Tenderness and Empathy Prevail in Bisa Butler’s Nostalgic and Vibrant Quilts — from thisiscolossal.com by Bisa Butler and Kate Mothes
On 09/28/2025,
in art, creativity, Emotion, hearts -- matters of the heart, history, relationships, society, sociology,
by Daniel Christian
Cosmic Wonders Abound in the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest — from thisiscolossal.com by Kate Mothes and various/incredible photographers
On 09/19/2025,
in creativity, credentialing, digital learning, education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, ideas, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, more voice more choice more control, participation, passions, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, project-based learning, real-world assignments, skills, strategy, student-related, teachers, United States, vendors, youth,
by Daniel Christian
Small, Rural Central California High School Continues To Defy Standardized Education — from gettingsmart.com by Michael Niehoff
Key Points
- Minarets High School prioritizes student-centered learning with innovative programs like project-based learning, digital tools, and unique offerings.
- Emphasis on student voice and personalized learning fosters engagement, creativity, and real-world preparation, setting a benchmark for educational innovation.
Let High Schoolers Do Less? Let High Schoolers Experience More — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark and Nate McClennen
Key Points
- High school should focus on personalized and purposeful learning experiences that engage students and build real-world skills.
- Traditional transcripts should be replaced with richer learning and experience records to better communicate students’ skills to higher education and employers.
“Americans want to grant more control to students themselves, prioritizing a K-12 education where all students have the option to choose the courses they want to study based on interests and aspirations.”
Research on motivation and engagement supports personalized and purposeful learning. Students are more motivated when they see relevance and have some choice. We summarize this in six core principles to which schools should strive.
New Effort Pushes the U.S. to Stop Getting ‘Schooled’ and Start Learning — from workshift.org by Elyse Ashburn
The Big Idea: A new collaborative effort led out of the Stanford center aims to tackle that goal—giving clearer shape to what it would mean to truly build a new “learning society.” As a starting point, the collaborative released a report and set of design principles this week, crafted through a year of discussion and debate among about three dozen fellows in leadership roles in education, industry, government, and research.
The fellows landed on nine core principles—including that working is learning and credentials are a means, not an end—designed to transition the United States from a “schooled society” to a “learning society.”
“Universal access to K-12 education and the massification of access to college were major accomplishments of 20th century America,” Stevens says. “But all that schooling also has downsides that only recently have come into common view. Conventional schooling is expensive, bureaucratic, and often inflexible.”
.
How Substitute Teachers Can Connect With Their Students — from edutopia.org by Zachary Shell
Five enriching strategies to help subs stay involved and make a difference in the classroom.
I’ve since found enrichment in substitute teaching. Along the way, I’ve compiled a handful of strategies that have helped me stay involved and make a difference, one day at a time. Those strategies—which are useful for new substitutes still learning the ropes, as well as full-time teachers who are scaling back to substitute duties—are laid out below.
A Quiet Classroom Isn’t Always an Ideal Classroom — from edutopia.org by Clementina Jose
By rethinking what a good day in the classroom looks and sounds like, new teachers can better support their students.
If your classroom hums with the energy of students asking questions, debating ideas, and working together, you haven’t failed. You’ve succeeded in building a space where learning isn’t about being compliant, but about being alive and present.
On 09/09/2025,
in art, creativity, education, Emotion, ideas, society, teachers, United States,
by Daniel Christian
In Rural Wisconsin, Pat Perry Connects the Various Forces That Shape Our World — from thisiscolossal.com by Pat Perry & Grace Ebert
To conceptualize the work, the collective helped to contact and secure permissions from the teachers pictured, and with the exception of the woman in the red floral garment at the bottom of the piece—she’s the artist’s mother and a retired educator—all work in the area. And why teachers? Perry explains:
Day after day, people find purpose. They wake up early, show up with intention, and try to make sense of things—not just for themselves, but also for others. Teachers do this every day. Not for recognition, and rarely for much pay. It’s a repetitive act of maintenance that holds things together. Choosing to shoulder that task, even while standing at the edge of something vast and indifferent, is a quiet act of defiance. Amidst overwhelmingness and uncontrollableness and unanswerableness, teachers—and all custodians of human affairs—keep meaning in the world by steadily and stubbornly tending to it.
While you’re out there, also see:
Song Dong’s Monumental Installations Mirror Memories, Globalization, and Impermanence — from thisiscolossal.com by Song Dong and Kate Mothes
On 08/28/2025,
in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, creativity, design, experimentation, Google, graphics, multimedia, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, tools, United States, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
Introducing Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, our state-of-the-art image model — from developers.googleblog.com
Today [8/26/25], we’re excited to introduce Gemini 2.5 Flash Image (aka nano-banana), our state-of-the-art image generation and editing model. This update enables you to blend multiple images into a single image, maintain character consistency for rich storytelling, make targeted transformations using natural language, and use Gemini’s world knowledge to generate and edit images.
When we first launched native image generation in Gemini 2.0 Flash earlier this year, you told us you loved its low latency, cost-effectiveness, and ease of use. But you also gave us feedback that you needed higher-quality images and more powerful creative control.
Google’s new image model is BANANAS… — from theneurondaily.com by Grant Harvey
Here’s what makes nano-banana special:
- Character consistency that actually works: Google built a template app showing how you can keep characters looking identical across scenes.
- Edit photos (or drawings) with just words: Their photo editing demo lets you remove people, blur backgrounds, or colorize photos using natural language…and this co-drawing demo lets you draw and ask AI to fix it.
- Actual world knowledge: Unlike other image models, this one knows stuff—like how the co-drawing demo turns doodles into learning experiences.
- Multi-image fusion: You can now merge multiple images; fx, you can drag and drop objects between images seamlessly with their home canvas template.
On 08/28/2025,
in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Australia, bots, career development, creativity, design, education, graphics, health, multimedia, passions, skills, social learning / networks, social media, student-related, teachers, vocational / trades, workplace, youth,
by Daniel Christian
Artificial Intelligence in Vocational Education — from leonfurze.com by Leon Furze
The vocational education sector is incredibly diverse, covering everything from trades like building and construction, electrical, plumbing and automotive through to allied health, childcare, education, the creative arts and the technology industry. In Canberra, we heard from people representing every corner of the industry, including education, retail, tourism, finance and digital technologies. Every one of these industries is being impacted by the current AI boom.
…
A theme of the day was that whilst the vocational education sector is seen as a slow-moving beast with its own peculiar red tape, it is still possible to respond to emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, and there’s an imperative to do so.
Coming back to GenAI for small business owners, a qualified plumber running their own business, either as a solo operator or as manager of a team, probably doesn’t have many opportunities to keep up to date with the rapid developments of digital technologies. They’re far too busy doing their job.
So vocational education and training can be an initial space to develop some skills and understanding of the technology in a way which can be beneficial for managing that day-to-day job.
And speaking of the trade schools/vocational world…
Social media opens a window to traditional trades for young workers — from washingtonpost.com by Taylor Telford; this is a gifted article
Worker influencers are showing what life is like in fields such as construction, plumbing and manufacturing. Trade schools are trying to make the most of it.
Social media is increasingly becoming a destination for a new generation to learn about skilled trades — at a time when many have grown skeptical about the cost of college and the promise of white-collar jobs. These posts offer authentic insight as workers talk openly about everything from their favorite workwear to safety and payday routines.
The exposure is also changing the game for trade schools and employers in such industries as manufacturing and construction, which have long struggled to attract workers. Now, some are evolving their recruiting tactics by wading into content creation after decades of relying largely on word of mouth.
This Winery is a Stunning Blend of Architecture and Vineyards — from contemporist.com
Artist Spotlight: Yuwei Tu — from booooooom.com
Artist Spotlight: Jay Stern — from booooooom.com
Whimsical and Wild, ‘Weird Buildings’ Celebrates Architects Who Think Outside the Box — from thisiscolossal.com by Kate Mothes
Experimenting with Color and Reflection, Kenny Harris Brews Beautiful Still Lifes — from thisiscolossal.com by Kenny Harris and Kate Mothes
Gabrielle Garland’s House Portraits Illuminate Daily Life, Individuality, and the ‘Fabric of Society’ — from thisiscolossal.com by Garbrielle Garland and Kate Mothes
