Learning Ecosystems

New tests show that AI can design like an expert Instructional Designer: so what next? [Hardman]

On 10/16/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, education, education technology, emerging technologies, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, Open AI, tools, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Here is Phillipa’s posting on LinkedIn.

Light Bulb Moments from 100 Episodes — from intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com by Derek Bruff

Per Derek:

Welcome to the 100th episode of Intentional Teaching! I am very excited to reach this milestone, and I am deeply grateful to all my guests and all my listeners for making this possible. I learn so much from my guests, and I’m thrilled to know that folks out there appreciate the interviews and the show.

In this 100th episode, I take a look back at some of the light bulb moments I’ve had interviewing guests over the last four years. What quotes and ideas and examples have really stuck with me and informed my work?

My hope is that you’ll find these moments interesting and perhaps useful to your work in higher education, and that this clip show might interest you in digging into the podcast archives and listening to some older episodes.

Anthropic released a law student plugin. It’s designed to act as a tutor, but it will brief cases, build outlines, predict exam questions based on sample exams, and many other skills.
I’ll show you how to install it in the comments. You should expect your students are using this. You should probably use it for your footnotes.

— Paul Weitzel (@IThinkIAgree) October 13, 2026

The Reinvention of Liberal Arts Colleges — from educationnext.org by Jon Marcus; via Ryan Craig
To remain relevant amid evolving attitudes toward higher education, Brandeis University and institutions like it are redefining their purpose

By the fall, the university will have reorganized itself into four new schools that bring together existing professional programs in areas such as business, technology, and public policy with liberal arts disciplines including history, biology, philosophy, and sociology. Before the first semester starts, each arriving student will be assigned not only an academic adviser, but also a career counselor. And in what has become the most prominent symbol of the strategy, graduates will leave with “career-competency” transcripts alongside their conventional ones, listing what skills they have learned that employers value, from communicating and writing to proficiency with AI. This second transcript also will include internships and jobs students have held as well as microcredentials, which the university now gives them a chance to earn, at no additional cost, in digital-knowledge-economy subjects such as data analytics and statistical analysis.

Let’s record the durable skills. Let’s record the life skills. Let’s record the career skills.” That way, employers will understand exactly what students have been taught to do—as will students themselves.

…
The liberal arts are in a quiet crisis of their own. The number of bachelor’s degrees awarded in the liberal arts—generally defined as a broad education offering majors in humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and math—fell to a 30-year low in 2024, the latest period for which data are available, according to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. That was 30 percent below the peak in 2012. Students have instead been choosing majors in subjects they consider tied directly to careers, including business, management, and health professions.

The Small Business Hub at National Disability Institute (NDI) is excited to welcome you to this year’s Disability Owned Convening

On 10/14/2026, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), business, career development, collaboration, communications, communities of practice, corporate / business world, entrepreneurship, marketing/social marketing, policy, presentations, skills, society, sociology, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The Small Business Hub at National Disability Institute (NDI) is excited to welcome you to this year’s Disability Owned Convening, a fully virtual, national event taking place on October 21 and 22, 2026.

This accessible event offers a wide range of topics aiming to empower entrepreneurs to navigate an ever-changing business landscape, including leveraging AI, achieving financial health, marketing, accessing support and resources and panels highlighting how entrepreneurs with disabilities seize opportunities and overcome challenges to build thriving businesses.

Over the past four years, this dynamic event has connected thousands of entrepreneurs and small business owners with disabilities, entrepreneurial support organizations, state vocational rehabilitation counselors, policy makers, financial institutions and disability advocates from across the country.

Previous Disability Owned Convening Materials
Discover a trove of insights and inspiration by exploring our collection of archived trainings from previous Disability Owned Convenings! Over the past four years, this dynamic event has united entrepreneurs and advocates, offering invaluable resources and actionable advice tailored for individuals with disabilities. Whether you’re seeking guidance on access to capital, innovative marketing strategies, or tools to enhance your business organization, these archived collections offer a wealth of information.

New: Essential Resources for Special Education [edutopia.org]

On 10/13/2026, in assistive technologies, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), education, engagement / engaging students, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, parents/guardians, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, student-related, teachers, tools, United States, vendors, youth, by Daniel Christian

New: Essential Resources for Special Education — from edutopia.org

We’ve gathered advice for teachers on managing student accommodations, navigating IEPs, and much more, as well as ideas for administrators on how to support teachers in this work.

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Social Learning in a Skills-Based Economy [Hall]

On 10/13/2026, in adult learning, career development, change, communications, communities of practice, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, skills, social learning / networks, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Social Learning in a Skills-Based Economy — from learningguild.com by George Hall

In a skills-based economy, social learning should not be understood merely as interaction around content. It should be understood as part of the learning architecture itself: the social and emotional structure that helps people ask questions, test ideas, practice judgment, receive feedback, and stay open when learning feels personally risky.

That distinction matters.

In a defensive culture, social learning creates the conditions in which people can stay engaged with difficult ideas long enough to learn from them.

People often need other people to help them think:

They need to hear others reason their way through complexity
They need to see peers ask questions they were afraid to ask
They need to practice disagreement without rupture
They need to discover that uncertainty is shared
They need to see that changing one’s thinking does not have to mean losing face

This is not soft. Far from it.

It is foundational.

5 Writing Tools to Get Unstuck [Caplan]

On 10/13/2026, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, education technology, experimentation, Google, ideas, journalism, tools, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, writing, by Daniel Christian

5 Writing Tools to Get Unstuck — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan
Dictation, writing sprints, mind maps, AI interviews, and folded paper

The hardest part of writing is the first 10 minutes. Get past that, and momentum kicks in.

Having gotten stuck and unstuck a lot over the past 325 weeks of writing this newsletter, I’ve found a few tricks that help. Pick one to try, and leave a comment to share what you do to get unstuck.

As a little experiment, I’ve made an Unstuck Studio page to accompany this post and to help you get unstuck playfully.

As Daniel Pink explains, starting comes first.

“Action precedes motivation, not the other way around.”

Online Course Video Statistics — from markstudios.com by Mark Santos

“Every figure on this page links to the organization that produced it, and each was re-checked against that source before publishing. How many people take online courses, how big the platforms are, how long course videos actually hold attention, how many learners finish, what the money looks like, and which popular online course statistics do not survive being traced to their origin.”
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2026 National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM): Celebrating Value and Talent

On 10/13/2026, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), neurodivergent/special needs, parents/guardians, society, sociology, student-related, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Each October, during National Disability Employment Awareness Month, or “NDEAM,” we recognize the positive impact of people with disabilities in the American workforce. This year’s NDEAM theme will be “Celebrating Value and Talent,” carrying the spirit of last year’s celebration forward through 2026 in honor of America’s 250th birthday. Learn more: dol.gov/ndeam

Also relevant/see:

The American Dream Employment Network (ADEN)

ADEN is an administrative EN – a consortium of service providers and employers working together to create a path for individuals with disabilities, who are currently receiving Social Security disability benefits, and want to return to, or begin working for the first time. ADEN is an approved Employment Network operating under Social Security’s Ticket to Work program.

Make Work Pay

U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) launched Make Work Pay Hub which includes the important role ABLE accounts can play in growing savings for people with disabilities. The hub provides additional resources including The Secure Your Financial Future Toolkit, developed in collaboration with NDI’s LEAD Center. Visitors of the hub will find employment lifecycle stages and tools for employers, service providers and workforce leaders. Thank you to Assistant Secretaries, Julie Hocker and Dan Aronowitz, for sharing how we can all work, save, and build our futures.

AKF Consulting Group published an insightful article this summer, ABLE 2026 Expanding the Reach, encouraging further ABLE outreach to financial planners and other trusted advisors.

Some Scripture for us

On 10/12/2026, in faith, global, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, religion, society, by Daniel Christian

Isaiah 55:6

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.

Proverbs 3:5-6

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:13-18

13 Blessed are those who find wisdom,
those who gain understanding,
14 for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
those who hold her fast will be blessed.

Proverbs 2:6

For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

AI Is Changing Career Guidance. It May Be Missing the Hardest Part. [Tavenner & Dulin Salisbury]

On 10/08/2026, in career development, education, education reform, emerging technologies, K-12 related, more voice more choice more control, motivation, parents/guardians, passions, reinvent, skills, student-related, youth, by Daniel Christian

AI Is Changing Career Guidance. It May Be Missing the Hardest Part. (Diane Tavenner, Futre – Part 2) — from humanistxyz.substack.com by Allison Dulin Salisbury and Diane Tavenner
“AI is getting very good at telling young people what they could do. The harder question is who they want to become.”

Diane’s view is that you cannot shortcut the work of figuring out who you want to become. Young people need to form hypotheses about the lives they might want, go out into the world and test them, reflect on what they learn, and change their minds. Parents, teachers, mentors, and other caring adults matter enormously, but their job is to help a young person make sense of the evidence, not supply the answer.

I find this framing particularly important right now. The world of work is changing quickly, and AI will keep getting better at showing young people their options.

But having more options, or better information about them, doesn’t necessarily make it easier to choose a life.

Several teaching-related articles and ideas from edutopia.org

On 10/08/2026, in art, creativity, culture, education, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, library / librarians, metacognition / metacognitive skills, pedagogy, reading, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

How Book Cover Keychains Boosted Our School’s Culture of Reading — from edutopia.org by Carsyn Smothers
This clever idea, which came from a librarian’s TikTok, is easy to carry out and encourages lively conversations about books.

Last year, I came across a TikTok that instantly caught my attention. School librarian Lauren Mobley explained how she managed to insert specially designed book covers into keychains, which students could attach to their backpacks and show off to their friends. Mobley created the book cover designs in Canva, she said, and then purchased a batch of keychains.

I loved the idea. I also wondered whether the keychains could be more than a fun craft or a decoration. Could they additionally serve as a reader advisory tool?

How Good Teachers Get Even Better — from edutopia.org by Youki Terada
Like elite athletes and musicians, even outstanding teachers have room to grow. Here are 6 research-based ways to keep sharpening your skills.

Effective teaching, then, is less about executing a set of prescribed strategies and more about developing the “informed judgment” necessary to “engage in complex decision-making and practice,” the researchers note. For example, watching how a master teacher delivers a lesson or handles difficult moments in the classroom, and then rehearsing those moves while getting feedback from coaches, allows for authentic “feedback in the moment” along with quick hints on “how to elevate instruction.”

That kind of expertise doesn’t happen automatically; it develops when teachers take the long view and engage, over many years, in a disciplined course of deliberate practice, identifying a set of skills they want to improve and then making the time to reflect on and practice them.

Arts-Integrated Outdoor Lessons for Elementary Students — from edutopia.org by Charlene Lutz
A pumpkin can become an entire unit if you let it: These engaging fall activities encourage students to slow down and learn from what’s around them.

October is one of my favorite times to take learning outside.

There is so much already happening in the environment that we really do not need to create an elaborate setup. Leaves are changing, seed pods are drying out, sticks and pine cones are everywhere, and pumpkins are suddenly easy to find. I have found that these ordinary seasonal materials can lead to some of the richest learning experiences because students are able to observe, move, touch, collect, build, draw, measure, and ask questions all within the same lesson.

Here are three October investigations I have found especially easy to adapt across K–5.

A 4-Step Plan for Promoting Metacognition in Middle School — from edutopia.org by Kasey Short
Thinking about how they think helps students develop an essential skill that supports their academic success and independence.

In middle school, as students gain independence and are given increased responsibility, it’s an essential time to explicitly teach metacognitive skills. Middle school is often the first opportunity for students to move from one class to another and interact each period with a new teacher who has their own style and set of expectations. Students also move from concrete to abstract thinking while managing long-term assignments, preparing for assessments, revising writing, and solving increasingly complex problems. When students are instructed to study, revise, prepare, and more, they need tools to make effective decisions about those tasks and useful strategies to manage their additional responsibilities.

Metacognition is an essential part of providing students with the tools and strategies they need to be successful in middle school. Work with metacognition is best used as a regular classroom practice that can be implemented by naming it, modeling, providing students with language to discuss their thinking, and creating consistent opportunities for students to engage with this skill and see its impact on their learning.

Want to Close the Skills Gap? Bring Learning Closer to Work — from campustechnology.com by Elise Awwad

Key Takeaways

The skills gap is a workforce access problem as much as a talent problem: Employers broadly plan to upskill workers, yet many employees still lack sufficient time or access to AI training.
AI fluency compounds where workers already have access: Employees who use AI regularly build confidence and capability, while those whose jobs keep them farther from the technology risk falling further behind.
Upskilling works better when learning is integrated with work: Employers and higher education should create pathways that combine technical and durable skills with on-the-job application, rather than treating reskilling as an individual responsibility.

The skills employers say they cannot find are increasingly the skills they expect employees and candidates to arrive with, fully formed, at their own expense.
…
Upskilling or reskilling is often framed as an individual responsibility: a matter of initiative, of staying current. But if employers need these skills, they have a stake in making sure workers have a realistic way to develop them.

The Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps — 7th Edition [Olivia Moore and Andressen Horowitz]

On 10/08/2026, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, corporate / business world, data related items, marketplaces, platforms, society, tools, trends, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

The Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps — 7th Edition — from a16z.com by Olivia Moore and Andressen Horowitz

The biggest takeaway from this new data? Consumer AI usage is wide, but not very deep…for almost everyone. While nearly half of U.S. consumers now report using AI, only 25% are engaged with it daily. And as of August, just 4.5% of U.S. consumers had an active paid personal subscription to ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude. You can get more data on broad AI adoption in our State of Markets presentation we shared last week.

However, AI’s consumer power users are extremely engaged — and highly monetizable. The top 10% of spenders account for roughly half of all observed spending. These high spenders disproportionately buy coding, productivity, and creative tools.

In these users, consumer AI has found its first real market: people who pay — often a lot — for tools that help them build, create, and get work done. Reaching everyone else will likely take different products. We’re seeing glimmers of this now with the launch of personal assistants that, unlike their ancestor OpenClaw, are usable by non-developers — and free.

Learning Ecosystems

Some Scripture for us

Greetings!

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