neurodivergent/special needs

I love this posting about a teen with Down syndrome visiting his mother’s grave to tell her that he graduated

On 12/17/2024, in neurodivergent/special needs, parents/guardians, youth, by Daniel Christian

A teen with Down syndrome visits mother's grave to tell her that he graduated pic.twitter.com/4QNghy5AVy

— Fascinating (@fasc1nate) October 26, 2024

The Many Special Populations Microschools Serve — from microschoolingcenter.org. by Don Soifer

Kids representing a broad range of special populations have a strong presence in today’s microschooling movement. Children with neurodiversities, other special needs, and those coming to microschools at two or more grades below “grade level mastery” as defined by their state all are served by more than 50 percent of microschools surveyed nationally, according to the Center’s 2024 American Microschools Sector Analysis report.

Children who have experienced emotional trauma or have experienced housing or food insecurity are also being served widely in microschools, according to leaders surveyed nationally.

This won’t come as a surprise to most in the microschooling movement. But to those who are less familiar, understanding the many ways that microschooling is about thriving for families and children who have struggled in their prior schooling settings.
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How AI is transforming learning for dyslexic students — from eschoolnews.com by Samay Bhojwani, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
As schools continue to adopt AI-driven tools, educators can close the accessibility gap and help dyslexic students thrive

Many traditional methods lack customization and don’t empower students to fully engage with content on their terms. Every dyslexic student experiences challenges differently, so a more personalized approach is essential for fostering comprehension, engagement, and academic growth.
…
Artificial intelligence is increasingly recognized for its potential to transform educational accessibility. By analyzing individual learning patterns, AI-powered tools can tailor content to meet each student’s specific needs. For dyslexic students, this can mean summarizing complex texts, providing auditory support, or even visually structuring information in ways that aid comprehension.

NotebookLM How-to Guide 2024 — from ai-supremacy.com by Michael Spencer and Alex McFarland
With Audio Version | A popular guide reloaded.

In this guide, I’ll show you:

How to use the new advanced audio customization features
Two specific workflows for synthesizing information (research papers and YouTube videos)
Pro tips for maximizing results with any type of content
Common pitfalls to avoid (learned these the hard way)

The State of Instructional Design 2024: A Field on the Brink of Disruption? — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
My hot takes from a global survey I ran with Synthesia

As I mentioned on LinkedIn, earlier this week Synthesia published the results of a global survey that we ran together the state of instructional design in 2024.

Boundless Socratic Learning: Google DeepMind’s Vision for AI That Learns Without Limits — from by Giorgio Fazio

Google DeepMind researchers have unveiled a groundbreaking framework called Boundless Socratic Learning (BSL), a paradigm shift in artificial intelligence aimed at enabling systems to self-improve through structured language-based interactions. This approach could mark a pivotal step toward the elusive goal of artificial superintelligence (ASI), where AI systems drive their own development with minimal human input.

The promise of Boundless Socratic Learning lies in its ability to catalyze a shift from human-supervised AI to systems that evolve and improve autonomously. While significant challenges remain, the introduction of this framework represents a step toward the long-term goal of open-ended intelligence, where AI is not just a tool but a partner in discovery.

5 courses to take when starting out a career in Agentic AI — from techloy.com by David Adubiina
This will help you join the early train of experts who are using AI agents to solve real world problems.

This surge in demand is creating new opportunities for professionals equipped with the right skills. If you’re considering a career in this innovative field, the following five courses will provide a solid foundation when starting a career in Agentic AI.

What Teacher Pay and Benefits Look Like, in Charts — from edweek.org by Sarah D. Sparks

Special education staffing shortages put students’ futures at risk. How to solve that is tricky. — from chalkbeat.org by Kalyn Belsha

The debate comes as the number of students with disabilities is growing. Some 7.5 million students required special education services as of the 2022-23 school year, the latest federal data shows, or around 15% of students. That was up from 7.1 million or 14% of students in the 2018-19 school year, just before the pandemic hit.

It’s unclear if the rise is due to schools getting better at identifying students with disabilities or if more children have needs now. Many young children missed early intervention and early special education services during the pandemic, and many educators say they are seeing higher behavioral needs and wider academic gaps in their classrooms.

“Students are arriving in our classrooms with a high level of dysregulation, which is displayed through their fight, flight, or freeze responses,” Tiffany Anderson, the superintendent of Topeka, Kansas’ public schools, wrote in her statement. “Students are also displaying more physically aggressive behavior.”

Expanding Access, Value and Experiences Through Credentialing — from gettingsmart.com by Nate McClennen, Tom Vander Ark and Mason Pashia
A Landscape Analysis of Credentialing and Its Impact on K-12

Executive Summary

This report examines the evolving landscape of credentialing and learner records within global education systems, highlighting a shift from traditional time-based signals—such as courses and grades—to competency-based signals (credentials and learner records).

Also recommended by Getting Smart, see:

New Goals Learning Experiences and Signals — — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark and Carri Schneider

Retrieval practice improves learning for neurodiverse students — from by Pooja K. Agarwal, Ph.D.

In my 15+ years of teaching, I have had students with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, dyslexia, and a range of learning disabilities. I have grown in my understanding of inclusive teaching practices and I strive to incorporate universal design principles in my teaching.

From my classroom experience, I know that retrieval practice improves learning for all of my students, including those who are neurodiverse. But what have researchers found about retrieval practice with neurodiverse learners?

(Side note: If you’d like an intro on neurodiversity and what it means in the classroom, I recommend this podcast episode from The Learning Scientists and this podcast episode from Teaching in Higher Ed. For teaching tips, I recommend this article from the University of Illinois CITL.)

Instructure Is Ready To Lead The Next Evolution In Learning — from forbes.com by Ray Ravaglia

Learning Management In The AI Future
While LMS platforms like Canvas have positively impacted education, they’ve rarely lived up to their potential for personalized learning. With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), this is set to change in revolutionary ways.

The promise of AI lies in its ability to automate repetitive tasks associated with student assessment and management, freeing educators to focus on education. More significantly, AI has the potential to go beyond the narrow focus on the end products of learning (like assignments) to capture insights into the learning process itself. This means analyzing the entire transcript of activities within the LMS, providing a dynamic, data-driven view of student progress rather than just seeing signposts of where students have been and what they have taken away.
…
Things become more potent by moving away from a particular student’s traversal of a specific course to looking at large aggregations of students traversing similar courses. This is why Instructure’s acquisition of Parchment, a company specializing in credential and transcript management, is so significant.

Sharpen your students’ interview skills — from timeshighereducation.com by Lewis Humphreys (though higher education-related, this is still solid information for those in K12)
The employees of the future will need to showcase their skills in job interviews. Make sure they’re prepared for each setting, writes Lewis Humphreys

In today’s ultra-competitive job market, strong interview skills are paramount for students taking their first steps into the professional world. University careers services play a crucial role in equipping our students with the tools and confidence needed to excel in a range of interview settings. From pre-recorded video interviews to live online sessions and traditional face-to-face meetings, students must be adaptable and well-prepared. Here, I’ll explore ways universities can teach interview skills to students and graduates, helping them to present themselves and their skills in the best light possible.

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

On 11/20/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, career development, changing business models, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, MBA, microlearning, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), neurodivergent/special needs, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, remote teaching and learning, skills, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, training / L&D, universities, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, Web3, webinars, workplace, by Daniel 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!

What’s a Special Education Aide Worth? A $9,607 Raise, to the Average Teacher [Lovison & Hyunjung Mo]

On 11/13/2024, in education, education reform, ideas, K-12 related, leadership, neurodivergent/special needs, productivity / tips and tricks, strategy, student-related, teachers, by Daniel Christian

What’s a Special Education Aide Worth? A $9,607 Raise, to the Average Teacher — from educationnext.org by Virginia S. Lovison and Cecilia Hyunjung Mo
Survey evidence shows teachers would trade additional salary for expert support

Teachers’ preferences are clear: they want to work where they will have the support of full-time experts in special education and pediatric physical and mental health. An overwhelming majority describe these supports as “beneficial” or “extremely beneficial” when asked to rate special-education co-teachers (93 percent) and paraprofessionals (92 percent), as well as counselors (89 percent) and school nurses (88 percent).

These roles are so important that teachers are willing to forgo salary increases when asked to choose between the two. Our analysis shows the average teacher is willing to trade a 21 percent raise for the full-time support of a special-education co-teacher and an 18 percent raise for a full-time special-education aide.

Also from Education Next, see:

The Education Exchange: Hoover Institution Proposes Massive K–12 School Reform — from educationnext.org by Paul E. Peterson
Education Futures Council recommends putting teachers and principals in charge

Macke Raymond, a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution and director of the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss a report from the Education Futures Council, which looks to identify and remove barriers to student success within the K-12 educational system.

From DSC:
I like the sound of putting teachers and principals in charge! As I just mentioned the other day, those on “the front line” (so to speak) know what’s working, what’s not working, and how best to fix things. Less legislators, more teachers.

“College competition & operational pain are the ‘new normal,’ S&P says” [Unglesbee] + other items re: higher ed

On 10/14/2024, in adjunct faculty, business side of he, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, faculty/staff, higher education, learning ecosystem, liberal arts, neurodivergent/special needs, parents/guardians, student-related, teaching & learning, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

S&P: Community colleges lifted by improved enrollment and finances — from highereddive.com by Ben Unglesbee

Dive Brief:

With enrollment trends improving and state appropriations increasing, the community college sector has reason for “optimism,” according to a recent report from S&P Global Ratings.
For 2023, median full-time equivalent enrollment, at 5,439 students, was down just 0.3% from 2021 and up nearly 8.1% from the previous year, S&P found among the roughly 200 community colleges it rates. That comes after enrollment in the sector fell 7.7% year over year in 2022,.
Meanwhile, median state appropriations per FTE student for the sector increased 19.1% to $4,930 between 2021 and 2023, analysts found.

College competition and operational pain are the ‘new normal,’ S&P says — from highereddive.com by Ben Unglesbee-
Margins are down, costs are up and tuition revenue is constrained after the pandemic exacerbated existing challenges, according to a recent report.

Dive Brief:

U.S. colleges face a “new normal” and accelerated existing challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, including constrained operations and heavy competition, a recent report from S&P Global Ratings found.
Between 2018 and 2023, operating margin rates fell from 0.8% to -0.1% amid rising costs to colleges, according to S&P. Meanwhile, median tuition discount rates at private colleges rose by more than 5 percentage points, to 44.4%, in that period, putting pressure on college revenues.
From 2019 through the second quarter of 2024, the ratings agency issued 126 credit downgrades for the higher ed sector, compared to 62 upgrades, per the report.

5 ways colleges can improve outreach to rural students — from highereddive.com by Laura Spitalniak
Students from small towns help strengthen campus communities, said panelists at the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s conference.

We cannot just swoop in and take the best and brightest and just say, ‘Oh, good job us.’ We want this to be a two-way highway, not a one-way brain drain.

Marjorie Betley
Deputy director of admissions at the University of Chicago

A Trauma-Informed Teaching Framework for Stewards — from scholarlyteacher.com by Jeannette Baca, New Mexico Highlands University; Debbie Gonzalez, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt; Jamie Langlois, Grand Valley State University; and Mary Kirk, Winona State University

Using the Trauma-Informed Community of Inquiry (T-I CoI) framework as a pedagogical design helped us address students’ emotional stress and facilitated cognitive growth and connection to the learning process. It also provided an opportunity to create a sense of community within an online learning environment. When we returned to in-person instruction, the model continued to be beneficial.

“California’s first graduate program in prison faces an uncertain future” [West] + other items re: prison education programs

On 10/11/2024, in adult learning, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), higher education, neurodivergent/special needs, pathways, society, sociology, United States, universities, vendors, youth, by Daniel Christian

Hebrews 13:3 (NIV)

³Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

California’s first graduate program in prison faces an uncertain future — from opencampusmedia.org by Charlotte West

Access to graduate programs inside is becoming increasingly important as the number of bachelor’s programs in prison grows with the return last year of Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated students. Since the first incarcerated bachelor’s graduates got their degrees from California State University Los Angeles at the state prison in Lancaster in 2021, California prisons now offer 11 bachelor’s programs, with two more starting next year.

Several of those Cal State LA grads continued on to the master’s program, which is open to students across California’s 34 prisons. It’s part of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation commitment to offering education “from grade school to grad school.” Research shows that the higher the level of education someone achieves in prison, the less likely they are to return to prison once they are released and the more likely they are to find a job.

Lawsuit claims disabled young people in Illinois prisons were denied special education for years — from opencampusmedia.org by Charlotte West; also here at WBEZ.org

A new lawsuit claims Illinois has been violating state and federal law for nearly two decades by failing to provide special education services to young people locked up in adult prisons.

The federal lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Corrections, the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice and the Illinois State Board of Education was filed at the end of last month. On Wednesday, plaintiffs filed a motion seeking to make the case a class action lawsuit. Attorneys estimate the suit could affect hundreds of individuals currently in custody.

Lawsuits claim Black students in Northwestern’s prison education program were unjustly disciplined — from wbez.org
The men claim their efforts to prevent educators from being harassed inside were labeled as gang activity by prison officials.

A pair of federal lawsuits claim the Illinois Department of Corrections unjustly disciplined two Black students in Northwestern University’s prison education program because the students worked together to prevent university staff from harassment during their visits to the prison. Corrections officials deemed the coordinated effort to “stop problems” gang-related activity, according to the federal complaints.

The lawsuits were filed Wednesday morning. The plaintiffs, LeShun Smith and Brian McClendon, allege they were denied due process and targeted because of their race, violating their constitutional rights and effectively ending their education, said their attorney, Alan Mills.

Helping Neurodiverse Students Learn Through New Classroom Design — from insidehighered.com by Michael Tyre
Michael Tyre offers some insights into how architects and administrators can work together to create better learning environments for everyone.

We emerged with two guiding principles. First, we had learned that certain environments—in particular, those that cause sensory distraction—can more significantly impact neurodivergent users. Therefore, our design should diminish distractions by mitigating, when possible, noise, visual contrast, reflective surfaces and crowds. Second, we understood that we needed a design that gave neurodivergent users the agency of choice.

The importance of those two factors—a dearth of distraction and an abundance of choice—was bolstered in early workshops with the classroom committee and other stakeholders, which occurred at the same time we were conducting our research. Some things didn’t come up in our research but were made quite clear in our conversations with faculty members, students from the neurodivergent community and other stakeholders. That feedback greatly influenced the design of the Young Classroom.

We ended up blending the two concepts. The main academic space utilizes traditional tables and chairs, albeit in a variety of heights and sizes, while the peripheral classroom spaces use an array of less traditional seating and table configurations, similar to the radical approach.

On a somewhat related note, also see:

Unpacking Fingerprint Culture — from marymyatt.substack.com by Mary Myatt

This post summarises a fascinating webinar I had with Rachel Higginson discussing the elements of building belonging in our settings.

We know that belonging is important and one of the ways to make this explicit in our settings is to consider what it takes to cultivate an inclusive environment where each individual feels valued and understood.

Rachel has spent several years working with young people, particularly those on the periphery of education to help them back into mainstream education and participating in class, along with their peers.

Rachel’s work helping young people to integrate back into education resulted in schools requesting support and resources to embed inclusion within their settings. As a result, Finding My Voice has evolved into a broader curriculum development framework.

Question: Where Do You Need Guidance in Supporting Students With Learning Disabilities? [edutopia]

On 09/23/2024, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), education, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, neurodivergent/special needs, student-related, teachers, United States, by Daniel Christian

Question: Where Do You Need Guidance in Supporting Students With Learning Disabilities? — from edutopia.org
We want to better serve your needs. Tell us about the specific challenges you’re facing.

As an educator, you’re constantly adapting your teaching to meet the needs of your classroom, but it can be difficult to know everything necessary for effectively supporting your students, including those with learning disabilities.

We’re turning to you, our Edutopia community, to help us shape the content we create around this important topic. Where do you need more guidance in helping students with learning disabilities? Are there specific challenges you face, such as classroom accommodations, identifying learning disabilities early on, or navigating IEPs? Maybe you’re looking for help with differentiated instruction, inclusive teaching practices, or strategies for fostering social-emotional growth in these students.

..
More Guidance for Learning Disabilities
Are you looking for resources that have already been published? We maintain a page dedicated entirely to Special Education. This resource is updated continuously with our latest articles and videos, offering practical tips and insights from educators like you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7+ items regarding AI in our learning ecosystems

On 08/26/2024, in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), business, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, graphics, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, multimedia, music, neurodivergent/special needs, pace of change, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, student-related, teaching & learning, training / L&D, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

What Students Want: Key Results from DEC Global AI Student Survey 2024 — from digitaleducationcouncil.com by Digital Education Council

86% of students globally are regularly using AI in their studies, with 54% of them using AI on a weekly basis, the recent Digital Education Council Global AI Student Survey found.
ChatGPT was found to be the most widely used AI tool, with 66% of students using it, and over 2 in 3 students reported using AI for information searching.
Despite their high rates of AI usage, 1 in 2 students do not feel AI ready. 58% reported that they do not feel that they had sufficient AI knowledge and skills, and 48% do not feel adequately prepared for an AI-enabled workplace.

Chatting with WEF about ChatGPT in the classroom — from futureofbeinghuman.com by Andrew Maynard
A short video on generative AI in education from the World Economic Forum

The Post-AI Instructional Designer — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
How the ID role is changing, and what this means for your key skills, roles & responsibilities

Specifically, the study revealed that teachers who reported most productivity gains were those who used AI not just for creating outputs (like quizzes or worksheets) but also for seeking input on their ideas, decisions and strategies.

Those who engaged with AI as a thought partner throughout their workflow, using it to generate ideas, define problems, refine approaches, develop strategies and gain confidence in their decisions gained significantly more from their collaboration with AI than those who only delegated functional tasks to AI.

Leveraging Generative AI for Inclusive Excellence in Higher Education — from er.educause.edu by Lorna Gonzalez, Kristi O’Neil-Gonzalez, Megan Eberhardt-Alstot, Michael McGarry and Georgia Van Tyne
Drawing from three lenses of inclusion, this article considers how to leverage generative AI as part of a constellation of mission-centered inclusive practices in higher education.

The hype and hesitation about generative artificial intelligence (AI) diffusion have led some colleges and universities to take a wait-and-see approach.Footnote1 However, AI integration does not need to be an either/or proposition where its use is either embraced or restricted or its adoption aimed at replacing or outright rejecting existing institutional functions and practices. Educators, educational leaders, and others considering academic applications for emerging technologies should consider ways in which generative AI can complement or augment mission-focused practices, such as those aimed at accessibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Drawing from three lenses of inclusion—accessibility, identity, and epistemology—this article offers practical suggestions and considerations that educators can deploy now. It also presents an imperative for higher education leaders to partner toward an infrastructure that enables inclusive practices in light of AI diffusion.

An example way to leverage AI:

How to Leverage AI for Identity Inclusion
Educators can use the following strategies to intentionally design instructional content with identity inclusion in mind.

Provide a GPT or AI assistant with upcoming lesson content (e.g., lecture materials or assignment instructions) and ask it to provide feedback (e.g., troublesome vocabulary, difficult concepts, or complementary activities) from certain perspectives. Begin with a single perspective (e.g., first-time, first-year student), but layer in more to build complexity as you interact with the GPT output.

Gen AI’s next inflection point: From employee experimentation to organizational transformation — from mckinsey.com by Charlotte Relyea, Dana Maor, and Sandra Durth with Jan Bouly
As many employees adopt generative AI at work, companies struggle to follow suit. To capture value from current momentum, businesses must transform their processes, structures, and approach to talent.

To harness employees’ enthusiasm and stay ahead, companies need a holistic approach to transforming how the whole organization works with gen AI; the technology alone won’t create value.

Our research shows that early adopters prioritize talent and the human side of gen AI more than other companies (Exhibit 3). Our survey shows that nearly two-thirds of them have a clear view of their talent gaps and a strategy to close them, compared with just 25 percent of the experimenters. Early adopters focus heavily on upskilling and reskilling as a critical part of their talent strategies, as hiring alone isn’t enough to close gaps and outsourcing can hinder strategic-skills development. Finally, 40 percent of early-adopter respondents say their organizations provide extensive support to encourage employee adoption, versus 9 percent of experimenter respondents.

7 Ways to Use AI Music in Your Classroom — from classtechtips.com by Monica Burns

Change blindness — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick
21 months later

I don’t think anyone is completely certain about where AI is going, but we do know that things have changed very quickly, as the examples in this post have hopefully demonstrated. If this rate of change continues, the world will look very different in another 21 months. The only way to know is to live through it.

My AI Breakthrough — from mgblog.org by Miguel Guhlin

Over the subsequent weeks, I’ve made other adjustments, but that first one was the one I asked myself:

What are you doing?
Why are you doing it that way?
How could you change that workflow with AI?
Applying the AI to the workflow, then asking, “Is this what I was aiming for? How can I improve the prompt to get closer?”
Documenting what worked (or didn’t). Re-doing the work with AI to see what happened, and asking again, “Did this work?”

So, something that took me WEEKS of hard work, and in some cases I found impossible, was made easy. Like, instead of weeks, it takes 10 minutes. The hard part? Building the prompt to do what I want, fine-tuning it to get the result. But that doesn’t take as long now.

Easing back-to-school fears for neurodivergent students [Gilreath]

On 08/25/2024, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), biology, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, neurodivergent/special needs, parents/guardians, pedagogy, psychology, student-related, teachers, United States, by Daniel Christian

Easing back-to-school fears for neurodivergent students — from mailchi.mp/hechingerreport.org by Ariel Gilreath

The start of the school year can be stressful, but parents of neurodivergent children are more likely to report feeling overwhelmed, unprepared and scared than other parents, according to a new survey shared with The Hechinger Report.

About 2,100 parents answered the survey this summer from Understood.org, a nonprofit that publishes resources for people with dyslexia, attention deficit disorder and other learning differences. Those with neurodivergent children say they were stressed about their child’s social life, whether the school would meet their child’s needs and whether their child would have access to adequate resources to succeed in school. About 82 percent of those parents said neurodivergent students are often misunderstood by their peers, and 76 percent said they are often misunderstood by teachers.

“Let’s Make a Movie Teaser With AI” [Nest] & 9+ other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 08/20/2024, in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, art, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assistive technologies, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), career development, change, communications, creativity, digital audio, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, higher education, ideas, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, law schools, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, legislatures / government / legal, media/film, multimedia, neurodivergent/special needs, NVIDIA, parents/guardians, participation, personalized/customized learning, productivity / tips and tricks, teaching & learning, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

One thing often happens at keynotes and conferences. It surprised me…. — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

AI is welcomed by those with dyslexia, and other learning issues, helping to mitigate some of the challenges associated with reading, writing, and processing information. Those who want to ban AI want to destroy the very thing that has helped most on accessibility. Here are 10 ways dyslexics, and others with issues around text-based learning, can use AI to support their daily activities and learning.

- Text-to-Speech & Speech-to-Text Tools…
- Grammar and Spelling Assistants…
- Comprehension Tools…
- Visual and Multisensory Tools…
- …and more

Let’s Make a Movie Teaser With AI — from whytryai.com by Daniel Nest
How to use free generative AI tools to make a teaser trailer.

Here are the steps and the free tools we can use for each.

Brainstorm ideas & flesh out the concept.
1. Claude 3.5 Sonnet
2. Google Gemini 1.5 Pro
3. …or any other free LLM
Create starting frames for each scene.
1. FLUX.1 Pro
2. Ideogram
3. …or any other free text-to-image model
Bring the images to life.
1. Kling AI
2. Luma Dream Machine
3. Runway Gen-2
Generate the soundtrack.
1. Udio
2. Suno
Add sound effects.
1. ElevenLabs Sound Effects
2. ElevenLabs VideoToSoundEffects
3. Meta Audiobox
Put everything together.
1. Microsoft Clipchamp
2. DaVinci Resolve
3. …or any other free video editing tool.

Here we go.

Is AI in Schools Promising or Overhyped? Potentially Both, New Reports Suggest — from the74million.org by Greg Toppo; via Claire Zau
One urges educators to prep for an artificial intelligence boom. The other warns that it could all go awry. Together, they offer a reality check.

Are U.S. public schools lagging behind other countries like Singapore and South Korea in preparing teachers and students for the boom of generative artificial intelligence? Or are our educators bumbling into AI half-blind, putting students’ learning at risk?

Or is it, perhaps, both?

Two new reports, coincidentally released on the same day last week, offer markedly different visions of the emerging field: One argues that schools need forward-thinking policies for equitable distribution of AI across urban, suburban and rural communities. The other suggests they need something more basic: a bracing primer on what AI is and isn’t, what it’s good for and how it can all go horribly wrong.

Bite-Size AI Content for Faculty and Staff — from aiedusimplified.substack.com by Lance Eaton
Another two 5-tips videos for faculty and my latest use case: creating FAQs!

I had an opportunity recently to do more of my 15-minute lightning talks. You can see my lightning talks from late winter in this post, or can see all of them on my YouTube channel. These two talks were focused on faculty in particular.

Also from Lance, see:

AI in Education: Leading a Paradigm Shift — from gettingsmart.com by Dr. Tyler Thigpen

Despite possible drawbacks, an exciting wondering has been—What if AI was a tipping point helping us finally move away from a standardized, grade-locked, ranking-forced, batched-processing learning model based on the make believe idea of “the average man” to a learning model that meets every child where they are at and helps them grow from there?

I get that change is indescribably hard and there are risks. But the integration of AI in education isn’t a trend. It’s a paradigm shift that requires careful consideration, ongoing reflection, and a commitment to one’s core values. AI presents us with an opportunity—possibly an unprecedented one—to transform teaching and learning, making it more personalized, efficient, and impactful. How might we seize the opportunity boldly?

California and NVIDIA Partner to Bring AI to Schools, Workplaces — from govtech.com by Abby Sourwine
The latest step in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plans to integrate AI into public operations across California is a partnership with NVIDIA intended to tailor college courses and professional development to industry needs.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and tech company NVIDIA joined forces last week to bring generative AI (GenAI) to community colleges and public agencies across the state. The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO), NVIDIA and the governor all signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlining how each partner can contribute to education and workforce development, with the goal of driving innovation across industries and boosting their economic growth.

Listen to anything on the go with the highest-quality voices — from elevenlabs.io; via The Neuron
The ElevenLabs Reader App narrates articles, PDFs, ePubs, newsletters, or any other text content. Simply choose a voice from our expansive library, upload your content, and listen on the go.

Per The Neuron

Some cool use cases:

Judy Garland can teach you biology while walking to class.
James Dean can narrate your steamy romance novel.
Sir Laurence Olivier can read you today’s newsletter—just paste the web link and enjoy!

Why it’s important: ElevenLabs shared how major Youtubers are using its dubbing services to expand their content into new regions with voices that actually sound like them (thanks to ElevenLabs’ ability to clone voices).
Oh, and BTW, it’s estimated that up to 20% of the population may have dyslexia. So providing people an option to listen to (instead of read) content, in their own language, wherever they go online can only help increase engagement and communication.

How Generative AI Improves Parent Engagement in K–12 Schools — from edtechmagazine.com by Alexadner Slagg
With its ability to automate and personalize communication, generative artificial intelligence is the ideal technological fix for strengthening parent involvement in students’ education.

As generative AI tools populate the education marketplace, the technology’s ability to automate complex, labor-intensive tasks and efficiently personalize communication may finally offer overwhelmed teachers a way to effectively improve parent engagement.
…
These personalized engagement activities for students and their families can include local events, certification classes and recommendations for books and videos. “Family Feed might suggest courses, such as an Adobe certification,” explains Jackson. “We have over 14,000 courses that we have vetted and can recommend. And we have books and video recommendations for students as well.”

Including personalized student information and an engagement opportunity makes it much easier for parents to directly participate in their children’s education.

Will AI Shrink Disparities in Schools, or Widen Them? — edsurge.com by Daniel Mollenkamp
Experts predict new tools could boost teaching efficiency — or create an “underclass of students” taught largely through screens.

Learning Ecosystems

I love this posting about a teen with Down syndrome visiting his mother’s grave to tell her that he graduated

“California’s first graduate program in prison faces an uncertain future” [West] + other items re: prison education programs

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