teaching online

“Over 100 AI Tools for Teachers” [Kharbach] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 02/01/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, career development, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

DeepSeek: How China’s AI Breakthrough Could Revolutionize Educational Technology — from nickpotkalitsky.substack.com by Nick Potkalitsky
Can DeepSeek’s 90% efficiency boost make AI accessible to every school?

The most revolutionary aspect of DeepSeek for education isn’t just its cost—it’s the combination of open-source accessibility and local deployment capabilities. As Azeem Azhar notes, “R-1 is open-source. Anyone can download and run it on their own hardware. I have R1-8b (the second smallest model) running on my Mac Mini at home.”
…

Real-time Learning Enhancement

AI tutoring networks that collaborate to optimize individual learning paths
Immediate, multi-perspective feedback on student work
Continuous assessment and curriculum adaptation

The question isn’t whether this technology will transform education—it’s how quickly institutions can adapt to a world where advanced AI capabilities are finally within reach of every classroom.

Over 100 AI Tools for Teachers — from educatorstechnology.com by Med Kharbach, PhD

I know through your feedback on my social media and blog posts that several of you have legitimate concerns about the impact of AI in education, especially those related to data privacy, academic dishonesty, AI dependence, loss of creativity and critical thinking, plagiarism, to mention a few. While these concerns are valid and deserve careful consideration, it’s also important to explore the potential benefits AI can bring when used thoughtfully.

Tools such as ChatGPT and Claude are like smart research assistants that are available 24/7 to support you with all kinds of tasks from drafting detailed lesson plans, creating differentiated materials, generating classroom activities, to summarizing and simplifying complex topics. Likewise, students can use them to enhance their learning by, for instance, brainstorming ideas for research projects, generating constructive feedback on assignments, practicing problem-solving in a guided way, and much more.

The point here is that AI is here to stay and expand, and we better learn how to use it thoughtfully and responsibly rather than avoid it out of fear or skepticism.

Beth’s posting links to:

Digital Education Council Global AI Faculty Survey 2025 — from digitaleducationcouncil.com

Derek’s posting on LinkedIn

From Theory to Practice: How Generative AI is Redefining Instructional Materials — from edtechinsiders.substack.com by Alex Sarlin
Top trends and insights from The Edtech Insiders Generative AI Map research process about how Generative AI is transforming Instructional Materials

As part of our updates to the Edtech Insiders Generative AI Map, we’re excited to release a new mini market map and article deep dive on Generative AI tools that are specifically designed for Instructional Materials use cases.

In our database, the Instructional Materials use case category encompasses tools that:

Assist educators by streamlining lesson planning, curriculum development, and content customization
Enable educators or students to transform materials into alternative formats, such as videos, podcasts, or other interactive media, in addition to leveraging gaming principles or immersive VR to enhance engagement
Empower educators or students to transform text, video, slides or other source material into study aids like study guides, flashcards, practice tests, or graphic organizers
Engage students through interactive lessons featuring historical figures, authors, or fictional characters
Customize curriculum to individual needs or pedagogical approaches
Empower educators or students to quickly create online learning assets and courses

On a somewhat-related note, also see:

Tech & Learning Announces Winners of Best of 2024 — from techlearning.com by TL Editors
This annual award celebrates recognizing the best in EdTech from 2024

Four objectives to guide artificial intelligence’s impact on higher education — from timeshighereducation.com by Susan C. Aldridge
How can higher education leaders manage both the challenge and the opportunity artificial intelligence presents? Here are four objectives to guide the way

That’s why, today, the question I’m asking is: How best can we proactively guide AI’s use in higher education and shape its impact on our students, faculty and institution? The answer to that broad, strategic question lies in pursuing four objectives that, I believe, are relevant for many colleges and universities.

In This Week’s Gap Letter — by Ryan Craig

Learning to use business software is different from learning to think. But if the software is sufficiently complex, how different is it really? What if AI’s primary impact on education isn’t in the classroom, but rather shifting the locus of learning to outside the classroom?

Instead of sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher, high school and college students could be assigned real work and learn from that work. Students could be matched with employers or specific projects provided by or derived from employers, then do the work on the same software used in the enterprise. As AI-powered digital adoption platforms (DAPs) become increasingly powerful, they have the potential to transform real or simulated work into educational best practice for students only a few years away from seeking full-time employment.

If DAPs take us in this direction, four implications come to mind….

The Impact of Gen AI on Human Learning: a research summary — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
A literature review of the most recent & important peer-reviewed studies

In this week’s blog post, I share a summary of five recent studies on the impact of Gen AI on learning to bring you right up to date.
…
Implications for Educators and Developers

For Educators:

Combine ChatGPT with Structured Activities: …
Use ChatGPT as a Supplement, Not a Replacement:…
Promote Self-Reflection and Evaluation:

For Developers:

Reimagine AI for Reflection-First Design: …
Develop Tools that Foster Critical Thinking: …
Integrate Adaptive Support: …

Assessing the GenAI process, not the output — from timeshighereducation.com by Paul McDermott, Leoni Palmer, and Rosemary Norton
A framework for building AI literacy in a literature-review-type assessment

In this resource, we outline our advice for implementing an approach that opens AI use up to our students through a strategy of assessing the process rather than outputs.

To start with, we recommend identifying learning outcomes for your students that can be achieved in collaboration with AI.

What’s New: The Updated Edtech Insiders Generative AI Map — from edtechinsiders.substack.com by Sarah Morin, Alex Sarlin, and Ben Kornell
A major expansion on our previously released market map, use case database, and AI tool company directory.

.

Tutorial: 4 Ways to Use LearnLM as a Professor — from automatedteach.com by Graham Clay
Create better assessments, improve instructions and feedback, and tutor your students with this fine-tuned version of Gemini.

I cover how to use LearnLM

to create sophisticated assessments that promote learning
to develop clearer and more effective assignment instructions
to provide more constructive feedback on student work, and
to support student learning through guided tutoring

Reflections on “The Rise of the Heretical Leader” [Fitzpatrick]

On 01/17/2025, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business side of he, change, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, curriculum, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, education, education reform, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, ideas, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, liberal arts, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, new business models, online learning, personalized/customized learning, reinvent, skills, society, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

The Rise of the Heretical Leader — from ditchthattextbook.com; a guest post by Dan Fitzpatrick

Now is the time for visionary leadership in education. The era of artificial intelligence is reshaping the demands on education systems. Rigid policies, outdated curricula, and reliance on obsolete metrics are failing students. A recent survey from Resume Genius found that graduates lack skills in communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. Consequently, there is a growing trend in companies hiring candidates based on skills instead of traditional education or work experience. This underscores the urgent need for educational leaders to prioritize adaptability and innovation in their systems. Educational leaders must embrace a transformative approach to keep pace.
…
[Heretical leaders] bring courage, empathy, and strategic thinking to reimagine education’s potential. Here are their defining characteristics:

Visionary Thinking: They identify bold, innovative paths to progress.
Courage to Act: These leaders take calculated risks to overcome resistance and inertia.
Relentless Curiosity: They challenge assumptions and seek better alternatives.
Empathy for Stakeholders: Understanding the personal impact of change allows them to lead with compassion.
Strategic Disruption: Their deliberate actions ensure systemic improvements.
These qualities enable Heretical leaders to reframe challenges as opportunities and drive meaningful change.

From DSC:
Readers of this blog will recognize that I believe visionary leadership is extremely important — in all areas of our society, but especially within our learning ecosystems. Vision trumps data, at least in my mind. There are times when data can be used to support a vision, but having a powerful vision is more lasting and impactful than relying on data to drive the organization.

So while I’d vote for a different term other than “heretical leaders,” I get what Dan is saying and I agree with him. Such leaders are going against the grain. They are swimming upstream. They are espousing perspectives that others often don’t buy into (at least initially or for some time).

Such were the leaders who introduced online learning into the K-16 educational systems back in the late ’90s and into the next two+ decades. The growth of online-based learning continues and has helped educate millions of people. Those leaders and the people who worked for such endeavors were going against the grain.

We haven’t seen the end point of online-based learning. I think it will become even more powerful and impactful when AI is used to determine which jobs are opening up, and which skills are needed for those jobs, and then provide a listing of sources of where one can obtain that knowledge and develop those skills. People will be key in this vision. But so will AI and personalized learning. It will be a collaborative effort.

By the way, I am NOT advocating for using AI to outsource our thinking. Also, having basic facts and background knowledge in a domain is critically important, especially to use AI effectively. But we should be teaching students about AI (as we learn more about it ourselves). We should be working collaboratively with our students to understand how best to use AI. It’s their futures at stake.

Creating Assessments for Micro-Credentials in Higher Education Organizations. [Reed & Abramovich]

On 12/29/2024, in assessment, colleges, community colleges, credentialing, faculty/staff, higher education, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, liberal arts, microlearning, teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

“An AI tutor for every student” + numerous other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 12/21/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, lifelong learning, Open AI, personalized/customized learning, strategy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, training / L&D, United States, vendors, virtual tutoring, youth, by Daniel Christian

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.

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 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!

The Edtech Insiders Generative AI Map — from edtechinsiders.substack.com by Ben Kornell, Alex Sarlin, Sarah Morin, and Laurence Holt
A market map and database featuring 60+ use cases for GenAI in education and 300+ GenAI powered education tools.

A Student’s Guide to Writing with ChatGPT— from openai.com

Used thoughtfully, ChatGPT can be a powerful tool to help students develop skills of rigorous thinking and clear writing, assisting them in thinking through ideas, mastering complex concepts, and getting feedback on drafts.

There are also ways to use ChatGPT that are counterproductive to learning—like generating an essay instead of writing it oneself, which deprives students of the opportunity to practice, improve their skills, and grapple with the material.

For students committed to becoming better writers and thinkers, here are some ways to use ChatGPT to engage more deeply with the learning process.

Community Colleges Are Rolling Out AI Programs—With a Boost from Big Tech — from workshift.org by Colleen Connolly

The Big Idea: As employers increasingly seek out applicants with AI skills, community colleges are well-positioned to train up the workforce. Partnerships with tech companies, like the AI Incubator Network, are helping some colleges get the resources and funding they need to overhaul programs and create new AI-focused ones.

Along these lines also see:

Practical AI Training — from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain
Community colleges get help from Big Tech to prepare students for applied AI roles at smaller companies.

Miami Dade and other two-year colleges try to be nimble by offering training for AI-related jobs while focusing on local employers. Also, Intel’s business struggles while the two-year sector wonders if Republicans will cut funds for semiconductor production.

Can One AI Agent Do Everything? How To Redesign Jobs for AI? HR Expertise And A Big Future for L&D. — from joshbersin.com by Josh Bersin

Here’s the AI summary, which is pretty good.

In this conversation, Josh Bersin discusses the evolving landscape of AI platforms, particularly focusing on Microsoft’s positioning and the challenges of creating a universal AI agent. He delves into the complexities of government efficiency, emphasizing the institutional challenges faced in re-engineering government operations.

The conversation also highlights the automation of work tasks and the need for businesses to decompose job functions for better efficiency.

Bersin stresses the importance of expertise in HR, advocating for a shift towards full stack professionals who possess a broad understanding of various HR functions.

Finally, he addresses the impending disruption in Learning and Development (L&D) due to AI advancements, predicting a significant transformation in how L&D professionals will manage knowledge and skills.

New Partnership Offers Online Tutoring in Michigan Schools [govtech.com]

On 11/13/2024, in collaboration, culture, education, education technology, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, Michigan, student-related, teachers, teaching online, United States, vendors, virtual K-12 schools, virtual tutoring, by Daniel Christian

New Partnership Offers Online Tutoring in Michigan Schools — from govtech.com via GSV
The online education nonprofit Michigan Virtual has partnered with Stride Tutoring to offer remote academic support for students in 700 school districts as part of a statewide push to reverse pandemic learning loss.

Online education provider Michigan Virtual is working with a Virginia-based online tutoring company to increase access to personalized academic support for Michigan students, according to a news release last month. The partnership is in line with a statewide push to reverse pandemic learning loss through high-impact tutoring.

Speaking of education — but expanding the scope of this posting to a global scale:

Kids worldwide face huge educational challenges. Is better leadership a solution? — from hechingerreport.org by Liz Willen
Amid dismal data, educators from around the world gather in Brazil and say they can rise to the challenges

While the conversation clearly focused on a continuing worldwide crisis in education, the UNESCO conference I participated in was different. It emphasized a topic of huge importance to improving student outcomes, and coincided with the release of a report detailing how effective leaders can make a big difference in the lives of children.

From DSC:
Leadership is important, for sure. But being a leader in education is very difficult these days — there are many different (and high) expectations and agendas being thrown your way from a variety of shareholders. But I do appreciate those leaders who are trying to create effective learning ecosystems out there!

One more for high school students considering going to college…

Wondering what life will be like at college? This tool can help — from hechingerreport.org by Olivia Sanchez and Noble Ingram
Our new guide answers your campus culture questions

“Google’s NotebookLM: A Game-Changer for Education and Beyond” [Spencer & Potkalitsky] + other items re: AI in our LE’s

On 09/25/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, multimedia, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, workplace, by Daniel Christian

FlexOS’ Stay Ahead Edition #43 — from flexos.work

People started discussing what they could do with Notebook LM after Google launched the audio overview, where you can listen to 2 hosts talking in-depth about the documents you upload. Here are what it can do:

Summarization: Automatically generate summaries of uploaded documents, highlighting key topics and suggesting relevant questions.
Question Answering: Users can ask NotebookLM questions about their uploaded documents, and answers will be provided based on the information contained within them.
Idea Generation: NotebookLM can assist with brainstorming and developing new ideas.
Source Grounding: A big plus against AI chatbot hallucination, NotebookLM allows users to ground the responses in specific documents they choose.
…plus several other items

The posting also lists several ideas to try with NotebookLM such as:

Idea 2: Study Companion

Upload all your course materials and ask NotebookLM to turn them into Question-and-Answer format, a glossary, or a study guide.
Get a breakdown of the course materials to understand them better.

Google’s NotebookLM: A Game-Changer for Education and Beyond — from ai-supremacy.com by Michael Spencer and Nick Potkalitsky
AI Tools: Breaking down Google’s latest AI tool and its implications for education.

“Google’s AI note-taking app NotebookLM can now explain complex topics to you out loud”

With more immersive text-to-video and audio products soon available and the rise of apps like Suno AI, how we “experience” Generative AI is also changing from a chatbot of 2 years ago, to a more multi-modal educational journey. The AI tools on the research and curation side are also starting to reflect these advancements.

Meet Google NotebookLM: 10 things to know for educators — from ditchthattextbook.com by Matt Miller

1. Upload a variety of sources for NotebookLM to use.
You can use …

websites
PDF files
links to websites
any text you’ve copied
Google Docs and Slides
even Markdown

You can’t link it to YouTube videos, but you can copy/paste the transcript (and maybe type a little context about the YouTube video before pasting the transcript).

2. Ask it to create resources.
3. Create an audio summary.
4. Chat with your sources.
5. Save (almost) everything.

NotebookLM summarizes my dissertation — from darcynorman.net by D’Arcy Norman, PhD

I finally tried out Google’s newly-announced NotebookLM generative AI application. It provides a set of LLM-powered tools to summarize documents. I fed it my dissertation, and am surprised at how useful the output would be.

The most impressive tool creates a podcast episode, complete with dual hosts in conversation about the document. First – these are AI-generated hosts. Synthetic voices, speaking for synthetic hosts. And holy moly is it effective. Second – although I’d initially thought the conversational summary would be a dumb gimmick, it is surprisingly powerful.

4 Tips for Designing AI-Resistant Assessments — from techlearning.com by Steve Baule and Erin Carter
As AI continues to evolve, instructors must modify their approach by designing meaningful, rigorous assessments.

As instructors work through revising assessments to be resistant to generation by AI tools with little student input, they should consider the following principles:

Incorporate personal experiences and local content into assignments
Ask students for multi-modal deliverables
Assess the developmental benchmarks for assignments and transition assignments further up Bloom’s Taxonomy
Consider real-time and oral assignments

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announces $120M fund for global AI education — from techcrunch.com by Anthony Ha

He added that he wants to avoid a global “AI divide” and that Google is creating a $120 million Global AI Opportunity Fund through which it will “make AI education and training available in communities around the world” in partnership with local nonprofits and NGOs.

Educators discuss the state of creativity in an AI world — from gettingsmart.com by Joe & Kristin Merrill, LaKeshia Brooks, Dominique’ Harbour, Erika Sandstrom

Key Points

AI allows for a more personalized learning experience, enabling students to explore creative ideas without traditional classroom limitations.
The focus of technology integration should be on how the tool is used within lessons, not just the tool itself

Addendum on 9/27/24:

Google’s NotebookLM enhances AI note-taking with YouTube, audio file sources, sharable audio discussions — from techcrunch.com by Jagmeet Singh

Google on Thursday announced new updates to its AI note-taking and research assistant, NotebookLM, allowing users to get summaries of YouTube videos and audio files and even create sharable AI-generated audio discussions…

NotebookLM adds audio and YouTube support, plus easier sharing of Audio Overviews — from blog.google

Reflections on “The Burden of Misunderstanding” [Hill]

On 08/15/2024, in adjunct faculty, business side of he, colleges, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, faculty/staff, higher education, legislatures / government / legal, online learning, policy, teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

The Burden of Misunderstanding — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Phil Hill
How ED’s outdated consumer-protection view of online education could lead to bureaucratic burden on every online course in US higher ed

Time to Comment
There are plenty of other points to be made on this proposed rule:

the lack of evidence supporting the treatment of online ed differently than f2f or hybrid;
the redefinition of regular and substantive interaction;
the impact of this simplification rule actually complicating matters for compliance; and
the risk of auto-withdrawal for 14-day inactivity periods, etc.

For now, I wanted to be more precise on what I believe is a misunderstood compliance burden of ED’s proposed rule, and ED’s inability to listen to feedback from colleges and universities and associations representing them. And that while the details of this proposed rule might seem arcane, it will have a major impact across higher ed.

It is very important to note that we are in the middle of the public comment period for these proposed rules, and that ED should hear directly from colleges and universities about the impact of the proposed rules. You can comment here through next Friday (August 23rd).

From DSC:
Phil brings up numerous excellent points in the above posting. If the Department of Education’s (ED’s) proposed rules on online attendance taking get finalized, the impacts could be huge — and negative/costly in several areas. Faculty members, directors and staff of teaching and learning centers, directors of online programs, provosts and other members of administrations, plus other relevant staff should comment– NOW — before the comment period ends next Friday (August 23rd).

2024 CHLOE 9 Report
August 13, 2024

CHLOE 9 | Strategy Shift: Institutions Respond to Sustained Online Demand

The ninth installment of the Changing Landscape of Online Education (CHLOE) report, produced by Quality MattersTM , Eduventures® and Educause — offers an overview of the current state of online learning in higher education as well as insights into its future development. The report was compiled by surveying chief online officers (COLOs) — the professionals best situated to assess the current state of this ever-developing field — at U.S. two- and four-year colleges and universities.

The majority of survey participants report both learner demand for online learning surging and institutional strategic priorities shifting to meet this demand, as well as the adaptation to the new presence of AI tools in the academic environment. Notable findings from the 53-page report include:

Priorities for Online Learning: Institutions are increasingly prioritizing the development of online versions of both on-campus courses (69%) and on-campus degrees (65%) in order to meet demand. In terms of their topmost priority, 43% of COLOs chose online versions of on-campus degrees (the majority of public four-year institutions identified this as their top priority), with online versions of on-campus courses selected as the top priority by 39%.
Tuition and Institutional Revenue: …
AI in Higher Education: …
Third-Party Servicers: …
Regular and Substantive Interaction: …

Two-thirds of colleges are prioritizing online versions of on-campus programs, poll finds — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz
The ninth Changing Landscape of Online Education survey offers a glimpse into the distance education marketplace.

Dive Brief:

Roughly two-thirds of colleges are making it a priority to create virtual versions of on-campus classes and programs, according to an annual survey of chief online learning officers.
College officials likely see creating online versions of existing programs as easier than launching entirely new academic programs, according to the report.
However, 48% of chief online learning officers still said their priorities included launching new online programs with no campus equivalent.

CHLOE 9 Report by Quality Matters, Eduventures, and EDUCAUSE Highlights Continuing Shift of Learner Demand and Institutional Strategy Toward Online Learning — from marketwatch.com
Key findings include increased demand from on-campus students for online options, a notable shift in institutional strategies to align with this demand, and the growing use of artificial intelligence in online education.

BOSTON, Aug. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Quality Matters, EDUCAUSE, and Eduventures Research have released the ninth edition of the Changing Landscape of Online Education (CHLOE) report, compiling the perspectives of chief online learning officers (COLOs) around the United States. CHLOE 9: Strategy Shift: Institutions Respond to Sustained Online Demand reveals a continued increase in student preference for online learning and the strategies institutions are employing to address this demand.

The report also outlines institutional perspectives on a host of other factors contributing to the state of online education, including artificial intelligence, third-party servicers, OPMs and regular and substantive interaction.

Addendum on 8/15/24:

The State of Online Learning | The CHLOE 9 Survey – Part 1 — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Glenda Morgan

For the uninitiated, since 2017 the CHLOE report has surveyed Chief Online Learning Officers (COLOs) at higher education institutions in the US to map the changing landscape of online education. It has become an invaluable resource in understanding the topography of online learning in the US as well as how it is changing as more institutions move online and that environment becomes more regulated and more competitive.

I found this year’s survey much more engaging than in recent years. Many of the questions asked and the way they were framed address the issues of concern to people managing online learning. There is a lot in the survey, and I am going to break my coverage into two parts. In this first post, I want to cover the more general findings of the survey as well as some of my concerns with it. In my next post, I want to do a deeper dive into what the CHLOE survey reports about outsourcing and OPMs, a topic that we have covered extensively in this newsletter.

“For college students—and for higher ed itself—AI is a required course” [Merisotis] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 08/03/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, apprenticeships, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), bots, career development, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, education, education technology, emerging technologies, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, real-world assignments, reinvent, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

For college students—and for higher ed itself—AI is a required course — from forbes.com by Jamie Merisotis

Some of the nation’s biggest tech companies have announced efforts to reskill people to avoid job losses caused by artificial intelligence, even as they work to perfect the technology that could eliminate millions of those jobs.

It’s fair to ask, however: What should college students and prospective students, weighing their choices and possible time and financial expenses, think of this?

The news this spring was encouraging for people seeking to reinvent their careers to grab middle-class jobs and a shot at economic security.

Addressing Special Education Needs With Custom AI Solutions — from teachthought.com
AI can offer many opportunities to create more inclusive and effective learning experiences for students with diverse learning profiles.

For too long, students with learning disabilities have struggled to navigate a traditional education system that often fails to meet their unique needs. But what if technology could help bridge the gap, offering personalized support and unlocking the full potential of every learner?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a powerful ally in special education, offering many opportunities to create more inclusive and effective learning experiences for students with diverse learning profiles.

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11 Summer AI Developments Important to Educators — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard
Equity demands that we help students prepare to thrive in an AI-World

*SearchGPT
*Smaller & on-device (phones, glasses) AI models
*AI TAs
*Access barriers decline, equity barriers grow
*Claude Artifacts and Projects
*Agents, and Agent Teams of a million+
*Humanoid robots & self-driving cars
*AI Curricular integration
*Huge video and video-segmentation gains
*Writing Detectors — The final blow
*AI Unemployment, Student AI anxiety, and forward-thinking approaches
*Alternative assessments

Academic Fracking: When Publishers Sell Scholars Work to AI — from aiedusimplified.substack.com by Lance Eaton
Further discussion of publisher practices selling scholars’ work to AI companies

Last week, I explored AI and academic publishing in response to an article that came out a few weeks ago about a deal Taylor & Francis made to sell their books to Microsoft and one other AI company (unnamed) for a boatload of money.

Since then, two more pieces have been widely shared including this piece from Inside Higher Ed by Kathryn Palmer (and to which I was interviewed and mentioned in) and this piece from Chronicle of Higher Ed by Christa Dutton. Both pieces try to cover the different sides talking to authors, scanning the commentary online, finding some experts to consult and talking to the publishers. It’s one of those things that can feel like really important and also probably only to a very small amount of folks that find themselves thinking about academic publishing, scholarly communication, and generative AI.

At the Crossroads of Innovation: Embracing AI to Foster Deep Learning in the College Classroom — from er.educause.edu by Dan Sarofian-Butin
AI is here to stay. How can we, as educators, accept this change and use it to help our students learn?

The Way Forward
So now what?

In one respect, we already have a partial answer. Over the last thirty years, there has been a dramatic shift from a teaching-centered to a learning-centered education model. High-impact practices, such as service learning, undergraduate research, and living-learning communities, are common and embraced because they help students see the real-world connections of what they are learning and make learning personal.11

Therefore, I believe we must double down on a learning-centered model in the age of AI.

The first step is to fully and enthusiastically embrace AI.
…
The second step is to find the “jagged technological frontier” of using AI in the college classroom.

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Futures Thinking in Education — from gettingsmart.com by Getting Smart Staff

Key Points

Educators should leverage these tools to prepare for rapid changes driven by technology, climate, and social dynamics.
Cultivating empathy for future generations can help educators design more impactful and forward-thinking educational practices.

How can schools prepare for ADA digital accessibility requirements? — from k12dive.com by Kara Arundel
A new U.S. Department of Justice rule aims to ensure that state and local government web content and mobile apps are accessible for people with disabilities.

A newly issued federal rule to ensure web content and mobile apps are accessible for people with disabilities will require public K-12 and higher education institutions to do a thorough inventory of their digital materials to make sure they are in compliance, accessibility experts said.

The update to regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, published April 24 by the U.S. Department of Justice, calls for all state and local governments to verify that their web content — including mobile apps and social media postings — is accessible for those with vision, hearing, cognitive and manual dexterity disabilities.

“Student perceptions of American higher education” + other items re: higher education in general

On 04/04/2024, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, engagement / engaging students, higher education, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, neurodivergent/special needs, online learning, parents/guardians, society, student-related, teaching online, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Student perceptions of American higher education — from usprogram.gatesfoundation.org by Edge Research & HCM Strategists
Continued research exploring college enrollment declines

Overview of 2023 Findings
Despite our understanding of the value of higher education, perceptions among these audiences make it clear that institutions need to prove their value to them. In particular, why does the value of a 2-year or 4-year degree outweigh the value of credentials and job training programs? Both High Schoolers and Non-Enrollees see and select other paths that are shorter, cheaper, and/or more directly linked to specific job opportunities.

As part of that effort, these audiences want and need supports throughout their college journeys to reach the destination of acquiring a degree. These audiences feel anxious about making the wrong choices when it comes to college, and that those choices will impact the rest of their lives. Finally, it is also important to understand that the information received by these audiences differs by cohort. High Schoolers are at the epicenter of the college information network. Non-Enrollees, on the other hand, are forced to seek information about colleges, and the information they find tends to be less positive compared to what High Schoolers receive and consume about higher education.

Higher Education Must Prove Value to Potential Students, Who are Currently More Attracted to Immediate, Lower-Cost Options

Many Students Don’t Inform Their Colleges About Their Disability. That Needs to Change. — from edsurge.com by Stephanie A.N. Levin

After engaging in a policy review and coding a set of policy documents from disability service offices at colleges and universities across the U.S., it became clear to me that I wasn’t alone in my reluctance to seek accommodations at my college. It turns out that many higher education students with disabilities are hesitant to self-identify and pursue accommodations that could support them in their studies.

According to the most recent data published by the National Center for Education Statistics, about 20 percent of undergraduate students and nearly 11 percent of graduate students have a disability. There’s a discrepancy though, between the rate of students reporting having a disability, and those who are actually registering with their campus disability center. It turns out many students don’t inform their colleges of their disability and that has led to a support gap.The truth is, too many college and university students with disabilities decide to forgo a request for the accommodations that they may need to be successful.

5 ways to support today’s online learner — from insidetrack.org

Make online learning learner-centered, demand-driven and career-advancing
Help cultivate a sense of belonging
Reduce barriers to online learning
Encourage investment in planning and support structures
Build up online learner confidence

Online Teaching Is Improving In-Person Instruction on Campus — from edsurge.com by Robert Ubell (Columnist)

In fact a slew of research over the past two decades has found that teaching online makes professors better teachers in their classrooms, so much so that one 2009 study recommended that “faculty should be trained in distance education methods and technologies and should be encouraged to use those methods back in the classroom.”

It’s a message I’ve been arguing for a while. But now that so many educators and students have had direct experience with online formats, it’s a narrative that seems to be sinking in.

Now is the time to fully embrace how physical classrooms can be improved by online techniques.

When professors teaching face-to-face adopt online pedagogy, the classroom is transformed into a “blended” experience, moving from conventional to active learning. And that helps students turn from passive to engaged participants in their own intellectual excursions.

Learning Ecosystems

Creating Assessments for Micro-Credentials in Higher Education Organizations. [Reed & Abramovich]

Reflections on “The Burden of Misunderstanding” [Hill]

The 2024 CHLOE 9 Report is out. The Changing Landscape of Online Education Project.

Online Teaching Is Improving In-Person Instruction on Campus [Ubell]

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