2022 European edtech report: Smaller rounds and fewer deals, but more angel activity — from techcrunch.com by Rhys Spence

Excerpt:

Against this background, we formed our annual review of European edtech activity for 2022. For the first time since 2014, venture capital funding to European edtech startups saw a decline year-over-year, with startups raking in $1.8 billion in 2022 compared to $2.5 billion a year earlier.

The global ecosystem has been on an upward trajectory, albeit less consistently, but the declines in new investment in 2022 were steep: globally funding declined to $9.1 billion last year from $20.1 billion in 2021. This is in line with macro trends in the public markets as well as other tech sectors (both trends were highlighted in our October report with Dealroom).

 

Virtual Exam Case Primes Privacy Fight Over College Room Scans — from news.bloomberglaw.com by Skye Witley

  • Cleveland State case centers on remote proctoring software
  • Fourth Amendment protections in question before Sixth Circuit

Excerpt:

A legal dispute over a university’s use of exam proctoring software that allegedly scanned students’ rooms is set to shape the scope of Fourth Amendment and privacy protections for online college tests.

Cleveland State University last week asked a federal appeals court in Cincinnati to review a district court finding that the “room scans” were unconstitutional searches. The case could influence how other students litigate their privacy rights and change how universities virtually monitor their students during exams, attorneys said.

 

The practical guide to using AI to do stuff — from oneusefulthing.substack.com by Ethan Mollick; with thanks to Sam DeBrule for this resource. Ethan Mollick is a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he studies entrepreneurship & innovation, as well as how we can better learn and teach.
A resource for students in my classes (and other interested people).

Excerpts:

My classes now require AI (and if I didn’t require AI use, it wouldn’t matter, everyone is using AI anyway). But how can students use AI well? Here is a basic tutorial and guide I am providing my classes. It covers some of the many ways to use AI to be more productive, creative, and successful, using the technology available in early 2023, as well as some of the risks.

Come up with ideas 
Open Source Option: Nothing very good
Best free (for now) option: ChatGPT (registration may require a phone number)
Best option if ChatGPT is down: OpenAI Playground
.


Also relevant/see:

ChatGPT for educators -- a free 17 lesson course

 



On a relevant note:

Gen Z says school is not equipping them with the skills they need to survive in a digital world — from fastcompany.com by Shalene Gupta; with thanks to Robert Gibson for this resource
According to a study from Dell Technologies, Gen Z-ers in 15 different countries feel their government could do better.

Excerpt:

They see an education and skills gap: Forty-four percent said that school only taught them very basic computing skills, while 37% said that school education (for children under age 16) didn’t prepare them with the technology skills they needed for their planned careers. Forty percent consider learning new digital skills essential to future career options.

It’s clear that Gen Z see technology as pivotal for their future prosperity. It is now up to us—leading technology providers, governments, and the public sector—to work together and set them up for success by improving the quality and access to digital learning. Forty-four percent of Gen Z feel educators and businesses should work together to bridge the digital skills gap, and with the speed at which technology continues to evolve, this will require constant collaboration.

Aongus Hegarty, president of international markets at Dell Technologies


 

How edtech companies should create and empower lifelong learners — from chieflearningofficer.com by Oleg Vilchinski

Excerpt:

Now is the ideal time for a flexible and competent market leader to emerge and seize this opportunity, delivering personalized and lifelong educational solutions and experiences that meet the needs of a learning-hungry populace.

Edtech businesses can address this widening skills gap and need for frequent job-switching through those same data-driven ecosystems, which can support the user through their career and leisure activities. For example, a user could sync their profile with their work’s employee portal to receive further professional development. Simultaneously, the technology would support the user during their spare time as they take courses or watch video content ranging from Adobe InDesign to gardening, further refining their skills. And, when it comes time to retire, the user’s trusted ecosystem has a backlog of data to recommend applicable hobbies and community events.

For example, a user could sync their profile with their work’s employee portal to receive further professional development.

 
 

Closing the digital divide in Black America — from mckinsey.com
Five steps could help to bring broadband and digital equity to every Black household in the United States—urban and rural—while bolstering efforts to create a more inclusive economy.

Excerpt:

But broadband access is only part of a much bigger picture. Ensuring all Americans can fully participate in civic life and the digital economy requires afford­able subscriptions, internet-enabled devices, applications, digital skills, and high-quality technical support. For example, while smartphone and tablet penetration are approximately equal among White, Black, and Hispanic and Latino adults in the United States, only 69 percent of Black Americans and 67 percent of Hispanic Americans have desktop or laptop computers, compared with 80 percent of White Americans (Exhibit 1).5 A 2020 OECD survey found that roughly half of Black workers had the advanced or proficient digital skills needed to thrive in our increasingly tech-driven economy, compared with 77 percent of White workers.6

 

Some example components of a learning ecosystem [Christian]

A learning ecosystem is composed of people, tools, technologies, content, processes, culture, strategies, and any other resource that helps one learn. Learning ecosystems can be at an individual level as well as at an organizational level.

Some example components:

  • Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) such as faculty, staff, teachers, trainers, parents, coaches, directors, and others
  • Fellow employees
  • L&D/Training professionals
  • Managers
  • Instructional Designers
  • Librarians
  • Consultants
  • Types of learning
    • Active learning
    • Adult learning
    • PreK-12 education
    • Training/corporate learning
    • Vocational learning
    • Experiential learning
    • Competency-based learning
    • Self-directed learning (i.e., heutagogy)
    • Mobile learning
    • Online learning
    • Face-to-face-based learning
    • Hybrid/blended learning
    • Hyflex-based learning
    • Game-based learning
    • XR-based learning (AR, MR, and VR)
    • Informal learning
    • Formal learning
    • Lifelong learning
    • Microlearning
    • Personalized/customized learning
    • Play-based learning
  • Cloud-based learning apps
  • Coaching & mentoring
  • Peer feedback
  • Job aids/performance tools and other on-demand content
  • Websites
  • Conferences
  • Professional development
  • Professional organizations
  • Social networking
  • Social media – Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook/Meta, other
  • Communities of practice
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) — including ChatGPT, learning agents, learner profiles, 
  • LMS/CMS/Learning Experience Platforms
  • Tutorials
  • Videos — including on YouTube, Vimeo, other
  • Job-aids
  • E-learning-based resources
  • Books, digital textbooks, journals, and manuals
  • Enterprise social networks/tools
  • RSS feeds and blogging
  • Podcasts/vodcasts
  • Videoconferencing/audio-conferencing/virtual meetings
  • Capturing and sharing content
  • Tagging/rating/curating content
  • Decision support tools
  • Getting feedback
  • Webinars
  • In-person workshops
  • Discussion boards/forums
  • Chat/IM
  • VOIP
  • Online-based resources (periodicals, journals, magazines, newspapers, and others)
  • Learning spaces
  • Learning hubs
  • Learning preferences
  • Learning theories
  • Microschools
  • MOOCs
  • Open courseware
  • Portals
  • Wikis
  • Wikipedia
  • Slideshare
  • TED talks
  • …and many more components.

These people, tools, technologies, etc. are constantly morphing — as well as coming and going in and out of our lives.

 

 

Top edtech trends in 2023 and the ASU example — from news.asu.edu

Excerpt:

In spite of our tendency to break things down into tidy time frames, like a new year or academic semester, change constantly turns over the status quo. Especially in the world of technology, where disruptive innovation may evolve rapidly from the fringe to the mainstream.

“At ASU’s Enterprise Technology, we work in spaces where technology is not just revolutionizing higher education, but the world at large,” said Lev Gonick, chief information officer at Arizona State University. “We strive to be proactive, not reactive, to new paradigms changing the ways in which we work, learn and thrive.”

As referenced by the above article:

Thus, the top higher education technology trends to watch out for in 2023 include Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Digital Twins, the Metaverse (including digital avatars and NFT art for use in the Metaverse and other Web3-based virtual environments), Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, Cloud, Gamification, and Chatbots. These technologies will support the expansion of the Digital Transformation of higher education going forward.

Also relevant/see:

 

 

Microsoft Plans to Build OpenAI, ChatGPT Features Into All Products — from wsj.com by Sam Schechner (behind paywall)
Offering for businesses and end users to be transformed by incorporating tools like ChatGPT, CEO Satya Nadella says

Excerpt:

DAVOS, Switzerland—Microsoft Corp. MSFT 2.86%increase; green up pointing triangle plans to incorporate artificial-intelligence tools like ChatGPT into all of its products and make them available as platforms for other businesses to build on, Chief Executive Satya Nadella said.

It’s a matter of time before the LMSs like Canvas and Anthology do the same. Really going to change the complexion of online learning.

Jared Stein; via Robert Gibson on LinkedIn

Also relevant/see:

Donald Clark’s thoughts out on LinkedIn re: Google and AI

Excerpt:

Microsoft are holding a lot of great cards in the AI game, especially ChatGPT-3, but Google also have a great hand, in fact they have a bird in the hand:

Sparrow, from Deepmind, is likely to launch soon. Their aim is to trump ChatGTP by having a chatbot that is more useful and reduces the risk of unsafe and inappropriate answers. In the released paper, they also indicate that it will have moral constraints. Smart move.

Hassabis has promised some sort of release in 2023. Their goal is to reduce wrong and invented information by linking it to Google Search and Scholar for citations.

Donald Clark’s thought re: Apple’s strategy for AI — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com

Wonder Tools:7 ways to Use ChatGPT — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan

Excerpt:

4 recommended ChatGPT resources

  • The Art of ChatGPT PromptingA Guide to Crafting Clear and Effective Prompts.
    This free e-book acts a useful guide for beginners.
  • Collection of ChatGPT Resources
    Use ChatGPT in Google Docs, WhatsApp, as a desktop app, with your voice, or in other ways with this running list of tools.
  • Awesome ChatGPT prompts
    Dozens of clever pre-written prompts you can use to initiate your own conversations with ChatGPT to get it to reply as a fallacy finder or a journal reviewer or whatever else.
  • Writing for Renegades – Co-writing with AI
    This free 17-page resource has writing exercises you can try with ChatGPT. It also includes interesting nuggets, like Wycliffe A. Hill’s 1936 attempt at writing automation, Plot Genie.

 


We often see the battle between technology and humans as a zero-sum game. And that’s how much of the discussion about ChatGPT is being framed now. Like many others who have been experimenting with ChatGPT in recent weeks, I find that a lot of the output depends on the input. In other words, the better the human question, the better the ChatGPT answer.

So instead of seeing ourselves competing with technology, we should find ways to complement it and view ChatGPT as a tool that assists us in collecting information and in writing drafts.

If we reframe the threat, think about how much time can be freed up to read, to think, to write?

As many have noted, including Michael Horn on the Class Disrupted podcast he co-hosts, ChatGPT is to writing what calculators were once to math and other STEM disciplines. 

Jeff Selingo: ‘The Calculator’ for a New Generation?

 


GPT in Higher Education — from insidehighered.com by Ray Schroeder
ChatGPT has caught our attention in higher education. What will it mean in 2023?

Excerpt:

Founder and CEO at Moodle Martin Dougiamas writes in Open Ed Tech that as educators, we must recognize that artificial general intelligence will become ubiquitous. “In short, we need to embrace that AI is going to be a huge part of our lives when creating anything. There is no gain in banning it or avoiding it. It’s actually easier (and better) to use this moment to restructure our education processes to be useful and appropriate in today’s environment (which is full of opportunities).”

Who, at your institution, is examining the impact of AI, and in particular GPT, upon the curriculum? Are instructional designers working with instructors in revising syllabi and embedding AI applications into the course offerings? What can you do to ensure that your university is preparing learners for the future rather than the past?

Ray Schroeder

ChatGPT Advice Academics Can Use Now — from insidehighered.com by Susan D’Agostino
To harness the potential and avert the risks of OpenAI’s new chat bot, academics should think a few years out, invite students into the conversation and—most of all—experiment, not panic. 

Alarmed by AI Chatbots, Universities Start Revamping How They Teach — from The New York Times (out at Yahoo) by Kalley Huang

Excerpt:

At schools including George Washington University in Washington, D.C., Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, professors are phasing out take-home, open-book assignments — which became a dominant method of assessment in the pandemic but now seem vulnerable to chatbots. They are instead opting for in-class assignments, handwritten papers, group work and oral exams.

Gone are prompts like “write five pages about this or that.” Some professors are instead crafting questions that they hope will be too clever for chatbots and asking students to write about their own lives and current events.

With ChatGPT, Teachers Can Plan Lessons, Write Emails, and More. What’s the Catch? — from edweek.org by Madeline Will  (behind paywall)

Why Banning ChatGPT in Class Is a Mistake — from campustechnology.com by Thomas Mennella
Artificial intelligence can be a valuable learning tool, if used in the right context. Here are ways to embrace ChatGPT and encourage students to think critically about the content it produces.

.


Let the Lawsuits Against Generative AI Begin! — from legallydisrupted.com by Zach Abramowitz
Getty Sues Stability AI as Lawsuits Mount Against GenAI Companies

Excerpt:

Well, it was bound to happen. Anytime you have a phenomenon as disruptive as generative AI, you can expect lawsuits.

Case in point: the lawsuit recently filed by Getty Images against Stability AI, highlighting the ongoing legal challenges posed by the use of AI in the creative industries. But it’s not the only lawsuit recently filed, see e.g. Now artists sue AI image generation tools Stable Diffusion, Midjourney over copyright | Technology News, The Indian Express


.

 

A New Generation Of Mastery-Based Learning Platforms Has Arrived — from joshbersin.com by Josh Bersin

Excerpt:

The $330 billion corporate training market is enormous, fragmented, and complex. For years it was dominated by Learning Management Systems (LMS) and content providers, each pioneered in the early 2000s. These systems served well, but the needs of employees and organizations moved ahead.

Today companies want not only a place to find and administer learning, they want a “Learning Platform” that creates mastery. And this market, that of “Learning Delivery Platforms,” is far more complex than you think. Let me put it straight: video-based chapter by chapter courses don’t teach you much. Companies want a solution that is expert-led, engaging, includes assignments and coaching, and connects employees to experts and peers.

Well there’s a new breed of platforms focused in this area, and I call them Capability Academy systems.

These are platforms explicitly to bring together expert teachers, AI-enabled collaboration, assignments, and coaching to drive mastery. They can train thousands of people in small cohorts, offering hands-on support for technical or PowerSkills topics. And the results are striking: these vendors achieve 90% completion rates and netPromoter scores above 60 (far above traditional content libraries).

6 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2023 — from cultofpedagogy.com by Jennifer Gonzalez

Excerpt:

The guide is packed with tools that can meet so many of your needs as a teacher, and many of them are already well established and widely used. But every January, we like to choose six that we think deserve a little extra attention. Most are not actually brand-new to the world, but each one has something special about it. So here we go!

6 Google Scholar Tips From Its Co-Creator — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
Google Scholar can be a great tool for teachers and their students. Here’s how to get the most out of it.

Excerpt:

Anurag Acharya co-created Google Scholar in 2004. The Google engineer and former professor of computer science at the University of California at Santa Barbara was inspired to create the free search tool after being frustrated by being unable to access research articles as a student at the Kharagpur campus of the Indian Institute of Technology.

Today, Acharya is head of Google Scholar and an authority on how the scholarly search engine can best be used by teachers and their students. He offers these tips and best practices for teachers to use and share with their students.

Instructional Designer: Tools of the Trade Webinar 3/8 (from Teaching: A Path to L&D) and tools of the trade

Teaching: A Path to L&D aims to provide free guidance to teachers looking to move into the world of Learning and Development, specifically Instructional Design. Check out our website at www.teachlearndev.org for free coaching, webinars, and resources to help you on your journey!

 

14 Technology Predictions for Higher Education in 2023 — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly
How will technologies and practices like artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, digital transformation, and change management impact colleges and universities this year? Here’s what the experts told us.

Excerpt:

In an open call on LinkedIn, we asked higher education and ed tech industry leaders to forecast the most important trends to watch in the coming year. Their responses reflect both the challenges on the horizon — persistent cyber attacks, the disruptive force of emerging technologies, failures in project management — as well as the opportunities that technology brings to better serve students and support the institutional mission. Here are 14 predictions to help steer your technology efforts in 2023.

 

12 Ideas to Try in 2023 — from gettingsmart.com by Rachelle Dené Poth

Key Points

  • The use of digital tools that help to connect students with real-world learning opportunities will expand global awareness and transform the learning experience.
  • Here are 12 digital tools to consider using in 2023.

StoryJumper is a digital storytelling platform that gives students so many ways to share their learning. Students can choose different characters, props, and background scenes and even add audio to the books that they create. StoryJumper helps educators promote student choice, and spark curiosity and creativity as they design their stories. There are also libraries full of books to explore.  Books can also be shared with classmates and families.

Also somewhat relevant to K12 and tools, see:

 

Unschooler: Your AI Vocational Mentor — from techacute.com by Gabriel Scharffenorth

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

AI to help realize your dream career
The Unschooler mentor helps you understand what you need to do to achieve your dream career. You can select one of six broad areas of expertise: science, people, tech, info, art, and business. The platform will then ask questions related to your future career.

It also has some other useful features. Unschooler keeps track of your skills by adding them to a skill map that’s unique to you. You can also ask it to expand on the information it has already given you. This is done by selecting the text and clicking one of four buttons: more, example, how to, explain, and a question mark icon that defines the selected text. There’s also a mobile app that analyzes text from pictures and explains tasks or concepts.

From DSC:
This integration of AI is part of the vision that I’ve been tracking at:

Learning from the living class room -- a vision that continues to develop, where the pieces are coming into place

Learning from the living [class] room
A vision that continues to develop, where the pieces are finally coming into place!

 

What factors help active learning classrooms succeed? — from rtalbert.org Robert Talbert

Excerpt:

The idea that the space in which you do something, affects the thing you do is the basic premise behind active learning classrooms (ALCs).

The biggest message I get from this study is that in order to have success with active learning classrooms, you can’t just build them — they have to be introduced as part of an ecosystem that touches almost all parts of the daily function of a university: faculty teaching, faculty development and support, facilities, and the Registrar’s Office to name a few. Without that ecosystem before you build an ALC, it seems hard to have success with students after it’s built. You’re more likely to have an expensive showcase that looks good but ultimately does not fulfill its main purpose: Promoting and amplifying active learning, and moving the culture of a campus toward active engagement in the classroom.

From DSC:
Thank you Robert for your article/posting here! And thank you for being one of the few faculty members who:

  • Regularly share information out on LinkedIn, Twitter, and your blog (something that is all too rare for faculty members throughout higher education)
  • Took a sabbatical to go work at a company that designs and develops numerous options for implementing active learning setups throughout the worlds of higher education, K12 education, and the corporate world as well. You are taking your skills to help contribute to the corporate world, while learning things out in the corporate world, and then  taking these learnings back into the world of higher education.

This presupposes something controversial: That the institution will take a stand on the issue that there is a preferred way to teach, namely active learning, and that the institution will be moving toward making active learning the default pedagogy at the institution. Putting this stake in the ground, and then investing not only in facilities but in professional development and faculty incentives to make it happen, again calls for vigorous, sustained leadership — at the top, and especially by the teaching/learning center director.

Robert Talbert


 

Job Titles: It’s Not Only Instructional Design — from idolcourses.com by Ivett Csordas

Excerpt:

When I first came across the title “Instructional Designer” while looking for alternative career options, I was just as confused as anybody would be hearing about our job for the first time. I remember asking questions like: What does an Instructional Designer do? Why is it called Instructional Design? Wouldn’t a title such as Learning Experience Designer or Training Content Developer suit them better? How are their skill sets different from curriculum developers like teachers’? etc.

Then, the more I learnt about the different roles of Instructional Designers, and the more job interviews I had, ironically, the less clarity I had over the companies’ expectations of us.

The truth is that the role of an Instructional Designer varies from company to company. What a person hired with the title “Instructional Designer” ends up doing depends on a range of factors such as the company’s training portfolio, the profile of their learners, the size of the L&D team, the way they use technology, just to mention a few.

From DSC:
I don’t know a thing about idolcourses.com, but I really appreciated running across this posting by Ivett Csordas about the various job titles out there and the differences between some of these job titles. The posting deals with job titles associated with developers, designers, LXD, LMS roles, managers, L&D Coordinators, specialists, consultants, and strategists.

 

 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian