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“Preparing the Next Generation of Tech-Ready Lawyers” + other legaltech-related items

On 03/30/2024, in 21st century, Access to Justice (A2J), analytics, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, changing business models, credentialing, emerging technologies, Europe, innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, new business models, policy, society, tools, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Dr Abigail Rekas, Lawyer & Lecturer at the School of Law, University of Galway

Abigail is a lecturer on two of the Law micro-credentials at University of Galway – Lawyering Technology & Innovation and Law & Analytics. Micro-credentials are short, flexible courses designed to fit around your busy life! They are designed in collaboration with industry to meet specific skills needs and are accredited by leading Irish universities.

Visit: universityofgalway.ie/courses/micro-credentials/

The Implications of Generative AI: From the Delivery of Legal Services to the Delivery of Justice — from iaals.du.edu by

The potential for AI’s impact is broad, as it has the ability to impact every aspect of human life, from home to work. It will impact our relationships to everything and everyone in our world. The implications for generative AI on the legal system, from how we deliver legal services to how we deliver justice, will be just as far reaching.

[N]ow we face the latest technological frontier: artificial intelligence (AI).… Law professors report with both awe and angst that AI apparently can earn Bs on law school assignments and even pass the bar exam. Legal research may soon be unimaginable without it. AI obviously has great potential to dramatically increase access to key information for lawyers and non-lawyers alike. But just as obviously it risks invading privacy interests and dehumanizing the law.
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When you can no longer sell the time it takes to achieve a client’s outcome, then you must sell the outcome itself and the client’s experience of getting there. That completely changes the dynamics of what law firms are all about.

Preparing the Next Generation of Tech-Ready Lawyers — from news.gsu.edu
Legal Analytics and Innovation Initiative Gives Students a Competitive Advantage

Georgia State University College of Law faculty understand this need and designed the Legal Analytics & Innovation Initiative (LAII) to equip students with the competitive skills desired by law firms and other companies that align with the emerging technological environment.

“As faculty, we realized we need to be forward-thinking about incorporating technology into our curriculum. Students must understand new areas of law that arise from or are significantly altered by technological advances, like cybersecurity, privacy and AI. They also must understand how these advances change the practice of law,” said Kris Niedringhaus, associate dean for Law Library, Information Services, Legal Technology & Innovation.

The Imperative Of Identifying Use Cases In Legal Tech: A Guiding Light For Innovation In The Age Of AI — from abovethelaw.com by Olga V. Mack
In the quest to integrate AI and legal technology into legal practice, use cases are not just important but indispensable.

As the legal profession continues to navigate the waters of digital transformation, the importance of use cases stands as a beacon guiding the journey. They are the litmus test for the practical value of technology, ensuring that innovations not only dazzle with potential but also deliver tangible benefits. In the quest to integrate AI and legal technology into legal practice, use cases are not just important but indispensable.

The future of legal tech is not about technology for technology’s sake. It’s about thoughtful, purpose-driven innovation that enhances the practice of law, improves client outcomes, and upholds the principles of justice. Use cases are the roadmap for this future, charting a course for technology that is meaningful, impactful, and aligned with the noble pursuit of law.

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“Lifelong Learning Models for a Changing Higher Ed Marketplace” + “The New Academic Arms Race”

On 03/29/2024, in business side of he, Canada, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, culture, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, Design Thinking, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, IT in HE, leadership, learning ecosystem, liberal arts, lifelong learning, marketplaces, parents/guardians, reinvent, skills, society, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, technology (general), United States, universities, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The New Academic Arms Race | Competition over amenities is over. The next battleground is technology. — from chronicle.com by Jeffrey J. Selingo

Now, after the pandemic, with the value of the bachelor’s degree foremost in the minds of students and families, a new academic arms race is emerging. This one is centered around academic innovation. The winners will be those institutions that in the decade ahead better apply technology in teaching and learning and develop different approaches to credentialing.

Sure, technology is often seen as plumbing on campuses — as long as it works, we don’t worry about it. And rarely do prospective students on a tour ever ask about academic innovations like extended reality or microcredentials. Campus tours prefer to show off the bells and whistles of residential life within dorms and dining halls.

That’s too bad.

The problem is not a lack of learners, but rather a lack of alignment in what colleges offer to a generation of learners surrounded by Amazon, Netflix, and Instagram, where they can stream entertainment and music anytime, anywhere.

From DSC:
When I worked for Calvin (then College, now University) from 2007-2017, that’s exactly how technologies and the entire IT Department were viewed — as infrastructure providers. We were not viewed as being able to enhance the core business/offerings of the institution. We weren’t relevant in that area. In fact, the IT Department was shoved down in the basement of the library. Our Teaching & Learning Digital Studio was sidelined in a part of the library where few students went to. The Digitial Studio’s marketing efforts didn’t help much, as faculty members didn’t offer assignments that called for multimedia-based deliverables. It was a very tough and steep hill to climb.

Also the Presidents and Provosts over the last couple of decades (not currently though) didn’t think much of online-based learning, and the top administrators dissed the Internet’s ability to provide 24/7 worldwide conversations and learning. They missed the biggest thing to come along in education in 500 years (since the invention of the printing press). Our Teaching & Learning Group provided leadership by starting a Calvin Online pilot. We had 13-14 courses built and inquiries from Christian-based high schools were coming in for dual enrollment scenarios, but when it came time for the College to make a decision, it never happened. The topic/vote never made it to the floor of the Faculty Senate. The faculty and administration missed an enormous opportunity.

When Calvin College became Calvin University in 2019, they were forced to offer online-based classes. Had they supported our T&L Group’s efforts back in the early to mid-2010’s, they would have dove-tailed very nicely into offering more courses to working adults. They would have built up the internal expertise to offer these courses/programs. But the culture of the college put a stop to online-based learning at that time. They now regret that decision I’m sure (as they’ve had to outsource many things and they now offer numerous online-based courses and even entire programs — at a high cost most likely).

My how times have changed.

For another item re: higher education at the 30,000-foot level, see:

Lifelong Learning Models for a Changing Higher Ed Marketplace — from changinghighered.com by Dr. Drumm McNaughton and Amrit Ahluwalia
Exploring the transformation of higher education into lifelong learning hubs for workforce development, with innovative models and continuing education’s role.

Higher education is undergoing transformational change to redefine its role as a facilitator of lifelong learning and workforce development. In this 200th episode of Changing Higher Ed, host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Amrit Ahluwalia, incoming Executive Director for Continuing Studies at Western University, explore innovative models positioning universities as sustainable hubs for socioeconomic mobility.

The Consumer-Driven Educational Landscape
Over 60% of today’s jobs will be redefined by 2025, driving demand for continuous upskilling and reskilling to meet evolving workforce needs. However, higher education’s traditional model of imparting specific knowledge through multi-year degrees is hugely misaligned with this reality.

Soaring education costs have fueled a consumer mindset shift, with learners demanding a clear return on investment directly aligned with their career goals. The expectation is to see immediate skills application and professional impact from their educational investments, not just long-term outcomes years after completion.

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“Which AI should I use?” + other AI-related items

On 03/19/2024, in adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, bots, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, innovation, IT in HE, learning agents, learning ecosystem, student-related, teaching & learning, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Which AI should I use? Superpowers and the State of Play — from by Ethan Mollick
And then there were three

For over a year, GPT-4 was the dominant AI model, clearly much smarter than any of the other LLM systems available. That situation has changed in the last month, there are now three GPT-4 class models, all powering their own chatbots: GPT-4 (accessible through ChatGPT Plus or Microsoft’s CoPilot), Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus, and Google’s Gemini Advanced1.
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Where we stand
We are in a brief period in the AI era where there are now multiple leading models, but none has yet definitively beaten the GPT-4 benchmark set over a year ago. While this may represent a plateau in AI abilities, I believe this is likely to change in the coming months as, at some point, models like GPT-5 and Gemini 2.0 will be released. In the meantime, you should be using a GPT-4 class model and using it often enough to learn what it does well. You can’t go wrong with any of them, pick a favorite and use it…

From DSC:
Here’s a powerful quote from Ethan:

In fact, in my new book I postulate that you haven’t really experienced AI until you have had three sleepless nights of existential anxiety, after which you can start to be productive again.

Using AI for Immersive Educational Experiences — from automatedteach.com by Graham Clay
Realistic video brings course content to life but requires AI literacy.

For us, I think the biggest promise of AI tools like Sora — that can create video with ease — is that they lower the cost of immersive educational experiences. This increases the availability of these experiences, expanding their reach to student populations who wouldn’t otherwise have them, whether due to time, distance, or expense.

Consider the profound impact on a history class, where students are transported to California during the gold rush through hyperrealistic video sequences. This vivifies the historical content and cultivates a deeper connection with the material.

In fact, OpenAI has already demonstrated the promise of this sort of use case, with a very simple prompt producing impressive results…

The Empathy Illusion: How AI Agents Could Manipulate Students — from marcwatkins.substack.com by Marc Watkins

Take this scenario. A student misses a class and, within twenty minutes, receives a series of texts and even a voicemail from a very concerned and empathic-sounding voice wanting to know what’s going on. Of course, the text is entirely generated, and the voice is synthetic as well, but the student likely doesn’t know this. To them, communication isn’t something as easy to miss or brush off as an email. It sounds like someone who cares is talking to them.

But let’s say that isn’t enough. By that evening, the student still hadn’t logged into their email or checked the LMS. The AI’s strategic reasoning is communicating with the predictive AI and analyzing the pattern of behavior against students who succeed or fail vs. students who are ill. The AI tracks the student’s movements on campus, monitors their social media usage, and deduces the student isn’t ill and is blowing off class.

The AI agent resumes communication with the student. But this time, the strategic AI adopts a different persona, not the kind and empathetic persona used for the initial contact, but a stern, matter-of-fact one. The student’s phone buzzes with alerts that talk about scholarships being lost, teachers being notified, etc. The AI anticipates the excuses the student will use and presents evidence tracking the student’s behavior to show they are not sick.

Not so much focused on learning ecosystems, but still worth mentioning:

The top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps — from a16z.com / andreessen horowitz by Olivia Moore

 

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Some huge announcements from NVIDIA that will likely impact our futures

On 03/19/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, Asia, bots, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, creativity, digital audio, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, internet, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Near Field Communication (NFC), new business models, new media literacies, NVIDIA, online media, physics, research, robotics, science, skills, society, STEAM-related, technology (general), tools, United States, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, wearables, by Daniel Christian

GTC March 2024 Keynote with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang

Also relevant/see:

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For you storytelling creatives out there!

On 03/16/2024, in art, career development, collaboration, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, design, digital audio, digital storytelling, digital video, drama/theater, educational games / serious games, media/film, multimedia, music, play, skills, story, storytelling, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Below are some items for those creatives who might be interested in telling stories, designing games, crafting audio-based experiences, composing music, developing new worlds using 3D graphics, and more. 

CREATING THE SOUNDS OF LIGHTFALL — from bungie.net; via Mr. Robert Bender

The sounds of any game can make or break the experience for its players. Many of our favorite adventures come roaring back into our minds when we hear a familiar melody, or maybe it’s a special sound effect that reminds us of our time performing a particularly heroic feat… or the time we just caused some havoc with friends. With Lightfall sending Guardians to explore the new destination of Neomuna, there’s an entire universe hidden away within the sounds—both orchestral and diegetic—for Guardians to uncover and immerse themselves in. We recently assembled some of Destiny’s finest sound designers and composers to dive a little bit deeper into the stunning depths of Neomuna’s auditory experience.

Before diving into the interview with our incredible team, we wanted to make sure you have seen the Lightfall music documentary that went out shortly after the expansion’s release. This short video is a great introduction to how our team worked to create the music of Lightfall and is a must-see for audiophiles and Destiny fans alike.

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Game Dev Diaries: The Hidden World of Audio — from lianaruppert.medium.com by Liana Ruppert, via Mr. Robert Bender

Every game has a story to tell, a journey to take players through that — if done well — can inspire wonderful memories that last a lifetime. Unlike other storytelling mediums, the art of video games is an intricate interweaving of experiences, including psychological cues that are designed to entrance players and make them feel like they’re a part of the story. One way this is achieved is through the art of audio. And no, we aren’t just talking about the many incredible soundtracks out there, we’re talking about the oftentimes overlooked universe of audio design.
…
What does an audio designer do?
“Number one? We don’t work on music. That’s a thing almost everyone thinks every audio designer does,” jokes Nyte when opening up about beginning her quest into the audio world. “That, or for a game like Destiny, people just assume we only work on weapon sounds and nothing else. Which, [Juan] Uribe does, but a lot of us don’t. There is this entire gamut of other sounds that are in-game that people don’t really notice. Some do, and that’s always cool, but audio is about all sounds coming together for a ‘whole’ audio experience.”

Also relevant/see:

The New Stack of Entertainment, Tensions of the AI Age, & Navigating Cambrian Explosions — from implications.com by Scott Belsky
Let’s explore some fun albeit heretical Hollywood possibilities, face key tensions, and talk about how to stay grounded with customer needs.

On the Transformation of Entertainment
What company will be the Pixar of the AI era? What talent agency will be the CAA of the AI era? How fast can the entertainment industry evolve to natively leverage AI, and what parts will be disrupted by the industry’s own ambivalence? Or are all of these questions myopic…and should we anticipate a wave of entirely new categories of entertainment?

We are starting to see material adoption of AI tools across many industries, including media and entertainment. No doubt, these tools will transform the processes behind generating content. But what entirely new genres of content might emerge? The platform shift to AI-based workflows might give rise to entirely new types of companies that transform entertainment as we know it – from actor representation, Hollywood economics, consumption devices and experiences, to the actual mediums of entertainment themselves. Let’s explore just a few of the more edgy implications:

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Robotics and AI moves forward, majorly. European Lawmakers Pass AI Act + other AI-related items

On 03/16/2024, in Africa, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, Asia, Australia, biology, bots, Canada, corporate / business world, emerging technologies, Europe, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, Google, health, human-computer interaction (HCI), India, innovation, intelligent systems, learning ecosystem, legislatures / government / legal, Natural Language Processing (NLP), NVIDIA, Open AI, open courseware and systems, platforms, policy, productivity / tips and tricks, programming, research, robotics, society, STEAM-related, tools, trends, UK, Uncategorized, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, by Daniel Christian

[Report] Generative AI Top 150: The World’s Most Used AI Tools (Feb 2024) — from flexos.work by Daan van Rossum
FlexOS.work surveyed Generative AI platforms to reveal which get used most. While ChatGPT reigns supreme, countless AI platforms are used by millions.

As the FlexOS research study “Generative AI at Work” concluded based on a survey amongst knowledge workers, ChatGPT reigns supreme.
…
2. AI Tool Usage is Way Higher Than People Expect – Beating Netflix, Pinterest, Twitch.
As measured by data analysis platform Similarweb based on global web traffic tracking, the AI tools in this list generate over 3 billion monthly visits.

With 1.67 billion visits, ChatGPT represents over half of this traffic and is already bigger than Netflix, Microsoft, Pinterest, Twitch, and The New York Times.

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Artificial Intelligence Act: MEPs adopt landmark law — from europarl.europa.eu

  • Safeguards on general purpose artificial intelligence
  • Limits on the use of biometric identification systems by law enforcement
  • Bans on social scoring and AI used to manipulate or exploit user vulnerabilities
  • Right of consumers to launch complaints and receive meaningful explanations


The untargeted scraping of facial images from CCTV footage to create facial recognition databases will be banned © Alexander / Adobe Stock

A New Surge in Power Use Is Threatening U.S. Climate Goals — from nytimes.com by Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich
A boom in data centers and factories is straining electric grids and propping up fossil fuels.

Something unusual is happening in America. Demand for electricity, which has stayed largely flat for two decades, has begun to surge.

Over the past year, electric utilities have nearly doubled their forecasts of how much additional power they’ll need by 2028 as they confront an unexpected explosion in the number of data centers, an abrupt resurgence in manufacturing driven by new federal laws, and millions of electric vehicles being plugged in.

OpenAI and the Fierce AI Industry Debate Over Open Source — from bloomberg.com by Rachel Metz

The tumult could seem like a distraction from the startup’s seemingly unending march toward AI advancement. But the tension, and the latest debate with Musk, illuminates a central question for OpenAI, along with the tech world at large as it’s increasingly consumed by artificial intelligence: Just how open should an AI company be?
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The meaning of the word “open” in “OpenAI” seems to be a particular sticking point for both sides — something that you might think sounds, on the surface, pretty clear. But actual definitions are both complex and controversial.

Researchers develop AI-driven tool for near real-time cancer surveillance — from medicalxpress.com by Mark Alewine; via The Rundown AI
Artificial intelligence has delivered a major win for pathologists and researchers in the fight for improved cancer treatments and diagnoses.

In partnership with the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, researchers from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Louisiana State University developed a long-sequenced AI transformer capable of processing millions of pathology reports to provide experts researching cancer diagnoses and management with exponentially more accurate information on cancer reporting.

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Reflections on “Immersive virtual reality tackles depression stigma says study” [inavateonthenet.net]

On 03/07/2024, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, assistive technologies, Augmented Reality (AR), Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, Emotion, health, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, relationships, research, society, sociology, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Immersive virtual reality tackles depression stigma says study — from inavateonthenet.net

A new study from the University of Tokyo has highlighted the positive effect that immersive virtual reality experiences have for depression anti-stigma and knowledge interventions compared to traditional video.
…
The study found that depression knowledge improved for both interventions, however, only the immersive VR intervention reduced stigma. The VR-powered intervention saw depression knowledge score positively associated with a neural response in the brain that is indicative of empathetic concern. The traditional video intervention saw the inverse, with participants demonstrating a brain-response which suggests a distress-related response.

From DSC:
This study makes me wonder why we haven’t heard of more VR-based uses in diversity training. I’m surprised we haven’t heard of situations where we are put in someone else’s mocassins so to speak. We could have a lot more empathy for someone — and better understand their situation — if we were to experience life as others might experience it. In the process, we would likely uncover some hidden biases that we have.

Addendum on 3/12/24:

Augmented reality provides benefit for Parkinson’s physical therapy — from inavateonthenet.net

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For storytellers and filmakers: How a Hollywood Director Uses AI to Make Movies [Shipper]

On 02/28/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, art, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital audio, digital storytelling, digital video, drama/theater, emerging technologies, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, media/film, multimedia, music, Natural Language Processing (NLP), new media literacies, participation, platforms, play, productivity / tips and tricks, story, storytelling, tools, vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, by Daniel Christian

How a Hollywood Director Uses AI to Make Movies — from every.to by Dan Shipper
Dave Clarke shows us the future of AI filmmaking

Dave told me that he couldn’t have made Borrowing Time without AI—it’s an expensive project that traditional Hollywood studios would never bankroll. But after Dave’s short went viral, major production houses approached him to make it a full-length movie. I think this is an excellent example of how AI is changing the art of filmmaking, and I came out of this interview convinced that we are on the brink of a new creative age.

We dive deep into the world of AI tools for image and video generation, discussing how aspiring filmmakers can use them to validate their ideas, and potentially even secure funding if they get traction. Dave walks me through how he has integrated AI into his movie-making process, and as we talk, we make a short film featuring Nicolas Cage using a haunted roulette ball to resurrect his dead movie career, live on the show.

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Ecosystems for the future of learning [Education Reimagined and the History Co:Lab]

On 02/28/2024, in 21st century, collaboration, education, education reform, future, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, reinvent, society, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, teachers, United States, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

Ecosystems for the future of learning — from thebigidea.education-reimagined.org by Education Reimagined and the History Co:Lab

The intent of this report is to help communities build their capacity for transformation of education, advancing toward what our society needs most—a system that works for young people. It draws on the experiences and insights of innovators across the United States who are already answering this challenge—creating learner-centered, community-based ecosystems.
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This report includes:

  • a landscape analysis of select communities creating learning ecosystems;
  • a framework that emerged from the analysis and can be used by communities to consider their readiness and appetite for this transformation;
  • an invitation to communities to explore and discover their own path for reimagining education; and
  • a call for national and regional institutions to listen, learn from, and create the conditions for communities to pursue their visions.

From DSC:
The above items was accessed via the article below:

Where Does Work to Imagine a Learner-Centered Ecosystem Begin? — from gettingsmart.com by Alin Bennett

Key Points

  • The Norris School District in Wisconsin exemplifies how learner profiles and community connections can enhance authentic learning experiences for young people, fostering a culture of belonging and responsibility.
  • Purdue Polytechnic High School demonstrates the importance of enabling conditions, such as creating microschools with access to shared services, to support a learner-centered approach while ensuring scalability and access to a variety of resources.
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GPT-4 Image Recognition: An Absolute Game Changer in Accessibility [American Foundation for the Blind]

On 02/19/2024, in accessibility / UDL, Apple, assistive technologies, experimentation, global / globalization, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, society, tools, United States, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, wearables, by Daniel Christian

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Despite what we may see or hear, life is precious. [Christian]

On 02/15/2024, in Daniel S. Christian, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, faith, future, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, ideas, lifelong learning, morals/values, parents/guardians, relationships, religion, society, student-related, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
After reading the book entitled “Love & Hate” by Bill Halamandaris — a book about Henri Landwirth, the founder of the Give Kids the World Village — and “On Purpose” by Pamela Landwirth, I was struck with several thoughts. Below are just some of them:

  • There is enormous power in a vision.
  • People want purpose and meaning in their lives. They want their lives to count. To matter.
  • People want to work for an organization that is concretely making the world a better place in which to live.
  • People want to buy from businesses that are making a positive contribution to the world.
  • Both love and hate are powerful. But let’s choose to go forward with love.
  • Parents, grandparents, and/or other guardians of critically-ill children carry enormous, hidden burdens. Let’s try to notice those burdens and help them out.
  • Life is precious.

Let's remember this -- Despite what we may hear and see, life is precious.

From DSC:
Recently, a group from our church went to serve down at the Give Kids the World Village, in Kissimee, Florida. I wanted to relay the specialness of this place and say a few words about the Founder of the Give Kids the World Village: a man by the name of Henri Landwirth. Over the last few weeks in the Orlando area, the Holy Spirit helped me to think about the power of a vision, as both Walt Disney and Henri Landwirth were visionaries.

But first, it’s important to note that Henri survived FIVE concentration camps during WWII. He had no name there. He was known only as B4343.

Henri:

  • Was in concentration camps from ages 13-18
  • He lost both of his parents to acts of mass murder
  • Henri survived FIVE YEARS of hunger, torture, and horrendous conditions
  • He faced what looked like certain death several times

Yet as I was reading the book entitled “Love & Hate”, I kept wondering if I was seeing the fingerprints of God on Henri’s life.

After the war, Henri went in search of former Nazis, for whom he was filled with hatred. And while I don’t have time to relay the fateful day that changed Henri’s perspective and his life, the bottom line was that he didn’t want to become like his former captors the Nazis. Surprisingly and amazingly, he chose love, not hate.

Fast forward to Henri’s coming to America, working very hard, and climbing up the ladder of the Holiday Inn organization.

Then fast forward even further to the time Henri was looking for a location to build his vision. Quoting from page 139:

Henri took his checkbook and began looking for a location for Give Kids the World Village. He found it almost immediately in Kissimmee. When Henry looked at the lot, he could already see the Village there. Where others might have seen rows of burned orange trees and wetlands, Henri saw villages, a place for kids to fish, and a castle. “I could see it all,” Henri says, “as if my dream had already come to life.”

A few last notable things about the Give Kids the World Village:

  • According to the book by Bill Halamandaris, the Village was built with ZERO CONTRACTS and NO ADVERTISEMENTS from those who helped create the village! This is underheard of for $60+ million worth of facilities and the millions of dollars’ worth of donated services.
  • The Village has thousands of volunteers and it takes 160 volunteers per day to keep it running
  • Since 1986, Give Kids The World Village has welcomed more than 188,000 families from all 50 states and 77 countries.

So I want to leave you with the idea that we were witnesses of – and participants in – the tremendous power of a vision.

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A Community Micro-Credentials Effort Connects Students to Local Employers [McCool]

On 02/14/2024, in business, collaboration, corporate / business world, credentialing, real-world assignments, skills, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, youth, by Daniel Christian

A Community Micro-Credentials Effort Connects Students to Local Employers — from gettingsmart.com by David McCool

Key Points

  • Partnering credentialing opportunities alongside pre-existing regional initiatives is a great way to get buy-in and create momentum.

***

When Polk County schools began focusing on career and technical education in the spring of 2023, one of their goals was to help students succeed in the workplace by offering the opportunity to develop soft skills and earn micro-credentials to communicate with potential employers. The district collaborated with Education Design Lab, Muzzy Lane, Polk Vision, the Central Florida Development Council, and Southern New Hampshire University to make this dream a reality.

In its first few years, this collaboration has not only taught students valuable skills but has also provided employers with new recruitment opportunities and a linkage to a talent pipeline that they otherwise wouldn’t have had.

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Integrating AI into your teaching + numerous other items re: AI in our Learning Ecosystems

On 02/05/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, assessment, CMS/LMS, colleges, community colleges, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, ideas, innovation, 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, liberal arts, lifelong learning, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, writing, by Daniel Christian

Augment teaching with AI – this teacher has it sussed… — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

Emphasis (emphasis DSC):

You’re a teacher who wants to integrate AI into your teaching. What do you do? I often get asked how should I start with AI in my school or University. This, I think, is one answer.

Continuity with teaching
One school has got this exactly right in my opinion. Meredith Joy Morris has implemented ChatGPT into the teaching process. The teacher does their thing and the chatbot picks up where the teacher stops, augmenting and scaling the teaching and learning process, passing the baton to the learners who carry on. This gives the learner a more personalised experience, encouraging independent learning by using the undoubted engagement that 1:1 dialogue provides.

There’s no way any teacher can provide this carry on support with even a handful of students, never mind a class of 30 or a course with 100. Teaching here is ‘extended’ and ‘scaled’ by AI. The feedback from the students was extremely positive.

Reflections on Teaching in the AI Age — from by Jeffrey Watson

The transition which AI forces me to make is no longer to evaluate writings, but to evaluate writers. I am accustomed to grading essays impersonally with an objective rubric, treating the text as distinct from the author and commenting only on the features of the text. I need to transition to evaluating students a bit more holistically, as philosophers – to follow along with them in the early stages of the writing process, to ask them to present their ideas orally in conversation or in front of their peers, to push them to develop the intellectual virtues that they will need if they are not going to be mastered by the algorithms seeking to manipulate them. That’s the sort of development I’ve meant to encourage all along, not paragraph construction and citation formatting. If my grading practices incentivize outsourcing to a machine intelligence, I need to change my grading practices.

4 AI Imperatives for Higher Education in 2024 — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

[Bryan Alexander] There’s a crying need for faculty and staff professional development about generative AI. The topic is complicated and fast moving. Already the people I know who are seriously offering such support are massively overscheduled. Digital materials are popular. Books are lagging but will gradually surface. I hope we see more academics lead more professional development offerings.

For an academic institution to take emerging AI seriously it might have to set up a new body. Present organizational nodes are not necessarily a good fit.

A Technologist Spent Years Building an AI Chatbot Tutor. He Decided It Can’t Be Done. — from edsurge.com by Jeffrey R. Young
Is there a better metaphor than ‘tutor’ for what generative AI can do to help students and teachers?

When Satya Nitta worked at IBM, he and a team of colleagues took on a bold assignment: Use the latest in artificial intelligence to build a new kind of personal digital tutor.

This was before ChatGPT existed, and fewer people were talking about the wonders of AI. But Nitta was working with what was perhaps the highest-profile AI system at the time, IBM’s Watson. That AI tool had pulled off some big wins, including beating humans on the Jeopardy quiz show in 2011.

Nitta says he was optimistic that Watson could power a generalized tutor, but he knew the task would be extremely difficult. “I remember telling IBM top brass that this is going to be a 25-year journey,” he recently told EdSurge.

Teachers stan AI in education–but need more support — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Ascione

What are the advantages of AI in education?
Canva’s study found 78 percent of teachers are interested in using AI education tools, but their experience with the technology remains limited, with 93 percent indicating they know “a little” or “nothing” about it – though this lack of experience hasn’t stopped teachers quickly discovering and considering its benefits:

  • 60 percent of teachers agree it has given them ideas to boost student productivity
  • 59 percent of teachers agree it has cultivated more ways for their students to be creative
  • 56 percent of teachers agree it has made their lives easier

…

When looking at the ways teachers are already using generative artificial intelligence, the most common uses were:

  • Creating teaching materials (43 percent)
  • Collaborative creativity/co-creation (39 percent)
  • Translating text (36 percent)
  • Brainstorming and generating ideas (35 percent)

The next grand challenge for AI — from ted.com by Jim Fan

The State of Washington Embraces AI for Public Schools — from synthedia.substack.com by Bret Kinsella; via Tom Barrett
Educational institutions may be warming up to generative AI

Washington state issued new guidelines for K-12 public schools last week based on the principle of “embracing a human-centered approach to AI,” which also embraces the use of AI in the education process. The state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Chris Reykdal, commented in a letter accompanying the new guidelines:

New education features to help teachers save time and support students — from by Shantanu Sinha

Giving educators time back to invest in themselves and their students
Boost productivity and creativity with Duet AI: Educators can get fresh ideas and save time using generative AI across Workspace apps. With Duet AI, they can get help drafting lesson plans in Docs, creating images in Slides, building project plans in Sheets and more — all with control over their data.

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Vocational training programs for special education students teach work, life skills [Thornton]

On 02/05/2024, in career development, K-12 related, learning, Learning Experience Design, parents/guardians, real-world assignments, skills, society, special needs, student-related, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, by Daniel Christian

Vocational training programs for special education students teach work, life skills — from edsource.org by Lasherica Thornton
Programs also foster acceptance in the community

Through hands-on experience at the hotel, students gain skills to work in the housekeeping and hospitality industry – whether at El Capitan or elsewhere – after they graduate. And they develop life skills for adulthood.
…
This is not the case with Merced County’s program which, instead, integrates students into the housekeeping career, making it one of a few in California and across the nation to do so. The program now serves as a model for other districts aspiring to integrate students with disabilities into careers and society.

Fong said the year-long program is critical for the students “to be in the actual field,” get on-the-job training and be able to model employees’ behavior, which in turn provides them with real world experience while allowing them to interact with others.

From DSC:
This hits home for my family and me. We are entering a phase of our youngest daughter’s life where we need to help her build life skills. This type of program is excellent — highly relevant to many families out there.

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Hologram lecturers thrill students at trailblazing UK university [Hall]

On 02/05/2024, in A/V -- audio/visual, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, Holographic comms, ideas, innovation, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, platforms, UK, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Hologram lecturers thrill students at trailblazing UK university — from theguardian.com by Rachel Hall

Prof Vikki Locke and Prof Gary Burnett try out the hologram technology. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Any university lecturer will tell you that luring students to a morning lecture is an uphill struggle. But even the most hungover fresher would surely be enticed by a physics lesson from Albert Einstein or a design masterclass from Coco Chanel.

This could soon be the reality for British students, as some universities start to beam in guest lecturers from around the globe using the same holographic technology that is used to bring dead or retired singers back to the stage.

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