tools

Several ideas for K-12 teachers from Monica Burns out at classtechtips.com

On 12/07/2024, in digital learning, digital video, education, education technology, engagement / engaging students, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, parents/guardians, podcasting, student-related, teachers, tools, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Focus on School-to-Home Resources for the Holidays — from classtechtips.com by Monica Burns

As the holiday season approaches, families might reach out to educators looking for resources to support learning over school break. By leveraging high-quality, vetted resources, you can ensure that the school-to-home connection stays strong, even during winter break. Today on the blog, I’m excited to share some resources for the holidays from the team at Ask, Listen, Learn.

Also see:

Tech-Savvy Approaches for a Differentiated Classroom with Dr. Clare Kilbane and Dr. Natalie Milman – Easy EdTech Podcast 296

In this episode, educational leaders and fellow ASCD authors Dr. Clare Kilbane and Dr. Natalie Milman share expert strategies for using EdTech to personalize learning. Explore insights from their book, Using Technology in a Differentiated Classroom, and discover practical tips to thoughtfully integrate digital tools and support diverse learners. If you’re ready to elevate all students’ learning journeys, this episode is a must-listen!

Also see:

Lesson planning resource — short, engaging videos for students
This post is sponsored by ClickView. All opinions are my own.

Where do you go to find engaging, high-quality content for your lesson plans? Searching for short videos for students might feel like a time consuming task. As a classroom teacher there were plenty of times when I knew watching a video clip would help students better understand a concept, but I couldn’t always find the right videos to share with them. ClickView is a platform with video resources curated just for K-12 educators.

Today on the blog we’ll take a look at ClickView, a video platform for K-12 schools designed to make lesson planning easier. Whether you’re introducing a new topic or diving deeper into a complex unit, ClickView’s range of videos and innovative features can transform the way you teach.

Closing the digital use divide with active and engaging learning [Ascione]

On 12/04/2024, in active learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, collaboration, communications, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, curriculum, data related items, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, multimedia, new media literacies, personalized/customized learning, programming, simulations, skills, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, tools, United States, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, XR - extended reality, youth, by Daniel Christian

Closing the digital use divide with active and engaging learning — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Ascione
Students offered insight into how to use active learning, with digital tools, to boost their engagement

When it comes to classroom edtech use, digital tools have a drastically different impact when they are used actively instead of passively–a critical difference examined in the 2023-2024 Speak Up Research by Project Tomorrow.

Students also outlined their ideal active learning technologies:

Collaboration tools to support projects
Student-teacher communication tools
Online databases for self-directed research
Multi-media tools for creating new content
Online and digital games
AI tools to support personalized learning
Coding and computer programming resources
Online animations, simulations, and virtual labs
Virtual reality equipment and content

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.

Two items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 11/27/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, research, skills, student-related, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Notebook LM continues to make waves…

“Why Technology-Driven Law Firms Are Poised For Long-Term Success” [Farrar] + other items re: legaltech

On 11/27/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, skills, tools, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Below is an excerpt from 2024: The State of Generative AI in the Enterprise — from Menlo Ventures

Legal: Historically resistant to tech, the legal industry ($350 million in enterprise AI spend) is now embracing generative AI to manage massive amounts of unstructured data and automate complex, pattern-based workflows. The field broadly divides into litigation and transactional law, with numerous subspecialties. Rooted in litigation, Everlaw* focuses on legal holds, e-discovery, and trial preparation, while Harvey and Spellbook are advancing AI in transactional law with solutions for contract review, legal research, and M&A. Specific practice areas are also targeted AI innovations: EvenUp focuses on injury law, Garden on patents and intellectual property, Manifest on immigration and employment law, while Eve* is re-inventing plaintiff casework from client intake to resolution.

Excerpt from Brainyacts #250 (from 11/22/24) — from the Leveraging Generative AI in Client Interviews section

Here’s what the article from Forbes said:

CodeSignal, an AI tech company, has launched Conversation Practice, an AI-driven platform to help learners practice critical workplace communication and soft skills.
Conversation Practice uses multiple AI models and a natural spoken interface to simulate real-world scenarios and provide feedback.
The goal is to address the challenge of developing conversational skills through iterative practice, without the awkwardness of peer role-play.

What I learned about this software changed my perception about how I can prepare in the future for client meetings. Here’s what I’ve taken away from the potential use of this software in a legal practice setting:

Why Technology-Driven Law Firms Are Poised For Long-Term Success — from forbes.com by Daniel Farrar

I see the shift to cloud-based digital systems, especially for small and midsized law firms, as evening the playing field by providing access to robust tools that can aid legal services. Here are some examples of how legal professionals are leveraging tech every day:

- Cloud-based case management solutions. These help enhance productivity through collaboration tools and automated workflows while keeping data secure.
- E-discovery tools. These tools manage vast amounts of data and help speed up litigation processes.
- Artificial intelligence. AI has helped automate tasks for legal professionals including for case management, research, contract review and predictive analytics.

2024-11-22: The Race to the TopDario Amodei on AGI, Risks, and the Future of Anthropic — from emergentbehavior.co by Prakash (Ate-a-Pi)

Risks on the Horizon: ASL Levels
The two key risks Dario is concerned about are:

a) cyber, bio, radiological, nuclear (CBRN)
b) model autonomy

These risks are captured in Anthropic’s framework for understanding AI Safety Levels (ASL):

1. ASL-1: Narrow-task AI like Deep Blue (no autonomy, minimal risk).
2. ASL-2: Current systems like ChatGPT/Claude, which lack autonomy and don’t pose significant risks beyond information already accessible via search engines.
3. ASL-3: Agents arriving soon (potentially next year) that can meaningfully assist non-state actors in dangerous activities like cyber or CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) attacks. Security and filtering are critical at this stage to prevent misuse.
4. ASL-4: AI smart enough to evade detection, deceive testers, and assist state actors with dangerous projects. AI will be strong enough that you would want to use the model to do anything dangerous. Mechanistic interpretability becomes crucial for verifying AI behavior.
5. ASL-5: AGI surpassing human intelligence in all domains, posing unprecedented challenges.

Anthropic’s if/then framework ensures proactive responses: if a model demonstrates danger, the team clamps down hard, enforcing strict controls.

Should You Still Learn to Code in an A.I. World? — from nytimes.com by
Coding boot camps once looked like the golden ticket to an economically secure future. But as that promise fades, what should you do? Keep learning, until further notice.

Compared with five years ago, the number of active job postings for software developers has dropped 56 percent, according to data compiled by CompTIA. For inexperienced developers, the plunge is an even worse 67 percent.
“I would say this is the worst environment for entry-level jobs in tech, period, that I’ve seen in 25 years,” said Venky Ganesan, a partner at the venture capital firm Menlo Ventures.

For years, the career advice from everyone who mattered — the Apple chief executive Tim Cook, your mother — was “learn to code.” It felt like an immutable equation: Coding skills + hard work = job.

Now the math doesn’t look so simple.

Also see:

AI builds apps in 2 mins flat — where the Neuron mentions this excerpt about Lovable:

There’s a new coding startup in town, and it just MIGHT have everybody else shaking in their boots (we’ll qualify that in a sec, don’t worry).

It’s called Lovable, the “world’s first AI fullstack engineer.”
…
Lovable does all of that by itself. Tell it what you want to build in plain English, and it creates everything you need. Want users to be able to log in? One click. Need to store data? One click. Want to accept payments? You get the idea.

Early users are backing up these claims. One person even launched a startup that made Product Hunt’s top 10 using just Lovable.

As for us, we made a Wordle clone in 2 minutes with one prompt. Only edit needed? More words in the dictionary. It’s like, really easy y’all.

When to chat with AI (and when to let it work) — from aiwithallie.beehiiv.com by Allie K. Miller

Re: some ideas on how to use Notebook LM:

Turn your company’s annual report into an engaging podcast
Create an interactive FAQ for your product manual
Generate a timeline of your industry’s history from multiple sources
Produce a study guide for your online course content
Develop a Q&A system for your company’s knowledge base
Synthesize research papers into digestible summaries
Create an executive content briefing from multiple competitor blog posts
Generate a podcast discussing the key points of a long-form research paper

Introducing conversation practice: AI-powered simulations to build soft skills — from codesignal.com by Albert Sahakyan

From DSC:
I have to admit I’m a bit suspicious here, as the “conversation practice” product seems a bit too scripted at times, but I post it because the idea of using AI to practice soft skills development makes a great deal of sense:

This is mind-blowing!

NVIDIA has introduced Edify 3D, a 3D AI generator that lets us create high-quality 3D scenes using just a simple prompt. And all the assets are fully editable!

This is going to revolutionise the way we create!

5 Examples: pic.twitter.com/5yWlvL1cWD

— el.cine (@EHuanglu) November 24, 2024

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

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

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

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

Reflections on “Introducing Copilot Actions, new agents, and tools to empower IT teams” [Spataro]

On 11/21/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, Daniel S. Christian, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, Microsoft, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, tools, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Introducing Copilot Actions, new agents, and tools to empower IT teams — from microsoft.com by Jared Spataro

[On November 19th] at Microsoft Ignite 2024, we’re accelerating our ambition to empower every employee with Copilot as a personal assistant and to transform every business process with agents built in Microsoft Copilot Studio.

Announcements include:

Copilot Actions in Microsoft 365 Copilot to help you automate everyday repetitive tasks.
New agents in Microsoft 365 to unlock SharePoint knowledge, provide real-time language interpretation in Microsoft Teams meetings, and automate employee self-service.
The Copilot Control System to help IT professionals confidently manage Copilot and agents securely.

These announcements build on our wave 2 momentum, including the new autonomous agent capabilities that we announced in October 2024.

Per the Rundown AI:

By integrating AI agents directly into Microsoft’s billion-plus users’ daily workflows, this release could normalize agentic AI faster than any previous rollout. Just as users now reach for specific apps or plugins to solve particular problems, specialized agents could soon become the natural first stop for getting work done.

Along these lines, also see:

AI agents — what they are, and how they’ll change the way we work — from news.microsoft.com by Susanna Ray

An agent takes the power of generative AI a step further, because instead of just assisting you, agents can work alongside you or even on your behalf. Agents can do a range of things, from responding to questions to more complicated or multistep assignments. What sets them apart from a personal assistant is that they can be tailored to have a particular expertise.

For example, you could create an agent to know everything about your company’s product catalog so it can draft detailed responses to customer questions or automatically compile product details for an upcoming presentation.

Microsoft pitches AI ‘agents’ that can perform tasks on their own at Ignite 2024 — from techxplore.com
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told customers at a conference in Chicago on Tuesday that the company is teaching a new set of artificial intelligence tools how to “act on our behalf across our work and life.”

From DSC:
I am not trying to push all things AI. There are serious concerns that I and others have with agents and other AI-based technologies especially:

When competitive juices get going and such forces throw people and companies into a sort of an AI arms race, and
When many people haven’t yet obtained the wisdom of reflecting on things like “just because we CAN build this doesn’t mean we SHOULD build it”, or
When governments seek to be the leader of AI due to military applications (and yes, I’m looking at the U.S. Federal Government especially here)
Etc, etc.

But there are also areas where I’m more hopeful and positive about AI-related technologies — such as providing personalized learning and productivity tools (like those from Microsoft above).

VR training aims to help doctors avoid bias — from inavateonthenet.net

A new virtual reality training programme aims to tackle biases in healthcare settings, aimed at improving recognition, understanding, and addressing implicit bias towards black mothers.

Participants in the program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign underwent a series of three modules, with the first module focusing on implicit bias and how it can negatively affect a patient at a doctor’s appointment.

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.

Miscommunication Leads AI-Based Hiring Tools Astray — from adigaskell.org

Nearly every Fortune 500 company now uses artificial intelligence (AI) to screen resumes and assess test scores to find the best talent. However, new research from the University of Florida suggests these AI tools might not be delivering the results hiring managers expect.

The problem stems from a simple miscommunication between humans and machines: AI thinks it’s picking someone to hire, but hiring managers only want a list of candidates to interview.

Without knowing about this next step, the AI might choose safe candidates. But if it knows there will be another round of screening, it might suggest different and potentially stronger candidates.

AI agents explained: Why OpenAI, Google and Microsoft are building smarter AI agents — from digit.in by Jayesh Shinde

In the last two years, the world has seen a lot of breakneck advancement in the Generative AI space, right from text-to-text, text-to-image and text-to-video based Generative AI capabilities. And all of that’s been nothing short of stepping stones for the next big AI breakthrough – AI agents. According to Bloomberg, OpenAI is preparing to launch its first autonomous AI agent, which is codenamed ‘Operator,’ as soon as in January 2025.

Apparently, this OpenAI agent – or Operator, as it’s codenamed – is designed to perform complex tasks independently. By understanding user commands through voice or text, this AI agent will seemingly do tasks related to controlling different applications in the computer, send an email, book flights, and no doubt other cool things. Stuff that ChatGPT, Copilot, Google Gemini or any other LLM-based chatbot just can’t do on its own.

2025: The year ‘invisible’ AI agents will integrate into enterprise hierarchies — from venturebeat.com by Taryn Plumb

In the enterprise of the future, human workers are expected to work closely alongside sophisticated teams of AI agents.

According to McKinsey, generative AI and other technologies have the potential to automate 60 to 70% of employees’ work. And, already, an estimated one-third of American workers are using AI in the workplace — oftentimes unbeknownst to their employers.

However, experts predict that 2025 will be the year that these so-called “invisible” AI agents begin to come out of the shadows and take more of an active role in enterprise operations.

“Agents will likely fit into enterprise workflows much like specialized members of any given team,” said Naveen Rao, VP of AI at Databricks and founder and former CEO of MosaicAI.

State of AI Report 2024 Summary — from ai-supremacy.com by Michael Spencer
Part I, Consolidation, emergence and adoption.

Which AI Image Model Is the Best Speller? Let’s Find Out! — from whytryai.com by Daniel Nest
I test 7 image models to find those that can actually write.

The contestants
I picked 7 participants for today’s challenge:

DALL-E 3 by OpenAI (via Microsoft Designer)
FLUX1.1 [pro] by Black Forest Labs (via Glif)
Ideogram 2.0 by Ideogram (via Ideogram)
Imagen 3 by Google (via Image FX)
Midjourney 6.1 by Midjourney (via Midjourney)
Recraft V3 by Recraft (via Recraft)
Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large by Stability AI (via Hugging Face)

How to get started with AI agents (and do it right) — from venturebeat.com by Taryn Plumb

So how can enterprises choose when to adopt third-party models, open source tools or build custom, in-house fine-tuned models? Experts weigh in.

OpenAI, Google and Anthropic Are Struggling to Build More Advanced AI — from bloomberg.com (behind firewall)
Three of the leading artificial intelligence companies are seeing diminishing returns from their costly efforts to develop newer models.

OpenAI and others seek new path to smarter AI as current methods hit limitations — from reuters.com by Krystal Hu and Anna Tong

Summary

AI companies face delays and challenges with training new large language models
Some researchers are focusing on more time for inference in new models
Shift could impact AI arms race for resources like chips and energy

NVIDIA Advances Robot Learning and Humanoid Development With New AI and Simulation Tools — from blogs.nvidia.com by Spencer Huang
New Project GR00T workflows and AI world model development technologies to accelerate robot dexterity, control, manipulation and mobility.

How Generative AI is Revolutionizing Product Development — from intelligenthq.com

A recent report from McKinsey predicts that generative AI could unlock up to $2.6 to $4.4 annually trillion in value within product development and innovation across various industries. This staggering figure highlights just how significantly generative AI is set to transform the landscape of product development. Generative AI app development is driving innovation by using the power of advanced algorithms to generate new ideas, optimize designs, and personalize products at scale. It is also becoming a cornerstone of competitive advantage in today’s fast-paced market. As businesses look to stay ahead, understanding and integrating technologies like generative AI app development into product development processes is becoming more crucial than ever.

What are AI Agents: How To Create a Based AI Agent — from ccn.com by Lorena Nessi

Key Takeaways

AI agents handle complex, autonomous tasks beyond simple commands, showcasing advanced decision-making and adaptability.
The Based AI Agent template by Coinbase and Replit provides an easy starting point for developers to build blockchain-enabled AI agents.
AI based agents specifically integrate with blockchain, supporting crypto wallets and transactions.
Securing API keys in development is crucial to protect the agent from unauthorized access.

What are AI Agents and How Are They Used in Different Industries? — from rtinsights.com by Salvatore Salamone
AI agents enable companies to make smarter, faster, and more informed decisions. From predictive maintenance to real-time process optimization, these agents are delivering tangible benefits across industries.

The State of Instructional Design, 2024 [Hardman]

On 11/15/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, change, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, tools, training / L&D, trends, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The State of Instructional Design, 2024 — from by Dr. Philippa Hardman
Four initial results from a global survey I ran with Synthesia

In September, I partnered with Synthesia to conduct a comprehensive survey exploring the evolving landscape of instructional design.

Our timing was deliberate: as we witness the rapid advancement of AI and increasing pressure on learning teams to drive mass re-skilling and deliver more with less, we wanted to understand how the role of instructional designers is changing.
…

Our survey focused on five key areas that we believed would help surface the most important data about the transformation of our field:

1. Roles & Responsibilities: who’s designing learning experiences in 2024?
2. Success Metrics: how do you and the organisations you work for measure the value of instructional design?
3. Workload & Workflow: how much time do we spend on different aspects of our job, and why?
4. Challenges & Barriers: what sorts of obstacles prevent us from producing optimal work?
5. Tools & Technology: what tools do we use, and is the tooling landscape changing?

Using AI to brainstorm students own learning objectives [Potkalitsky] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 11/13/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, change, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, ethics, experimentation, faculty/staff, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, liberal arts, mathematics, morals/values, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, UK, United States, universities, vendors, youth, by Daniel Christian

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

AI Agents make me nervous. Really nervous.

I wish they didn’t.

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

But I can’t.

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

But I can’t.

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

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

It’s worth a shot, right?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Below are several items from edutopia.org:

Doing the Best You Can With the Time You Have — by Jay Schauer
These strategies can help overwhelmed teachers prioritize tasks and find a balance between perfectionism and efficiency.
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How to Support Teachers’ Emotional Health — by Hedreich Nichols
Emotional well-being plays a major role in teachers’ job satisfaction, and it’s essential that they have effective resources for support.

Teachers cannot be expected to teach SEL effectively without first being intentional about their own emotional health. If we want educators to guide students through emotional regulation, they must have the time, space, and support to do that work themselves. This goes beyond surface-level wellness initiatives—teachers need opportunities to reflect on their emotional triggers, manage their own stresses, and receive genuine support from their schools. Only when teachers are empowered to process their own emotional challenges can they truly foster a healthy social and emotional environment for their students.

In Praise of the Humble Document Camera — by Emily Rankin
Revisiting a simple edtech tool can help you introduce rigor and engage students more deeply in their lessons.

4 Ways to Use a Document Camera in Your Classroom— by Emily Rankin
If a document camera is gathering dust in a classroom, its lack of impact is probably linked to the user, not what the gadget is capable of. Case in point, I wasn’t using mine regularly because I didn’t know the value it could add to my teaching and learning. Here are some of the practices I now know are possible:

Guided practice. …
Assessment for learning. …
Sharing materials. …
Expanding teaching and learning possibilities.

Weighing Inquiry-Based Learning and Direct Instruction in Elementary Math — by Vivian Quan
Teachers can ask themselves three key questions in order to choose the most effective instructional approach to a topic.

One factor to consider is the subject. In math, students need opportunities to work on rich tasks and solve problems in ways that make sense to them. However, that doesn’t mean direct instruction is totally absent from math time. The questions below can guide you in deciding whether to use direct instruction, when it would be appropriate, and who else in the classroom you might involve.

Increasing Talk Time in World Language Classes — by Kate Good
Teachers can experiment with a variety of strategies to build and assess students’ ability to converse in the target language.

To capitalize on my students’ (seemingly inexhaustible) desire to chat, I work to increase student talk time in our Spanish immersion classes. I use several strategies to build and assess students’ oral language.

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

After two years of intensive experimentation with AI in education, I am witnessing something amazing unfolding before my eyes. While much of the world fixates on AI’s generative capabilities—its ability to create essays, stories, and code—my students have discovered something far more powerful: exploratory AI, a dynamic partner in investigation and critique that’s transforming how they think.
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They’ve moved beyond the initial fascination with AI-generated content to something far more sophisticated: using AI as an exploratory tool for investigation, interrogation, and intellectual discovery.
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Instead of the much-feared “shutdown” of critical thinking, we’re witnessing something extraordinary: the emergence of what I call “generative thinking”—a dynamic process where students learn to expand, reshape, and evolve their ideas through meaningful exploration with AI tools. Here I consciously reposition the term “generative” as a process of human origination, although one ultimately spurred on by machine input.

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

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

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

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

Also from Educause, see:

From Hype to Help: Making GenAI Useful for Enterprise Reporting and Data Analytics — from er.educause.edu by Craig Rudick

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also from campustechnology.com, see:

New OpenAI Swarm Framework Offers Experimental Tool for Multi-Agent AI Networks — by John K. Waters
OpenAI has introduced a new open source framework designed to simplify the development and management of multi-agent AI systems that can collaborate autonomously to perform tasks.

Three items from edcircuit.com:

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

Here are some notable trends:

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

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Not all AI news is good news. In particular, AI has exacerbated the problem of fraudulent enrollment–i.e., rogue actors who use fake or stolen identities with the intent of stealing financial aid funding with no intention of completing coursework.
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The consequences are very real, including financial aid funding going to criminal enterprises, enrollment estimates getting dramatically skewed, and legitimate students being blocked from registering for classes that appear “full” due to large numbers of fraudulent enrollments.

Learning Ecosystems

VR training aims to help doctors avoid bias [inavateonthenet.net]

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