future we can’t predict, then our responsibility is clear…

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.

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