digital learning

Today, I’m excited to share with you all the fruit of our effort at @OpenAI to create AI models capable of truly general reasoning: OpenAI’s new o1 model series! (aka ?) Let me explain ? 1/ pic.twitter.com/aVGAkb9kxV

— Noam Brown (@polynoamial) September 12, 2024

Introducing OpenAI o1 – from openai.com

We’ve developed a new series of AI models designed to spend more time thinking before they respond. Here is the latest news on o1 research, product and other updates.

The wait is over. OpenAI has just released GPT-5, now called OpenAI o1.

It brings advanced reasoning capabilities and can generate entire video games from a single prompt.

Think of it as ChatGPT evolving from fast, intuitive thinking (System-1) to deeper, more deliberate… pic.twitter.com/uAMihaUjol

— Lior? (@AlphaSignalAI) September 12, 2024

OpenAI Strawberry (o1) is out! We are finally seeing the paradigm of inference-time scaling popularized and deployed in production. As Sutton said in the Bitter Lesson, there’re only 2 techniques that scale indefinitely with compute: learning & search. It’s time to shift focus to… pic.twitter.com/jTViQucwxr

— Jim Fan (@DrJimFan) September 12, 2024

Something New: On OpenAI’s “Strawberry” and Reasoning — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick
Solving hard problems in new ways

The new AI model, called o1-preview (why are the AI companies so bad at names?), lets the AI “think through” a problem before solving it. This lets it address very hard problems that require planning and iteration, like novel math or science questions. In fact, it can now beat human PhD experts in solving extremely hard physics problems.

To be clear, o1-preview doesn’t do everything better. It is not a better writer than GPT-4o, for example. But for tasks that require planning, the changes are quite large.

What is the point of Super Realistic AI? — from Heather Cooper who runs Visually AI on Substack

The arrival of super realistic AI image generation, powered by models like Midjourney, FLUX.1, and Ideogram, is transforming the way we create and use visual content.

Recently, many creators (myself included) have been exploring super realistic AI more and more.

But where can this actually be used?

Super realistic AI image generation will have far-reaching implications across various industries and creative fields. Its importance stems from its ability to bridge the gap between imagination and visual representation, offering multiple opportunities for innovation and efficiency.

Heather goes on to mention applications in:

Creative Industries
Entertainment and Media
Education and Training

NotebookLM now lets you listen to a conversation about your sources — from blog.google by Biao Wang
Our new Audio Overview feature can turn documents, slides, charts and more into engaging discussions with one click.

Today, we’re introducing Audio Overview, a new way to turn your documents into engaging audio discussions. With one click, two AI hosts start up a lively “deep dive” discussion based on your sources. They summarize your material, make connections between topics, and banter back and forth. You can even download the conversation and take it on the go.

Bringing generative AI to video with Adobe Firefly Video Model — from blog.adobe.com by Ashley Still

Over the past several months, we’ve worked closely with the video editing community to advance the Firefly Video Model. Guided by their feedback and built with creators’ rights in mind, we’re developing new workflows leveraging the model to help editors ideate and explore their creative vision, fill gaps in their timeline and add new elements to existing footage.

Just like our other Firefly generative AI models, editors can create with confidence knowing the Adobe Firefly Video Model is designed to be commercially safe and is only trained on content we have permission to use — never on Adobe users’ content.

We’re excited to share some of the incredible progress with you today — all of which is designed to be commercially safe and available in beta later this year. To be the first to hear the latest updates and get access, sign up for the waitlist here.

“Which AI tools do Instructional Designers use the most?” [Hardman] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 09/12/2024, in 21st century, accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, biology, colleges, community colleges, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, face-to-face, faculty/staff, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, media/film, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), neurodivergent/special needs, Open AI, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, writing, by Daniel Christian

The Most Popular AI Tools for Instructional Design (September, 2024) — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
The tools we use most, and how we use them

This week, as I kick off the 20th cohort of my AI-Learning Design bootcamp, I decided to do some analysis of the work habits of the hundreds of amazing AI-embracing instructional designers who I’ve worked with over the last year or so.

My goal was to answer the question: which AI tools do we use most in the instructional design process, and how do we use them?

Here’s where we are in September, 2024:
…

Developing Your Approach to Generative AI — from scholarlyteacher.com by Caitlin K. Kirby, Min Zhuang, Imari Cheyne Tetu, & Stephen Thomas (Michigan State University)

As generative AI becomes integrated into workplaces, scholarly work, and students’ workflows, we have the opportunity to take a broad view of the role of generative AI in higher education classrooms. Our guiding questions are meant to serve as a starting point to consider, from each educator’s initial reaction and preferences around generative AI, how their discipline, course design, and assessments may be impacted, and to have a broad view of the ethics of generative AI use.

The Impact of AI in Advancing Accessibility for Learners with Disabilities — from er.educause.edu by Rob Gibson

AI technology tools hold remarkable promise for providing more accessible, equitable, and inclusive learning experiences for students with disabilities.

An interesting idea — “Using Video Projects to Reinforce Learning in Math” [King]

On 09/06/2024, in digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education, education technology, engagement / engaging students, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, Learning Experience Design, mathematics, online media, student-related, teachers, tools, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Using Video Projects to Reinforce Learning in Math — from edutopia.org by Alessandra King
A collaborative project can help students deeply explore math concepts, explain problem-solving strategies, and demonstrate their learning.

To this end, I assign video projects to my students. In groups of two or three, they solve a set of problems on a topic and then choose one to illustrate, solve, and explain their favorite problem-solving strategy in detail, along with the reasons they chose it. The student-created videos are collected and stored on a Padlet even after I have evaluated them—kept as a reference, keepsake, and support. I have a library of student-created videos that benefit current and future students when they have some difficulties with a topic and associated problems.

AI agents are the future, and a lot is at stake [Sanzeri]

On 08/28/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, change, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engineering, entrepreneurship, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, health, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, personalized/customized learning, the downsides of how people use tech, workplace, by Daniel Christian

AI agents are the future, and a lot is at stake — from forbes.com by Skip Sanzeri

What An Agent Is
Agents are computer programs that can autonomously perform tasks, make decisions and interact with humans or other computers. There are many different types of agents, and they are designed to achieve specific goals spanning our lives and nearly every industry, making them an integral and unstoppable part of our future.

Learning: AI agents will transform education by providing personalized learning experiences such as one-to-one tutoring. ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) are providing access to all digital knowledge now. An “agent” would act as a more personalized version of an LLM.

The hacking and control of an AI agent could lead to disastrous consequences, affecting privacy, security, the economy and societal stability. Proactive and comprehensive security strategies are essential to mitigate these risks in the future.

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.

From DSC: You NEED this extension! Clear away the clutter from all of your web-based articles. Instantly.

On 08/14/2024, in Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education technology, Google, learning theories, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, reading, tools, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
[For those folks who use Google Chrome]

When you keep getting distracted from all of the extraneous items — such as those annoying videos and advertisements — that appear when you launch a web page, there is a solution to quickly hiding all of those items. It’s called Postlight Reader. I’ve been using it for years and wanted to put this information out there for folks who might not have heard about it.

I highly recommend it if you are having trouble reading an article and processing the information that it contains. Instructional Designers will know all about Extraneous Load (one of the types of Cognitive Load) and how it negatively impacts one’s learning and processing of the information that really counts (i.e., the Germane Cognitive Load).

Note the differences when I used Postlight Reader on an article out at cbsnews.com:

The page appears with all kinds of ads and videos going on…I can hardly
process the information on the article due to these items:

Then, after I enabled this extension in Chrome and click on
the icon for Postlight Reader, it strips away all of those items
and leaves me with the article that I wanted to read:

If you aren’t using it, I highly recommend that you give it a try.

Postlight Reader – Clear away the clutter from all of your articles. Instantly.

The Postlight Reader extension for Chrome removes ads and distractions, leaving only text and images for a clean and consistent reading view on every site. Features:

Disable surrounding webpage noise and clutter with one click
Send To Kindle functionality
Adjust typeface and text size, and toggle between light or dark themes
Quick keyboard shortcut (Cmd + Esc for Mac users, Alt + ` for Windows users) to switch to Reader on any article page
Printing optimization
Sharing through Facebook, Twitter and Email

This is what AI is for. Just this use case alone is worth every dollar invested in it. pic.twitter.com/vaOm3dpyxK

— Andriy Burkov (@burkov) August 10, 2024

From DSC:
The above item is simply excellent!!! I love it!

We’re going to see a lot more of the Square, Stripe, Shopify-type startups pop up for agentic AI.

This one is like an AI-human broker.

1) Prompt an AI with a need
2) Give the AI a budget (real money)
3) AI turns need into plan with tasks
4) AI finds humans to complete the… https://t.co/UXf1bNZ4AK

— Allie K. Miller (@alliekmiller) August 11, 2024

Google just announced their massive AI update in Chrome.

Google Lens is now inside Chrome

Here’s everything you need to know: pic.twitter.com/aXdqvi5wMP

— Poonam Soni (@CodeByPoonam) August 4, 2024

Also relevant/see:

3 new Chrome AI features for even more helpful browsing — from blog.google from Parisa Tabriz
See how Chrome’s new AI features, including Google Lens for desktop and Tab compare, can help you get things done more easily on the web.

On speaking to AI — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick
Voice changes a lot of things

So, let’s talk about ChatGPT’s new Advanced Voice mode and the new AI-powered Siri. They are not just different approaches to talking to AI. In many ways, they represent the divide between two philosophies of AI – Copilots versus Agents, small models versus large ones, specialists versus generalists.

Your guide to AI – August 2024 — from nathanbenaich.substack.com by Nathan Benaich and Alex Chalmers

Microsoft says OpenAI is now a competitor in AI and search — from cnbc.com by Jordan Novet

Key Points

Microsoft’s annually updated list of competitors now includes OpenAI, a long-term strategic partner.
The change comes days after OpenAI announced a prototype of a search engine.
Microsoft has reportedly invested $13 billion into OpenAI.

ChatGPT Cheat Sheet? pic.twitter.com/ETsPvJQfVA

— Nelly R Q (@nrqa__) August 5, 2024

Excerpt from by Graham Clay

1. Flux, an open-source text-to-image creator that is comparable to industry leaders like Midjourney, was released by Black Forest Labs (the “original team” behind Stable Diffusion). It is capable of generating high quality text in images (there are tons of educational use cases). You can play with it on their demo page, on Poe, or by running it on your own computer (tutorial here).

Other items re: Flux:

How to FLUX — from heatherbcooper.substack.com by Heather Cooper
Where to use FLUX online & full tutorial to create a sleek ad in minutes

.

Also from Heather Cooper:

Introducing FLUX: Open-Source text to image model

FLUX… has been EVERYWHERE this week, as I’m sure you have seen. Developed by Black Forest Labs, is an open-source image generation model that’s gaining attention for its ability to rival leading models like Midjourney, DALL·E 3, and SDXL.

What sets FLUX apart is its blend of creative freedom, precision, and accessibility—it’s available across multiple platforms and can be run locally.

Why FLUX Matters
FLUX’s open-source nature makes it accessible to a broad audience, from hobbyists to professionals.

It offers advanced multimodal and parallel diffusion transformer technology, delivering high visual quality, strong prompt adherence, and diverse outputs.

It’s available in 3 models:
FLUX.1 [pro]: A high-performance, commercial image synthesis model.
FLUX.1 [dev]: An open-weight, non-commercial variant of FLUX.1 [pro]
FLUX.1 [schnell]: A faster, distilled version of FLUX.1, operating up to 10x quicker.

Daily Digest: Huge (in)Flux of AI videos. — from bensbites.beehiiv.com
PLUS: Review of ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode.

During the weekend, image models made a comeback. Recently released Flux models can create realistic images with near-perfect text—straight from the model, without much patchwork. To get the party going, people are putting these images into video generation models to create pretty–trippy–videos. I can’t identify half of them as AI, and they’ll only get better. See this tutorial on how to create a video ad for your product..

7 not only cool but handy use cases of new Claude — from techthatmatters.beehiiv.com by Harsh Makadia

Data visualization
Infographic
Copy the UI of a website
…and more

Achieving Human Level Competitive Robot Table Tennis — from sites.google.com

14+ resources regarding AI in our learning ecosystems

On 08/13/2024, in adjunct faculty, adult learning, Australia, CMS/LMS, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, Google, heutagogy, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning theories, lifelong learning, Microsoft, multimedia, Open AI, platforms, policy, productivity / tips and tricks, religion, strategy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

What Students Want When It Comes To AI — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Glenda Morgan
The Digital Education Council Global AI Student Survey 2024

The Digital Education Council (DEC) this week released the results of a global survey of student opinions on AI. It’s a large survey with nearly 4,000 respondents conducted across 16 countries, but more importantly, it asks some interesting questions. There are many surveys about AI out there right now, but this one stands out. I’m going to go into some depth here, as the entire survey report is worth reading.

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AI is forcing a teaching and learning evolution — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Ascione
AI and technology tools are leading to innovative student learning–along with classroom, school, and district efficiency

Key findings from the 2024 K-12 Educator + AI Survey, which was conducted by Hanover Research, include:

Teachers are using AI to personalize and improve student learning, not just run classrooms more efficiently, but challenges remain
While post-pandemic challenges persist, the increased use of technology is viewed positively by most teachers and administrators
…and more

From DSC:
I wonder…how will the use of AI in education square with the issues of using smartphones/laptops within the classrooms? See:

Why Schools Are Racing to Ban Student Phones — from nytimes.com by Natasha Singer; via GSV
As the new school year starts, a wave of new laws that aim to curb distracted learning is taking effect in Indiana, Louisiana and other states.

A three-part series from Dr. Phillippa Hardman:

Part 1: Writing Learning Objectives
The Results Part 1: Writing Learning Objectives

In this week’s post I will dive into the results from task 1: writing learning objectives. Stay tuned over the next two weeks to see all of the the results.

Part 2: Selecting Instructional Strategies.
The Results Part 2: Selecting an Instructional Strategy

Welcome back to our three-part series exploring the impact of AI on instructional design.
…
This week, we’re tackling a second task and a crucial aspect of instructional design: selecting instructional strategies. The ability to select appropriate instructional strategies to achieve intended objectives is a mission-critical skill for any instructional designer. So, can AI help us do a good job of it? Let’s find out!

Part 3: How Close is AI to Replacing Instructional Designers?
The Results Part 3: Creating a Course Outline

Today, we’re diving into what many consider to be the role-defining task of the instructional designer: creating a course design outline.

ChatGPT Cheat Sheet for Instructional Designers! — from Alexandra Choy Youatt EdD

Instructional Designers!
Whether you’re new to the field or a seasoned expert, this comprehensive guide will help you leverage AI to create more engaging and effective learning experiences.

What’s Inside?
Roles and Tasks: Tailored prompts for various instructional design roles and tasks.
Formats: Different formats to present your work, from training plans to rubrics.
Learning Models: Guidance on using the ADDIE model and various pedagogical strategies.
Engagement Tips: Techniques for online engagement and collaboration.
Specific Tips: Industry certifications, work-based learning, safety protocols, and more.

Who Can Benefit?
Corporate Trainers
Curriculum Developers
E-Learning Specialists
Instructional Technologists
Learning Experience Designers
And many more!
…

ChatGPT Cheat Sheet | Instructional Designer

5 AI Tools I Use Every Day (as a Busy Student) — from theaigirl.substack.com by Diana Dovgopol
AI tools that I use every day to boost my productivity.
#1 Gamma
#2 Perplexity
#3 Cockatoo

I use this AI tool almost every day as well. Since I’m still a master’s student at university, I have to attend lectures and seminars, which are always in English or German, neither of which is my native language. With the help of Cockatoo, I create scripts of the lectures and/or translations into my language. This means I don’t have to take notes in class and then manually translate them afterward. All I need to do is record the lecture audio on any device or directly in Cockatoo, upload it, and then you’ll have the audio and text ready for you.

…and more

Students Worry Overemphasis on AI Could Devalue Education — from insidehighered.com by Juliette Rowsell
Report stresses that AI is “new standard” and universities need to better communicate policies to learners.

Rising use of AI in higher education could cause students to question the quality and value of education they receive, a report warns.

This year’s Digital Education Council Global AI Student Survey, of more than 3,800 students from 16 countries, found that more than half (55 percent) believed overuse of AI within teaching devalued education, and 52 percent said it negatively impacted their academic performance.

Despite this, significant numbers of students admitted to using such technology. Some 86 percent said they “regularly” used programs such as ChatGPT in their studies, 54 percent said they used it on a weekly basis, and 24 percent said they used it to write a first draft of a submission.

Higher Ed Leadership Is Excited About AI – But Investment Is Lacking — from forbes.com by Vinay Bhaskara

As corporate America races to integrate AI into its core operations, higher education finds itself in a precarious position. I conducted a survey of 63 university leaders revealing that while higher ed leaders recognize AI’s transformative potential, they’re struggling to turn that recognition into action.

This struggle is familiar for higher education — gifted with the mission of educating America’s youth but plagued with a myriad of operational and financial struggles, higher ed institutions often lag behind their corporate peers in technology adoption. In recent years, this gap has become threateningly large. In an era of declining enrollments and shifting demographics, closing this gap could be key to institutional survival and success.

The survey results paint a clear picture of inconsistency: 86% of higher ed leaders see AI as a “massive opportunity,” yet only 21% believe their institutions are prepared for it. This disconnect isn’t just a minor inconsistency – it’s a strategic vulnerability in an era of declining enrollments and shifting demographics.

(Generative) AI Isn’t Going Anywhere but Up — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard
“Hype” claims are nonsense.

There has been a lot of talk recently about an “AI Bubble.” Supposedly, the industry, or at least the generative AI subset of it, will collapse. This is known as the “Generative AI Bubble.” A bubble — a broad one or a generative one — is nonsense. These are the reasons we will continue to see massive growth in AI.

AI Readiness: Prepare Your Workforce to Embrace the Future — from learningguild.com by Danielle Wallace

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing industries, enhancing efficiency, and unlocking new opportunities. To thrive in this landscape, organizations need to be ready to embrace AI not just technologically but also culturally.

Learning leaders play a crucial role in preparing employees to adapt and excel in an AI-driven workplace. Transforming into an AI-empowered organization requires more than just technological adoption; it demands a shift in organizational mindset. This guide delves into how learning leaders can support this transition by fostering the right mindset attributes in employees.

Claude AI for eLearning Developers — from learningguild.com by Bill Brandon

Claude is fast, produces grammatically correct text, and outputs easy-to-read articles, emails, blog posts, summaries, and analyses. Take some time to try it out. If you worry about plagiarism and text scraping, put the results through Grammarly’s plagiarism checker (I did not use Claude for this article, but I did send the text through Grammarly).

Survey: Top Teacher Uses of AI in the Classroom — from thejournal.com by Rhea Kelly

A new report from Cambium Learning Group outlines the top ways educators are using artificial intelligence to manage their classrooms and support student learning. Conducted by Hanover Research, the 2024 K-12 Educator + AI Survey polled 482 teachers and administrators at schools and districts that are actively using AI in the classroom.

More than half of survey respondents (56%) reported that they are leveraging AI to create personalized learning experiences for students. Other uses included providing real-time performance tracking and feedback (cited by 52% of respondents), helping students with critical thinking skills (50%), proofreading writing (47%), and lesson planning (44%).

On the administrator side, top uses of AI included interpreting/analyzing student data (61%), managing student records (56%), and managing professional development (56%).

Addendum on 8/14/24:

Digital Writing Lab

About this Project

The Digital Writing Lab is a key component of the Australian national Teaching Digital Writing project, which runs from 2022-2025.

This stage of the broader project involves academic and secondary English teacher collaboration to explore how teachers are conceptualising the teaching of digital writing and what further supports they may need.

Previous stages of the project included archival research reviewing materials related to digital writing in Australia’s National Textbook Collection, and a national survey of secondary English teachers. You can find out more about the whole project via the project blog.

Who runs the project?

Project Lead Lucinda McKnight is an Associate Professor and Australian Research Council (ARC) DECRA Fellow researching how English teachers can connect the teaching of writing to contemporary media and students’ lifeworlds.

She is working with Leon Furze, who holds the doctoral scholarship attached to this project, and Chris Zomer, the project Research Fellow. The project is located in the Research for Educational Impact (REDI) centre at Deakin University, Melbourne.

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Virtual Coaching Videos: Answering Your Questions [Tucker]

On 08/01/2024, in blended learning, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital learning, education, education technology, hybrid learning, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, more voice more choice more control, online media, student-related, teachers, United States, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Virtual Coaching Videos: Answering Your Questions — from catlintucker.com by Catlin Tucker
(Emphasis below by DSC — and I would like to thank Catlin and people like her who are sharing their knowledge — free of charge — as they help others learn and grow!)

I am excited to announce the launch of a new video series on YouTube called “Virtual Coaching.” I have the privilege of working with thousands of educators every year who are expanding their teaching toolboxes to include blended learning models, UDL, and student-led instructional strategies. I understand how challenging it can be to shift practice. I encourage the educators I work with to reach out if they hit bumps, have questions, or need support as they implement new instructional models. Every year, I field hundreds of questions from the educators I work with and people who read my blog or listen to my podcast.

Having a reliable resource to ask questions and receive timely, practical responses when trying something new is crucial. That’s the goal of my new video series, “Virtual Coaching.” I want to answer your questions, tapping into my experiences and resources as a teacher, coach, and professional learning facilitator. I hope these videos will be valuable as you strive to design and facilitate engaging, effective, and equitable learning experiences.

Each virtual coaching video is designed to provide you with actionable advice that you can apply immediately. These videos cover various topics, including implementing new teaching strategies, overcoming classroom challenges, and exploring innovative ways to engage students. Time is a limited commodity, so I keep my videos short and sweet. The goal is to provide my community of educators with support, insights, and inspiration without overwhelming you or consuming too much of your time.

Also from Catlin, see:

Why Don’t We Trust Students? — from catlintucker.com by Catlin Tucker

As someone who regularly works with teachers on topics like blended learning, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and student-led learning, one recurring theme I encounter is control. There’s a pervasive fear among educators when it comes to releasing control and allowing students to take more ownership and responsibility for their learning. This begs the question: Why don’t we trust our students? What is it that we really fear?

If we maintain all the control, we hinder our students’ ability to develop the essential skills they will need in the future. The rapidly changing demands of the workplace and life require individuals who are self-motivated, adaptable, and capable of critical thinking and problem-solving. By not allowing students to take more responsibility for their learning, we risk leaving them unprepared for these future challenges.

From DSC:
This item re: control makes me think of this graphic, which readers of this blog will recognize.

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

Researchers develop VR training to tackle racial disparity — from inavateonthenet.net

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a VR training system for physicians, aimed at tackling racial and class health disparities.
…
“Ultimately, this virtual reality training system could become a viable tool for practicing communication with diverse patients across different types of health care professions. “There’s no reason why nurses couldn’t also use this across different health care contexts — not just for Black maternal health, but chronic pain, diabetes or some of these other health issues in which we know that there are disparities based on markers of difference such as race or class”.

Two additional VR training modules are under development, aimed at promoting self-reflection by helping medical students to identify their own biases and learn how to mitigate them. The third module will focus on students practicing intercultural communication skills through interactions with a virtual patient, an approach that is seen by the researchers as more cost-effective than recruiting people for role playing with medical students.

From DSC:
I’ve often thought that VR could be used to help us walk in someone else’s shoes….to experience things as THEY experience things.

Instructure to be Acquired by KKR for $4.8 Billion [Instructure]

On 07/26/2024, in business, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, CMS/LMS, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, higher education, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning ecosystem, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Instructure to be Acquired by KKR for $4.8 Billion — from prnewswire.com

SALT LAKE CITY, July 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Instructure Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: INST) (“Instructure”), a leading learning ecosystem, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by investment funds managed by KKR, a leading global investment firm, for $23.60 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at an enterprise value of approximately $4.8 billion. The per-share purchase price represents a premium of 16 percent over Instructure’s unaffected share price of $20.27 as of May 17, 2024, the last trading day prior to media reports regarding a potential transaction. KKR, with participation from Dragoneer Investment Group, will acquire all outstanding shares, including those shares owned by Instructure’s existing majority owner, Thoma Bravo, a leading software investment firm, which took the company public in 2021.

Speaking of edtech-related vendors, also see:

Breaking: 2U files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in Prepackaged Deal — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Phil Hill
Agreements are already in place, and the company may emerge from bankruptcy as soon as September

“Deep Learning: Five New Superpowers of Higher Education” [Klitgaard] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 07/19/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, change, changing business models, CMS/LMS, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, credentialing, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, interactivity, IT in HE, K-12 related, languages and translation, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, liberal arts, Natural Language Processing (NLP), personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, by Daniel Christian

What aspects of teaching should remain human? — from hechingerreport.org by Chris Berdik
Even techno optimists hesitate to say teaching is best left to the bots, but there’s a debate about where to draw the line

ATLANTA — Science teacher Daniel Thompson circulated among his sixth graders at Ron Clark Academy on a recent spring morning, spot checking their work and leading them into discussions about the day’s lessons on weather and water. He had a helper: As Thompson paced around the class, peppering them with questions, he frequently turned to a voice-activated AI to summon apps and educational videos onto large-screen smartboards.

When a student asked, “Are there any animals that don’t need water?” Thompson put the question to the AI. Within seconds, an illustrated blurb about kangaroo rats appeared before the class.

Nitta said there’s something “deeply profound” about human communication that allows flesh-and-blood teachers to quickly spot and address things like confusion and flagging interest in real time.

Deep Learning: Five New Superpowers of Higher Education — from jeppestricker.substack.com by Jeppe Klitgaard Stricker
How Deep Learning is Transforming Higher Education

While the traditional model of education is entrenched, emerging technologies like deep learning promise to shake its foundations and usher in an age of personalized, adaptive, and egalitarian education. It is expected to have a significant impact across higher education in several key ways.
…
…deep learning introduces adaptivity into the learning process. Unlike a typical lecture, deep learning systems can observe student performance in real-time. Confusion over a concept triggers instant changes to instructional tactics. Misconceptions are identified early and remediated quickly. Students stay in their zone of proximal development, constantly challenged but never overwhelmed. This adaptivity prevents frustration and stagnation.

InstructureCon 24 Conference Notes — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Glenda Morgan
Another solid conference from the market leader, even with unclear roadmap

The new stuff: AI
Instructure rolled out multiple updates and improvements – more than last year. These included many AI-based or focused tools and services as well as some functional improvements. I’ll describe the AI features first.

Sal Khan was a surprise visitor to the keynote stage to announce the September availability of the full suite of AI-enabled Khanmigo Teacher Tools for Canvas users. The suite includes 20 tools, such as tools to generate lesson plans and quiz questions and write letters of recommendation. Next year, they plan to roll out tools for students themselves to use.
…
Other AI-based features include.

- Discussion tool summaries and AI-generated responses…
- Translation of inbox messages and discussions…
- Smart search …
- Intelligent Insights…

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! 🙂

Where Is K-12 Enrollment Headed? Population Trends, by the Numbers — from edweek.org by Mark Lieberman
America is projected to have 3 million fewer K-12 students attending public school by 2031 than it did in 2013.
How to Kill Student Curiosity in 5 Steps (and What to Do Instead) — from edweek.org by Olivia Odileke
The unintentional missteps teachers and administrators are making
I’ve observed five major ways we’re unintentionally stifling curiosity and issue a call to action for educators, administrators, and policymakers to join the curiosity revolution:

How AI will change education [Woodbury], Introducing Eureka Labs [Karpathy] + numerous other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 07/18/2024, in adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, computer science, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, Europe, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, heutagogy, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, Open AI, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, programming, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, UK, United States, universities, vendors, writing, by Daniel Christian

Introducing Eureka Labs — “We are building a new kind of school that is AI native.” — by Andrej Karpathy, Previously Director of AI @ Tesla, founding team @ OpenAI

However, with recent progress in generative AI, this learning experience feels tractable. The teacher still designs the course materials, but they are supported, leveraged and scaled with an AI Teaching Assistant who is optimized to help guide the students through them. This Teacher + AI symbiosis could run an entire curriculum of courses on a common platform. If we are successful, it will be easy for anyone to learn anything, expanding education in both reach (a large number of people learning something) and extent (any one person learning a large amount of subjects, beyond what may be possible today unassisted).

?? Excited to share that I am starting an AI+Education company called Eureka Labs.
The announcement:

—
We are Eureka Labs and we are building a new kind of school that is AI native.

How can we approach an ideal experience for learning something new? For example, in the case… pic.twitter.com/RHPkqdjB8R

— Andrej Karpathy (@karpathy) July 16, 2024

After Tesla and OpenAI, Andrej Karpathy’s startup aims to apply AI assistants to education — from techcrunch.com by Rebecca Bellan

Andrej Karpathy, former head of AI at Tesla and researcher at OpenAI, is launching Eureka Labs, an “AI native” education platform. In tech speak, that usually means built from the ground up with AI at its core. And while Eureka Labs’ AI ambitions are lofty, the company is starting with a more traditional approach to teaching.

San Francisco-based Eureka Labs, which Karpathy registered as an LLC in Delaware on June 21, aims to leverage recent progress in generative AI to create AI teaching assistants that can guide students through course materials.

What does it mean for students to be AI-ready? — from timeshighereducation.com by David Joyner
Not everyone wants to be a computer scientist, a software engineer or a machine learning developer. We owe it to our students to prepare them with a full range of AI skills for the world they will graduate into, writes David Joyner

We owe it to our students to prepare them for this full range of AI skills, not merely the end points. The best way to fulfil this responsibility is to acknowledge and examine this new category of tools. More and more tools that students use daily – word processors, email, presentation software, development environments and more – have AI-based features. Practising with these tools is a valuable exercise for students, so we should not prohibit that behaviour. But at the same time, we do not have to just shrug our shoulders and accept however much AI assistance students feel like using.

Teachers say AI usage has surged since the school year started — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Ascione
Half of teachers report an increase in the use of AI and continue to seek professional learning

Fifty percent of educators reported an increase in AI usage, by both students and teachers, over the 2023–24 school year, according to The 2024 Educator AI Report: Perceptions, Practices, and Potential, from Imagine Learning, a digital curriculum solutions provider.

The report offers insight into how teachers’ perceptions of AI use in the classroom have evolved since the start of the 2023–24 school year.

OPINION: What teachers call AI cheating, leaders in the workforce might call progress — from hechingerreport.org by C. Edward Waston and Jose Antonio Bowen
Authors of a new guide explore what AI literacy might look like in a new era

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

But this very ease has teachers wondering how we can keep our students motivated to do the hard work when there are so many new shortcuts. Learning goals, curriculums, courses and the way we grade assignments will all need to be reevaluated.

The new realities of work also must be considered. A shift in employers’ job postings rewards those with AI skills. Many companies report already adopting generative AI tools or anticipate incorporating them into their workflow in the near future.

A core tension has emerged: Many teachers want to keep AI out of our classrooms, but also know that future workplaces may demand AI literacy.

What we call cheating, business could see as efficiency and progress.

It is increasingly likely that using AI will emerge as an essential skill for students, regardless of their career ambitions, and that action is required of educational institutions as a result.

Teaching Writing With AI Without Replacing Thinking: 4 Tips — from by Erik Ofgang
AI has a lot of potential for writing students, but we can’t let it replace the thinking parts of writing, says writing professor Steve Graham

Reconciling these two goals — having AI help students learn to write more efficiently without hijacking the cognitive benefits of writing — should be a key goal of educators. Finding the ideal balance will require more work from both researchers and classroom educators, but Graham shares some initial tips for doing this currently.

Why I ban AI use for writing assignments — from timeshighereducation.com by James Stacey Taylor
Students may see handwriting essays in class as a needlessly time-consuming approach to assignments, but I want them to learn how to engage with arguments, develop their own views and convey them effectively, writes James Stacey Taylor

Could they use AI to generate objections to the arguments they read? Of course. AI does a good job of summarising objections to Singer’s view. But I don’t want students to parrot others’ objections. I want them to think of objections themselves.

Could AI be useful for them in organising their exegesis of others’ views and their criticisms of them? Yes. But, again, part of what I want my students to learn is precisely what this outsources to the AI: how to organise their thoughts and communicate them effectively.

How AI Will Change Education — from digitalnative.tech by Rex Woodbury
Predicting Innovation in Education, from Personalized Learning to the Downfall of College

This week explores how AI will bleed into education, looking at three segments of education worth watching, then examining which business models will prevail.

Personalized Learning and Tutoring
Teacher Tools
Alternatives to College
Final Thoughts: Business Models and Why Education Matters

New Guidance from TeachAI and CSTA Emphasizes Computer Science Education More Important than Ever in an Age of AI — from csteachers.org by CSTA
The guidance features new survey data and insights from teachers and experts in computer science (CS) and AI, informing the future of CS education.

SEATTLE, WA – July 16, 2024 – Today, TeachAI, led by Code.org, ETS, the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE), Khan Academy, and the World Economic Forum, launches a new initiative in partnership with the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) to support and empower educators as they grapple with the growing opportunities and risks of AI in computer science (CS) education.
…

The briefs draw on early research and insights from CSTA members, organizations in the TeachAI advisory committee, and expert focus groups to address common misconceptions about AI and offer a balanced perspective on critical issues in CS education, including:

Why is it Still Important for Students to Learn to Program?
How Are Computer Science Educators Teaching With and About AI?
How Can Students Become Critical Consumers and Responsible Creators of AI?

Learning Ecosystems

From DSC: You NEED this extension! Clear away the clutter from all of your web-based articles. Instantly.

Using VR to put oneself into another’s shoes/reality

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