We have to provide instructors the support they need to leverage educational technologies like generative AI effectively in the service of learning. Given the amount of benefit that could accrue to students if powerful tools like generative AI were used effectively by instructors, it seems unethical not to provide instructors with professional development that helps them better understand how learning occurs and what effective teaching looks like. Without more training and support for instructors, the amount of student learning higher education will collectively “leave on the table” will only increase as generative AI gets more and more capable. And that’s a problem.
From DSC: As is often the case, David put together a solid posting here. A few comments/reflections on it:
I agree that more training/professional development is needed, especially regarding generative AI. This would help achieve a far greater ROI and impact.
The pace of change makes it difficult to see where the sand is settling…and thus what to focus on
The Teaching & Learning Groups out there are also trying to learn and grow in their knowledge (so that they can train others)
The administrators out there are also trying to figure out what all of this generative AI stuff is all about; and so are the faculty members. It takes time for educational technologies’ impact to roll out and be integrated into how people teach.
As we’re talking about multiple disciplines here, I think we need more team-based content creation and delivery.
There needs to be more research on how best to use AI — again, it would be helpful if the sand settled a bit first, so as not to waste time and $$. But then that research needs to be piped into the classrooms far better. .
OpenAI on Thursday announced its first partnership with a higher education institution.
Starting in February, Arizona State University will have full access to ChatGPT Enterprise and plans to use it for coursework, tutoring, research and more.
The partnership has been in the works for at least six months.
ASU plans to build a personalized AI tutor for students, allow students to create AI avatars for study help and broaden the university’s prompt engineering course.
The collaboration between ASU and OpenAI brings the advanced capabilities of ChatGPT Enterprise into higher education, setting a new precedent for how universities enhance learning, creativity and student outcomes.
“ASU recognizes that augmented and artificial intelligence systems are here to stay, and we are optimistic about their ability to become incredible tools that help students to learn, learn more quickly and understand subjects more thoroughly,” ASU President Michael M. Crow said. “Our collaboration with OpenAI reflects our philosophy and our commitment to participating directly to the responsible evolution of AI learning technologies.”
AI <> Academia — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman What might emerge from ASU’s pioneering partnership with OpenAI?
Phil’s Wish List #2: Smart Curriculum Development ChatGPT assists in creating and updating course curricula, based on both student data and emerging domain and pedagogical research on the topic.
Output: using AI it will be possible to review course content and make data-informed automate recommendations based on latest pedagogical and domain-specific research
Potential Impact: increased dynamism and relevance in course content and reduced administrative lift for academics.
Unlike traditional leadership, adaptable leadership is not bound by rigid rules and protocols. Instead, it thrives on flexibility. Adaptable leaders are willing to experiment, make course corrections, and pivot when necessary. Adaptable leadership is about flexibility, resilience and a willingness to embrace change. It embodies several key principles that redefine the role of leaders in organizations:
Embracing uncertainty
Adaptable leaders understand that uncertainty is the new norm. They do not shy away from ambiguity but instead, see it as an opportunity for growth and innovation. They encourage a culture of experimentation and learning from failure.
Empowering teams
Instead of dictating every move, adaptable leaders empower their teams to take ownership of their work. They foster an environment of trust and collaboration, enabling individuals to contribute their unique perspectives and skills.
Continuous learning
Adaptable leaders are lifelong learners. They are constantly seeking new knowledge, stay informed about industry trends and encourage their teams to do the same. They understand that knowledge is a dynamic asset that must be constantly updated.
Major AI in Education Related Developments this week — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard ASU integrates with ChatGPT, K-12 AI integrations, Agents & the Rabbit, Uruguay, Meta and AGI, Rethinking curriculum
“The greatest risk is leaving school curriculum unchanged when the entire world is changing.” Hadi Partovi, founder Code.org, Angel investor in Facebook, DropBox, AirBnb, Uber
Tutorbots in college. On a more limited scale, Georgia State University, Morgan State University, and the University of Central Florida are piloting a project using chatbots to support students in foundational math and English courses.
Pioneering AI-Driven Instructional Design in Small College Settings — from campustechnology.com by Gopu Kiron For institutions that lack the budget or staff expertise to utilize instructional design principles in online course development, generative AI may offer a way forward.
Unfortunately, smaller colleges — arguably the institutions whose students are likely to benefit the most from ID enhancements — frequently find themselves excluded from authentically engaging in the ID arena due to tight budgets, limited faculty online course design expertise, and the lack of ID-specific staff roles. Despite this, recent developments in generative AI may offer these institutions a low-cost, tactical avenue to compete with more established players.
There’s a new AI from Google DeepMind called AlphaGeometry that totally nails solving super hard geometry problems. We’re talking problems so tough only math geniuses who compete in the International Mathematical Olympiad can figure them out.
From DSC: As I’ve long stated on the Learning from the Living [Class]Room vision, we are heading toward a new AI-empowered learning platform — where humans play a critically important role in making this new learning ecosystem work.
Along these lines, I ran into this site out on X/Twitter. We’ll see how this unfolds, but it will be an interesting space to watch.
From DSC: This future learning platform will also focus on developing skills and competencies. Along those lines, see:
Scale for Skills-First— from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain An ed-tech giant’s ambitious moves into digital credentialing and learner records.
A Digital Canvas for Skills
Instructure was a player in the skills and credentials space before its recent acquisition of Parchment, a digital transcript company. But that $800M move made many observers wonder if Instructure can develop digital records of skills that learners, colleges, and employers might actually use broadly.
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Ultimately, he says, the CLR approach will allow students to bring these various learning types into a coherent format for employers.
Instructure seeks a leadership role in working with other organizations to establish common standards for credentials and learner records, to help create consistency. The company collaborates closely with 1EdTech. And last month it helped launch the 1EdTech TrustEd Microcredential Coalition, which aims to increase quality and trust in digital credentials.
Dozens of colleges and universities have dropped their sticker prices for tuition over the past decade, even as research has shown that tuition resets have a nominal influence on long-term enrollment increases. But a report released this week shows that regional colleges were more likely than nationally known institutions to see increases in applications after a reset.
“Students are more focused now on return on investment than they used to be,” said Devon McGee, a principal at Kennedy & Company, the higher education consulting firm that produced the report. Compared to bigger-name colleges, “A lot of these regional institutions are great liberal arts–type institutions, but they are less associated—fairly or unfairly—with preparing students for a job.”
Why hybrid learning needs hybrid faculties — from timeshighereducation.com by An Jacobs & Norma Rossi Online courses should be integrated into everyday faculty functions to improve remote and in-person classes as well as the overall student experience
DC: Sounds like a team-based appt to me; something I’ve long advocated for. https://t.co/qkQhl98bQI
Regardless of their age, an individual who is fresh to the team is given between five and ten pieces of advice from a more seasoned employee in the form of an email or letter. These tidbits of knowledge are what these seasoned professionals wish they had known when they first joined.
This is more than just a welcome; it’s a guide, a primer, offering an insider’s view of the organization and fostering a sense of camaraderie from the very beginning.
Chatbots, data scientists, software engineers. As clients demand more for less, law firms are hiring growing numbers of staff who’ve studied technology not tort law to try and stand out from their rivals.
Law firms are advertising for experts in artificial intelligence “more than ever before,” says Chris Tart-Roberts, head of the legal technology practice at Macfarlanes, describing a trend he says began about six months ago.
Law firm leaders and consultants are unsure of how AI use will ultimately impact the legal workforce.
Consults are advising law firms and attorneys alike to adapt to the use of generative AI, viewing this as an opportunity for attorneys to learn new skills and law firms to take a look at their business models.
Split between foreseeing job cuts and opportunities to introduce new skills and additional efficiencies into the office, firm leaders and consultants remain uncertain about the impact of artificial intelligence on the legal workforce.
However, one thing is certain: law firms and attorneys need to adapt and learn how to integrate this new technology in their business models, according to consultants.
Are you overwhelmed by countless cases, complex legal concepts, and endless readings? Law School AI is here to help. Our cutting-edge AI chatbot is designed to provide law students with an accessible, efficient, and engaging way to learn the law. Our chatbot simplifies complex legal topics, delivers personalized study guidance, and answers your questions in real-time – making your law school journey a whole lot easier.
Job title of the future: metaverse lawyer— from technologyreview.com by Amanda Smith Madaline Zannes’s virtual offices come with breakout rooms, an art gallery… and a bar. .
Excerpt:
Lot #651 on Somnium Space belongs to Zannes Law, a Toronto-based law firm. In this seven-level metaverse office, principal lawyer Madaline Zannes conducts private consultations with clients, meets people wandering in with legal questions, hosts conferences, and gives guest lectures. Zannes says that her metaverse office allows for a more immersive, imaginative client experience. She hired a custom metaverse builder to create the space from scratch—with breakout rooms, presentation stages, offices to rent, an art gallery, and a rooftop bar.
Greg spoke with an AI guest named Justis for this episode. Justis, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, was able to have a natural conversation with Greg and provide insightful perspectives on the use of generative AI in the legal industry, specifically in law firms.
In the first part of their discussion, Justis gave an overview of the legal industry’s interest in and uncertainty around adopting generative AI. While many law firm leaders recognize its potential, some are unsure of how it fits into legal work or worry about risks. Justis pointed to examples of firms exploring AI and said letting lawyers experiment with the tools could help identify use cases.
Putting Humans First: Solving Real-Life Problems With Legal Innovation— from abovethelaw.com by Olga Mack Placing the end-user at the heart of the process allows innovators to identify pain points and create solutions that directly address the unique needs and challenges individuals and businesses face.
Professors Plan Summer AI Upskilling, With or Without Support — from insidehighered.com by Susan D’Agostino Academics seeking respite from the fire hose of AI information and hot takes launch summer workshops. But many of the grass-roots efforts fall short of meeting demand.
Excerpt:
In these summer faculty AI workshops, some plan to take their first tentative steps in redesigning assignments to recognize the AI-infused landscape. Others expect to evolve their in-progress teaching-with-AI practices. At some colleges, full-time staff will deliver the workshops or pay participants for professional development time. But some offerings are grassroots efforts delivered by faculty volunteers attended by participants on their own time. Even so, many worry that the efforts will fall short of meeting demand.
From DSC: We aren’t used to this pace of change. It will take time for faculty members — as well as Instructional Designers, Instructional Technologists, Faculty Developers, Learning Experience Designers, Librarians, and others — to learn more about AI and its implications for teaching and learning. Faculty are learning. Staff are learning. Students are learning. Grace is needed. And faculty/staff modeling what it is to learn themselves is a good thing for students to see as well.
This can be done first and foremost through collaboration, bringing more people at the table, in a meaningful workflow, whereby they can make the best use of their expertise. Moreover, we need to take a step back and keep the big picture in mind, if we want to provide our students with a valuable experience.
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This is all about creating and nurturing partnerships. Thinking in an inclusive way about who is at the table when we design our courses and our programmes and who we are currently missing. Generally speaking, the main actors involved should be: teaching staff, learning design professionals (under all their various names) and students. Yes, students. Although we are designing for their learning, they are all too often not part of the process.
In order to yield results, collaborative practice needs to be embedded in the institutional fabric, and this takes time. Building silos happens fast, breaking them is a long term process. Creating a culture of dialogue, with clear and replicable processes is key to making collaborative learning design work.
From DSC: To me, Alexandra is addressing the topic of using teams to design, develop, and teach/offer courses. This is where a variety of skills and specialties can come together to produce an excellent learning experience. No one individual has all of the necessary skills — nor the necessary time. No way.
For the purpose of this article I want to look at learning design in a more holistic way, as a practice that takes place at institutional level. Because we are actually not designing the learning, we are designing for learning. It’s all about an ecosystem with many variable components, including people, institutions, pedagogy, disciplinary content, technology. Some of them more controllable or predictable, some of them less so. So learning design is (should be!) all about being adaptive, iterative, empathic, but also efficient, sustainable (from different points of view, I will come back to that later), scalable.
Let’s look at some ideas of how law schools could use AI tools like Khanmigo or ChatGPT to support lectures, assignments, and discussions, or use plagiarism detection software to maintain academic integrity.
In particular, we’re betting on four trends for AI and L&D.
Rapid content production
Personalized content
Detailed, continuous feedback
Learner-driven exploration
In a world where only 7 percent of the global population has a college degree, and as many as three quarters of workers don’t feel equipped to learn the digital skills their employers will need in the future, this is the conversation people need to have.
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Taken together, these trends will change the cost structure of education and give learning practitioners new superpowers. Learners of all backgrounds will be able to access quality content on any topic and receive the ongoing support they need to master new skills. Even small L&D teams will be able to create programs that have both deep and broad impact across their organizations.
Generative AI is set to play a pivotal role in the transformation of educational technologies and assisted learning. Its ability to personalize learning experiences, power intelligent tutoring systems, generate engaging content, facilitate collaboration, and assist in assessment and grading will significantly benefit both students and educators.
With today’s advancements in generative AI, that vision of personalized learning may not be far off from reality. We spoke with Dr. Kim Round, associate dean of the Western Governors University School of Education, about the potential of technologies like ChatGPT for learning, the need for AI literacy skills, why learning experience designers have a leg up on AI prompt engineering, and more. And get ready for more Star Trek references, because the parallels between AI and Sci Fi are futile to resist.
NVIDIA today introduced a wave of cutting-edge AI research that will enable developers and artists to bring their ideas to life — whether still or moving, in 2D or 3D, hyperrealistic or fantastical.
Around 20 NVIDIA Research papers advancing generative AI and neural graphics — including collaborations with over a dozen universities in the U.S., Europe and Israel — are headed to SIGGRAPH 2023, the premier computer graphics conference, taking place Aug. 6-10 in Los Angeles.
The papers include generative AI models that turn text into personalized images; inverse rendering tools that transform still images into 3D objects; neural physics models that use AI to simulate complex 3D elements with stunning realism; and neural rendering models that unlock new capabilities for generating real-time, AI-powered visual details.
Also relevant to the item from Nvidia (above), see:
Last week, as I was interviewing Shaun Vecera about a new initiative he directs at the University of Iowa, he made a comment that stopped me in my tracks. The initiative, Learning at Iowa, is meant to create a common vocabulary, based on cognitive science, to support learning across the university. It focuses on “the three M’s for effective learning”: mind-set, metacognition, and memory.
“Not because those are the wrong ways of talking about that. But when you talk about learning, I think you can easily see how these skills transfer across not just courses, but also transfer from the university into a career.”
From DSC: This reminds me of what I was trying to get at here — i.e., let’s provide folks with more information on learning how to learn.
When the researchers asked their interview subjects how they first learned about peer instruction, many more cited informal discussions with colleagues than cited more formal channels like workshops. Even fewer pointed to a book or an article.
So even when there’s a really well-developed recipe, professors aren’t necessarily reading it.
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In higher ed, teaching is often seen as something anyone who knows the content can automatically do. But the evidence suggests instead that teaching is an intellectual exercise that adds to subject-matter expertise.
This teaching-specific math knowledge, the researchers note, could be acquired in teacher preparation or professional development, however, it’s usually created on the job.
“Now, I’m much more apt to help them develop a deeper understanding of how people learn from a neuroscientific and cognitive-psychology perspective, and have them develop a model for how students learn.”
Erika Offerdahl, associate vp and director of the Transformational Change Initiative at WSU
From DSC: I love this part too:
There’s a role here, too, for education researchers. Not every evidence-based teaching practice has been broken into its critical components in the literature,
The Education Department is planning to increase oversight of the outside contractors that colleges and universities use to help run online programs.
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To address that finding, the department said in guidance issued Wednesday that OPMs and any entity that provides recruitment services for a college are considered third-party servicers, subjecting the companies’ contracts with institutions to regular audits. Colleges and universities are required to report details of their agreements to the department by May 1.
The idea that the space in which you do something, affects the thing you do is the basic premise behind active learning classrooms (ALCs).
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The biggest message I get from this study is that in order to have success with active learning classrooms, you can’t just build them — they have to be introduced as part of an ecosystem that touches almost all parts of the daily function of a university: faculty teaching, faculty development and support, facilities, and the Registrar’s Office to name a few. Without that ecosystem before you build an ALC, it seems hard to have success with students after it’s built. You’re more likely to have an expensive showcase that looks good but ultimately does not fulfill its main purpose: Promoting and amplifying active learning, and moving the culture of a campus toward active engagement in the classroom.
From DSC: Thank you Robert for your article/posting here! And thank you for being one of the few faculty members who:
Regularly share information out on LinkedIn, Twitter, and your blog (something that is all too rare for faculty members throughout higher education)
Took a sabbatical to go work at a company that designs and develops numerous options for implementing active learning setups throughout the worlds of higher education, K12 education, and the corporate world as well. You are taking your skills to help contribute to the corporate world, while learning things out in the corporate world, and then taking these learnings back into the world of higher education.
This presupposes something controversial: That the institution will take a stand on the issue that there is a preferred way to teach, namely active learning, and that the institution will be moving toward making active learning the default pedagogy at the institution. Putting this stake in the ground, and then investing not only in facilities but in professional development and faculty incentives to make it happen, again calls for vigorous, sustained leadership — at the top, and especially by the teaching/learning center director.
Why did movements over the last two decades to raise standards, improve educator quality, upgrade curriculum, enable choice, leverage assessment, instill accountability, and increase funding appear to have such a limited impact on college and career readiness?
One potential answer: Nearly all of these reforms left the basic tenets of the industrial-paradigm classroom intact.
The last few years have taken a toll on our teachers. The COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing cultural divisions, and the Uvalde, Texas, massacre all weigh heavily. Morale is at an all-time low. Now is the time to rethink the teaching profession.
Yale Law School — long ranked No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report — is quitting the magazine’s rankings, it announced Wednesday. Hours after that announcement, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Law School said it would do the same.
“U.S. News stands in the way of progress for legal education and the profession,” said Heather Gerken, Yale Law School’s dean. “It’s made it harder for law schools to admit and support low-income students, and it’s undermining efforts to launch a generation to serve. Now is the time to take a step.”
IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, announced today that it released its new Allied Legal Professionals landscape report, along with an accompanying online Knowledge Center. With generous support from the Sturm Family Foundation, this project seeks to help standardize a new tier of legal professionals nationally, with the goal of increasing the options for accessible and affordable legal help for the public.
“Today, the majority of Americans are faced with a very serious access to justice problem—not only low-income populations, as many people believe. And the pandemic has only made matters worse in recent years,” says Jim Sandman, chair of IAALS’ board of advisors and President Emeritus of the Legal Services Corporation. “For example, studies show that around 40–60% of the middle class have legal needs that remain unmet. Simply put: people want legal help, and they are not getting the help they need.”
The premise of this post is that individual capabilities and excellence (either legal or technical) standing alone are not enough to ensure long-term, sustainable success. No superstar technologist or lawyer is equipped to do it all, as there are too many specialties and functional roles which need to be filled. Rather, a better approach is to construct team-based, cross-functional units that offer greater operational efficiency while building in layers of redundancy that reduce the potential for surprises, errors, or disruption. Cf Post 323 (Patrick McKenna’s “rules of engagement” for high-performing legal teams).
