ideas

Colleges consider overhauling grading system for freshmen to ease transition to higher learning — from mercurynews.com by Kate Hull
Supporters say ‘ungrading’ could result in less stress and a more level playing field for students from less rigorous high schools

Excerpt:

Dubbed “weed-out” or “gatekeeper” classes, they can be dream-crushing for many students — especially those hoping to enter the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. And a growing body of research says the courses can be particularly discriminatory toward historically excluded groups such as Latinos and Black and Indigenous people.

One possible remedy, some educators say, is “ungrading,” a style of teaching and assessment that seeks to evaluate students in other ways besides A-F letter grades — usually just in their freshman year.

“You’re trying to move the focus from a score to the learning,” said Robin Dunkin, who teaches biology and is the assistant faculty director at UCSC’s Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning. “For that reason, it’s immensely powerful.”

Also relevant see the #Ungrading hashtag on Twitter, from which the below item was taken:

Any educators out there who are #ungrading in a standards-based grading school district? I’ve been studying @Jessifer’s work for a bit & I’d love to go full-implementation next year.

If you have any experience, let me know. I’d love to pick your brain! https://t.co/ClnwZsBdl9

— Adrian Neibauer, EdD (@MrNeibauer) January 25, 2023

Excerpts from Jesse Stommel’s Ungrading: an Introduction presentation:

Also relevant/see Robert Talbert’s Grading for Growth.

Tired of the Same Old Professional Development? Let Students Lead. [Homrich-Knieling]

On 01/28/2023, in communities of practice, education, experimentation, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, Learning Experience Design, professional development, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

Tired of the Same Old Professional Development? Let Students Lead. — from edsurge.com by Matt Homrich-Knieling

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Despite my love for learning, I strongly disliked most professional development sessions. The way sessions were facilitated often contradicted research-based teaching strategies. It is also frustrating when pre-packaged PD sessions are disconnected from your specific school context and student population.

To most teachers, this critique isn’t surprising. PD has a bad reputation in education circles, and it isn’t because teachers are resistant to professional learning. On the contrary, teachers want professional learning that is practical, engaging and relevant.
…
A group of students from the club met with the principal and explained their idea for leading a PD on building classroom community and supporting student self-confidence.
…

“Think about times when you lacked community or self-confidence in class. What did the teacher do/not do that led you to that experience? On the other hand, think about times when you felt a great sense of community or self-confidence in class. What did the teacher do/not do that led you to that experience?”

From DSC:
“On the contrary, teachers want professional learning that is practical, engaging and relevant.“

Hmmm…sounds like what students want as well.

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.

The academic career is broken [Leffingwell]

On 01/25/2023, in career development, change, colleges, community colleges, culture, dangers of the status quo, higher education, ideas, leadership, learning ecosystem, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

The academic career is broken — from chronicle.com by Hannah Leffingwell

Excerpt:

We are in the midst of a crisis in academe, to be sure, but it’s not an economic crisis. It’s a crisis of faith. The question is not just whether our institutions pay faculty fairly, but whether any wage is worth the subservience and sacrifice that modern higher ed requires. Too often, colleges perceive themselves as voluntary, meritocratic institutions dedicated to a “higher” moral purpose. Or, as one of the characters in Babel puts it: “The professors like to pretend that the tower is a refuge for pure knowledge, that it sits above the mundane concerns of business and commerce, but it does not.”

Have these strikes solved the central paradox of academe: a capitalist institution that claims it is above capitalism while exploiting students, faculty, and staff for financial gain? No, they have not.

It gives me no pleasure to say that the system I have dedicated my entire life to is broken — that it needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Also related to careers and higher education, see:

36% of higher ed supervisors are looking for other work, study finds — from highereddive.com by Laura Spitalniak

Excerpt:

Over a third of higher education supervisors, 36%, are likely to look for a new job in the next year, according to a new survey from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, CUPA-HR. And only 40% said they were interested in finding employment opportunities at their current institution.

ChatGPT/Generative AI within the legal realm: Could this be the case?

On 01/24/2023, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Access to Justice (A2J), Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, emerging technologies, future, game-changing environment, ideas, innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Some of the most expensive legal services are about to become MUCH cheaper.

Some of the most lucrative legal work is about to become a LOT less profitable.

The timeline is going to shock us.

— Zach Abramowitz (@ZachAbramowitz) January 23, 2023

Also relevant/see:

Roundup: Legal tech companies make news early in 2023 — from legaldive.com by Lyle Moran
LiquidText, AbacusNext, Casepoint, Everlaw, Evisort and Exterro announced updates about their legal software businesses.
Top 10 Tech Law Trends for 2023 – Nos. 10-6 — from jdsupra.com

Let’s develop a nationwide, direct-to-learner campaign: “Learn how to learn.” [Christian]

On 01/23/2023, in 24x7x365 access, active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, career development, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, education, faculty, future, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, hybrid learning, Hyflex learning, ideas, informal learning, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning theories, legislatures / government / legal, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, love of learning, metacognition / metacognitive skills, microlearning, mobile learning, online learning, online media, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, psychology, skills, society, sociology, strategy, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, traditional / tradition, training / L&D, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Let’s put together a nationwide campaign that would provide a website — or a series of websites if an agreement can’t be reached amongst the individual states — about learning how to learn. In business, there’s a “direct-to-consumer” approach. Well, we could provide a “direct-to-learner” approach — from cradle to grave. Seeing as how everyone is now required to be a lifelong learner, such a campaign would have enormous benefits to all of the United States. This campaign would be located in airports, subway stations, train stations, on billboards along major highways, in libraries, and in many more locations.

We could focus on things such as:

Quizzing yourself / retrieval practice
Spaced retrieval
Interleaving
Elaboration
Chunking
Cognitive load
Learning by doing (active learning)
Journaling
The growth mindset
Metacognition (thinking about one’s thinking)
Highlighting doesn’t equal learning
There is deeper learning in the struggle
…and more.

A learn how to learn campaign covering airports, billboards, subways, train stations, highways, and more

NOTE:
The URL I’m using above doesn’t exist, at least not at the time of this posting.
But I’m proposing that it should exist.

A group of institutions, organizations, and individuals could contribute to this. For example The Learning Scientists, Daniel Willingham, Donald Clark, James Lang, Derek Bruff, The Learning Agency Lab, Robert Talbert, Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain, Eva Keffenheim, Benedict Carey, Ken Bain, and many others.

Perhaps there could be:

discussion forums to provide for social interaction/learning
scheduled/upcoming webinars
how to apply the latest evidence-based research in the classroom
link(s) to learning-related platforms and/or resources

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 [Kelly]

On 01/17/2023, in accessibility / UDL, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, blended learning, career development, change, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, credentialing, data related items, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, global / globalization, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, ideas, innovation, instructional design, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, liberal arts, lifelong learning, online learning, personalized/customized learning, skills, teaching & learning, technology (general), tools, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

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.

Future of Design – 3D Dragon on Building Example [Steube]

On 01/17/2023, in 21st century, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, architecture, Augmented Reality (AR), creativity, design, ideas, tools, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Future of Design – 3D Dragon on Building Example

via @Billboards3D #innovation #3D #tech #technology #iot #architecture #digital #art #mixedreality #mr #ar #dl #AugmentedReality #design #digitalart #5G #ai #digitalmarketing #ml #Creative #creativity #CES pic.twitter.com/gve0pxqQKF

— Fred Steube (@steube) January 11, 2023

12 Ideas to Try in 2023 [Rachelle Dené Poth]

On 01/17/2023, in digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, Learning Experience Design, multimedia, new media literacies, platforms, storytelling, student-related, teachers, tools, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

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:

AI to Experience Massive Growth in Education — from thejournal.com by David Nagel

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 finally coming into place!

It takes a village — from chieflearningofficer.com by Joe Mitchell
Colleges, companies and training providers have a unique opportunity to work together to address tech worker shortages and create more opportunities and upward mobility.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

But what higher education institutions and companies need isn’t a totally new approach that ignores the old systems — it’s someone to act as connective tissue between them. Fortunately, an emerging cadre of education providers are doing just that: developing the curriculum to help students earn industry-recognized credentials that can help them get good jobs right away in high-demand fields, and then working with universities to get that curriculum to their students.

The environment seems ripe for this type of collaboration. A 2020 survey of business leaders found that 70 percent think higher education institutions should be more involved in job training. Nearly 90 percent say colleges and universities could help their students learn industry-specific knowledge and advanced technical skills.

Education is about to radically change: AI for the masses [McClennen & Dené Poth]

On 01/07/2023, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), bots, change, copyright/ownership/NFTs, education, education reform, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, more voice more choice more control, new business models, platforms, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

Education is about to radically change: AI for the masses — from gettingsmart.com by Nate McClennen and Rachelle Dené Poth

Key Points:

AI already does and will continue to impact education – along with every other sector.
Innovative education leaders have an opportunity to build the foundation for the most personalized learning system we have ever seen.

Action

Education leaders need to consider these possible futures now. There is no doubt that K-12 and higher ed learners will be using these tools immediately. It is not a question of preventing “AI plagiarism” (if such a thing could exist), but a question of how to modify teaching to take advantage of these new tools.

From DSC:
They go on to list some solid ideas and experiments to try out — both for students and for teachers. Thanks Nate and Rachelle!

Also from Rachelle, see:

How Can We Prepare K-12 Students for the Future? — from rdene915.com by Rachelle Dené Poth

37 predictions about edtech’s impact in 2023 — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Ascione
What edtech trends will take top billing in schools and districts in the new year?

Excerpts:

School districts will begin to offer microschool options. With 65% of K-12 parents backing school choice, school districts will realize that in order to stay competitive and meet the needs of students and parents, adopting and offering innovative learning models is key. One of the shifts the industry can expect to see in the coming years is school districts offering mircoschool options within the district itself. While historically independent learning institutions, microschools will be adopted within school districts that are responsive to this need for choice and evolving learning needs of students.
—Carlos Bortoni, Principal, Industry Advisor, K-12 Education, Qualtrics
…
In 2023, educators nationwide will benefit from the most recent wave of edtech consolidation. The various services and products acquired by consolidators over the last year or two will be integrated into increasingly comprehensive platforms offering instructional content, assessments, and classroom tools all in one place. As this occurs, the power and effectiveness of those edtech resources will grow as they begin to work in concert with each other seamlessly. The combination of these resources will empower administrators, teachers, families, and students to better leverage edtech’s ability to improve learning.
–Kelli Campbell, President, Discovery Education

From DSC:
Vision is key here…not just data. If data provided all of the answers, being an effective, impactful leader/administrator would be far easier.

Also from Laura Ascione, see:

Most high school grads feel their skills aren’t up to par — from eschoolnews.com
Family, friends, and educators help students make decisions, develop confidence, and identify personal aptitudes as they leave high school

From DSC:
Below is another example of the need for Design Thinking as we rethink a cradle-to-grave learning ecosystem.

The United States Needs a Comprehensive Approach to Youth Policy — from cew.georgetown.edu

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

On the education front, federal legislation serves as an umbrella for many state and local policies and programs. Education policy is further fragmented into K–12 and postsecondary silos.

An all-one-system approach to youth policy would support young people along the entire continuum of their journey from school to work. It would help them attain both postsecondary education and quality work experience to support their transitions from education to good jobs. In this modernized approach, preschools, elementary and secondary schools, community colleges, four-year universities, employers, and governments would all follow an integrated playbook, helping to smooth out young people’s path from pre-K–12 to college and work. To transform youth policy, systemic reforms should incorporate the following:

Learning Ecosystems

The academic career is broken [Leffingwell]

Future of Design – 3D Dragon on Building Example [Steube]

“But what higher education institutions and companies need isn’t a totally new approach that ignores the old systems — it’s someone to act as connective tissue between them.” [Mitchell]

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