Education evolves to match the speed of tech innovation — from Tech predictions for 2024 and beyond — from allthingsdistributed.com
Higher education alone cannot keep up with the rate of technological change. Industry-led skills-based training programs will emerge that more closely resemble the journeys of skilled tradespeople. This shift to continuous learning will benefit individuals and businesses alike.

Similar to the software development processes of decades past, we have reached a pivotal point with tech education, and we will see what was once bespoke on-the-job-training for a few evolve into industry-led skills-based education for many.

We have seen glimpses of this shift underway for years. Companies like Coursera, who originally focused on consumers, have partnered with enterprises to scale their upskilling and reskilling efforts. Degree apprenticeships have continued to grow in popularity because education can be specialized by the employer, and apprentices can earn as they learn. But now, companies themselves are starting to seriously invest in skills-based education at scale.

All of these programs enable learners at different points in their career journey to gain the exact skills they need to enter in-demand roles, without the commitment of a traditional multi-year program.

But there will be many industries where the impact of technology outpaces traditional educational systems. To meet the demands of business, we will see a new era of industry-led educational opportunities that can’t be ignored.

From DSC:
It seems to me that this is saying that higher education is not able to — nor will it be able to in the future — match the speed of innovation taking place today. Therefore, alternatives will continue to hit the learning landscapes/radar. For example, Amazon’s CTO, Dr. Werner Vogels, mentioned Amazon’s efforts here:

Amazon just announced that it has already trained 21 million tech learners across the world in tech skills. And it’s in part thanks to programs like the Mechatronics and Robotics Apprenticeship and AWS Cloud Institute.

 


7 Ways the Internet Will Get Weirder — from digitalnative.tech by Rex Woodbury

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

This week on the Midjourney subreddit, a user named Theblasian35 wrote: “Made an Adidas AI spec commercial during my coffee break.”

Specifics on how it was made aside, the video gets at something bigger: we now live in a world where someone can fairly easily spin up a gorgeous, professional-grade commercial—all using affordable, accessible, intuitive online tools. What does this mean for multi-million-dollar ad budgets?

From DSC:
Like someone said, that must have been the world’s longest coffee break.  🙂

 

Syllabusters Are Outdated — from scholarlyteacher.com by Todd Zakrajsek

What does this all mean for the first day of class? Approach that first day with “learning-centered” in your mind. Focus on learning. Learning is all about curiosity and desire. Desire to know, to figure things out, to be surprised, all getting that dopamine flowing throughout the brain: That is what learning-centered is all about. An exam is best thought of as feedback, showing whether students are learning, not a date to cover on the first day and dread every class period in the meantime. An exam should never be the reason to learn, it should always be an indication of learning. Don’t spend your first 45 or 85 minutes focused solely on exams, term paper deadlines, and attendance policies. That moves teaching toward an artificial transactional arrangement where students learn in exchange for points and grades.

From DSC:
I would highly recommend starting out with a major HOOK. Some question, some video, some recording/piece of audio, etc. that would provoke interest, curiosity, or even some emotion. On that first day, the following item MUST be addressed if you expect to engage your students:

Why is this class/topic relevant?

Start with that. Immediately. The other stuff can be introduced later on, as Todd mentions.

 

Smart energy grids. Voice-first companion apps.
Programmable medicines. AI tools for kids. We asked
over 40 partners across a16z to preview one big idea
they believe will drive innovation in 2024.

Narrowly Tailored, Purpose-Built AI
In 2024, I predict we’ll see narrower AI solutions. While ChatGPT may be a great general AI assistant, it’s unlikely to “win” for every task. I expect we’ll see an AI platform purpose-built for researchers, a writing generation tool targeted for journalists, and a rendering platform specifically for designers, to give just a few examples.

Over the longer term, I think the products people use on an everyday basis will be tailored to their use cases — whether this is a proprietary underlying model or a special workflow built around it. These companies will have the chance to “own” the data and workflow for a new era of technology; they’ll do this by nailing one category, then expanding. For the initial product, the narrower the better.

— via Olivia Moore, who focuses on marketplace startups

 

Can new AI help to level up the scales of justice?


From DSC:
As you can see from the above items, Mr. David Goodrich, a great human being and a fellow Instructional Designer, had a great comment and question regarding the source of my hope that AI — and other forms of legaltech — could significantly provide more access to justice here in America. Our civil justice system has some serious problems — involving such areas as housing, employment, healthcare, education, families, and more.

I’d like to respond to that question here.

First of all, I completely get what David is saying. I, too, have serious doubts that our horrible access to justice (#A2J) situation will get better. Why? Because:

  • Many people working within the legal field like it this way, as they are all but assured victory in most of the civil lawsuits out there.
  • The Bar Associations of most of the states do not support changes that would threaten their incomes/livelihoods. This is especially true in California and Florida.
  • The legal field in general is not composed, for the most part, of highly innovative people who make things happen for the benefit of others. For example, the American Bar Association is 20+ years behind in terms of providing the level of online-based learning opportunities that they should be offering. They very tightly control how legal education is delivered in the U.S.

Here are several areas that provide me with hope for our future


There are innovative individuals out there fighting for change.
And though some of these individuals don’t reside in the United States, their work still impacts many here in America. For examples, see:

There are innovative new companies, firms, and other types of organizations out there fighting for change. For examples:

There are innovative new tools and technologies out there such as:

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) 
    • AI and machine learning remain pivotal in legaltech, especially for in-house lawyers who deal with vast quantities of contracts and complex legal matters. In 2024, these technologies will be integral for legal research, contract review, and the drafting of legal documents. Statistics from the Tech & the Law 2023 Report state more than three in five corporate legal departments (61%) have adopted generative AI in some capacity, with 7% actively using generative AI in their day-to-day work. With constant improvements to LLM (Large Language Models) by the big players, i.e. OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft (via OpenAI), 2024 will see more opportunities open and efficiencies gained for legal teams. (Source)
    • From drafting contracts to answering legal questions and summarising legal issues, AI is revolutionising the legal profession and although viewed with a sceptical eye by some law firms, is generally perceived to be capable of bringing huge benefits. (Source)
    • Legal bots like Harvey will assist lawyers with discovery.
  • Technology-assisted review (TAR) in e-discovery
  • Due to COVID 19, there were virtual courtrooms set up and just like with virtual/online-based learning within higher education, many judges, litigants, lawyers, and staff appreciated the time savings and productivity gains. Along these lines, see Richard Susskind’s work. [Richard] predicts a world of online courts, AI-based global legal businesses, disruptive legal technologies, liberalized markets, commoditization, alternative sourcing, simulated practice on the metaverse, and many new legal jobs. (Source)

There are innovative states out there fighting for change. For examples:

  • Utah in 2020 launched a pilot program that suspended ethics rules to allow for non-lawyer ownership of legal services providers and let non-lawyers apply for a waiver to offer certain legal services. (Source)
  • Arizona in 2021 changed its regulatory rules to allow for non-lawyer ownership. (Source)
  • Alaska with their Alaska Legal Services Corporation
  • …and others

And the last one — but certainly not the least one — is where my faith comes into play. I believe that the Triune God exists — The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit — and that the LORD is very active in our lives and throughout the globe. And one of the things the LORD values highly is JUSTICE. For examples:

  • Many seek an audience with a ruler, but it is from the Lord that one gets justice. Proverbs 29:26 NIV
  • These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; Zechariah 8:16 NIV
  • …and many others as can be seen below

The LORD values JUSTICE greatly!


So I believe that the LORD will actively help us provide greater access to justice in America.


Well…there you have it David. Thanks for your question/comment! I appreciate it!

 

Michigan launches lifelong learning department with acting director — from mlive.com by Simon Schuster

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

The Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential, deemed MiLEAP, took its first steps Friday [12/1/23] as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer launched the department with an acting director in place to lead it.

The department will handle everything from child care licensing, formerly in the department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, to scholarship administration, which was previously handled by the Department of Treasury.

More than 300 state government employees from four different departments are being consolidated into MiLEAP. The department will have three offices: early childhood education, higher education and education partnerships.


Also re: Michigan, see:

Growing Michigan Together Council | Recommendation Report
November 28 Discussion Draft

Excerpt:

Growing Michigan Together Council Recommendation

Develop a lifelong education system for Michigan kids that prepares them to be successful in a 21st century economy.

01 Redesign the Michigan P–12 education system so that all students have a broad set of future ready skills and competencies to thrive in work and life, and guarantee up to a 13th year to ensure all students achieve this standard
02 Provide all students opportunities to gain up to two years of publicly funded college credits or postsecondary training once they are prepared to succeed
03 Align secondary, postsecondary, higher education, and skills training to create a seamless system of continuous learning so that all Michiganders can be prepared for and adapt to a changing workplace

 

7 legaltech trends to watch in 2024 — from lexology.com by Sacha Kirk

Legal technology, or ‘legaltech’, is transforming the legal sector by automating processes and enhancing the provision of legal services. As we approach 2024, several trends within this field are particularly worth keeping an eye on. These not only promise to streamline legal operations but will also help increase the in-house legal department’s visibility and value to the organisation.

Here are seven legaltech trends poised to make an impact in the coming year.

1. Artificial intelligence and machine learning
AI and machine learning remain pivotal in legaltech, especially for in-house lawyers who deal with vast quantities of contracts and complex legal matters. In 2024, these technologies will be integral for legal research, contract review, and the drafting of legal documents. Statistics from the Tech & the Law 2023 Report state more than three in five corporate legal departments (61%) have adopted generative AI in some capacity, with 7% actively using generative AI in their day-to-day work. With constant improvements to LLM (Large Language Models) by the big players, i.e. OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft (via OpenAI), 2024 will see more opportunities open and efficiencies gained for legal teams.


Our top 5 legal technology trends predicted for 2024 — from legalfutures.co.uk

5. ID verification software
With identity fraud on the increase there is a growing demand from the Government for people to be identified with accuracy and they are proposing to pass legislation in February 2024 that will tighten the requirements for the professional organisations involved.  They will promote the use of technology to reduce the risk of fraudulent transactions including mortgage fraud where according to Experian’s Report “the greatest jump in fraud cases has been seen …. with fraud increasing from around 41 cases to around 52 cases per 10,000 applications.”


Guest Post: The Year in Justice Tech: 2023 Report and News Roundup — from lawnext.com by Maya Markovich, executive director of the Justice Technology Association

In 2023, the justice tech ecosystem continued to grow rapidly, with a significant increase in solutions addressing access to justice-related challenges for consumers. Justice tech caught the interest of both impact investors, as well as those seeking opportunities to fund the disruption of antiquated systems via technology.


Consulting Giants See AI Shaving Years Off the Path to Partner — from bloomberg.com by Irina Anghel

  • To make it to partner level typically takes at least a decade
  • AI seen freeing up junior staffers to do more meaningful work

Consulting giants and law firms are looking to artificial intelligence to speed up the time it takes junior staffers to make it to the prestigious partner level as the technology eliminates vast swaths of the repetitive, time-consuming tasks that typically filled up their first few years on the job.


Stock Up 10% in December; Unveils Groundbreaking Initiatives — from in.investing.com by Aayush Khanna (India)

Excerpt from DSC — and I’m not out to give legal or investing advice. I just really appreciated the list of legaltech-related innovations:

In the LegalTech realm, QiLegal emerges as a robust cloud-based platform, aiming to digitize the legal framework. Envisaged to propel the justice system with Virtual Courts, Online Dispute Resolution, and AI-enabled Drafting, QiLegal responds to the estimated USD 100 billion global LegalTech market.


The essential role of creator and customer collaboration in legal tech — from legaldive.com by Relativity (sponsored content; emphasis below from DSC)

However, with these high stakes and wide margins for error in hand, the accuracy, defensibility, and reliability of that AI is subject to intense professional and judicial scrutiny. And for good reason: anything less than the thoughtful, intentional development of specifically fit-for-purpose AI applications in this realm can contribute to the loss of millions of dollars, the livelihoods of countless individuals, and deeply damaging miscarriages of justice.


Generative AI and the small law firm: The value of legal domain expertise — from thomsonreuters.com by Mark Haddad
In our new blog series, we continue to discuss how small law firms can leverage their natural advantages with generative artificial intelligence to compete at a higher level

Gen AI presents unprecedented opportunities for small law firms to compete.

The idea that legal Gen AI means turning over legal decision-making to a machine overlooks the importance of the data portion of the Venn diagram above. A properly trained and targeted Gen AI application for legal use will build on the work of lawyers in the form of cases, statutes, briefs and memoranda, how-to guides, contracts, client advisories, templates — all the esoteric and robust data that results from lawyers’ expertise and knowledge.

All law firms, even smaller ones, have an opportunity to leverage their own data assets against competitors at scale once their lawyers identify and curate the appropriate critical data sets from within their firm and embed them within the AI solution. This proprietary data can be combined with larger pools of data from authoritative external sources like trusted legal content sources to further strengthen the responses that the Gen AI tool provides.


AAA® Launches New AAAi Lab Offering Products, Education, Guidance & News Resources — from prnewswire.com by American Arbitration Assocation
Latest Technology Innovation Seeks to Support AAA Users, Arbitrators & Broader Legal Community with Incorporating Generative AI into ADR Processes

NEW YORKDec. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The American Arbitration Association® (AAA) and its international division, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution® (ICDR®), announces the launch of the AAAi Lab, a web center supporting AAA users, arbitrators, in-house counsel and law firms with policy guidance, educational webinars and tools for embracing generative AI in alternative dispute resolution.


ANALYSIS: Most M&A Attorneys Would Use AI for Due Diligence — from news.bloomberglaw.com by Abena Opong-Fosu

Artificial intelligence (AI) has infiltrated almost every facet of daily life. For M&A lawyers, exposure to AI and machine learning tools likely comes from deals involving the buying and selling of AI companies as well as through the software the lawyers use on a daily basis.

Most deal lawyers who responded to a recent Bloomberg Law survey said that they’re open to using AI at some point in dealmaking.

 

Psalm 136:1 New International Version

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.

John 1:1-5 New International Version
The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

1 Chronicles 16:8 New International Version

8 Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.

Daniel 4:37 New International Version

37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

 

Southern New Hampshire University President Paul LeBlanc to Step Down after Transformative 20 Years of Leadership — from snhu.edu by Siobhan Lopez
LeBlanc will step down from his role as president in summer of 2024

Under LeBlanc’s direction, SNHU has transformed from a small regional university to an internationally known leader in higher education, having grown from 2,500 students to more than 225,000 learners, making SNHU the largest nonprofit provider of higher education in the country. With his vision to make higher education more accessible, more than 200,000 students have earned their degrees during LeBlanc’s tenure at SNHU. The university also ranks among the most innovative universities in the country and as a top employer nationwide.


One more item re: higher education for tonight:

The Review: Course evaluations are garbage science. — from chronicle.com by Len Gutkin

When the concept of student evaluations was first developed in the 1920s, by the psychologists Herman H. Remmers, at Purdue University, and Edwin R. Guthrie, at the University of Washington, administrators were never meant to have access to them. Remmers and Guthrie saw evaluations as modest tools for pedagogical improvement, not criteria of administrative judgment. In the 1950s, Guthrie warned about the misuse of evaluations. But no one listened. Instead, as Stroebe writes, they “soon became valued sources of information for university administrators, who used them as a basis for decisions about merit increases and promotion.” Is it too late to return to Remmers and Guthrie’s original conception?

 

Introducing Gemini: our largest and most capable AI model — from blog.google by Sundar Pichai and Demis Hassabis
Making AI more helpful for everyone

Today, we’re a step closer to this vision as we introduce Gemini, the most capable and general model we’ve ever built.

Gemini is the result of large-scale collaborative efforts by teams across Google, including our colleagues at Google Research. It was built from the ground up to be multimodal, which means it can generalize and seamlessly understand, operate across and combine different types of information including text, code, audio, image and video.



One year in: from ChatGPT3.5 to a whole new world — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard
Happy Birthday to ChatGPT 3.5+. You’re growing up so fast!

So, in many ways, ChatGPT and its friends are far from as intelligent as a human; they do not have “general” intelligence (AGI).

But this will not last for long. The debate about ProjectQ aside, AIs with the ability to engage in high-level reasoning, plan, and have long-term memory are expected in the next 2–3 years. We are already seeing AI agents that are developing the ability to act autonomously and collaborate to a degree. Once AIs can reason and plan, acting autonomously and collaborating will not be a challenge.


ChatGPT is winning the future — but what future is that? — from theverge.com by David Pierce
OpenAI didn’t mean to kickstart a generational shift in the technology industry. But it did. Now all we have to decide is where to go from here.

We don’t know yet if AI will ultimately change the world the way the internet, social media, and the smartphone did. Those things weren’t just technological leaps — they actually reorganized our lives in fundamental and irreversible ways. If the final form of AI is “my computer writes some of my emails for me,” AI won’t make that list. But there are a lot of smart people and trillions of dollars betting that’s the beginning of the AI story, not the end. If they’re right, the day OpenAI launched its “research preview” of ChatGPT will be much more than a product launch for the ages. It’ll be the day the world changed, and we didn’t even see it coming.


AI is overhyped” — from theneurondaily.com by Pete Huang & Noah Edelman

If you’re feeling like AI is the future, but you’re not sure where to start, here’s our advice for 2024 based on our convos with business leaders:

  1. Start with problems – Map out where your business is spending time and money, then ask if AI can help. Don’t do AI to say you’re doing AI.
  2. Model the behavior – Teams do better in making use of new tools when their leadership buys in. Show them your support.
  3. Do what you can, wait for the rest – With AI evolving so fast, “do nothing for now” is totally valid. Start with what you can do today (accelerating individual employee output) and keep up-to-date on the rest.

Google says new AI model Gemini outperforms ChatGPT in most tests — from theguardian.com by Dan Milmo
Gemini is being released in form of upgrade to Google’s chatbot Bard, but not yet in UK or EU

Google has unveiled a new artificial intelligence model that it claims outperforms ChatGPT in most tests and displays “advanced reasoning” across multiple formats, including an ability to view and mark a student’s physics homework.

The model, called Gemini, is the first to be announced since last month’s global AI safety summit, at which tech firms agreed to collaborate with governments on testing advanced systems before and after their release. Google said it was in discussions with the UK’s newly formed AI Safety Institute over testing Gemini’s most powerful version, which will be released next year.

 

 

More Chief Online Learning Officers Step Up to Senior Leadership Roles 
In 2024, I think we will see more Chief Online Learning Officers (COLOs) take on more significant roles and projects at institutions.

In recent years, we have seen many COLOs accept provost positions. The typical provost career path that runs up through the faculty ranks does not adequately prepare leaders for the digital transformation occurring in postsecondary education.

As we’ve seen with the professionalization of the COLO role, in general, these same leaders proved to be incredibly valuable during the pandemic due to their unique skills: part academic, part entrepreneur, part technologist, COLOs are unique in higher education. They sit at the epicenter of teaching, learning, technology, and sustainability. As institutions are evolving, look for more online and professional continuing leaders to take on more senior roles on campuses.

Julie Uranis, Senior Vice President, Online and Strategic Initiatives, UPCEA

 

Animate Anyone — from theneurondaily.com by Noah Edelman & Pete Huang

Animate Anyone is a new project from Alibaba that can animate any image to move however you’d like.

While the technology is bonkers (duh), the demo video has stirred up mixed reactions.

I mean…just check out the (justified) fury on Twitter in response to this research.

To the researchers’ credit, they haven’t released a working demo yet, probably for this exact concern.


 

Completing College: National and State Reports — from nscresearchcenter.org
With Six- and Eight-Year Completion Rates Dashboards

Highlights

  • Progress in the national college completion rate has stalled. The six-year completion rate for the fall 2017 cohort was 62.2 percent, essentially unchanged since 2015.
  • Six-year completion rates increased in over half of states, with nine states increasing 1 percentage point (pp) or more. This is up from the previous year when only five states had gains of at least 1 pp.
  • Completions rates stalled or declined across all ethnicities, with Native American (-2.0 pp) and Black students (-0.4 pp) posting the largest decreases.
  • The gender gap in completion rates continues to grow and is the widest seen since 2008 (7.2 pp)
  • Traditional-aged students entering college in fall 2017 saw declines in their overall six-year completion rate. Older students continue to make gains, but they still lag behind traditional aged students.
  • The national eight-year completion rate for the fall 2015 cohort declined 0.5pp from 2014. Only 2.4 percent of the cohort completed in the seventh and eighth years.
 

Educational practices to identify and support students experiencing homelessness — from edresearchforaction.org by Alexandra Pavlakis, J. Kessa Roberts, Meredith Richards, Kathryn Hill, and Zitsi Mirakhur

The EdResearch for Action Overview Series summarizes the research on key topics to provide K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students. Authors – leading experts from across the field of education research – are charged with highlighting key findings from research that provide concrete, strategic insight on persistent challenges sourced from district and state leaders.

Central Question
What evidence-based practices can schools and districts implement to identify and support students experiencing homelessness?

 

From DSC:
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to gift someone an article or access to a particular learning module? This would be the case whether you are a subscriber to that vendor/service or not. I thought about this after seeing the following email from MLive.com.
.

MLive.com's gift an article promotion from December 2023; one must be a subscriber though to gift an article

.

Not only is this a brilliant marketing move — as recipients can get an idea of the services/value offered — but it can provide concrete information to someone.

Perhaps colleges and universities should take this idea and run with it. They could gift courses and/or individual lectures! Doing so could open up some new revenue streams, aid adult learners in their lifelong learning pathways, and help people build new skills — all while helping market the colleges and universities. Involved faculty/staff members could get a percentage of the sales. Sounds like a WIN-WIN to me.

 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian