Learning Ecosystems

I really hate to be that guy, but AI is going to be transformative as a teacher. ?

I asked AI the following:
“Plan three lessons to explain how volcanoes are formed. Each lesson needs an introductory activity, information input, a student task and a plenary.”

— Stephen Lockyer (@mrlockyer) December 31, 2022

Also relevant/see:

Tome is worth exploring for generating slide decks. https://t.co/XtldA4VwAL

I pasted the Volcano Lesson 1 content in, and it generated eight slides in under a minute. It's very basic, but for bare bones deckbuilding, it's got such potential. https://t.co/F9CEp9jd75 ? 2/3

— Stephen Lockyer (@mrlockyer) January 1, 2023

The Work-From-Anywhere War Is Beginning [Daisley]

On 01/02/2023, in business, leadership, strategy, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The Work-From-Anywhere War Is Beginning — from wired.com by Bruce Daisley
Forget return-to-office mandates. The most sought-after talent want ultimate flexibility. Their bosses need to get on board.

Excerpt:

Who calls the shots on how many days you end up working in the office? It has gradually dawned on bosses that it isn’t them. The real power holders? The elusive “top talent” that every firm is trying to attract.
…
Top talent doesn’t just want hybrid work, they want to work from wherever they want. “There are two kinds of companies,” Choudhury explains. “One is going to embrace work-from-anywhere, and the second is in denial—I feel those companies will lose their workforce.” He argues that the “companies that are trying to drag back time will lose some of their best talent, and that dynamic will force these companies to catch up.”

In 2023, we are going to a huge increase in content creation generated by AI avatars. The use cases the infinite – from demos and tutorials to billboards and even ads.

? Here are 6 companies that are currently defining the future of content creation:

— Bardeen (@bardeenai) December 30, 2022

DC: What if there was a “remote learning channel” for every college/university classroom? A remote learner would have to pay a small flat fee to audit or drop into the class.

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) December 31, 2022

From DSC:
Perhaps such a network type of setup could provide audio-visual-based links that people could provide to one another.

What Can We Learn from Barnes & Noble’s Surprising Turnaround? [Gioia]

On 12/31/2022, in business, change, corporate / business world, hearts -- matters of the heart, leadership, love of learning, passions, reading, reinvent, society, strategy, surviving, by Daniel Christian

What Can We Learn from Barnes & Noble’s Surprising Turnaround? — from tedgioia.substack.com by Ted Gioia
Digital platforms are struggling, meanwhile a 136-year-old book retailer is growing again. But why?

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Daunt refused to play this game. He wanted to put the best books in the window. He wanted to display the most exciting books by the front door. Even more amazing, he let the people working in the stores make these decisions.

This is James Daunt’s super power: He loves books.

But I almost hate to say it, because the lesson is so simple.

If you want to sell music, you must love those songs. If you want to succeed in journalism, you must love those newspapers. If you want to succeed in movies, you must love the cinema.

But this kind of love is rare nowadays. I often see record labels promote new artists for all sorts of gimmicky reasons—even labels I once trusted such as Deutsche Grammophon or Concord. I’ve come to doubt whether the people in charge really love the music.

“…if you’re starting to look for [an Instructional Designer position], I recommend you do the following 5 things” [Holly Owens, M.Ed.]

On 12/31/2022, in adjunct faculty, career development, change, faculty/staff, instructional design, teachers, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
For those who dog the “doomsayers” of higher ed…

You need to realize many “doomsayers” are trying to get traditional institutions of higher education to change, experiment, lower their price tags, collaborate with K12 and/or with the corporate/vocational realms, and to innovate
While many of those same institutions haven’t closed (at least not yet), there are many examples of budget cuts, downsizing, layoffs, early retirements, etc.
Many of those same institutions are not the same as they were 20-30 years ago — not even close. This is becoming especially true for liberal arts colleges.

Here’s one example that made me post this reflection:

Why some rural universities are dropping dozens of programs — from npr.org by Ason Fuller, Lee Hale, and Sarah McCammon

NPR’s Sarah McCammon talks with Hechinger Report Author Jon Marcus about the financial woes of rural universities and why some are dropping dozens of programs.

Excerpt:

Many colleges and universities in rural America are slashing budgets as enrollment numbers continue to dwindle. And often, the first things to be cut are humanities programs like history and English. It’s forcing some students to consider transferring to other schools or leaving higher education altogether. Jon Marcus has been covering this erosion of funding at rural universities and its domino effects with The Hechinger Report, and he joins us now. Welcome to the program.

94% of Consumers are Satisfied with Virtual Primary Care — from hitconsultant.net

Excerpt from What You Should Know (emphasis DSC):

For people who have used virtual primary care, the vast majority of them (94%) are satisfied with their experience, and nearly four in five (79%) say it has allowed them to take charge of their health. The study included findings around familiarity and experience with virtual primary care, virtual primary care and chronic conditions, current health and practices, and more.
As digital health technology continues to advance and the healthcare industry evolves, many Americans want the ability to utilize more digital methods when it comes to managing their health, according to a study recently released by Elevance Health — formerly Anthem, Inc. Elevance Health commissioned to conduct an online study of over 5,000 US adults age 18+ around virtual primary care.

Some mind-blowing images from the James Webb Space Telescope

On 12/31/2022, in faith, science, by Daniel Christian

The cliffs of the Carina Nebula (NGC 3324).
The Southern Ring Nebula
Cluster of Galaxies SMACS 0723
Stephan’s Quintet

GPT Takes the Bar Exam — from papers.ssrn.com by Michael James Bommarito and Daniel Martin Katz; with thanks to Gabe Teninbaum for his tweet on this

Excerpt from the Abstract (emphasis DSC):

While our ability to interpret these results is limited by nascent scientific understanding of LLMs and the proprietary nature of GPT, we believe that these results strongly suggest that an LLM will pass the MBE component of the Bar Exam in the near future.

LLM — Large Language Model
MBE — Multistate Bar Examination

Any politician about to vote on significant education-related policies, laws, etc. must first teach or observe for at least a month [Christian]

On 12/30/2022, in change, changing business models, collaboration, Daniel S. Christian, Design Thinking, education, education reform, experimentation, face-to-face, future, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, love of learning, more voice more choice more control, participation, passions, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, productivity / tips and tricks, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, user experience (UX), vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
For me, I wish politicians and legislators would stay out of the way and let public and private educators make the decisions. But if any politician is about to vote on significant education-related policies, laws, etc. — I would like to suggest that society require them to either:

teach a K12-based class for at least one month
or
be in the classroom for the entire day to observe — and do this for at least one month

Perhaps we would have far less standardized testing. Perhaps we would have far more joy and wonder — for the teachers as well as for the students. Perhaps lifelong learning — and the love of learning — would get the wind in its sails that it so desperately needs.
.

From DSC:
Along these lines of enjoyment in everyday things, could this type of thing happen more within education?

Great idea! pic.twitter.com/udcL0nxbc3

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) December 26, 2022

From DSC:
For those seeking a doctorate in education: Here’s a potential topic for your doctoral thesis.

Homelessness is a huge issue. It’s a complex issue, with many layers, variables, and causes to it. I once heard Oprah Winfrey say that we are all one to two steps away from being homeless, and I agree with that.

But as I was passing a homeless person asking for money on the exit ramp from a local highway the other day, I wondered what place, if any, education played (or didn’t play) in people’s lives. Was/is there any common denominator or set of experiences with their education that we can look at? If so, can we use design thinking to get at some of those root issues? For examples:

Was school easy for them? Hard for them?
A source of joy for them? A source of pain for them?
Were they engaged or disengaged?
Were they able to pursue their interests and passions?

It might turn out that education had little to do with things. It could have been health issues, broken relationships, systemic issues, the loss of a job, addictions, intergenerational “chains,” or many other things.

But it’s worth someone researching this. Such studies and interviews could turn up some helpful directions and steps to take for our future.

#homelessness #society #education #passions #participation
#research #educationreform #K12 #lifelonglearning

Some Day In Higher Education: Predictions And Possibilities For A Jolly Academic New Year [Kirschner]

On 12/29/2022, in adjunct faculty, business side of he, career development, change, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, consortiums, cost of getting a degree, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, leadership, learning ecosystem, strategy, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Some Day In Higher Education: Predictions And Possibilities For A Jolly Academic New Year — from forbes.com by Ann Kirschner

Excerpt:

Partnering with the private sector. Some university will have a clear strategy and adequate staff to develop strategic partnerships with key regional economic players. These would include internship/apprenticeship student opportunities and curricular initiatives including part-time teaching roles for professors of practice in rapidly changing technologies.
Looking for presidential talent in new places. Some university will vet its new president for skills and experience as leaders of complex organizations in an era of disruption, with a Ph.D. as a optional nice-to-have. There just aren’t enough good ex-provosts and deans to go around.
An educated board of trustees. Some university will provide its trustees with a realistic understanding of the highly competitive and complex world of higher education today. Nostalgia for the good old days and a roomful of well-meaning financial experts can strangle innovation at a time when the university should be the leader in solving the world’s challenges, starting with the exploding need for advanced, scalable, affordable education.

Redefining the professoriate. Some university will reject the institutional shame of relying on overworked and underpaid adjunct faculty and on graduate students who are headed for those same dead-end adjunct positions. Some university will evolve the tenure process into one that celebrates and supports faculty as innovative teachers and rewards their critical role in student career development and service to the university.

What’s next for AI [Heikkilä and Douglas Heaven] + several other items re: AI and the future

On 12/29/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, emerging technologies, future, game-changing environment, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), tools, trends, by Daniel Christian

What’s next for AI — from technologyreview.com by Melissa Heikkilä and Will Douglas Heaven
Get a head start with our four big bets for 2023.

Excerpts:

But take the conversational skills of ChatGPT and mix them up with image manipulation in a single model and you’d get something a lot more general-purpose and powerful. Imagine being able to ask a chatbot what’s in an image, or asking it to generate an image, and have these interactions be part of a conversation so that you can refine the results more naturally than is possible with DALL-E.

10 AI Predictions For 2023 — from forbes.com by Rob Toews

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

GPT-4 will be released in the next couple months—and yes, it will be a big deal.
We are going to start running out of data to train large language models.
For the first time, some members of the general public will begin using fully driverless cars as their day-to-day mode of transportation.
Midjourney will raise venture capital funding.
Search will change more in 2023 than it has since Google went mainstream in the early 2000s.

AI Trends For 2023: Industry Experts (And ChatGPT AI) Make Their Predictions — from forbes.com by Ganes Kesari

Excerpt:

To understand the top AI trends, I asked industry leaders and academic experts five questions. It’s the age of human-machine collaboration, so what better way to demonstrate this than by asking AI software about the 2023 AI trends it’s excited about? I did that too.
…

1. What do you think was the biggest achievement in the AI space in 2022?
2. What’s the most exciting AI trend that you look forward to materializing in 2023?
3. What’s a fad in this space that you wish would go away next year?
4. To get value from AI, what’s one thing that leaders can start doing today that doesn’t take big effort or money?
5. What’s one thing that leaders should stop doing immediately to realize benefits from AI?

Is A.I. the Future of Test Prep? — from nytimes.com by Craig S. Smith (NOTE: Paywall)

Excerpt:

Riiid is one of a handful of companies that believe that A.I.’s algorithms are perfectly suited to track student performance and give individualized attention.

“Education is a complex field deeply related to cognition, motivation, peer interaction, etc.,” Mr. Jang wrote in an email. “We draw insights from learning science, cognitive biology, data science, and other related areas of research for an iterative experimentation process that is challenging and time consuming — that’s why there are only a few players in the market.”

Artificial intelligence predictions 2023 — from information-age.com by Tim Adler
2023 could be the year that artificial intelligence moves from the fringes into the mainstream, as AI becomes widely adopted by healthcare, travel and banking. Five experts give their predictions

Excerpt:

Worldwide spending on artificial intelligence will hit half a billion dollars this year, according to IDC. Five artificial intelligence experts give Information Age their predictions as to how adoption of AI will accelerate in 2023.

.

The AI explosion is warping our sense of time. Can you believe Stable Diffusion is only 4 months old, and ChatGPT <4 weeks old ?? If you blink, you miss a whole new industry. Here are my TOP 10 AI spotlights, from a breathtaking 2022 in rewind ?: a long thread ? pic.twitter.com/5k8Q6VQ0tD

— Jim Fan (@DrJimFan) December 27, 2022

Learning Ecosystems

The Work-From-Anywhere War Is Beginning [Daisley]

What Can We Learn from Barnes & Noble’s Surprising Turnaround? [Gioia]

“…if you’re starting to look for [an Instructional Designer position], I recommend you do the following 5 things” [Holly Owens, M.Ed.]

For those who dog the “doomsayers” of higher ed… [Christian]

Will this also be the case with telelegal-based apps & services in the future? [Christian]

Some mind-blowing images from the James Webb Space Telescope

Some Day In Higher Education: Predictions And Possibilities For A Jolly Academic New Year [Kirschner]

Greetings!

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