digital learning

“Age appropriate” AI literacy, the future of AI in education + other items re: AI in our LE’s

On 04/17/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, design, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning theories, workplace, by Daniel Christian

What does ‘age appropriate’ AI literacy look like in higher education? — from timeshighereducation.com by Fun Siong Lim
As AI literacy becomes an essential work skill, universities need to move beyond developing these competencies at ‘primary school’ level in their students. Here, Fun Siong Lim reflects on frameworks to support higher-order AI literacies

Like platforms developed at other universities, Project NALA offers a front-end interface (known as the builder) for faculty to create their own learning assistant. An idea we have is to open the builder up to students to allow them to create their own GenAI assistant as part of our AI literacy curriculum. As they design, configure and test their own assistant, they will learn firsthand how generative AI works. They get to test performance-enhancement approaches beyond prompt engineering, such as grounding the learning assistant with curated materials (retrieval-augmented generation) and advanced ideas such as incorporating knowledge graphs.

They should have the opportunity to analyse, evaluate and create responsible AI solutions. Offering students the opportunity to build their own AI assistants could be a way forward to develop these much-needed skills.

How to Use ChatGPT 4o’s Update to Turn Key Insights Into Clear Infographics (Prompts Included) — from evakeiffenheim.substack.com by Eva Keiffenheim
This 3-step workflow helps you break down books, reports, or slide-decks into professional visuals that accelerate understanding.

This article shows you how to find core ideas, prompt GPT-4o3 for a design brief, and generate clean, professional images that stick. These aren’t vague “creative visuals”—they’re structured for learning, memory, and action.

If you’re a lifelong learner, educator, creator, or just someone who wants to work smarter, this process is for you.

You’ll spend less time re-reading and more time understanding. And maybe—just maybe—you’ll build ideas that not only click in your brain, but also stick in someone else’s.

SchoolAI Secures $25 Million to Help Teachers and Schools Reach Every Student — from globenewswire.com
The Classroom Experience platform gives every teacher and student their own AI tools for personalized learning

SchoolAI’s Classroom Experience platform combines AI assistants for teachers that help with classroom preparation and other administrative work, and Spaces–personalized AI tutors, games, and lessons that can adapt to each student’s unique learning style and interests. Together, these tools give teachers actionable insights into how students are doing, and how the teacher can deliver targeted support when it matters most.

“Teachers and schools are navigating hard challenges with shrinking budgets, teacher shortages, growing class sizes, and ongoing recovery from pandemic-related learning gaps,” said Caleb Hicks, founder and CEO of SchoolAI. “It’s harder than ever to understand how every student is really doing. Teachers deserve powerful tools to help extend their impact, not add to their workload. This funding helps us double down on connecting the dots for teachers and students, and later this year, bringing school administrators and parents at home onto the platform as well.”

AI in Education, Part 3: Looking Ahead – The Future of AI in Learning — from rdene915.com by Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth

In the first and second parts of my AI series, I focused on where we see AI in classrooms. Benefits range from personalized learning and accessibility tools to AI-driven grading and support of a teaching assistant. In Part 2, I chose to focus on some of the important considerations related to ethics that must be part of the conversation. Schools need to focus on data privacy, bias, overreliance, and the equity divide. I wanted to focus on the future for this last part in the current AI series. Where do we go from here?

Anthropic Education Report: How University Students Use Claude — from anthropic.com

The key findings from our Education Report are:

STEM students are early adopters of AI tools like Claude, with Computer Science students particularly overrepresented (accounting for 36.8% of students’ conversations while comprising only 5.4% of U.S. degrees). In contrast, Business, Health, and Humanities students show lower adoption rates relative to their enrollment numbers.
We identified four patterns by which students interact with AI, each of which were present in our data at approximately equal rates (each 23-29% of conversations): Direct Problem Solving, Direct Output Creation, Collaborative Problem Solving, and Collaborative Output Creation.
Students primarily use AI systems for creating (using information to learn something new) and analyzing (taking apart the known and identifying relationships), such as creating coding projects or analyzing law concepts. This aligns with higher-order cognitive functions on Bloom’s Taxonomy. This raises questions about ensuring students don’t offload critical cognitive tasks to AI systems.

From the Kuali Days 2025 Conference: A CEO’s View of Planning for AI — from campustechnology.com by Mary Grush
A Conversation with Joel Dehlin

How can a company serving higher education navigate the changes AI brings to the ed tech marketplace? What will customers expect in this dynamic? Here, CT talks with Kuali CEO Joel Dehlin, who shared his company’s AI strategies in a featured plenary session, “Sneak Peek of AI in Kuali Build,” at Kuali Days 2025 in Anaheim.

How students can use generative AI — from aliciabankhofer.substack.com by Alicia Bankhofer
Part 4 of 4 in my series on Teaching and Learning in the AI Age

This article is the culmination of a series exploring AI’s impact on education.

Part 1: What Educators Need outlined essential AI literacy skills for teachers, emphasizing the need to move beyond basic ChatGPT exploration to understand the full spectrum of AI tools available in education.

Part 2: What Students Need addressed how students require clear guidance to use AI safely, ethically, and responsibly, with emphasis on developing critical thinking skills alongside AI literacy.

Part 3: How Educators Can Use GenAI presented ten practical use cases for teachers, from creating differentiated resources to designing assessments, demonstrating how AI can reclaim 5-7 hours weekly for meaningful student interactions.

Part 4: How Students Can Use GenAI (this article) provides frameworks for guiding student AI use based on Joscha Falck’s dimensions: learning about, with, through, despite, and without AI.

Mapping a Multidimensional Framework for GenAI in Education — from er.educause.edu by Patricia Turner
Prompting careful dialogue through incisive questions can help chart a course through the ongoing storm of artificial intelligence.

The goal of this framework is to help faculty, educational developers, instructional designers, administrators, and others in higher education engage in productive discussions about the use of GenAI in teaching and learning. As others have noted, theoretical frameworks will need to be accompanied by research and teaching practice, each reinforcing and reshaping the others to create understandings that will inform the development of approaches to GenAI that are both ethical and maximally beneficial, while mitigating potential harms to those who engage with it.

Instructional Design Isn’t Dying — It’s Specialising — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
Aka, how AI is impacting role & purpose of Instructional Design

Together, these developments have revealed something important: despite widespread anxiety, the instructional design role isn’t dying—it’s specialising.

What we’re witnessing isn’t the automation of instructional design and the death of the instructional designer, but rather the evolution of the ID role into multiple distinct professional pathways.

The generalist “full stack” instructional designer is slowly but decisively fracturing into specialised roles that reflect both the capabilities of generative AI and the strategic imperatives facing modern organisations.

In this week’s blog post, I’ll share what I’ve learned about how our field is transforming, and what it likely means for you and your career path.

Those instructional designers who cling to traditional generalist models risk being replaced, but those who embrace specialisation, data fluency, and AI collaboration will excel and lead the next evolution of the field. Similarly, those businesses that continue to view L&D as a cost centre and focus on automating content delivery will be outperformed, while those that invest in building agile, AI-enabled learning ecosystems will drive measurable performance gains and secure their competitive advantage.

Adding AI to Every Step in Your eLearning Design Workflow — from learningguild.com by George Hanshaw

We know that eLearning is a staple of training and development. The expectations of the learners are higher than ever: They expect a dynamic, interactive, and personalized learning experience. As instructional designers, we are tasked with meeting these expectations by creating engaging and effective learning solutions.

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into our eLearning design process is a game-changer that can significantly enhance the quality and efficiency of our work.

No matter if you use ADDIE or rapid prototyping, AI has a fit in every aspect of your workflow. By integrating AI, you can ensure a more efficient and effective design process that adapts to the unique needs of your learners. This not only saves time and resources but also significantly enhances the overall learning experience. We will explore the needs analysis and the general design process.

Reflections on “2025 EDUCAUSE Students and Technology Report” [Christian]

On 04/14/2025, in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, Alternatives, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), blended learning, career development, CMS/LMS, colleges, communications, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, neurodivergent/special needs, online learning, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

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2025 EDUCAUSE Students and Technology Report: Shaping the Future of Higher Education Through Technology, Flexibility, and Well-Being — from library.educause.edu

The student experience in higher education is continually evolving, influenced by technological advancements, shifting student needs and expectations, evolving workforce demands, and broadening sociocultural forces. In this year’s report, we examine six critical aspects of student experiences in higher education, providing insights into how institutions can adapt to meet student needs and enhance their learning experience and preparation for the workforce:

Satisfaction with Technology-Related Services and Supports
Modality Preferences
Hybrid Learning Experiences
Generative AI in the Classroom
Workforce Preparation
Accessibility and Mental Health

DSC: Shame on higher ed for not preparing students for the workplace (see below). You’re doing your students wrong…again. Not only do you continue to heap a load of debt on their backs, but you’re also continuing to not get them ready for the workplace. So don’t be surprised if eventually you’re replaced by a variety of alternatives that students will flock towards.
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DSC: And students don’t have a clue as to what awaits them in the workplace — they see AI-powered tools and technologies at an incredibly low score of only 3%. Yeh, right. You’ll find out. Here’s but one example from one discipline/field of work –> Thomson Reuters Survey: Over 95% of Legal Professionals Expect Gen AI to Become Central to Workflow Within Five Years

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Figure 15. Competency Areas Expected to Be Important for Career

Reflections on “Are You Ready for the AI University? Everything is about to change.” [Latham]

On 04/10/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, accreditation, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, Blockchain, bots, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, culture, curriculum, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, Design Thinking, digital learning, disruption, education technology, emerging technologies, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, expectations, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, leadership, learner profiles, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, lifelong learning, MBA, Michigan, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, organizational change, pace of change, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, reinvent, skills, society, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, trends, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

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Are You Ready for the AI University? Everything is about to change. — from chronicle.com by Scott Latham

Over the course of the next 10 years, AI-powered institutions will rise in the rankings. US News & World Report will factor a college’s AI capabilities into its calculations. Accrediting agencies will assess the degree of AI integration into pedagogy, research, and student life. Corporations will want to partner with universities that have demonstrated AI prowess. In short, we will see the emergence of the AI haves and have-nots.
…
What’s happening in higher education today has a name: creative destruction. The economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the term in 1942 to describe how innovation can transform industries. That typically happens when an industry has both a dysfunctional cost structure and a declining value proposition. Both are true of higher education.
…
Out of the gate, professors will work with technologists to get AI up to speed on specific disciplines and pedagogy. For example, AI could be “fed” course material on Greek history or finance and then, guided by human professors as they sort through the material, help AI understand the structure of the discipline, and then develop lectures, videos, supporting documentation, and assessments.
…
In the near future, if a student misses class, they will be able watch a recording that an AI bot captured. Or the AI bot will find a similar lecture from another professor at another accredited university. If you need tutoring, an AI bot will be ready to help any time, day or night. Similarly, if you are going on a trip and wish to take an exam on the plane, a student will be able to log on and complete the AI-designed and administered exam. Students will no longer be bound by a rigid class schedule. Instead, they will set the schedule that works for them.

Early and mid-career professors who hope to survive will need to adapt and learn how to work with AI. They will need to immerse themselves in research on AI and pedagogy and understand its effect on the classroom.

From DSC:
I had a very difficult time deciding which excerpts to include. There were so many more excerpts for us to think about with this solid article. While I don’t agree with several things in it, EVERY professor, president, dean, and administrator working within higher education today needs to read this article and seriously consider what Scott Latham is saying.

Change is already here, but according to Scott, we haven’t seen anything yet. I agree with him and, as a futurist, one has to consider the potential scenarios that Scott lays out for AI’s creative destruction of what higher education may look like. Scott asserts that some significant and upcoming impacts will be experienced by faculty members, doctoral students, and graduate/teaching assistants (and Teaching & Learning Centers and IT Departments, I would add). But he doesn’t stop there. He brings in presidents, deans, and other members of the leadership teams out there.

There are a few places where Scott and I differ.

The foremost one is the importance of the human element — i.e., the human faculty member and students’ learning preferences. I think many (most?) students and lifelong learners will want to learn from a human being. IBM abandoned their 5-year, $100M ed push last year and one of the key conclusions was that people want to learn from — and with — other people:

To be sure, AI can do sophisticated things such as generating quizzes from a class reading and editing student writing. But the idea that a machine or a chatbot can actually teach as a human can, he said, represents “a profound misunderstanding of what AI is actually capable of.”

Nitta, who still holds deep respect for the Watson lab, admits, “We missed something important. At the heart of education, at the heart of any learning, is engagement. And that’s kind of the Holy Grail.”

— Satya Nitta, a longtime computer researcher at
IBM’s Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY
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By the way, it isn’t easy for me to write this. As I wanted AI and other related technologies to be able to do just what IBM was hoping that it would be able to do.

Also, I would use the term learning preferences where Scott uses the term learning styles.

Scott also mentions:

“In addition, faculty members will need to become technologists as much as scholars. They will need to train AI in how to help them build lectures, assessments, and fine-tune their classroom materials. Further training will be needed when AI first delivers a course.”

It has been my experience from working with faculty members for over 20 years that not all faculty members want to become technologists. They may not have the time, interest, and/or aptitude to become one (and vice versa for technologists who likely won’t become faculty members).

That all said, Scott relays many things that I have reflected upon and relayed for years now via this Learning Ecosystems blog and also via The Learning from the Living [AI-Based Class] Room vision — the use of AI to offer personalized and job-relevant learning, the rising costs of higher education, the development of new learning-related offerings and credentials at far less expensive prices, the need to provide new business models and emerging technologies that are devoted more to lifelong learning, plus several other things.

So this article is definitely worth your time to read, especially if you are working in higher education or are considering a career therein!

Addendum later on 4/10/25:

U-M’s Ross School of Business, Google Public Sector launch virtual teaching assistant pilot program — from news.umich.edu by Jeff Karoub; via Paul Fain

Google Public Sector and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business have launched an advanced Virtual Teaching Assistant pilot program aimed at improving personalized learning and enlightening educators on artificial intelligence in the classroom.

The AI technology, aided by Google’s Gemini chatbot, provides students with all-hours access to support and self-directed learning. The Virtual TA represents the next generation of educational chatbots, serving as a sophisticated AI learning assistant that instructors can use to modify their specific lessons and teaching styles.

The Virtual TA facilitates self-paced learning for students, provides on-demand explanations of complex course concepts, guides them through problem-solving, and acts as a practice partner. It’s designed to foster critical thinking by never giving away answers, ensuring students actively work toward solutions.

The 2025 AI Index Report [Stanford University]

On 04/09/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Africa, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, bots, business, Canada, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communities of practice, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, economics, education, education technology, emerging technologies, ethics, Europe, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, health, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, learning ecosystem, legislatures / government / legal, mathematics, morals/values, platforms, policy, research, science, society, trends, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The 2025 AI Index Report — from Stanford University’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Lab (hai.stanford.edu); item via The Neuron

Top Takeaways

AI performance on demanding benchmarks continues to improve.
AI is increasingly embedded in everyday life.
Business is all in on AI, fueling record investment and usage, as research continues to show strong productivity impacts.
The U.S. still leads in producing top AI models—but China is closing the performance gap.
The responsible AI ecosystem evolves—unevenly.
Global AI optimism is rising—but deep regional divides remain.
…and several more

Also see:

12 Graphs That Explain the State of AI in 2025 — from by Eliza Strickland; item via The Neuron
Stanford’s AI Index tracks performance, investment, public opinion, and more

The Neuron’s take on this:

So, what should you do? You really need to start trying out these AI tools. They’re getting cheaper and better, and they can genuinely help save time or make work easier—ignoring them is like ignoring smartphones ten years ago.

Just keep two big things in mind:

Making the next super-smart AI costs a crazy amount of money and uses tons of power (seriously, they’re buying nuclear plants and pushing coal again!).
Companies are still figuring out how to make AI perfectly safe and fair—cause it still makes mistakes.

So, use the tools, find what helps you, but don’t trust them completely.

We’re building this plane mid-flight, and Stanford’s report card is just another confirmation that we desperately need better safety checks before we hit major turbulence.

Addendum on 4/16:

AI in Education Survey: What UK and US Educators Think in 2025 — from twinkl.com
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to shape the world around us, Twinkl conducted a large-scale survey between January 15th and January 22nd to explore its impact on the education sector, as well as the work lives of teachers across the UK and the USA.

Teachers’ use of AI for work continues to rise
Twinkl’s survey asked teachers whether they were currently using AI for work purposes. Comparing these findings to similar surveys over recent years shows the use of AI tools by teachers has seen a significant increase across both the UK and USA.

According to two UK surveys by the National Literacy Trust – 30% of teachers used generative AI in 2023 and nearly half (47.7%) in 2024. Twinkl’s survey indicates that AI adoption continues to rise rapidly, with 60% of UK educators currently integrating it into their work lives in 2025.
Similarly, with 62% of US teachers currently using AI for work, uptake appears to have risen greatly in the past 12 months, with just 25% saying they were leveraging the new technology in the 2023-24 school year according to a RAND report.
Teachers are using AI more for work than in their personal lives: In the UK, personal usage drops to 43% (from 60% at school). In the US, 52% are using AI for non-work purposes (versus 62% in education settings).

60% of UK teachers and 62% of US teachers use AI in their work life in 2025.

OpenAI opens OpenAI Academy — A free, online platform to help people gain AI literacy

On 03/28/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, curriculum, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, economics, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), informal learning, intelligent systems, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning ecosystem, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, Open AI, open courseware and systems, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, skills, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Students and folks looking for work may want to check out:

AI Career Prep: Resumes and Interviews

Also relevant/see:

OpenAI Launches OpenAI Academy: Free Guide To Understanding AI — from voi.id
OpenAI Launches OpenAI Academy to Drive AI Innovation in Low- and Middle-Income Countries — from startupsvibes.com by Emmaunel Daniji

“8 Weeks Left to Prepare Students for the AI-Enhanced Workplace” [Schroeder] + other items re: AI in our LEs

On 03/21/2025, in adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, curriculum, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, expectations, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, instructional design, intelligent systems, learning, Learning Experience Design, liberal arts, new business models, online learning, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, research, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, teaching online, trends, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

8 Weeks Left to Prepare Students for the AI-Enhanced Workplace — from insidehighered.com by Ray Schroeder
We are down to the final weeks left to fully prepare students for entry into the AI-enhanced workplace. Are your students ready?

The urgent task facing those of us who teach and advise students, whether they be degree program or certificate seeking, is to ensure that they are prepared to enter (or re-enter) the workplace with skills and knowledge that are relevant to 2025 and beyond. One of the first skills to cultivate is an understanding of what kinds of services this emerging technology can provide to enhance the worker’s productivity and value to the institution or corporation.
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Given that short period of time, coupled with the need to cover the scheduled information in the syllabus, I recommend that we consider merging AI use into authentic assignments and assessments, supplementary modules, and other resources to prepare for AI.

Learning Design in the Era of Agentic AI — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr Philippa Hardman
Aka, how to design online async learning experiences that learners can’t afford to delegate to AI agents

The point I put forward was that the problem is not AI’s ability to complete online async courses, but that online async courses courses deliver so little value to our learners that they delegate their completion to AI.

The harsh reality is that this is not an AI problem — it is a learning design problem.

However, this realisation presents us with an opportunity which we overall seem keen to embrace. Rather than seeking out ways to block AI agents, we seem largely to agree that we should use this as a moment to reimagine online async learning itself.

8 Schools Innovating With Google AI — Here’s What They’re Doing — from forbes.com by Dan Fitzpatrick

While fears of AI replacing educators swirl in the public consciousness, a cohort of pioneering institutions is demonstrating a far more nuanced reality. These eight universities and schools aren’t just experimenting with AI, they’re fundamentally reshaping their educational ecosystems. From personalized learning in K-12 to advanced research in higher education, these institutions are leveraging Google’s AI to empower students, enhance teaching, and streamline operations.

Essential AI tools for better work — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan
My favorite tactics for making the most of AI — a podcast conversation

AI tools I consistently rely on (areas covered mentioned below)

Research and analysis
Communication efficiency
Multimedia creation

AI tactics that work surprisingly well

1. Reverse interviews
Instead of just querying AI, have it interview you. Get the AI to interview you, rather than interviewing it. Give it a little context and what you’re focusing on and what you’re interested in, and then you ask it to interview you to elicit your own insights.”

This approach helps extract knowledge from yourself, not just from the AI. Sometimes we need that guide to pull ideas out of ourselves.

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Building an AI-Ready Workforce: A look at College Student ChatGPT Adoption in the US — from cdn.openai.com

One finding from our student survey that stood out to us: Many college and university students are teaching themselves and their friends about AI without waiting for their institutions to provide formal AI education or clear policies about the technology’s use. The education ecosystem is in an important moment of exploration and learning, but the rapid adoption by students across the country who haven’t received formalized instruction in how and when to use the technology creates disparities in AI access and knowledge.

The enclosed snapshot of how young people are using ChatGPT provides insight into the state of AI use among America’s college-aged students. We also include actionable proposals to help address adoption gaps. We hope these insights and proposals can inform research and policy conversation across the nation’s education ecosystem about how to achieve outcomes that support our students, our workforce, and the economy. By improving literacy, expanding access, and implementing clear policies, policymakers and educators can better integrate AI into our educational infrastructure and ensure that our workforce is ready to both sustain and benefit from our future with AI.

Leah Belsky | Vice President, Education | OpenAI

The Learning & Development Global Sentiment Survey 2025 [Taylor]

On 02/20/2025, in 21st century, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Augmented Reality (AR), Australia, business, Canada, change, CMS/LMS, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, Europe, experimentation, faculty/staff, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, lifelong learning, microlearning, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, technology (general), training / L&D, trends, UK, United States, universities, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

The Learning & Development Global Sentiment Survey 2025 — from donaldhtaylor.co.uk by Don Taylor

The L&D Global Sentiment Survey, now in its 12th year, once again asked two key questions of L&D professionals worldwide:

What will be hot in workplace learning in 2025?
What are your L&D challenges in 2025?

For the obligatory question on what they considered ‘hot’ topics, respondents voted for one to three of 15 suggested options, plus a free text ‘Other’ option. Over 3,000 voters participated from nearly 100 countries. 85% shared their challenges for 2025.

The results show more interest in AI, a renewed focus on showing the value of L&D, and some signs of greater maturity around our understanding of AI in L&D.

“Half A Million Students Given ChatGPT As CSU System Makes AI History” [Fitzpatrick] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 02/07/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, change, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, graphics, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, Open AI, research, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Half A Million Students Given ChatGPT As CSU System Makes AI History — from forbes.com by Dan Fitzpatrick

The California State University system has partnered with OpenAI to launch the largest deployment of AI in higher education to date.

The CSU system, which serves nearly 500,000 students across 23 campuses, has announced plans to integrate ChatGPT Edu, an education-focused version of OpenAI’s chatbot, into its curriculum and operations. The rollout, which includes tens of thousands of faculty and staff, represents the most significant AI deployment within a single educational institution globally.

We’re still in the early stages of AI adoption in education, and it is critical that the entire ecosystem—education systems, technologists, educators, and governments—work together to ensure that all students globally have access to AI and develop the skills to use it responsibly

Leah Belsky, VP and general manager of education at OpenAI.

HOW educators can use GenAI – where to start and how to progress — from aliciabankhofer.substack.com by Alicia Bankhofer
Part of 3 of my series: Teaching and Learning in the AI Age

As you read through these use cases, you’ll notice that each one addresses multiple tasks from our list above.

1. Researching a topic for a lesson
2. Creating Tasks For Practice
3. Creating Sample Answers
4. Generating Ideas
5. Designing Lesson Plans
6. Creating Tests
7. Using AI in Virtual Classrooms
8. Creating Images
9. Creating worksheets
10. Correcting and Feedback

How to Make Learning as Addictive as Social Media | Duolingo’s Luis Von Ahn | TED

On 02/07/2025, in adjunct faculty, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty/staff, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, interaction design, interactivity, K-12 related, languages and translation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, liberal arts, motivation, participation, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, psychology, social learning / networks, strategy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

How to Make Learning as Addictive as Social Media | Duolingo’s Luis Von Ahn | TED — from youtube.com; via Kamil Banc at AI Adopter

When technologist Luis von Ahn was building the popular language-learning platform Duolingo, he faced a big problem: Could an app designed to teach you something ever compete with addictive platforms like Instagram and TikTok? He explains how Duolingo harnesses the psychological techniques of social media and mobile games to get you excited to learn — all while spreading access to education across the world.
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10 Extreme Challenges Facing Schools — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard

TL;DR
Schools face 10 extreme challenges

– assessment
– funding
– deportations
– opposition to trans students
– mental health
– AI/AGI world
– a struggle to engage students
– too many hats
– war risks
– resource redistribution and civil conflict

Hundreds of thousands of students are entitled to training and help finding jobs. They don’t get it — from hechingerreport.org by Meredith Kolodner
The best program to help students with disabilities get jobs is so hidden, ‘It’s like a secret society’

There’s a half-billion-dollar federal program that is supposed to help students with disabilities get into the workforce when they leave high school, but most parents — and even some school officials — don’t know it exists. As a result, hundreds of thousands of students who could be getting help go without it. New Jersey had the nation’s lowest proportion — roughly 2 percent — of eligible students receiving these services in 2023.

More than a decade ago, Congress recognized the need to help young people with disabilities get jobs, and earmarked funding for pre-employment transition services to help students explore and train for careers and send them on a pathway to independence after high school. Yet, today, fewer than 40 percent of people with disabilities ages 16 to 64 are employed, even though experts say most are capable of working.

The article links to:

Pre-Employment Transition Services

Both vocational rehabilitation agencies and schools are required by law to provide certain transition services and supports to improve post-school outcomes of students with disabilities.

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) amends the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and requires vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies to set aside at least 15% of their federal funds to provide pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS) to students with disabilities who are eligible or potentially eligible for VR services. The intent of pre-employment transition services is to:

improve the transition of students with disabilities from school to postsecondary education or to an employment outcome, increase opportunities for students with disabilities to practice and improve workplace readiness skills, through work-based learning experiences in a competitive, integrated work setting and increase opportunities for students with disabilities to explore post-secondary training options, leading to more industry recognized credentials, and meaningful post-secondary employment.

Repurposing Furniture to Support Learning in the Early Grades — from edutopia.org by Kendall Stallings
A kindergarten teacher gives five practical examples of repurposing classroom furniture to serve multiple uses.

I’m a supporter of evolving classroom spaces—of redesigning the layout of the room as the needs and interests of students develop. The easiest way to accommodate students, I’ve found, is to use the furniture itself to set up a functional, spacious, and logical classroom. There are several benefits to this approach. It provides children with safe, low-stakes environmental changes; fosters flexibility; and creates opportunities for spatial adaptation and problem-solving. Additionally, rearranging the room throughout the school year enables teachers to address potential catalysts for challenging behaviors and social conflicts that may arise, while sparking curiosity in an otherwise-familiar space.

How Teacher-Generated Videos Support Students in Science — from edutopia.org by Shawn Sutton
A five-minute video can help students get a refresher on important science concepts at their own pace.

While instructional videos were prepared out of necessity in the past, I’ve rediscovered their utility as a quick, flexible, and personal way to enhance classroom teaching. Instructional videos can be created through free screencasting software such as Screencastify, ScreenRec, Loom, or OBS Studio. Screencasting would be ideal for the direct presentation of information, like a slide deck of notes. Phone cameras make practical recording devices for live content beyond the computer screen, like a science demo. A teacher could invest in a phone stand and ring light at a nominal cost to assist in this type of recording.

However, not all teacher videos are created equal, and I’ve discovered four benefits and strategies that help make these teaching tools more effective.

Building Connections With Students as a Middle School Principal — from edutopia.org by Cristiana Jurgensen
This simple (and tasty!) strategy can help middle school principals get to know their students and create a welcoming school community.
6 Strategies for Building a Sustainable STEM Ecosystem — from edutopia.org by Rich Schiccatano
Upper elementary teachers can use these ideas to create meaningful, interdisciplinary STEM opportunities that encourage experimentation.

“Over 100 AI Tools for Teachers” [Kharbach] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 02/01/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, career development, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

DeepSeek: How China’s AI Breakthrough Could Revolutionize Educational Technology — from nickpotkalitsky.substack.com by Nick Potkalitsky
Can DeepSeek’s 90% efficiency boost make AI accessible to every school?

The most revolutionary aspect of DeepSeek for education isn’t just its cost—it’s the combination of open-source accessibility and local deployment capabilities. As Azeem Azhar notes, “R-1 is open-source. Anyone can download and run it on their own hardware. I have R1-8b (the second smallest model) running on my Mac Mini at home.”
…

Real-time Learning Enhancement

AI tutoring networks that collaborate to optimize individual learning paths
Immediate, multi-perspective feedback on student work
Continuous assessment and curriculum adaptation

The question isn’t whether this technology will transform education—it’s how quickly institutions can adapt to a world where advanced AI capabilities are finally within reach of every classroom.

Over 100 AI Tools for Teachers — from educatorstechnology.com by Med Kharbach, PhD

I know through your feedback on my social media and blog posts that several of you have legitimate concerns about the impact of AI in education, especially those related to data privacy, academic dishonesty, AI dependence, loss of creativity and critical thinking, plagiarism, to mention a few. While these concerns are valid and deserve careful consideration, it’s also important to explore the potential benefits AI can bring when used thoughtfully.

Tools such as ChatGPT and Claude are like smart research assistants that are available 24/7 to support you with all kinds of tasks from drafting detailed lesson plans, creating differentiated materials, generating classroom activities, to summarizing and simplifying complex topics. Likewise, students can use them to enhance their learning by, for instance, brainstorming ideas for research projects, generating constructive feedback on assignments, practicing problem-solving in a guided way, and much more.

The point here is that AI is here to stay and expand, and we better learn how to use it thoughtfully and responsibly rather than avoid it out of fear or skepticism.

Beth’s posting links to:

Digital Education Council Global AI Faculty Survey 2025 — from digitaleducationcouncil.com

Derek’s posting on LinkedIn

From Theory to Practice: How Generative AI is Redefining Instructional Materials — from edtechinsiders.substack.com by Alex Sarlin
Top trends and insights from The Edtech Insiders Generative AI Map research process about how Generative AI is transforming Instructional Materials

As part of our updates to the Edtech Insiders Generative AI Map, we’re excited to release a new mini market map and article deep dive on Generative AI tools that are specifically designed for Instructional Materials use cases.

In our database, the Instructional Materials use case category encompasses tools that:

Assist educators by streamlining lesson planning, curriculum development, and content customization
Enable educators or students to transform materials into alternative formats, such as videos, podcasts, or other interactive media, in addition to leveraging gaming principles or immersive VR to enhance engagement
Empower educators or students to transform text, video, slides or other source material into study aids like study guides, flashcards, practice tests, or graphic organizers
Engage students through interactive lessons featuring historical figures, authors, or fictional characters
Customize curriculum to individual needs or pedagogical approaches
Empower educators or students to quickly create online learning assets and courses

On a somewhat-related note, also see:

Tech & Learning Announces Winners of Best of 2024 — from techlearning.com by TL Editors
This annual award celebrates recognizing the best in EdTech from 2024

Google Workspace enables the future of AI-powered work for every business — from workspace.google.com

The following AI capabilities will start rolling out to Google Workspace Business customers today and to Enterprise customers later this month:

Get AI assistance in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet, Chat, Vids, and more: Do your best work faster with AI embedded in the tools you use every day. Gemini streamlines your communications by helping you summarize, draft, and find information in your emails, chats, and files. It can be a thought partner and source of inspiration, helping you create professional documents, slides, spreadsheets, and videos from scratch. Gemini can even improve your meetings by taking notes, enhancing your audio and video, and catching you up on the conversation if you join late.

Chat with Gemini Advanced, Google’s next-gen AI: Kickstart learning, brainstorming, and planning with the Gemini app on your laptop or mobile device. Gemini Advanced can help you tackle complex projects including coding, research, and data analysis and lets you build Gems, your team of AI experts to help with repeatable or specialized tasks.

Unlock the power of NotebookLM Plus: We’re bringing the revolutionary AI research assistant to every employee, to help them make sense of complex topics. Upload sources to get instant insights and Audio Overviews, then share customized notebooks with the team to accelerate their learning and onboarding.

And per Evelyn from the Stay Ahead newsletter (at FlexOS)

Google’s Gemini AI is stepping up its game in Google Workspace, bringing powerful new capabilities to your favorite tools like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets:

AI-Powered Summaries: Get concise, AI-generated summaries of long emails and documents so you can focus on what matters most.
Smart Reply: Gemini now offers context-aware email replies that feel more natural and tailored to your style.
Slides and images generation: Gemini in Slides can help you generate new images, summarize your slides, write and rewrite content, and refer to existing Drive files and/or emails.
Automated Data Insights: In Google Sheets, Gemini helps create a task tracker, conference agenda, spot trends, suggest formulas, and even build charts with simple prompts.
Intelligent Drafting: Google Docs now gets a creativity boost, helping you draft reports, proposals, or blog posts with AI suggestions and outlines.
Meeting Assistance: Say goodbye to the awkward AI attendees to help you take notes, now Gemini can natively do that for you – no interruption, no avatar, and no extra attendee. Meet can now also automatically generate captions to lower the language barrier.

Eveyln (from FlexOS) also mentions that CoPilot is getting enhancements too:

Copilot is now included in Microsoft 365 Personal and Family — from microsoft.com

Per Evelyn:

It’s exactly what we predicted: stand-alone AI apps like note-takers and image generators have had their moment, but as the tech giants step in, they’re bringing these features directly into their ecosystems, making them harder to ignore.

Announcing The Stargate Project — from openai.com

The Stargate Project is a new company which intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States. We will begin deploying $100 billion immediately. This infrastructure will secure American leadership in AI, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and generate massive economic benefit for the entire world. This project will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies.

The initial equity funders in Stargate are SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX. SoftBank and OpenAI are the lead partners for Stargate, with SoftBank having financial responsibility and OpenAI having operational responsibility. Masayoshi Son will be the chairman.

Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI are the key initial technology partners. The buildout is currently underway, starting in Texas, and we are evaluating potential sites across the country for more campuses as we finalize definitive agreements.

Your AI Writing Partner: The 30-Day Book Framework — from aidisruptor.ai by Alex McFarland and Kamil Banc
How to Turn Your “Someday” Manuscript into a “Shipped” Project Using AI-Powered Prompts

With that out of the way, I prefer Claude.ai for writing. For larger projects like a book, create a Claude Project to keep all context in one place.

Copy [the following] prompts into a document
Use them in sequence as you write
Adjust the word counts and specifics as needed
Keep your responses for reference
Use the same prompt template for similar sections to maintain consistency

Each prompt builds on the previous one, creating a systematic approach to helping you write your book.

Adobe’s new AI tool can edit 10,000 images in one click — from theverge.com by Jess Weatherbed
Firefly Bulk Create can automatically remove, replace, or extend image backgrounds in huge batches.

Adobe is launching new generative AI tools that can automate labor-intensive production tasks like editing large batches of images and translating video presentations. The most notable is “Firefly Bulk Create,” an app that allows users to quickly resize up to 10,000 images or replace all of their backgrounds in a single click instead of tediously editing each picture individually.

“Leadership & Generative AI: Hard-Earned Lessons That Matter” [Klitgaard Stricker] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 01/22/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, change, 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, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, library / librarians, lifelong learning, Michigan, microlearning, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, reading, research, strategy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, writing, by Daniel Christian

Your AI Writing Partner: The 30-Day Book Framework — from aidisruptor.ai by Alex McFarland and Kamil Banc
How to Turn Your “Someday” Manuscript into a “Shipped” Project Using AI-Powered Prompts

With that out of the way, I prefer Claude.ai for writing. For larger projects like a book, create a Claude Project to keep all context in one place.

Copy [the following] prompts into a document
Use them in sequence as you write
Adjust the word counts and specifics as needed
Keep your responses for reference
Use the same prompt template for similar sections to maintain consistency

Each prompt builds on the previous one, creating a systematic approach to helping you write your book.

Using NotebookLM to Boost College Reading Comprehension — from michellekassorla.substack.com by Michelle Kassorla and Eugenia Novokshanova
This semester, we are using NotebookLM to help our students comprehend and engage with scholarly texts

We were looking hard for a new tool when Google released NotebookLM. Not only does Google allow unfettered use of this amazing tool, it is also a much better tool for the work we require in our courses. So, this semester, we have scrapped our “old” tools and added NotebookLM as the primary tool for our English Composition II courses (and we hope, fervently, that Google won’t decide to severely limit its free tier before this semester ends!)

If you know next-to-nothing about NotebookLM, that’s OK. What follows is the specific lesson we present to our students. We hope this will help you understand all you need to know about NotebookLM, and how to successfully integrate the tool into your own teaching this semester.

Leadership & Generative AI: Hard-Earned Lessons That Matter — from jeppestricker.substack.com by Jeppe Klitgaard Stricker
Actionable Advice for Higher Education Leaders in 2025

AFTER two years of working closely with leadership in multiple institutions, and delivering countless workshops, I’ve seen one thing repeatedly: the biggest challenge isn’t the technology itself, but how we lead through it. Here is some of my best advice to help you navigate generative AI with clarity and confidence:

Break your own AI policies before you implement them. …
Fund your failures. …
Resist the pilot program. …
Host Anti-Tech Tech Talks …
…+ several more tips

While generative AI in higher education obviously involves new technology, it’s much more about adopting a curious and human-centric approach in your institution and communities. It’s about empowering learners in new, human-oriented and innovative ways. It is, in a nutshell, about people adapting to new ways of doing things.

Maria Anderson responded to Clay’s posting with this idea:

Here’s an idea: […] the teacher can use the [most advanced] AI tool to generate a complete solution to “the problem” — whatever that is — and demonstrate how to do that in class. Give all the students access to the document with the results.

And then grade the students on a comprehensive followup activity / presentation of executing that solution (no notes, no more than 10 words on a slide). So the students all have access to the same deep AI result, but have to show they comprehend and can iterate on that result.

Grammarly just made it easier to prove the sources of your text in Google Docs — from zdnet.com by Jack Wallen
If you want to be diligent about proving your sources within Google Documents, Grammarly has a new feature you’ll want to use.

In this age of distrust, misinformation, and skepticism, you may wonder how to demonstrate your sources within a Google Document. Did you type it yourself, copy and paste it from a browser-based source, copy and paste it from an unknown source, or did it come from generative AI?

You may not think this is an important clarification, but if writing is a critical part of your livelihood or life, you will definitely want to demonstrate your sources.

That’s where the new Grammarly feature comes in.

The new feature is called Authorship, and according to Grammarly, “Grammarly Authorship is a set of features that helps users demonstrate their sources of text in a Google doc. When you activate Authorship within Google Docs, it proactively tracks the writing process as you write.”

AI Agents Are Coming to Higher Education — from govtech.com
AI agents are customizable tools with more decision-making power than chatbots. They have the potential to automate more tasks, and some schools have implemented them for administrative and educational purposes.

Custom GPTs are on the rise in education. Google’s version, Gemini Gems, includes a premade version called Learning Coach, and Microsoft announced last week a new agent addition to Copilot featuring use cases at educational institutions.

Generative Artificial Intelligence and Education: A Brief Ethical Reflection on Autonomy — from er.educause.edu by Vicki Strunk and James Willis
Given the widespread impacts of generative AI, looking at this technology through the lens of autonomy can help equip students for the workplaces of the present and of the future, while ensuring academic integrity for both students and instructors.

The principle of autonomy stresses that we should be free agents who can govern ourselves and who are able to make our own choices. This principle applies to AI in higher education because it raises serious questions about how, when, and whether AI should be used in varying contexts. Although we have only begun asking questions related to autonomy and many more remain to be asked, we hope that this serves as a starting place to consider the uses of AI in higher education.

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