adjunct faculty

Average Student Loan Debt — from educationdata.org by Melanie Hanson; last updated August 16, 2024

Report Highlights.

The total average student loan debt (including private loan debt) may be as high as $40,681.
The average federal student loan debt is $37,853 per borrower.
Outstanding private student loan debt totals $128.8 billion.
The average student borrows over $30,000 to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
A total of 42.8 million borrowers have federal student loan debt.
It may take borrowers close to 20 years to pay off their student loans.

From DSC:
In other words, we are approaching the end of the line in terms of following the status quo within higher education. Institutions of traditional higher education can no longer increase their cost of tuition by significantly more than the rate of inflation. Increasingly, K-12 students (and families) are looking for other pathways and alternatives. Higher ed better stop trying to change around the edges…they need new, more cost-effective business models as well as being able to be much more responsive in terms of their curricula.

Helping Neurodiverse Students Learn Through New Classroom Design — from insidehighered.com by Michael Tyre
Michael Tyre offers some insights into how architects and administrators can work together to create better learning environments for everyone.

We emerged with two guiding principles. First, we had learned that certain environments—in particular, those that cause sensory distraction—can more significantly impact neurodivergent users. Therefore, our design should diminish distractions by mitigating, when possible, noise, visual contrast, reflective surfaces and crowds. Second, we understood that we needed a design that gave neurodivergent users the agency of choice.

The importance of those two factors—a dearth of distraction and an abundance of choice—was bolstered in early workshops with the classroom committee and other stakeholders, which occurred at the same time we were conducting our research. Some things didn’t come up in our research but were made quite clear in our conversations with faculty members, students from the neurodivergent community and other stakeholders. That feedback greatly influenced the design of the Young Classroom.

We ended up blending the two concepts. The main academic space utilizes traditional tables and chairs, albeit in a variety of heights and sizes, while the peripheral classroom spaces use an array of less traditional seating and table configurations, similar to the radical approach.

On a somewhat related note, also see:

Unpacking Fingerprint Culture — from marymyatt.substack.com by Mary Myatt

This post summarises a fascinating webinar I had with Rachel Higginson discussing the elements of building belonging in our settings.

We know that belonging is important and one of the ways to make this explicit in our settings is to consider what it takes to cultivate an inclusive environment where each individual feels valued and understood.

Rachel has spent several years working with young people, particularly those on the periphery of education to help them back into mainstream education and participating in class, along with their peers.

Rachel’s work helping young people to integrate back into education resulted in schools requesting support and resources to embed inclusion within their settings. As a result, Finding My Voice has evolved into a broader curriculum development framework.

“Google’s NotebookLM: A Game-Changer for Education and Beyond” [Spencer & Potkalitsky] + other items re: AI in our LE’s

On 09/25/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, assessment, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, faculty, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, multimedia, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, workplace, by Daniel Christian

FlexOS’ Stay Ahead Edition #43 — from flexos.work

People started discussing what they could do with Notebook LM after Google launched the audio overview, where you can listen to 2 hosts talking in-depth about the documents you upload. Here are what it can do:

Summarization: Automatically generate summaries of uploaded documents, highlighting key topics and suggesting relevant questions.
Question Answering: Users can ask NotebookLM questions about their uploaded documents, and answers will be provided based on the information contained within them.
Idea Generation: NotebookLM can assist with brainstorming and developing new ideas.
Source Grounding: A big plus against AI chatbot hallucination, NotebookLM allows users to ground the responses in specific documents they choose.
…plus several other items

The posting also lists several ideas to try with NotebookLM such as:

Idea 2: Study Companion

Upload all your course materials and ask NotebookLM to turn them into Question-and-Answer format, a glossary, or a study guide.
Get a breakdown of the course materials to understand them better.

Google’s NotebookLM: A Game-Changer for Education and Beyond — from ai-supremacy.com by Michael Spencer and Nick Potkalitsky
AI Tools: Breaking down Google’s latest AI tool and its implications for education.

“Google’s AI note-taking app NotebookLM can now explain complex topics to you out loud”

With more immersive text-to-video and audio products soon available and the rise of apps like Suno AI, how we “experience” Generative AI is also changing from a chatbot of 2 years ago, to a more multi-modal educational journey. The AI tools on the research and curation side are also starting to reflect these advancements.

Meet Google NotebookLM: 10 things to know for educators — from ditchthattextbook.com by Matt Miller

1. Upload a variety of sources for NotebookLM to use.
You can use …

websites
PDF files
links to websites
any text you’ve copied
Google Docs and Slides
even Markdown

You can’t link it to YouTube videos, but you can copy/paste the transcript (and maybe type a little context about the YouTube video before pasting the transcript).

2. Ask it to create resources.
3. Create an audio summary.
4. Chat with your sources.
5. Save (almost) everything.

NotebookLM summarizes my dissertation — from darcynorman.net by D’Arcy Norman, PhD

I finally tried out Google’s newly-announced NotebookLM generative AI application. It provides a set of LLM-powered tools to summarize documents. I fed it my dissertation, and am surprised at how useful the output would be.

The most impressive tool creates a podcast episode, complete with dual hosts in conversation about the document. First – these are AI-generated hosts. Synthetic voices, speaking for synthetic hosts. And holy moly is it effective. Second – although I’d initially thought the conversational summary would be a dumb gimmick, it is surprisingly powerful.

4 Tips for Designing AI-Resistant Assessments — from techlearning.com by Steve Baule and Erin Carter
As AI continues to evolve, instructors must modify their approach by designing meaningful, rigorous assessments.

As instructors work through revising assessments to be resistant to generation by AI tools with little student input, they should consider the following principles:

Incorporate personal experiences and local content into assignments
Ask students for multi-modal deliverables
Assess the developmental benchmarks for assignments and transition assignments further up Bloom’s Taxonomy
Consider real-time and oral assignments

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announces $120M fund for global AI education — from techcrunch.com by Anthony Ha

He added that he wants to avoid a global “AI divide” and that Google is creating a $120 million Global AI Opportunity Fund through which it will “make AI education and training available in communities around the world” in partnership with local nonprofits and NGOs.

Educators discuss the state of creativity in an AI world — from gettingsmart.com by Joe & Kristin Merrill, LaKeshia Brooks, Dominique’ Harbour, Erika Sandstrom

Key Points

AI allows for a more personalized learning experience, enabling students to explore creative ideas without traditional classroom limitations.
The focus of technology integration should be on how the tool is used within lessons, not just the tool itself

Addendum on 9/27/24:

Google’s NotebookLM enhances AI note-taking with YouTube, audio file sources, sharable audio discussions — from techcrunch.com by Jagmeet Singh

Google on Thursday announced new updates to its AI note-taking and research assistant, NotebookLM, allowing users to get summaries of YouTube videos and audio files and even create sharable AI-generated audio discussions…

NotebookLM adds audio and YouTube support, plus easier sharing of Audio Overviews — from blog.google

“10 Ways I Use LLMs like ChatGPT as a Professor” [Clay] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 09/23/2024, in adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, culture, dangers of the status quo, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, pace of change, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, United States, universities, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

10 Ways I Use LLMs like ChatGPT as a Professor — from automatedteach.com by Graham Clay
ChatGPT-4o, Gemini 1.5 Pro, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, custom GPTs – you name it, I use it. Here’s how…

Excerpt:

To plan lessons (especially activities)
To create course content (especially quizzes)
To tutor my students
To grade faster and give better feedback
To draft grant applications
Plus 5 other items

From Caution to Calcification to Creativity: Reanimating Education with AI’s Frankenstein Potential — from nickpotkalitsky.substack.com by Nick Potkalitsky
A Critical Analysis of AI-Assisted Lesson Planning: Evaluating Efficacy and Pedagogical Implications

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

As we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence in education, a troubling trend has emerged. What began as cautious skepticism has calcified into rigid opposition. The discourse surrounding AI in classrooms has shifted from empirical critique to categorical rejection, creating a chasm between the potential of AI and its practical implementation in education.

This hardening of attitudes comes at a significant cost. While educators and policymakers debate, students find themselves caught in the crossfire. They lack safe, guided access to AI tools that are increasingly ubiquitous in the world beyond school walls. In the absence of formal instruction, many are teaching themselves to use these tools, often in less than productive ways. Others live in a state of constant anxiety, fearing accusations of AI reliance in their work. These are just a few symptoms of an overarching educational culture that has become resistant to change, even as the world around it transforms at an unprecedented pace.

Yet, as this calcification sets in, I find myself in a curious position: the more I thoughtfully integrate AI into my teaching practice, the more I witness its potential to enhance and transform education

NotebookLM and Google’s Multimodal Vision for AI-Powered Learning Tools — from marcwatkins.substack.com by Marc Watkins

A Variety of Use Cases

Create an Interactive Syllabus
Presentation Deep Dive: Upload Your Slides
Note Taking: Turn Your Chalkboard into a Digital Canvas
Explore a Reading or Series of Readings
Help Navigating Feedback
Portfolio Building Blocks

Must-Have Competencies and Skills in Our New AI World: A Synthesis for Educational Reform — from er.educause.edu by Fawzi BenMessaoud
The transformative impact of artificial intelligence on educational systems calls for a comprehensive reform to prepare future generations for an AI-integrated world.

The urgency to integrate AI competencies into education is about preparing students not just to adapt to inevitable changes but to lead the charge in shaping an AI-augmented world. It’s about equipping them to ask the right questions, innovate responsibly, and navigate the ethical quandaries that come with such power.

AI in education should augment and complement their aptitude and expertise, to personalize and optimize the learning experience, and to support lifelong learning and development. AI in education should be a national priority and a collaborative effort among all stakeholders, to ensure that AI is designed and deployed in an ethical, equitable, and inclusive way that respects the diversity and dignity of all learners and educators and that promotes the common good and social justice. AI in education should be about the production of AI, not just the consumption of AI, meaning that learners and educators should have the opportunity to learn about AI, to participate in its creation and evaluation, and to shape its impact and direction.

“Which AI tools do Instructional Designers use the most?” [Hardman] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 09/12/2024, in 21st century, accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, biology, colleges, community colleges, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, face-to-face, faculty, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, media/film, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), neurodivergent/special needs, Open AI, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, writing, by Daniel Christian

The Most Popular AI Tools for Instructional Design (September, 2024) — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
The tools we use most, and how we use them

This week, as I kick off the 20th cohort of my AI-Learning Design bootcamp, I decided to do some analysis of the work habits of the hundreds of amazing AI-embracing instructional designers who I’ve worked with over the last year or so.

My goal was to answer the question: which AI tools do we use most in the instructional design process, and how do we use them?

Here’s where we are in September, 2024:
…

Developing Your Approach to Generative AI — from scholarlyteacher.com by Caitlin K. Kirby, Min Zhuang, Imari Cheyne Tetu, & Stephen Thomas (Michigan State University)

As generative AI becomes integrated into workplaces, scholarly work, and students’ workflows, we have the opportunity to take a broad view of the role of generative AI in higher education classrooms. Our guiding questions are meant to serve as a starting point to consider, from each educator’s initial reaction and preferences around generative AI, how their discipline, course design, and assessments may be impacted, and to have a broad view of the ethics of generative AI use.

The Impact of AI in Advancing Accessibility for Learners with Disabilities — from er.educause.edu by Rob Gibson

AI technology tools hold remarkable promise for providing more accessible, equitable, and inclusive learning experiences for students with disabilities.

7+ items regarding AI in our learning ecosystems

On 08/26/2024, in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), business, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty, graphics, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, multimedia, music, neurodivergent/special needs, pace of change, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, student-related, teaching & learning, training / L&D, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

What Students Want: Key Results from DEC Global AI Student Survey 2024 — from digitaleducationcouncil.com by Digital Education Council

86% of students globally are regularly using AI in their studies, with 54% of them using AI on a weekly basis, the recent Digital Education Council Global AI Student Survey found.
ChatGPT was found to be the most widely used AI tool, with 66% of students using it, and over 2 in 3 students reported using AI for information searching.
Despite their high rates of AI usage, 1 in 2 students do not feel AI ready. 58% reported that they do not feel that they had sufficient AI knowledge and skills, and 48% do not feel adequately prepared for an AI-enabled workplace.

Chatting with WEF about ChatGPT in the classroom — from futureofbeinghuman.com by Andrew Maynard
A short video on generative AI in education from the World Economic Forum

The Post-AI Instructional Designer — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
How the ID role is changing, and what this means for your key skills, roles & responsibilities

Specifically, the study revealed that teachers who reported most productivity gains were those who used AI not just for creating outputs (like quizzes or worksheets) but also for seeking input on their ideas, decisions and strategies.

Those who engaged with AI as a thought partner throughout their workflow, using it to generate ideas, define problems, refine approaches, develop strategies and gain confidence in their decisions gained significantly more from their collaboration with AI than those who only delegated functional tasks to AI.

Leveraging Generative AI for Inclusive Excellence in Higher Education — from er.educause.edu by Lorna Gonzalez, Kristi O’Neil-Gonzalez, Megan Eberhardt-Alstot, Michael McGarry and Georgia Van Tyne
Drawing from three lenses of inclusion, this article considers how to leverage generative AI as part of a constellation of mission-centered inclusive practices in higher education.

The hype and hesitation about generative artificial intelligence (AI) diffusion have led some colleges and universities to take a wait-and-see approach.Footnote1 However, AI integration does not need to be an either/or proposition where its use is either embraced or restricted or its adoption aimed at replacing or outright rejecting existing institutional functions and practices. Educators, educational leaders, and others considering academic applications for emerging technologies should consider ways in which generative AI can complement or augment mission-focused practices, such as those aimed at accessibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Drawing from three lenses of inclusion—accessibility, identity, and epistemology—this article offers practical suggestions and considerations that educators can deploy now. It also presents an imperative for higher education leaders to partner toward an infrastructure that enables inclusive practices in light of AI diffusion.

An example way to leverage AI:

How to Leverage AI for Identity Inclusion
Educators can use the following strategies to intentionally design instructional content with identity inclusion in mind.

Provide a GPT or AI assistant with upcoming lesson content (e.g., lecture materials or assignment instructions) and ask it to provide feedback (e.g., troublesome vocabulary, difficult concepts, or complementary activities) from certain perspectives. Begin with a single perspective (e.g., first-time, first-year student), but layer in more to build complexity as you interact with the GPT output.

Gen AI’s next inflection point: From employee experimentation to organizational transformation — from mckinsey.com by Charlotte Relyea, Dana Maor, and Sandra Durth with Jan Bouly
As many employees adopt generative AI at work, companies struggle to follow suit. To capture value from current momentum, businesses must transform their processes, structures, and approach to talent.

To harness employees’ enthusiasm and stay ahead, companies need a holistic approach to transforming how the whole organization works with gen AI; the technology alone won’t create value.

Our research shows that early adopters prioritize talent and the human side of gen AI more than other companies (Exhibit 3). Our survey shows that nearly two-thirds of them have a clear view of their talent gaps and a strategy to close them, compared with just 25 percent of the experimenters. Early adopters focus heavily on upskilling and reskilling as a critical part of their talent strategies, as hiring alone isn’t enough to close gaps and outsourcing can hinder strategic-skills development. Finally, 40 percent of early-adopter respondents say their organizations provide extensive support to encourage employee adoption, versus 9 percent of experimenter respondents.

7 Ways to Use AI Music in Your Classroom — from classtechtips.com by Monica Burns

Change blindness — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick
21 months later

I don’t think anyone is completely certain about where AI is going, but we do know that things have changed very quickly, as the examples in this post have hopefully demonstrated. If this rate of change continues, the world will look very different in another 21 months. The only way to know is to live through it.

My AI Breakthrough — from mgblog.org by Miguel Guhlin

Over the subsequent weeks, I’ve made other adjustments, but that first one was the one I asked myself:

What are you doing?
Why are you doing it that way?
How could you change that workflow with AI?
Applying the AI to the workflow, then asking, “Is this what I was aiming for? How can I improve the prompt to get closer?”
Documenting what worked (or didn’t). Re-doing the work with AI to see what happened, and asking again, “Did this work?”

So, something that took me WEEKS of hard work, and in some cases I found impossible, was made easy. Like, instead of weeks, it takes 10 minutes. The hard part? Building the prompt to do what I want, fine-tuning it to get the result. But that doesn’t take as long now.

A New Problem With Four-Year Degrees: The Surge in College Closures — from wsj.com by Milla Surjadi; article behind a paywall
Universities have buckled under the strain of tuition losses as the number of college-bound students continues to decline

Over 500 private, nonprofit four-year institutions have closed in the last 10 years, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. That is three times what it was in the decade prior. Rachel Burns, a senior policy analyst at SHEEO, estimates at least 1.25 million students were affected by these closures. (Many more for-profit institutions have closed in this period as well.)

68% of seniors say college has significantly boosted their ability to land well-paying jobs, poll finds — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz
Although the survey suggests students believe higher education has improved their career prospects, they’re still worried about job market competition.

Dive Brief:

Around two-thirds of incoming college seniors said college has significantly contributed to their ability to land a well–paying job, according to a new survey from job platform Handshake.
A slightly higher share, 72%, said higher education has appreciably improved their ability to secure a meaningful job. And 85% of surveyed seniors said college significantly helped them understand their own career goals.
College seniors also indicated that higher education has helped them beyond their career development. According to the survey, 88% said college significantly contributed to their personal growth.

Exploring the Landscape of College Instruction — from sr.ithaka.org by Sage Love and Melissa Blankstein
Highlights from the 2024 US Instructor Survey

We are excited to announce the publication of the 2024 US Instructor Survey. This survey, adapted from our longstanding US Faculty Survey, provides a detailed snapshot of over 5,200 faculty members from different disciplines, institution types, ages, and titles across the US at four-year institutions. This new report offers a comprehensive overview of how college instructors across the country are navigating and shaping the current educational landscape.

Overall, we heard that instructors are increasingly adopting innovative, technology-driven teaching methods, while recognizing the critical role libraries play in supporting student success. The growing use of open educational resources (OERs) reflects a commitment to affordable education, though fewer instructors create their own. Additionally, strong institutional support remains essential for effective teaching, particularly IT and with pedagogical practices. Below we share several key findings:

Will 25 Percent Of Colleges Consolidate? An Update On A Prediction — from forbes.com by Michael Horn

But starting with the 2013-14 academic year, a whopping 726 degree-granting institutions closed through the 2022-23 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That means in just nine years, 15 percent of the-then 4,724 degree-granting colleges or universities closed.
…
Ultimately, after all, the prediction is a result of business model failure, in which rising expenses outpace revenue, as the students cease to enroll or have the capacity to pay enough.

But non-profit institutions are in their own world of hurt as well. According to Higher Ed Dive, 18 have announced their closure this year so far. But 141 closed between 2013-14 and 2022-23—or roughly 8.4 percent.

Survey: Over Half of Rising Seniors Feel Pessimistic About Starting Their Careers — from insidehighered.com by Ahsley Mowreader
New data from Handshake finds 57 percent of the Class of 2025 have low expectations for their future after graduation, largely tied to a competitive job market, student loan debt and current political climate.

Entering senior year can be a stressful time for college students as they prepare for their next step after graduation. Inside Higher Ed’s 2024 Student Voice survey found 68 percent of fourth-year students (n=703) are at least somewhat stressed when they think about their life postgraduation, with 25 percent feeling “extremely stressed.”

This year’s graduating class is feeling less hopeful than their peers before them, with almost three in five students sharing that they feel pessimistic about their immediate future, according to new data from Handshake.

The results highlight a challenging job market for new graduates, the role of affordability in higher education and how institutions are supporting students as they launch into careers.

“Let’s Make a Movie Teaser With AI” [Nest] & 9+ other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 08/20/2024, in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, art, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, assistive technologies, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), career development, change, communications, creativity, digital audio, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, higher education, ideas, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, law schools, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, legislatures / government / legal, media/film, multimedia, neurodivergent/special needs, NVIDIA, parents/guardians, participation, personalized/customized learning, productivity / tips and tricks, teaching & learning, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

One thing often happens at keynotes and conferences. It surprised me…. — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

AI is welcomed by those with dyslexia, and other learning issues, helping to mitigate some of the challenges associated with reading, writing, and processing information. Those who want to ban AI want to destroy the very thing that has helped most on accessibility. Here are 10 ways dyslexics, and others with issues around text-based learning, can use AI to support their daily activities and learning.

- Text-to-Speech & Speech-to-Text Tools…
- Grammar and Spelling Assistants…
- Comprehension Tools…
- Visual and Multisensory Tools…
- …and more

Let’s Make a Movie Teaser With AI — from whytryai.com by Daniel Nest
How to use free generative AI tools to make a teaser trailer.

Here are the steps and the free tools we can use for each.

Brainstorm ideas & flesh out the concept.
1. Claude 3.5 Sonnet
2. Google Gemini 1.5 Pro
3. …or any other free LLM
Create starting frames for each scene.
1. FLUX.1 Pro
2. Ideogram
3. …or any other free text-to-image model
Bring the images to life.
1. Kling AI
2. Luma Dream Machine
3. Runway Gen-2
Generate the soundtrack.
1. Udio
2. Suno
Add sound effects.
1. ElevenLabs Sound Effects
2. ElevenLabs VideoToSoundEffects
3. Meta Audiobox
Put everything together.
1. Microsoft Clipchamp
2. DaVinci Resolve
3. …or any other free video editing tool.

Here we go.

Is AI in Schools Promising or Overhyped? Potentially Both, New Reports Suggest — from the74million.org by Greg Toppo; via Claire Zau
One urges educators to prep for an artificial intelligence boom. The other warns that it could all go awry. Together, they offer a reality check.

Are U.S. public schools lagging behind other countries like Singapore and South Korea in preparing teachers and students for the boom of generative artificial intelligence? Or are our educators bumbling into AI half-blind, putting students’ learning at risk?

Or is it, perhaps, both?

Two new reports, coincidentally released on the same day last week, offer markedly different visions of the emerging field: One argues that schools need forward-thinking policies for equitable distribution of AI across urban, suburban and rural communities. The other suggests they need something more basic: a bracing primer on what AI is and isn’t, what it’s good for and how it can all go horribly wrong.

Bite-Size AI Content for Faculty and Staff — from aiedusimplified.substack.com by Lance Eaton
Another two 5-tips videos for faculty and my latest use case: creating FAQs!

I had an opportunity recently to do more of my 15-minute lightning talks. You can see my lightning talks from late winter in this post, or can see all of them on my YouTube channel. These two talks were focused on faculty in particular.

Also from Lance, see:

AI in Education: Leading a Paradigm Shift — from gettingsmart.com by Dr. Tyler Thigpen

Despite possible drawbacks, an exciting wondering has been—What if AI was a tipping point helping us finally move away from a standardized, grade-locked, ranking-forced, batched-processing learning model based on the make believe idea of “the average man” to a learning model that meets every child where they are at and helps them grow from there?

I get that change is indescribably hard and there are risks. But the integration of AI in education isn’t a trend. It’s a paradigm shift that requires careful consideration, ongoing reflection, and a commitment to one’s core values. AI presents us with an opportunity—possibly an unprecedented one—to transform teaching and learning, making it more personalized, efficient, and impactful. How might we seize the opportunity boldly?

California and NVIDIA Partner to Bring AI to Schools, Workplaces — from govtech.com by Abby Sourwine
The latest step in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plans to integrate AI into public operations across California is a partnership with NVIDIA intended to tailor college courses and professional development to industry needs.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and tech company NVIDIA joined forces last week to bring generative AI (GenAI) to community colleges and public agencies across the state. The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO), NVIDIA and the governor all signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlining how each partner can contribute to education and workforce development, with the goal of driving innovation across industries and boosting their economic growth.

Listen to anything on the go with the highest-quality voices — from elevenlabs.io; via The Neuron
The ElevenLabs Reader App narrates articles, PDFs, ePubs, newsletters, or any other text content. Simply choose a voice from our expansive library, upload your content, and listen on the go.

Per The Neuron

Some cool use cases:

Judy Garland can teach you biology while walking to class.
James Dean can narrate your steamy romance novel.
Sir Laurence Olivier can read you today’s newsletter—just paste the web link and enjoy!

Why it’s important: ElevenLabs shared how major Youtubers are using its dubbing services to expand their content into new regions with voices that actually sound like them (thanks to ElevenLabs’ ability to clone voices).
Oh, and BTW, it’s estimated that up to 20% of the population may have dyslexia. So providing people an option to listen to (instead of read) content, in their own language, wherever they go online can only help increase engagement and communication.

How Generative AI Improves Parent Engagement in K–12 Schools — from edtechmagazine.com by Alexadner Slagg
With its ability to automate and personalize communication, generative artificial intelligence is the ideal technological fix for strengthening parent involvement in students’ education.

As generative AI tools populate the education marketplace, the technology’s ability to automate complex, labor-intensive tasks and efficiently personalize communication may finally offer overwhelmed teachers a way to effectively improve parent engagement.
…
These personalized engagement activities for students and their families can include local events, certification classes and recommendations for books and videos. “Family Feed might suggest courses, such as an Adobe certification,” explains Jackson. “We have over 14,000 courses that we have vetted and can recommend. And we have books and video recommendations for students as well.”

Including personalized student information and an engagement opportunity makes it much easier for parents to directly participate in their children’s education.

Will AI Shrink Disparities in Schools, or Widen Them? — edsurge.com by Daniel Mollenkamp
Experts predict new tools could boost teaching efficiency — or create an “underclass of students” taught largely through screens.

Reflections on “The Burden of Misunderstanding” [Hill]

On 08/15/2024, in adjunct faculty, business side of he, colleges, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, faculty, higher education, legislatures / government / legal, online learning, policy, teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

The Burden of Misunderstanding — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Phil Hill
How ED’s outdated consumer-protection view of online education could lead to bureaucratic burden on every online course in US higher ed

Time to Comment
There are plenty of other points to be made on this proposed rule:

the lack of evidence supporting the treatment of online ed differently than f2f or hybrid;
the redefinition of regular and substantive interaction;
the impact of this simplification rule actually complicating matters for compliance; and
the risk of auto-withdrawal for 14-day inactivity periods, etc.

For now, I wanted to be more precise on what I believe is a misunderstood compliance burden of ED’s proposed rule, and ED’s inability to listen to feedback from colleges and universities and associations representing them. And that while the details of this proposed rule might seem arcane, it will have a major impact across higher ed.

It is very important to note that we are in the middle of the public comment period for these proposed rules, and that ED should hear directly from colleges and universities about the impact of the proposed rules. You can comment here through next Friday (August 23rd).

From DSC:
Phil brings up numerous excellent points in the above posting. If the Department of Education’s (ED’s) proposed rules on online attendance taking get finalized, the impacts could be huge — and negative/costly in several areas. Faculty members, directors and staff of teaching and learning centers, directors of online programs, provosts and other members of administrations, plus other relevant staff should comment– NOW — before the comment period ends next Friday (August 23rd).

Augmented Course Design: Using AI to Boost Efficiency and Expand Capacity [Fang & Broussard] + other items re: AI’s impact on ID

On 08/15/2024, in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, assistive technologies, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), business side of he, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, faculty, graphics, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, liberal arts, lifelong learning, multimedia, online learning, online media, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, strategy, teaching & learning, tools, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Augmented Course Design: Using AI to Boost Efficiency and Expand Capacity — from er.educause.edu by Berlin Fang and Kim Broussard
The emerging class of generative AI tools has the potential to significantly alter the landscape of course development.

Using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or CoPilot as intelligent assistants in instructional design can significantly enhance the scalability of course development. GenAI can significantly improve the efficiency with which institutions develop content that is closely aligned with the curriculum and course objectives. As a result, institutions can more effectively meet the rising demand for flexible and high-quality education, preparing a new generation of future professionals equipped with the knowledge and skills to excel in their chosen fields.¹ In this article, we illustrate the uses of AI in instructional design in terms of content creation, media development, and faculty support. We also provide some suggestions on the effective and ethical uses of AI in course design and development. Our perspectives are rooted in medical education, but the principles can be applied to any learning context.
…
Table 1 summarizes a few low-hanging fruits in AI usage in course development.
.

**Table 1. Types of Use of GenAI in Course Development**
Practical Use of AI	Use Scenarios and Examples
Inspiration	Exploring ideas for instructional strategies Exploring ideas for assessment Course mapping Lesson or unit content planning
Supplementation	Text to audio Transcription for audio Alt text auto-generation Design optimization (e.g., using Microsoft PPT Design)
Improvement	Improving learning objectives Improving instructional materials Improving course content writing (grammar, spelling, etc.)
Generation	Creating a PowerPoint draft using learning objectives Creating peripheral content materials (introductions, conclusions) Creating decorative images for content
Expansion	Creating a scenario based on learning objectives Creating a draft of a case study Creating a draft of a rubric

Also see:

10 Ways Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming Instructional Design — from er.educause.edu by Rob Gibson
Artificial intelligence (AI) is providing instructors and course designers with an incredible array of new tools and techniques to improve the course design and development process. However, the intersection of AI and content creation is not new.

I have been telling my graduate instructional design students that AI technology is not likely to replace them any time soon because learning and instruction are still highly personalized and humanistic experiences. However, as these students embark on their careers, they will need to understand how to appropriately identify, select, and utilize AI when developing course content. Examples abound of how instructional designers are experimenting with AI to generate and align student learning outcomes with highly individualized course activities and assessments. Instructional designers are also using AI technology to create and continuously adapt the custom code and power scripts embedded into the learning management system to execute specific learning activities.Footnote1 Other useful examples include scripting and editing videos and podcasts.

Here are a few interesting examples of how AI is shaping and influencing instructional design. Some of the tools and resources can be used to satisfy a variety of course design activities, while others are very specific.

Taking the Lead: Why Instructional Designers Should Be at the Forefront of Learning in the Age of AI — from medium.com by Rob Gibson
Education is at a critical juncture and needs to draw leaders from a broader pool, including instructional designers

The world of a medieval stone cutter and a modern instructional designer (ID) may seem separated by a great distance, but I wager any ID who upon hearing the story I just shared would experience an uneasy sense of déjà vu. Take away the outward details, and the ID would recognize many elements of the situation: the days spent in projects that fail to realize the full potential of their craft, the painful awareness that greater things can be built, but are unlikely to occur due to a poverty of imagination and lack of vision among those empowered to make decisions.

Finally, there is the issue of resources. No stone cutter could ever hope to undertake a large-scale enterprise without a multitude of skilled collaborators and abundant materials. Similarly, instructional designers are often departments of one, working in scarcity environments, with limited ability to acquire resources for ambitious projects and — just as importantly — lacking the authority or political capital needed to launch significant initiatives. For these reasons, instructional design has long been a profession caught in an uncomfortable stasis, unable to grow, evolve and achieve its full potential.

That is until generative AI appeared on the scene. While the discourse around AI in education has been almost entirely about its impact on teaching and assessment, there has been a dearth of critical analysis regarding AI’s potential for impacting instructional design.

We are at a critical juncture for AI-augmented learning. We can either stagnate, missing opportunities to support learners while educators continue to debate whether the use of generative AI tools is a good thing, or we can move forward, building a transformative model for learning akin to the industrial revolution’s impact.

Too many professional educators remain bound by traditional methods. The past two years suggest that leaders of this new learning paradigm will not emerge from conventional educational circles. This vacuum of leadership can be filled, in part, by instructional designers, who are prepared by training and experience to begin building in this new learning space.

14+ resources regarding AI in our learning ecosystems

On 08/13/2024, in adjunct faculty, adult learning, Australia, CMS/LMS, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty, Google, heutagogy, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning theories, lifelong learning, Microsoft, multimedia, Open AI, platforms, policy, productivity / tips and tricks, religion, strategy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

What Students Want When It Comes To AI — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Glenda Morgan
The Digital Education Council Global AI Student Survey 2024

The Digital Education Council (DEC) this week released the results of a global survey of student opinions on AI. It’s a large survey with nearly 4,000 respondents conducted across 16 countries, but more importantly, it asks some interesting questions. There are many surveys about AI out there right now, but this one stands out. I’m going to go into some depth here, as the entire survey report is worth reading.

AI is forcing a teaching and learning evolution — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Ascione
AI and technology tools are leading to innovative student learning–along with classroom, school, and district efficiency

Key findings from the 2024 K-12 Educator + AI Survey, which was conducted by Hanover Research, include:

Teachers are using AI to personalize and improve student learning, not just run classrooms more efficiently, but challenges remain
While post-pandemic challenges persist, the increased use of technology is viewed positively by most teachers and administrators
…and more

From DSC:
I wonder…how will the use of AI in education square with the issues of using smartphones/laptops within the classrooms? See:

Why Schools Are Racing to Ban Student Phones — from nytimes.com by Natasha Singer; via GSV
As the new school year starts, a wave of new laws that aim to curb distracted learning is taking effect in Indiana, Louisiana and other states.

A three-part series from Dr. Phillippa Hardman:

Part 1: Writing Learning Objectives
The Results Part 1: Writing Learning Objectives

In this week’s post I will dive into the results from task 1: writing learning objectives. Stay tuned over the next two weeks to see all of the the results.

Part 2: Selecting Instructional Strategies.
The Results Part 2: Selecting an Instructional Strategy

Welcome back to our three-part series exploring the impact of AI on instructional design.
…
This week, we’re tackling a second task and a crucial aspect of instructional design: selecting instructional strategies. The ability to select appropriate instructional strategies to achieve intended objectives is a mission-critical skill for any instructional designer. So, can AI help us do a good job of it? Let’s find out!

Part 3: How Close is AI to Replacing Instructional Designers?
The Results Part 3: Creating a Course Outline

Today, we’re diving into what many consider to be the role-defining task of the instructional designer: creating a course design outline.

ChatGPT Cheat Sheet for Instructional Designers! — from Alexandra Choy Youatt EdD

Instructional Designers!
Whether you’re new to the field or a seasoned expert, this comprehensive guide will help you leverage AI to create more engaging and effective learning experiences.

What’s Inside?
Roles and Tasks: Tailored prompts for various instructional design roles and tasks.
Formats: Different formats to present your work, from training plans to rubrics.
Learning Models: Guidance on using the ADDIE model and various pedagogical strategies.
Engagement Tips: Techniques for online engagement and collaboration.
Specific Tips: Industry certifications, work-based learning, safety protocols, and more.

Who Can Benefit?
Corporate Trainers
Curriculum Developers
E-Learning Specialists
Instructional Technologists
Learning Experience Designers
And many more!
…

ChatGPT Cheat Sheet | Instructional Designer

5 AI Tools I Use Every Day (as a Busy Student) — from theaigirl.substack.com by Diana Dovgopol
AI tools that I use every day to boost my productivity.
#1 Gamma
#2 Perplexity
#3 Cockatoo

I use this AI tool almost every day as well. Since I’m still a master’s student at university, I have to attend lectures and seminars, which are always in English or German, neither of which is my native language. With the help of Cockatoo, I create scripts of the lectures and/or translations into my language. This means I don’t have to take notes in class and then manually translate them afterward. All I need to do is record the lecture audio on any device or directly in Cockatoo, upload it, and then you’ll have the audio and text ready for you.

…and more

Students Worry Overemphasis on AI Could Devalue Education — from insidehighered.com by Juliette Rowsell
Report stresses that AI is “new standard” and universities need to better communicate policies to learners.

Rising use of AI in higher education could cause students to question the quality and value of education they receive, a report warns.

This year’s Digital Education Council Global AI Student Survey, of more than 3,800 students from 16 countries, found that more than half (55 percent) believed overuse of AI within teaching devalued education, and 52 percent said it negatively impacted their academic performance.

Despite this, significant numbers of students admitted to using such technology. Some 86 percent said they “regularly” used programs such as ChatGPT in their studies, 54 percent said they used it on a weekly basis, and 24 percent said they used it to write a first draft of a submission.

Higher Ed Leadership Is Excited About AI – But Investment Is Lacking — from forbes.com by Vinay Bhaskara

As corporate America races to integrate AI into its core operations, higher education finds itself in a precarious position. I conducted a survey of 63 university leaders revealing that while higher ed leaders recognize AI’s transformative potential, they’re struggling to turn that recognition into action.

This struggle is familiar for higher education — gifted with the mission of educating America’s youth but plagued with a myriad of operational and financial struggles, higher ed institutions often lag behind their corporate peers in technology adoption. In recent years, this gap has become threateningly large. In an era of declining enrollments and shifting demographics, closing this gap could be key to institutional survival and success.

The survey results paint a clear picture of inconsistency: 86% of higher ed leaders see AI as a “massive opportunity,” yet only 21% believe their institutions are prepared for it. This disconnect isn’t just a minor inconsistency – it’s a strategic vulnerability in an era of declining enrollments and shifting demographics.

(Generative) AI Isn’t Going Anywhere but Up — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard
“Hype” claims are nonsense.

There has been a lot of talk recently about an “AI Bubble.” Supposedly, the industry, or at least the generative AI subset of it, will collapse. This is known as the “Generative AI Bubble.” A bubble — a broad one or a generative one — is nonsense. These are the reasons we will continue to see massive growth in AI.

AI Readiness: Prepare Your Workforce to Embrace the Future — from learningguild.com by Danielle Wallace

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing industries, enhancing efficiency, and unlocking new opportunities. To thrive in this landscape, organizations need to be ready to embrace AI not just technologically but also culturally.

Learning leaders play a crucial role in preparing employees to adapt and excel in an AI-driven workplace. Transforming into an AI-empowered organization requires more than just technological adoption; it demands a shift in organizational mindset. This guide delves into how learning leaders can support this transition by fostering the right mindset attributes in employees.

Claude AI for eLearning Developers — from learningguild.com by Bill Brandon

Claude is fast, produces grammatically correct text, and outputs easy-to-read articles, emails, blog posts, summaries, and analyses. Take some time to try it out. If you worry about plagiarism and text scraping, put the results through Grammarly’s plagiarism checker (I did not use Claude for this article, but I did send the text through Grammarly).

Survey: Top Teacher Uses of AI in the Classroom — from thejournal.com by Rhea Kelly

A new report from Cambium Learning Group outlines the top ways educators are using artificial intelligence to manage their classrooms and support student learning. Conducted by Hanover Research, the 2024 K-12 Educator + AI Survey polled 482 teachers and administrators at schools and districts that are actively using AI in the classroom.

More than half of survey respondents (56%) reported that they are leveraging AI to create personalized learning experiences for students. Other uses included providing real-time performance tracking and feedback (cited by 52% of respondents), helping students with critical thinking skills (50%), proofreading writing (47%), and lesson planning (44%).

On the administrator side, top uses of AI included interpreting/analyzing student data (61%), managing student records (56%), and managing professional development (56%).

Addendum on 8/14/24:

Colleges keep closing. Are regulators doing enough to warn students? [Schermele]

On 08/05/2024, in adjunct faculty, business side of he, change, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, faculty, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, learning ecosystem, parents/guardians, society, student-related, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Colleges keep closing. Are regulators doing enough to warn students? — from usatoday.com by Zachary Schermele
The Biden administration has aggressively tackled college oversight. But universities are still closing without warning, leaving students and faculty in the lurch.

That task is challenging, regardless of who’s in the White House because the federal government’s metrics for identifying at-risk private colleges have long been flawed. The most recent flutter of high-profile closures underscores how necessary federal intervention may be to protect the lives of students and faculty from getting derailed in the coming years. Tragic stories from students like Hebert are bringing new urgency to efforts to improve the government’s warning signs that a campus is flailing.

“It’s hard to see a world where colleges stop closing,” said Robert Kelchen, a higher education professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a renowned policy expert. “So the challenge becomes: When do people know that their college is at risk?”

Also relevant/see:

Declining Enrollment, FAFSA Issues Led to More Cuts in July — from insidehighered.com by Josh Moody
Enrollment challenges, compounded by the FAFSA fiasco, drove layoffs and program cuts as colleges sought to plug budget holes.

“For college students—and for higher ed itself—AI is a required course” [Merisotis] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 08/03/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, apprenticeships, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), bots, career development, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, education, education technology, emerging technologies, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, real-world assignments, reinvent, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

For college students—and for higher ed itself—AI is a required course — from forbes.com by Jamie Merisotis

Some of the nation’s biggest tech companies have announced efforts to reskill people to avoid job losses caused by artificial intelligence, even as they work to perfect the technology that could eliminate millions of those jobs.

It’s fair to ask, however: What should college students and prospective students, weighing their choices and possible time and financial expenses, think of this?

The news this spring was encouraging for people seeking to reinvent their careers to grab middle-class jobs and a shot at economic security.

Addressing Special Education Needs With Custom AI Solutions — from teachthought.com
AI can offer many opportunities to create more inclusive and effective learning experiences for students with diverse learning profiles.

For too long, students with learning disabilities have struggled to navigate a traditional education system that often fails to meet their unique needs. But what if technology could help bridge the gap, offering personalized support and unlocking the full potential of every learner?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a powerful ally in special education, offering many opportunities to create more inclusive and effective learning experiences for students with diverse learning profiles.

11 Summer AI Developments Important to Educators — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard
Equity demands that we help students prepare to thrive in an AI-World

*SearchGPT
*Smaller & on-device (phones, glasses) AI models
*AI TAs
*Access barriers decline, equity barriers grow
*Claude Artifacts and Projects
*Agents, and Agent Teams of a million+
*Humanoid robots & self-driving cars
*AI Curricular integration
*Huge video and video-segmentation gains
*Writing Detectors — The final blow
*AI Unemployment, Student AI anxiety, and forward-thinking approaches
*Alternative assessments

Academic Fracking: When Publishers Sell Scholars Work to AI — from aiedusimplified.substack.com by Lance Eaton
Further discussion of publisher practices selling scholars’ work to AI companies

Last week, I explored AI and academic publishing in response to an article that came out a few weeks ago about a deal Taylor & Francis made to sell their books to Microsoft and one other AI company (unnamed) for a boatload of money.

Since then, two more pieces have been widely shared including this piece from Inside Higher Ed by Kathryn Palmer (and to which I was interviewed and mentioned in) and this piece from Chronicle of Higher Ed by Christa Dutton. Both pieces try to cover the different sides talking to authors, scanning the commentary online, finding some experts to consult and talking to the publishers. It’s one of those things that can feel like really important and also probably only to a very small amount of folks that find themselves thinking about academic publishing, scholarly communication, and generative AI.

At the Crossroads of Innovation: Embracing AI to Foster Deep Learning in the College Classroom — from er.educause.edu by Dan Sarofian-Butin
AI is here to stay. How can we, as educators, accept this change and use it to help our students learn?

The Way Forward
So now what?

In one respect, we already have a partial answer. Over the last thirty years, there has been a dramatic shift from a teaching-centered to a learning-centered education model. High-impact practices, such as service learning, undergraduate research, and living-learning communities, are common and embraced because they help students see the real-world connections of what they are learning and make learning personal.11

Therefore, I believe we must double down on a learning-centered model in the age of AI.

The first step is to fully and enthusiastically embrace AI.
…
The second step is to find the “jagged technological frontier” of using AI in the college classroom.

Futures Thinking in Education — from gettingsmart.com by Getting Smart Staff

Key Points

Educators should leverage these tools to prepare for rapid changes driven by technology, climate, and social dynamics.
Cultivating empathy for future generations can help educators design more impactful and forward-thinking educational practices.

The resistance to AI in education isn’t really about learning — from medium.com by Peter Shea

A quick comment first from DSC:
Peter Shea gives us some interesting perspectives here. His thoughts should give many of us fodder for our own further reflection.

This reaction underscores a deeper issue: the resistance to AI in education is not truly about learning. It reflects a reluctance to re-evaluate the traditional roles of educators and to embrace the opportunities AI offers to enhance the learning experience.
…
In order to thrive in the learning ecosystem that will evolve in the Age of AI, the teaching profession needs to do some difficult but essential re-evaluation of their role, in order to better understand where they can provide the best value to learners. This requires confronting some comforting myths and uncomfortable truths.

Problem #2: The Closed World of Academic Culture
In addition, many teachers have spent little time working in non-academic professions. This is especially true for college instructors, who must devote five to seven years to graduate education before obtaining their first full-time position, and thus have little time to explore careers outside academia. This common lack of non-academic work experience heightens the anxiety that educators feel when contemplating the potential impact of generative AI on their work lives.

Also see this related posting:

Majority of Grads Wish They’d Been Taught AI in College — from insidehighered.com by Lauren Coffey
A new survey shows 70 percent of graduates think generative AI should be incorporated into courses. More than half said they felt unprepared for the workforce.

A majority of college graduates believe generative artificial intelligence tools should be incorporated into college classrooms, with more than half saying they felt unprepared for the workforce, according to a new survey from Cengage Group, an education-technology company.

The survey, released today, found that 70 percent of graduates believe basic generative AI training should be integrated into courses; 55 percent said their degree programs did not prepare them to use the new technology tools in the workforce.

How AI will change education [Woodbury], Introducing Eureka Labs [Karpathy] + numerous other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 07/18/2024, in adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, bots, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, computer science, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, Europe, experimentation, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, heutagogy, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, Open AI, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, programming, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, UK, United States, universities, vendors, writing, by Daniel Christian

Introducing Eureka Labs — “We are building a new kind of school that is AI native.” — by Andrej Karpathy, Previously Director of AI @ Tesla, founding team @ OpenAI

However, with recent progress in generative AI, this learning experience feels tractable. The teacher still designs the course materials, but they are supported, leveraged and scaled with an AI Teaching Assistant who is optimized to help guide the students through them. This Teacher + AI symbiosis could run an entire curriculum of courses on a common platform. If we are successful, it will be easy for anyone to learn anything, expanding education in both reach (a large number of people learning something) and extent (any one person learning a large amount of subjects, beyond what may be possible today unassisted).

?? Excited to share that I am starting an AI+Education company called Eureka Labs.
The announcement:

—
We are Eureka Labs and we are building a new kind of school that is AI native.

How can we approach an ideal experience for learning something new? For example, in the case… pic.twitter.com/RHPkqdjB8R

— Andrej Karpathy (@karpathy) July 16, 2024

After Tesla and OpenAI, Andrej Karpathy’s startup aims to apply AI assistants to education — from techcrunch.com by Rebecca Bellan

Andrej Karpathy, former head of AI at Tesla and researcher at OpenAI, is launching Eureka Labs, an “AI native” education platform. In tech speak, that usually means built from the ground up with AI at its core. And while Eureka Labs’ AI ambitions are lofty, the company is starting with a more traditional approach to teaching.

San Francisco-based Eureka Labs, which Karpathy registered as an LLC in Delaware on June 21, aims to leverage recent progress in generative AI to create AI teaching assistants that can guide students through course materials.

What does it mean for students to be AI-ready? — from timeshighereducation.com by David Joyner
Not everyone wants to be a computer scientist, a software engineer or a machine learning developer. We owe it to our students to prepare them with a full range of AI skills for the world they will graduate into, writes David Joyner

We owe it to our students to prepare them for this full range of AI skills, not merely the end points. The best way to fulfil this responsibility is to acknowledge and examine this new category of tools. More and more tools that students use daily – word processors, email, presentation software, development environments and more – have AI-based features. Practising with these tools is a valuable exercise for students, so we should not prohibit that behaviour. But at the same time, we do not have to just shrug our shoulders and accept however much AI assistance students feel like using.

Teachers say AI usage has surged since the school year started — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Ascione
Half of teachers report an increase in the use of AI and continue to seek professional learning

Fifty percent of educators reported an increase in AI usage, by both students and teachers, over the 2023–24 school year, according to The 2024 Educator AI Report: Perceptions, Practices, and Potential, from Imagine Learning, a digital curriculum solutions provider.

The report offers insight into how teachers’ perceptions of AI use in the classroom have evolved since the start of the 2023–24 school year.

OPINION: What teachers call AI cheating, leaders in the workforce might call progress — from hechingerreport.org by C. Edward Waston and Jose Antonio Bowen
Authors of a new guide explore what AI literacy might look like in a new era

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

But this very ease has teachers wondering how we can keep our students motivated to do the hard work when there are so many new shortcuts. Learning goals, curriculums, courses and the way we grade assignments will all need to be reevaluated.

The new realities of work also must be considered. A shift in employers’ job postings rewards those with AI skills. Many companies report already adopting generative AI tools or anticipate incorporating them into their workflow in the near future.

A core tension has emerged: Many teachers want to keep AI out of our classrooms, but also know that future workplaces may demand AI literacy.

What we call cheating, business could see as efficiency and progress.

It is increasingly likely that using AI will emerge as an essential skill for students, regardless of their career ambitions, and that action is required of educational institutions as a result.

Teaching Writing With AI Without Replacing Thinking: 4 Tips — from by Erik Ofgang
AI has a lot of potential for writing students, but we can’t let it replace the thinking parts of writing, says writing professor Steve Graham

Reconciling these two goals — having AI help students learn to write more efficiently without hijacking the cognitive benefits of writing — should be a key goal of educators. Finding the ideal balance will require more work from both researchers and classroom educators, but Graham shares some initial tips for doing this currently.

Why I ban AI use for writing assignments — from timeshighereducation.com by James Stacey Taylor
Students may see handwriting essays in class as a needlessly time-consuming approach to assignments, but I want them to learn how to engage with arguments, develop their own views and convey them effectively, writes James Stacey Taylor

Could they use AI to generate objections to the arguments they read? Of course. AI does a good job of summarising objections to Singer’s view. But I don’t want students to parrot others’ objections. I want them to think of objections themselves.

Could AI be useful for them in organising their exegesis of others’ views and their criticisms of them? Yes. But, again, part of what I want my students to learn is precisely what this outsources to the AI: how to organise their thoughts and communicate them effectively.

How AI Will Change Education — from digitalnative.tech by Rex Woodbury
Predicting Innovation in Education, from Personalized Learning to the Downfall of College

This week explores how AI will bleed into education, looking at three segments of education worth watching, then examining which business models will prevail.

Personalized Learning and Tutoring
Teacher Tools
Alternatives to College
Final Thoughts: Business Models and Why Education Matters

New Guidance from TeachAI and CSTA Emphasizes Computer Science Education More Important than Ever in an Age of AI — from csteachers.org by CSTA
The guidance features new survey data and insights from teachers and experts in computer science (CS) and AI, informing the future of CS education.

SEATTLE, WA – July 16, 2024 – Today, TeachAI, led by Code.org, ETS, the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE), Khan Academy, and the World Economic Forum, launches a new initiative in partnership with the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) to support and empower educators as they grapple with the growing opportunities and risks of AI in computer science (CS) education.
…

The briefs draw on early research and insights from CSTA members, organizations in the TeachAI advisory committee, and expert focus groups to address common misconceptions about AI and offer a balanced perspective on critical issues in CS education, including:

Why is it Still Important for Students to Learn to Program?
How Are Computer Science Educators Teaching With and About AI?
How Can Students Become Critical Consumers and Responsible Creators of AI?

Previous Entries

Learning Ecosystems

“Let’s Make a Movie Teaser With AI” [Nest] & 9+ other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

Reflections on “The Burden of Misunderstanding” [Hill]

Augmented Course Design: Using AI to Boost Efficiency and Expand Capacity [Fang & Broussard] + other items re: AI’s impact on ID

Categories

Tags