60 Minutes Overtime
Sal Khan wants an AI tutor for every student: here’s how it’s working at an Indiana high school — from cbsnews.com by Anderson Cooper, Aliza Chasan, Denise Schrier Cetta, and Katie Brennan

“I mean, that’s what I’ll always want for my own children and, frankly, for anyone’s children,” Khan said. “And the hope here is that we can use artificial intelligence and other technologies to amplify what a teacher can do so they can spend more time standing next to a student, figuring them out, having a person-to-person connection.”

“After a week you start to realize, like, how you can use it,” Brockman said. “That’s been one of the really important things about working with Sal and his team, to really figure out what’s the right way to sort of bring this to parents and to teachers and to classrooms and to do that in a way…so that the students really learn and aren’t just, you know, asking for the answers and that the parents can have oversight and the teachers can be involved in that process.”


Nectir lets teachers tailor AI chatbots to provide their students with 24/7 educational support — from techcrunch.com by Lauren Forristal

More than 100 colleges and high schools are turning to a new AI tool called Nectir, allowing teachers to create a personalized learning partner that’s trained on their syllabi, textbooks, and assignments to help students with anything from questions related to their coursework to essay writing assistance and even future career guidance.

With Nectir, teachers can create an AI assistant tailored to their specific needs, whether for a single class, a department, or the entire campus. There are various personalization options available, enabling teachers to establish clear boundaries for the AI’s interactions, such as programming the assistant to assist only with certain subjects or responding in a way that aligns with their teaching style.

“It’ll really be that customized learning partner. Every single conversation that a student has with any of their assistants will then be fed into that student profile for them to be able to see based on what the AI thinks, what should I be doing next, not only in my educational journey, but in my career journey,” Ghai said. 


How Will AI Influence Higher Ed in 2025? — from insidehighered.com by Kathryn Palmer
No one knows for sure, but Inside Higher Ed asked seven experts for their predictions.

As the technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, no one knows for sure how AI will influence higher education in 2025. But several experts offered Inside Higher Ed their predictions—and some guidance—for how colleges and universities will have to navigate AI’s potential in the new year.


How A.I. Can Revive a Love of Learning — from nytimes.com by Anant Agarwal
Modern technology offers new possibilities for transforming teaching.

In the short term, A.I. will help teachers create lesson plans, find illustrative examples and generate quizzes tailored to each student. Customized problem sets will serve as tools to combat cheating while A.I. provides instant feedback.

In the longer term, it’s possible to imagine a world where A.I. can ingest rich learner data and create personalized learning paths for students, all within a curriculum established by the teacher. Teachers can continue to be deeply involved in fostering student discussions, guiding group projects and engaging their students, while A.I. handles grading and uses the Socratic method to help students discover answers on their own. Teachers provide encouragement and one-on-one support when needed, using their newfound availability to give students some extra care.

Let’s be clear: A.I. will never replace the human touch that is so vital to education. No algorithm can replicate the empathy, creativity and passion a teacher brings to the classroom. But A.I. can certainly amplify those qualities. It can be our co-pilot, our chief of staff helping us extend our reach and improve our effectiveness.


Dancing with the Devil We Know: OpenAI and the Future of Education — from nickpotkalitsky.substack.com by Nick Potkalitsky
Analyzing OpenAI’s Student Writing Guide and Latest AI Tools

Today, I want to reflect on two recent OpenAI developments that highlight this evolution: their belated publication of advice for students on integrating AI into writing workflows, and last week’s launch of the full GPTo1 Pro version. When OpenAI released their student writing guide, there were plenty of snarky comments about how this guidance arrives almost a year after they thoroughly disrupted the educational landscape. Fair enough – I took my own side swipes initially. But let’s look at what they’re actually advising, because the details matter more than the timing.


Tutor CoPilot: A Human-AI Approach for Scaling Real-Time Expertise — from studentsupportaccelerator.org by Rose E.Wang, Ana T. Ribeiro, Carly D. Robinson, Susanna Loeb, and Dora Demszky


Pandemic, Politics, Pre-K & More: 12 Charts That Defined Education in 2024 — from the74million.org
From the spread of AI to the limits of federal COVID aid, these research findings captured the world of education this year.

Tutoring programs exploded in the last five years as states and school districts searched for ways to counter plummeting achievement during COVID. But the cost of providing supplemental instruction to tens of millions of students can be eye-watering, even as the results seem to taper off as programs serve more students.

That’s where artificial intelligence could prove a decisive advantage. A report circulated in October by the National Student Support Accelerator found that an AI-powered tutoring assistant significantly improved the performance of hundreds of tutors by prompting them with new ways to explain concepts to students. With the help of the tool, dubbed Tutor CoPilot, students assigned to the weakest tutors began posting academic results nearly equal to those assigned to the strongest. And the cost to run the program was just $20 per pupil.


On Capacity, Sustainability, And Attention — from marcwatkins.substack.com by Marc Watkins

Faculty must have the time and support necessary to come to terms with this new technology and that requires us to change how we view professional development in higher education and K-12. We cannot treat generative AI as a one-off problem that can be solved by a workshop, an invited talk, or a course policy discussion. Generative AI in education has to be viewed as a continuum. Faculty need a myriad of support options each semester:

  • Course buyouts
  • Fellowships
  • Learning communities
  • Reading groups
  • AI Institutes and workshops
  • Funding to explore the scholarship of teaching and learning around generative AI

New in 2025 and What Edleaders Should Do About It — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark and Mason Pashia

Key Points

  • Education leaders should focus on integrating AI literacy, civic education, and work-based learning to equip students for future challenges and opportunities.
  • Building social capital and personalized learning environments will be crucial for student success in a world increasingly influenced by AI and decentralized power structures.
 

Episode 302: A Practical Roadmap for AI in K-12 Education with Mike Kentz & Nick Potkalitsky, PhD

In this episode of My EdTech Life, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike Kentz and Nick Potkalitsky, PhD, to discuss their new book, AI in Education: The K-12 Roadmap to Teacher-Led Transformation. We dive into the transformative power of AI in education, exploring its potential for personalization, its impact on traditional teaching practices, and the critical need for teacher-driven experimentation.


Striking a Balance: Navigating the Ethical Dilemmas of AI in Higher Education — from er.educause.edu by Katalin Wargo and Brier Anderson
Navigating the complexities of artificial intelligence (AI) while upholding ethical standards requires a balanced approach that considers the benefits and risks of AI adoption.

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform the world—including higher education—the need for responsible use has never been more critical. While AI holds immense potential to enhance teaching and learning, ethical considerations around social inequity, environmental concerns, and dehumanization continue to emerge. College and university centers for teaching and learning (CTLs), tasked with supporting faculty in best instructional practices, face growing pressure to take a balanced approach to adopting new technologies. This challenge is compounded by an unpredictable and rapidly evolving landscape. New AI tools surface almost daily. With each new tool, the educational possibilities and challenges increase exponentially. Keeping up is virtually impossible for CTLs, which historically have been institutional hubs for innovation. In fact, as of this writing, the There’s an AI for That website indicates that there are 23,208 AIs for 15,636 tasks for 4,875 jobs—with all three numbers increasing daily.

To support college and university faculty and, by extension, learners in navigating the complexities of AI integration while upholding ethical standards, CTLs must prioritize a balanced approach that considers the benefits and risks of AI adoption. Teaching and learning professionals need to expand their resources and support pathways beyond those solely targeting how to leverage AI or mitigate academic integrity violations. They need to make a concerted effort to promote critical AI literacy, grapple with issues of social inequity, examine the environmental impact of AI technologies, and promote human-centered design principles.1


5 Free AI Tools For Learning & Exploration — from whytryai.com by Daniel Nest
Have fun exploring new topics with these interactive sites.

We’re truly spoiled for choice when it comes to AI learning tools.

In principle, any free LLM can become an endlessly patient tutor or an interactive course-maker.

If that’s not enough, tools like NotebookLM’s “Audio Overviews” and ElevenLabs’ GenFM can turn practically any material into a breezy podcast.

But what if you’re looking to explore new topics in a way that’s more interactive than vanilla chatbots and more open-ended than source-grounded NotebookLM?

Well, then you might want to give one of these free-to-try learning tools a go.

 

Where to start with AI agents: An introduction for COOs — from fortune.com by Ganesh Ayyar

Picture your enterprise as a living ecosystem, where surging market demand instantly informs staffing decisions, where a new vendor’s onboarding optimizes your emissions metrics, where rising customer engagement reveals product opportunities. Now imagine if your systems could see these connections too! This is the promise of AI agents — an intelligent network that thinks, learns, and works across your entire enterprise.

Today, organizations operate in artificial silos. Tomorrow, they could be fluid and responsive. The transformation has already begun. The question is: will your company lead it?

The journey to agent-enabled operations starts with clarity on business objectives. Leaders should begin by mapping their business’s critical processes. The most pressing opportunities often lie where cross-functional handoffs create friction or where high-value activities are slowed by system fragmentation. These pain points become the natural starting points for your agent deployment strategy.


Create podcasts in minutes — from elevenlabs.io by Eleven Labs
Now anyone can be a podcast producer


Top AI tools for business — from theneuron.ai


This week in AI: 3D from images, video tools, and more — from heatherbcooper.substack.com by Heather Cooper
From 3D worlds to consistent characters, explore this week’s AI trends

Another busy AI news week, so I organized it into categories:

  • Image to 3D
  • AI Video
  • AI Image Models & Tools
  • AI Assistants / LLMs
  • AI Creative Workflow: Luma AI Boards

Want to speak Italian? Microsoft AI can make it sound like you do. — this is a gifted article from The Washington Post;
A new AI-powered interpreter is expected to simulate speakers’ voices in different languages during Microsoft Teams meetings.

Artificial intelligence has already proved that it can sound like a human, impersonate individuals and even produce recordings of someone speaking different languages. Now, a new feature from Microsoft will allow video meeting attendees to hear speakers “talk” in a different language with help from AI.


What Is Agentic AI?  — from blogs.nvidia.com by Erik Pounds
Agentic AI uses sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning to autonomously solve complex, multi-step problems.

The next frontier of artificial intelligence is agentic AI, which uses sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning to autonomously solve complex, multi-step problems. And it’s set to enhance productivity and operations across industries.

Agentic AI systems ingest vast amounts of data from multiple sources to independently analyze challenges, develop strategies and execute tasks like supply chain optimization, cybersecurity vulnerability analysis and helping doctors with time-consuming tasks.


 

What Students Are Saying About Teachers Using A.I. to Grade — from nytimes.com by The Learning Network; via Claire Zau
Teenagers and educators weigh in on a recent question from The Ethicist.

Is it unethical for teachers to use artificial intelligence to grade papers if they have forbidden their students from using it for their assignments?

That was the question a teacher asked Kwame Anthony Appiah in a recent edition of The Ethicist. We posed it to students to get their take on the debate, and asked them their thoughts on teachers using A.I. in general.

While our Student Opinion questions are usually reserved for teenagers, we also heard from a few educators about how they are — or aren’t — using A.I. in the classroom. We’ve included some of their answers, as well.


OpenAI wants to pair online courses with chatbots — from techcrunch.com by Kyle Wiggers; via James DeVaney on LinkedIn

If OpenAI has its way, the next online course you take might have a chatbot component.

Speaking at a fireside on Monday hosted by Coeus Collective, Siya Raj Purohit, a member of OpenAI’s go-to-market team for education, said that OpenAI might explore ways to let e-learning instructors create custom “GPTs” that tie into online curriculums.

“What I’m hoping is going to happen is that professors are going to create custom GPTs for the public and let people engage with content in a lifelong manner,” Purohit said. “It’s not part of the current work that we’re doing, but it’s definitely on the roadmap.”


15 Times to use AI, and 5 Not to — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick
Notes on the Practical Wisdom of AI Use

There are several types of work where AI can be particularly useful, given the current capabilities and limitations of LLMs. Though this list is based in science, it draws even more from experience. Like any form of wisdom, using AI well requires holding opposing ideas in mind: it can be transformative yet must be approached with skepticism, powerful yet prone to subtle failures, essential for some tasks yet actively harmful for others. I also want to caveat that you shouldn’t take this list too seriously except as inspiration – you know your own situation best, and local knowledge matters more than any general principles. With all that out of the way, below are several types of tasks where AI can be especially useful, given current capabilities—and some scenarios where you should remain wary.


Learning About Google Learn About: What Educators Need To Know — from techlearning.com by Ray Bendici
Google’s experimental Learn About platform is designed to create an AI-guided learning experience

Google Learn About is a new experimental AI-driven platform available that provides digestible and in-depth knowledge about various topics, but showcases it all in an educational context. Described by Google as a “conversational learning companion,” it is essentially a Wikipedia-style chatbot/search engine, and then some.

In addition to having a variety of already-created topics and leading questions (in areas such as history, arts, culture, biology, and physics) the tool allows you to enter prompts using either text or an image. It then provides a general overview/answer, and then suggests additional questions, topics, and more to explore in regard to the initial subject.

The idea is for student use is that the AI can help guide a deeper learning process rather than just provide static answers.


What OpenAI’s PD for Teachers Does—and Doesn’t—Do — from edweek.org by Olina Banerji
What’s the first thing that teachers dipping their toes into generative artificial intelligence should do?

They should start with the basics, according to OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT and one of the world’s most prominent artificial intelligence research companies. Last month, the company launched an hour-long, self-paced online course for K-12 teachers about the definition, use, and harms of generative AI in the classroom. It was launched in collaboration with Common Sense Media, a national nonprofit that rates and reviews a wide range of digital content for its age appropriateness.

…the above article links to:

ChatGPT Foundations for K–12 Educators — from commonsense.org

This course introduces you to the basics of artificial intelligence, generative AI, ChatGPT, and how to use ChatGPT safely and effectively. From decoding the jargon to responsible use, this course will help you level up your understanding of AI and ChatGPT so that you can use tools like this safely and with a clear purpose.

Learning outcomes:

  • Understand what ChatGPT is and how it works.
  • Demonstrate ways to use ChatGPT to support your teaching practices.
  • Implement best practices for applying responsible AI principles in a school setting.

Takeaways From Google’s Learning in the AI Era Event — from edtechinsiders.substack.com by Sarah Morin, Alex Sarlin, and Ben Kornell
Highlights from Our Day at Google + Behind-the-Scenes Interviews Coming Soon!

  1. NotebookLM: The Start of an AI Operating System
  2. Google is Serious About AI and Learning
  3. Google’s LearnLM Now Available in AI Studio
  4. Collaboration is King
  5. If You Give a Teacher a Ferrari

Rapid Responses to AI — from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain
Top experts call for better data and more short-term training as tech transforms jobs.

AI could displace middle-skill workers and widen the wealth gap, says landmark study, which calls for better data and more investment in continuing education to help workers make career pivots.

Ensuring That AI Helps Workers
Artificial intelligence has emerged as a general purpose technology with sweeping implications for the workforce and education. While it’s impossible to precisely predict the scope and timing of looming changes to the labor market, the U.S. should build its capacity to rapidly detect and respond to AI developments.
That’s the big-ticket framing of a broad new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Congress requested the study, tapping an all-star committee of experts to assess the current and future impact of AI on the workforce.

“In contemplating what the future holds, one must approach predictions with humility,” the study says…

“AI could accelerate occupational polarization,” the committee said, “by automating more nonroutine tasks and increasing the demand for elite expertise while displacing middle-skill workers.”

The Kicker: “The education and workforce ecosystem has a responsibility to be intentional with how we value humans in an AI-powered world and design jobs and systems around that,” says Hsieh.


AI Predators: What Schools Should Know and Do — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
AI is increasingly be used by predators to connect with underage students online. Yasmin London, global online safety expert at Qoria and a former member of the New South Wales Police Force in Australia, shares steps educators can take to protect students.

The threat from AI for students goes well beyond cheating, says Yasmin London, global online safety expert at Qoria and a former member of the New South Wales Police Force in Australia.

Increasingly at U.S. schools and beyond, AI is being used by predators to manipulate children. Students are also using AI generate inappropriate images of other classmates or staff members. For a recent report, Qoria, a company that specializes in child digital safety and wellbeing products, surveyed 600 schools across North America, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.


Why We Undervalue Ideas and Overvalue Writing — from aiczar.blogspot.com by Alexander “Sasha” Sidorkin

A student submits a paper that fails to impress stylistically yet approaches a worn topic from an angle no one has tried before. The grade lands at B minus, and the student learns to be less original next time. This pattern reveals a deep bias in higher education: ideas lose to writing every time.

This bias carries serious equity implications. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including first-generation college students, English language learners, and those from under-resourced schools, often arrive with rich intellectual perspectives but struggle with academic writing conventions. Their ideas – shaped by unique life experiences and cultural viewpoints – get buried under red ink marking grammatical errors and awkward transitions. We systematically undervalue their intellectual contributions simply because they do not arrive in standard academic packaging.


Google Scholar’s New AI Outline Tool Explained By Its Founder — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
Google Scholar PDF reader uses Gemini AI to read research papers. The AI model creates direct links to the paper’s citations and a digital outline that summarizes the different sections of the paper.

Google Scholar has entered the AI revolution. Google Scholar PDF reader now utilizes generative AI powered by Google’s Gemini AI tool to create interactive outlines of research papers and provide direct links to sources within the paper. This is designed to make reading the relevant parts of the research paper more efficient, says Anurag Acharya, who co-founded Google Scholar on November 18, 2004, twenty years ago last month.


The Four Most Powerful AI Use Cases in Instructional Design Right Now — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
Insights from ~300 instructional designers who have taken my AI & Learning Design bootcamp this year

  1. AI-Powered Analysis: Creating Detailed Learner Personas…
  2. AI-Powered Design: Optimising Instructional Strategies…
  3. AI-Powered Development & Implementation: Quality Assurance…
  4. AI-Powered Evaluation: Predictive Impact Assessment…

How Are New AI Tools Changing ‘Learning Analytics’? — from edsurge.com by Jeffrey R. Young
For a field that has been working to learn from the data trails students leave in online systems, generative AI brings new promises — and new challenges.

In other words, with just a few simple instructions to ChatGPT, the chatbot can classify vast amounts of student work and turn it into numbers that educators can quickly analyze.

Findings from learning analytics research is also being used to help train new generative AI-powered tutoring systems.

Another big application is in assessment, says Pardos, the Berkeley professor. Specifically, new AI tools can be used to improve how educators measure and grade a student’s progress through course materials. The hope is that new AI tools will allow for replacing many multiple-choice exercises in online textbooks with fill-in-the-blank or essay questions.


Increasing AI Fluency Among Enterprise Employees, Senior Management & Executives — from learningguild.com by Bill Brandon

This article attempts, in these early days, to provide some specific guidelines for AI curriculum planning in enterprise organizations.

The two reports identified in the first paragraph help to answer an important question. What can enterprise L&D teams do to improve AI fluency in their organizations?

You could be surprised how many software products have added AI features. Examples (to name a few) are productivity software (Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace); customer relationship management (Salesforce and Hubspot); human resources (Workday and Talentsoft); marketing and advertising (Adobe Marketing Cloud and Hootsuite); and communication and collaboration (Slack and Zoom). Look for more under those categories in software review sites.

 

AI Tutors: Hype or Hope for Education? — from educationnext.org by John Bailey and John Warner
In a new book, Sal Khan touts the potential of artificial intelligence to address lagging student achievement. Our authors weigh in.

In Salman Khan’s new book, Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That’s a Good Thing) (Viking, 2024), the Khan Academy founder predicts that AI will transform education by providing every student with a virtual personalized tutor at an affordable cost. Is Khan right? Is radically improved achievement for all students within reach at last? If so, what sorts of changes should we expect to see, and when? If not, what will hold back the AI revolution that Khan foresees? John Bailey, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, endorses Khan’s vision and explains the profound impact that AI technology is already making in education. John Warner, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and former editor for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, makes the case that all the hype about AI tutoring is, as Macbeth quips, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

 
 

2024: The State of Generative AI in the Enterprise — from menlovc.com (Menlo Ventures)
The enterprise AI landscape is being rewritten in real time. As pilots give way to production, we surveyed 600 U.S. enterprise IT decision-makers to reveal the emerging winners and losers.

This spike in spending reflects a wave of organizational optimism; 72% of decision-makers anticipate broader adoption of generative AI tools in the near future. This confidence isn’t just speculative—generative AI tools are already deeply embedded in the daily work of professionals, from programmers to healthcare providers.

Despite this positive outlook and increasing investment, many decision-makers are still figuring out what will and won’t work for their businesses. More than a third of our survey respondents do not have a clear vision for how generative AI will be implemented across their organizations. This doesn’t mean they’re investing without direction; it simply underscores that we’re still in the early stages of a large-scale transformation. Enterprise leaders are just beginning to grasp the profound impact generative AI will have on their organizations.


Business spending on AI surged 500% this year to $13.8 billion, says Menlo Ventures — from cnbc.com by Hayden Field

Key Points

  • Business spending on generative AI surged 500% this year, hitting $13.8 billion — up from just $2.3 billion in 2023, according to data from Menlo Ventures released Wednesday.
  • OpenAI ceded market share in enterprise AI, declining from 50% to 34%, per the report.
  • Amazon-backed Anthropic doubled its market share from 12% to 24%.

Microsoft quietly assembles the largest AI agent ecosystem—and no one else is close — from venturebeat.com by Matt Marshall

Microsoft has quietly built the largest enterprise AI agent ecosystem, with over 100,000 organizations creating or editing AI agents through its Copilot Studio since launch – a milestone that positions the company ahead in one of enterprise tech’s most closely watched and exciting  segments.

The rapid adoption comes as Microsoft significantly expands its agent capabilities. At its Ignite conference [that started on 11/19/24], the company announced it will allow enterprises to use any of the 1,800 large language models (LLMs) in the Azure catalog within these agents – a significant move beyond its exclusive reliance on OpenAI’s models. The company also unveiled autonomous agents that can work independently, detecting events and orchestrating complex workflows with minimal human oversight.


Now Hear This: World’s Most Flexible Sound Machine Debuts — from
Using text and audio as inputs, a new generative AI model from NVIDIA can create any combination of music, voices and sounds.

Along these lines, also see:


AI Agents Versus Human Agency: 4 Ways To Navigate Our AI-Driven World — from forbes.com by Cornelia C. Walther

To understand the implications of AI agents, it’s useful to clarify the distinctions between AI, generative AI, and AI agents and explore the opportunities and risks they present to our autonomy, relationships, and decision-making.

AI Agents: These are specialized applications of AI designed to perform tasks or simulate interactions. AI agents can be categorized into:

    • Tool Agents…
    • Simulation Agents..

While generative AI creates outputs from prompts, AI agents use AI to act with intention, whether to assist (tool agents) or emulate (simulation agents). The latter’s ability to mirror human thought and action offers fascinating possibilities — and raises significant risks.

 

Skill-Based Training: Embrace the Benefits; Stay Wary of the Hype — from learningguild.com by Paige Yousey

1. Direct job relevance
One of the biggest draws of skill-based training is its direct relevance to employees’ daily roles. By focusing on teaching job-specific skills, this approach helps workers feel immediately empowered to apply what they learn, leading to a quick payoff for both the individual and the organization. Yet, while this tight focus is a major benefit, it’s important to consider some potential drawbacks that could arise from an overly narrow approach.

Be wary of:

  • Overly Narrow Focus: Highly specialized training might leave employees with little room to apply their skills to broader challenges, limiting versatility and growth potential.
  • Risk of Obsolescence: Skills can quickly become outdated, especially in fast-evolving industries. L&D leaders should aim for regular updates to maintain relevance.
  • Neglect of Soft Skills: While technical skills are crucial, ignoring soft skills like communication and problem-solving may lead to a lack of balanced competency.

2. Enhanced job performance…
3. Addresses skill gaps…

…and several more areas to consider


Another item from Paige Yousey

5 Key EdTech Innovations to Watch — from learningguild.com by Paige Yousey

AI-driven course design

Strengths

  • Content creation and updates: AI streamlines the creation of training materials by identifying resource gaps and generating tailored content, while also refreshing existing materials based on industry trends and employee feedback to maintain relevance.
  • Data-driven insights: Use AI tools to provide valuable analytics to inform course development and instructional strategies, helping learner designers identify effective practices and improve overall learning outcomes.
  • Efficiency: Automating repetitive tasks, such as learner assessments and administrative duties, enables L&D professionals to concentrate on developing impactful training programs and fostering learner engagement.

Concerns

  • Limited understanding of context: AI may struggle to understand the specific educational context or the unique needs of diverse learner populations, potentially hindering effectiveness.
  • Oversimplification of learning: AI may reduce complex educational concepts to simple metrics or algorithms, oversimplifying the learning process and neglecting deeper cognitive development.
  • Resistance to change: Learning leaders may face resistance from staff who are skeptical about integrating AI into their training practices.

Also from the Learning Guild, see:

Use Twine to Easily Create Engaging, Immersive Scenario-Based Learning — from learningguild.com by Bill Brandon

Scenario-based learning immerses learners in realistic scenarios that mimic real-world challenges they might face in their roles. These learning experiences are highly relevant and relatable. SBL is active learning. Instead of passively consuming information, learners actively engage with the content by making decisions and solving problems within the scenario. This approach enhances critical thinking and decision-making skills.

SBL can be more effective when storytelling techniques create a narrative that guides learners through the scenario to maintain engagement and make the learning memorable. Learners receive immediate feedback on their decisions and learn from their mistakes. Reflection can deepen their understanding. Branching scenarios add simulated complex decision-making processes and show the outcome of various actions through interactive scenarios where learner choices lead to different outcomes.

Embrace the Future: Why L&D Leaders Should Prioritize AI Digital Literacy — from learningguild.com by Dr. Erica McCaig

The role of L&D leaders in AI digital literacy
For L&D leaders, developing AI digital literacy within an organization requires a well-structured curriculum and development plan that equips employees with the knowledge, skills, and ethical grounding needed to thrive in an AI-augmented workplace. This curriculum should encompass a range of competencies that enhance technical understanding and foster a mindset ready for innovation and responsible use of AI. Key areas to focus on include:

  • Understanding AI Fundamentals: …
  • Proficiency with AI Tools: …
  • Ethical Considerations: …
  • Cultivating Critical Thinking: …
 

How to use NotebookLM for personalized knowledge synthesis — from ai-supremacy.com by Michael Spencer and Alex McFarland
Two powerful workflows that unlock everything else. Intro: Golden Age of AI Tools and AI agent frameworks begins in 2025.

What is Google Learn about?
Google’s new AI tool, Learn About, is designed as a conversational learning companion that adapts to individual learning needs and curiosity. It allows users to explore various topics by entering questions, uploading images or documents, or selecting from curated topics. The tool aims to provide personalized responses tailored to the user’s knowledge level, making it user-friendly and engaging for learners of all ages.

Is Generative AI leading to a new take on Educational technology? It certainly appears promising heading into 2025.

The Learn About tool utilizes the LearnLM AI model, which is grounded in educational research and focuses on how people learn. Google insists that unlike traditional chatbots, it emphasizes interactive and visual elements in its responses, enhancing the educational experience. For instance, when asked about complex topics like the size of the universe, Learn About not only provides factual information but also includes related content, vocabulary building tools, and contextual explanations to deepen understanding.

 

What DICE does in this posting will be available 24x7x365 in the future [Christian]

From DSC:
First of all, when you look at the following posting:


What Top Tech Skills Should You Learn for 2025? — from dice.com by Nick Kolakowski


…you will see that they outline which skills you should consider mastering in 2025 if you want to stay on top of the latest career opportunities. They then list more information about the skills, how you apply the skills, and WHERE to get those skills.

I assert that in the future, people will be able to see this information on a 24x7x365 basis.

  • Which jobs are in demand?
  • What skills do I need to do those jobs?
  • WHERE do I get/develop those skills?


And that last part (about the WHERE do I develop those skills) will pull from many different institutions, people, companies, etc.

BUT PEOPLE are the key! Oftentimes, we need to — and prefer to — learn with others!


 

A Code-Red Leadership Crisis: A Wake-Up Call for Talent Development — from learningguild.com by Dr. Arika Pierce Williams

This company’s experience offers three crucial lessons for other organizational leaders who may be contemplating cutting or reducing talent development investments in their 2025 budgets to focus on “growth.”

  1. Leadership development isn’t a luxury – it’s a strategic imperative…
  2. Succession planning must be an ongoing process, not a reactive measure…
  3. The cost of developing leaders is far less than the cost of not having them when you need them most…

Also from The Learning Guild, see:

5 Key EdTech Innovations to Watch — from learningguild.com by Paige Yousey

  1. AI-driven course design
  2. Hyper-personalized content curation
  3. Immersive scenario-based training
  4. Smart chatbots
  5. Wearable devices
 

“The Value of Doing Things: What AI Agents Mean for Teachers” — from nickpotkalitsky.substack.com by guest author Jason Gulya, Professor of English and Applied Media at Berkeley College in New York City

AI Agents make me nervous. Really nervous.

I wish they didn’t.

I wish I could write that the last two years have made me more confident, more self-assured that AI is here to augment workers rather than replace them.

But I can’t.

I wish I could write that I know where schools and colleges will end up. I wish I could say that AI Agents will help us get where we need to be.

But I can’t.

At this point, today, I’m at a loss. I’m not sure where the rise of AI agents will take us, in terms of how we work and learn. I’m in the question-asking part of my journey. I have few answers.

So, let’s talk about where (I think) AI Agents will take education. And who knows? Maybe as I write I’ll come up with something more concrete.

It’s worth a shot, right?

From DSC: 
I completely agree with Jason’s following assertion:

A good portion of AI advancement will come down to employee replacement. And AI Agents push companies towards that. 

THAT’s where/what the ROI will be for corporations. They will make their investments up in the headcount area, and likely in other areas as well (product design, marketing campaigns, engineering-related items, and more). But how much time it takes to get there is a big question mark.

One last quote here…it’s too good not to include:

Behind these questions lies a more abstract, more philosophical one: what is the relationship between thinking and doing in a world of AI Agents and other kinds of automation?


How Good are Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini at Instructional Design? — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr Philippa Hardman
A test of AI’s Instruction Design skills in theory & in practice

By examining models across three AI families—Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini—I’ve started to identify each model’s strengths, limitations, and typical pitfalls.

Spoiler: my findings underscore that until we have specialised, fine-tuned AI copilots for instructional design, we should be cautious about relying on general-purpose models and ensure expert oversight in all ID tasks.


From DSC — I’m going to (have Nick) say this again:
I simply asked my students to use AI to brainstorm their own learning objectives. No restrictions. No predetermined pathways. Just pure exploration. The results? Astonishing.

Students began mapping out research directions I’d never considered. They created dialogue spaces with AI that looked more like intellectual partnerships than simple query-response patterns. 


The Digital Literacy Quest: Become an AI Hero — from gamma.app

From DSC:
I have not gone through all of these online-based materials, but I like what they are trying to get at:

  • Confidence with AI
    Students gain practical skills and confidence in using AI tools effectively.
  • Ethical Navigation
    Learn to navigate the ethical landscape of AI with integrity and responsibility. Make informed decisions about AI usage.
  • Mastering Essential Skills
    Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills in the context of AI.

 


Expanding access to the Gemini app for teen students in education — from workspaceupdates.googleblog.com

Google Workspace for Education admins can now turn on the Gemini app with added data protection as an additional service for their teen users (ages 13+ or the applicable age in your country) in the following languages and countries. With added data protection, chats are not reviewed by human reviewers or otherwise used to improve AI models. The Gemini app will be a core service in the coming weeks for Education Standard and Plus users, including teens,


5 Essential Questions Educators Have About AI  — from edsurge.com by Annie Ning

Recently, I spoke with several teachers regarding their primary questions and reflections on using AI in teaching and learning. Their thought-provoking responses challenge us to consider not only what AI can do but what it means for meaningful and equitable learning environments. Keeping in mind these reflections, we can better understand how we move forward toward meaningful AI integration in education.


FrontierMath: A Benchmark for Evaluating Advanced Mathematical Reasoning in AI — from epoch.ai
FrontierMath presents hundreds of unpublished, expert-level mathematics problems that specialists spend days solving. It offers an ongoing measure of AI complex mathematical reasoning progress.

We’re introducing FrontierMath, a benchmark of hundreds of original, expert-crafted mathematics problems designed to evaluate advanced reasoning capabilities in AI systems. These problems span major branches of modern mathematics—from computational number theory to abstract algebraic geometry—and typically require hours or days for expert mathematicians to solve.


Rising demand for AI courses in UK universities shows 453% growth as students adapt to an AI-driven job market — from edtechinnovationhub.com

The demand for artificial intelligence courses in UK universities has surged dramatically over the past five years, with enrollments increasing by 453%, according to a recent study by Currys, a UK tech retailer.

The study, which analyzed UK university admissions data and surveyed current students and recent graduates, reveals how the growing influence of AI is shaping students’ educational choices and career paths.

This growth reflects the broader trend of AI integration across industries, creating new opportunities while transforming traditional roles. With AI’s influence on career prospects rising, students and graduates are increasingly drawn to AI-related courses to stay competitive in a rapidly changing job market.

 

It’s The End Of The Legal Industry As We Know It — from artificiallawyer.com by Richard Tromans

It’s the end of the legal industry as we know it and I feel fine. I really do.

The legal industry as we know it is already over. The seismic event that triggered this evolutionary shift happened in November 2022. There’s no going back to a pre-genAI world. Change, incremental or otherwise, will be unstoppable. The only question is: at what pace will this change happen?

It’s clear that substantive change at the heart of the legal economy may take a long time – and we should never underestimate the challenge of overturning decades of deeply embedded cultural practices – but, at least it has begun.


AI: The New Legal Powerhouse — Why Lawyers Should Befriend The Machine To Stay Ahead — from today.westlaw.com

(October 24, 2024) – Jeremy Glaser and Sharzaad Borna of Mintz discuss waves of change in the legal profession brought on by AI, in areas such as billing, the work of support staff and junior associates, and ethics.

The dual nature of AI — excitement and fear
AI is evolving at lightning speed, sparking both wonder and worry. As it transforms industries and our daily lives, we are caught between the thrill of innovation and the jitters of uncertainty. Will AI elevate the human experience or just leave us in the dust? How will it impact our careers, privacy and sense of security?

Just as we witnessed with the rise of the internet — and later, social media — AI is poised to redefine how we work and live, bringing a mix of optimism and apprehension. While we grapple with AI’s implications, our clients expect us to lead the charge in leveraging it for their benefit.

However, this shift also means more competition for fewer entry-level jobs. Law schools will play a key role in helping students become more marketable by offering courses on AI tools and technology. Graduates with AI literacy will have an edge over their peers, as firms increasingly value associates who can collaborate effectively with AI tools.


Will YOU use ChatGPT voice mode to lie to your family? Brainyacts #244 — from thebrainyacts.beehiiv.com by Sam Douthit, Aristotle Jones, and Derek Warzel.

Small Law’s Secret Weapon: AI Courtroom Mock Battles — this excerpt is by Brainacts author Josh Kubicki
As many of you know, this semester my law students have the opportunity to write the lead memo for this newsletter, each tackling issues that they believe are both timely and intriguing for our readers. This week’s essay presents a fascinating experiment conducted by three students who explored how small law firms might leverage ChatGPT in a safe, effective manner. They set up ChatGPT to simulate a mock courtroom, even assigning it the persona of a Seventh Circuit Court judge to stage a courtroom dialogue. It’s an insightful take on the how adaptable technology like ChatGPT can offer unique advantages to smaller practices. They share other ideas as well. Enjoy!

The following excerpt was written by Sam Douthit, Aristotle Jones, and Derek Warzel.

One exciting example is a “Courtroom Persona AI” tool, which could let solo practitioners simulate mock trials and practice arguments with AI that mimics specific judges, local courtroom customs, or procedural quirks. Small firms, with their deep understanding of local courts and judicial styles, could take full advantage of this tool to prepare more accurate and relevant arguments. Unlike big firms that have to spread resources across jurisdictions, solo and small firms could use this AI-driven feedback to tailor their strategies closely to local court dynamics, making their preparations sharper and more strategic. Plus, not all solo or small firms have someone to practice with or bounce their ideas off of. For these practitioners, it’s a chance to level up their trial preparation without needing large teams or costly mock trials, gaining a practical edge where it counts most.

Some lawyers have already started to test this out, like the mock trial tested out here. One oversimplified and quick way to try this out is using the ChatGPT app.


The Human in AI-Assisted Dispute Resolution — from jdsupra.com by Epiq

Accountability for Legal Outputs
AI is set to replace some of the dispute resolution work formerly done by lawyers. This work includes summarising documents, drafting legal contracts and filings, using generative AI to produce arbitration submissions for an oral hearing, and, in the not-too-distant future, ingesting transcripts from hearings and comparing them to the documentary record to spot inconsistencies.

As Pendell put it, “There’s quite a bit of lawyering going on there.” So, what’s left for humans?

The common feature in all those examples is that humans must make the judgement call. Lawyers won’t just turn over a first draft of an AI-generated contract or filing to another party or court. The driving factor is that law is still a regulated profession, and regulators will hold humans accountable.

The idea that young lawyers must do routine, menial work as a rite of passage needs to be updated. Today’s AI tools put lawyers at the top of an accountability chain, allowing them to practice law using judgement and strategy as they supervise the work of AI. 


Small law firms embracing AI as they move away from hourly billing — from legalfutures.co.uk by Neil Rose

Small law firms have embraced artificial intelligence (AI), with document drafting or automation the most popular application, according to new research.

The survey also found expectations of a continued move away from hourly billing to fixed fees.

Legal technology provider Clio commissioned UK-specific research from Censuswide as an adjunct to its annual US-focused Legal Trends report, polling 500 solicitors, 82% of whom worked at firms with 20 lawyers or fewer.

Some 96% of them reported that their firms have adopted AI into their processes in some way – 56% of them said it was widespread or universal – while 62% anticipated an increase in AI usage over the next 12 months.

 

Is Generative AI and ChatGPT healthy for Students? — from ai-supremacy.com by Michael Spencer and Nick Potkalitsky
Beyond Text Generation: How AI Ignites Student Discovery and Deep Thinking, according to firsthand experiences of Teachers and AI researchers like Nick Potkalitsky.

After two years of intensive experimentation with AI in education, I am witnessing something amazing unfolding before my eyes. While much of the world fixates on AI’s generative capabilities—its ability to create essays, stories, and code—my students have discovered something far more powerful: exploratory AI, a dynamic partner in investigation and critique that’s transforming how they think.

They’ve moved beyond the initial fascination with AI-generated content to something far more sophisticated: using AI as an exploratory tool for investigation, interrogation, and intellectual discovery.

Instead of the much-feared “shutdown” of critical thinking, we’re witnessing something extraordinary: the emergence of what I call “generative thinking”—a dynamic process where students learn to expand, reshape, and evolve their ideas through meaningful exploration with AI tools. Here I consciously reposition the term “generative” as a process of human origination, although one ultimately spurred on by machine input.


A Road Map for Leveraging AI at a Smaller Institution — from er.educause.edu by Dave Weil and Jill Forrester
Smaller institutions and others may not have the staffing and resources needed to explore and take advantage of developments in artificial intelligence (AI) on their campuses. This article provides a roadmap to help institutions with more limited resources advance AI use on their campuses.

The following activities can help smaller institutions better understand AI and lay a solid foundation that will allow them to benefit from it.

  1. Understand the impact…
  2. Understand the different types of AI tools…
  3. Focus on institutional data and knowledge repositories…

Smaller institutions do not need to fear being left behind in the wake of rapid advancements in AI technologies and tools. By thinking intentionally about how AI will impact the institution, becoming familiar with the different types of AI tools, and establishing a strong data and analytics infrastructure, institutions can establish the groundwork for AI success. The five fundamental activities of coordinating, learning, planning and governing, implementing, and reviewing and refining can help smaller institutions make progress on their journey to use AI tools to gain efficiencies and improve students’ experiences and outcomes while keeping true to their institutional missions and values.

Also from Educause, see:


AI school opens – learners are not good or bad but fast and slow — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

That is what they are doing here. Lesson plans focus on learners rather than the traditional teacher-centric model. Assessing prior strengths and weaknesses, personalising to focus more on weaknesses and less on things known or mastered. It’s adaptive, personalised learning. The idea that everyone should learn at the exactly same pace, within the same timescale is slightly ridiculous, ruled by the need for timetabling a one to many, classroom model.

For the first time in the history of our species we have technology that performs some of the tasks of teaching. We have reached a pivot point where this can be tried and tested. My feeling is that we’ll see a lot more of this, as parents and general teachers can delegate a lot of the exposition and teaching of the subject to the technology. We may just see a breakthrough that transforms education.


Agentic AI Named Top Tech Trend for 2025 — from campustechnology.com by David Ramel

Agentic AI will be the top tech trend for 2025, according to research firm Gartner. The term describes autonomous machine “agents” that move beyond query-and-response generative chatbots to do enterprise-related tasks without human guidance.

More realistic challenges that the firm has listed elsewhere include:

    • Agentic AI proliferating without governance or tracking;
    • Agentic AI making decisions that are not trustworthy;
    • Agentic AI relying on low-quality data;
    • Employee resistance; and
    • Agentic-AI-driven cyberattacks enabling “smart malware.”

Also from campustechnology.com, see:


Three items from edcircuit.com:


All or nothing at Educause24 — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Kevin Kelly
Looking for specific solutions at the conference exhibit hall, with an educator focus

Here are some notable trends:

  • Alignment with campus policies: …
  • Choose your own AI adventure: …
  • Integrate AI throughout a workflow: …
  • Moving from prompt engineering to bot building: …
  • More complex problem-solving: …


Not all AI news is good news. In particular, AI has exacerbated the problem of fraudulent enrollment–i.e., rogue actors who use fake or stolen identities with the intent of stealing financial aid funding with no intention of completing coursework.

The consequences are very real, including financial aid funding going to criminal enterprises, enrollment estimates getting dramatically skewed, and legitimate students being blocked from registering for classes that appear “full” due to large numbers of fraudulent enrollments.


 

 

How Legal Education Must Evolve In The Age Of AI: Insights From An In-House Legal Innovator — from by abovethelaw.com Olga Mack
Traditional legal education has remained largely unchanged for decades, focusing heavily on theoretical knowledge and case law analysis.

As we stand on the brink of a new era defined by artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven decision-making, the question arises: How should legal education adapt to prepare the next generation of lawyers for the challenges ahead?

Here are three unconventional, actionable insights from our conversation that highlight the need for a radical rethinking of legal education.

  1. Integrate AI Education Into Every Aspect Of Legal Training…
  2. Adopt A ‘Technology-Agnostic’ Approach To AI Training…
  3. Redefine Success In Legal Education To Include Technological Proficiency…
 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian