homeschooling/homeschoolers

“The AI-enhanced learning ecosystem” [Jennings] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 06/09/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, architecture, Augmented Reality (AR), bots, business, career development, change, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, curriculum, data related items, design, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, Google, health, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, K-12 related, law schools, leadership, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, library / librarians, lifelong learning, online learning, online media, online tutoring, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, platforms, podcasting, policy, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, skills, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, traditional / tradition, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, workplace, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

The AI-enhanced learning ecosystem: A case study in collaborative innovation — from chieflearningofficer.com by Kevin Jennings
How artificial intelligence can serve as a tool and collaborative partner in reimagining content development and management.

Learning and development professionals face unprecedented challenges in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. According to LinkedIn’s 2025 Workplace Learning Report, 67 percent of L&D professionals report being “maxed out” on capacity, while 66 percent have experienced budget reductions in the past year.

Despite these constraints, 87 percent agree their organizations need to develop employees faster to keep pace with business demands. These statistics paint a clear picture of the pressure L&D teams face: do more, with less, faster.

This article explores how one L&D leader’s strategic partnership with artificial intelligence transformed these persistent challenges into opportunities, creating a responsive learning ecosystem that addresses the modern demands of rapid product evolution and diverse audience needs. With 71 percent of L&D professionals now identifying AI as a high or very high priority for their learning strategy, this case study demonstrates how AI can serve not merely as a tool but as a collaborative partner in reimagining content development and management.
.

How we use GenAI and AR to improve students’ design skills — from timeshighereducation.com by Antonio Juarez, Lesly Pliego and Jordi Rábago who are professors of architecture at Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico; Tomas Pachajoa is a professor of architecture at the El Bosque University in Colombia; & Carlos Hinrichsen and Marietta Castro are educators at San Sebastián University in Chile.
Guidance on using generative AI and augmented reality to enhance student creativity, spatial awareness and interdisciplinary collaboration

Blend traditional skills development with AI use
For subjects that require students to develop drawing and modelling skills, have students create initial design sketches or models manually to ensure they practise these skills. Then, introduce GenAI tools such as Midjourney, Leonardo AI and ChatGPT to help students explore new ideas based on their original concepts. Using AI at this stage broadens their creative horizons and introduces innovative perspectives, which are crucial in a rapidly evolving creative industry.

Provide step-by-step tutorials, including both written guides and video demonstrations, to illustrate how initial sketches can be effectively translated into AI-generated concepts. Offer example prompts to demonstrate diverse design possibilities and help students build confidence using GenAI.

Integrating generative AI and AR consistently enhanced student engagement, creativity and spatial understanding on our course.

How Texas is Preparing Higher Education for AI — from the74million.org by Kate McGee
TX colleges are thinking about how to prepare students for a changing workforce and an already overburdened faculty for new challenges in classrooms.

“It doesn’t matter if you enter the health industry, banking, oil and gas, or national security enterprises like we have here in San Antonio,” Eighmy told The Texas Tribune. “Everybody’s asking for competency around AI.”

It’s one of the reasons the public university, which serves 34,000 students, announced earlier this year that it is creating a new college dedicated to AI, cyber security, computing and data science. The new college, which is still in the planning phase, would be one of the first of its kind in the country. UTSA wants to launch the new college by fall 2025.

But many state higher education leaders are thinking beyond that. As AI becomes a part of everyday life in new, unpredictable ways, universities across Texas and the country are also starting to consider how to ensure faculty are keeping up with the new technology and students are ready to use it when they enter the workforce.

In the Room Where It Happens: Generative AI Policy Creation in Higher Education — from er.educause.edu by Esther Brandon, Lance Eaton, Dana Gavin, and Allison Papini

To develop a robust policy for generative artificial intelligence use in higher education, institutional leaders must first create “a room” where diverse perspectives are welcome and included in the process.

Q&A: Artificial Intelligence in Education and What Lies Ahead — from usnews.com by Sarah Wood
Research indicates that AI is becoming an essential skill to learn for students to succeed in the workplace.

Q: How do you expect to see AI embraced more in the future in college and the workplace?
I do believe it’s going to become a permanent fixture for multiple reasons. I think the national security imperative associated with AI as a result of competing against other nations is going to drive a lot of energy and support for AI education. We also see shifts across every field and discipline regarding the usage of AI beyond college. We see this in a broad array of fields, including health care and the field of law. I think it’s here to stay and I think that means we’re going to see AI literacy being taught at most colleges and universities, and more faculty leveraging AI to help improve the quality of their instruction. I feel like we’re just at the beginning of a transition. In fact, I often describe our current moment as the ‘Ask Jeeves’ phase of the growth of AI. There’s a lot of change still ahead of us. AI, for better or worse, it’s here to stay.

AI-Generated Podcasts Outperform Textbooks in Landmark Education Study — form linkedin.com by David Borish

A new study from Drexel University and Google has demonstrated that AI-generated educational podcasts can significantly enhance both student engagement and learning outcomes compared to traditional textbooks. The research, involving 180 college students across the United States, represents one of the first systematic investigations into how artificial intelligence can transform educational content delivery in real-time.

What can we do about generative AI in our teaching? — from linkedin.com by Kristina Peterson

So what can we do?

Interrogate the Process: We can ask ourselves if we I built in enough checkpoints. Steps that can’t be faked. Things like quick writes, question floods, in-person feedback, revision logs.
Reframe AI: We can let students use AI as a partner. We can show them how to prompt better, revise harder, and build from it rather than submit it. Show them the difference between using a tool and being used by one.
Design Assignments for Curiosity, Not Compliance: Even the best of our assignments need to adapt. Mine needs more checkpoints, more reflective questions along the way, more explanation of why my students made the choices they did.

Teachers Are Not OK — from 404media.co by Jason Koebler

The response from teachers and university professors was overwhelming. In my entire career, I’ve rarely gotten so many email responses to a single article, and I have never gotten so many thoughtful and comprehensive responses.

One thing is clear: teachers are not OK.
…
In addition, universities are contracting with companies like Microsoft, Adobe, and Google for digital services, and those companies are constantly pushing their AI tools. So a student might hear “don’t use generative AI” from a prof but then log on to the university’s Microsoft suite, which then suggests using Copilot to sum up readings or help draft writing. It’s inconsistent and confusing.

I am sick to my stomach as I write this because I’ve spent 20 years developing a pedagogy that’s about wrestling with big ideas through writing and discussion, and that whole project has been evaporated by for-profit corporations who built their systems on stolen work. It’s demoralizing.

These parents are ‘unschooling’ their kids. What does that mean? — from usatoday.com by Adrianna Rodriguez

“My goal for them is for them to love learning,” Franco said. “It’s realizing you can educate your child beyond the school model.”

Some parents say their children are thriving in the unschooling environment, fueling their confidence and desire to learn.

But not all students find success in unschooling. Some former students say the lack of structure and accountability can lead to educational neglect if parents don’t have the resources to make it work. Some kids who were unschooled feel they were left unprepared for adulthood and had fewer career opportunities.

What Is ‘Unschooling’ and Why Are More Parents Doing It? — from bckonline.com byTiffany Silva

Unschooling is a growing alternative education movement where children learn through life experiences instead of traditional classroom instruction. As more parents seek personalized and flexible learning paths, unschooling is gaining popularity across the U.S. and here’s what you need to know!

So, just what exactly is unschooling? Well, Unschooling is a form of homeschooling that breaks away from the idea of following a set curriculum. Instead, it centers the child’s interests, passions, and pace.

The belief is that learning doesn’t have to be separate from life because it is life. Unschooling functions on the premise that when kids are given the freedom to explore, they develop deep, authentic understanding and a lifelong love of learning.

“Faculty AI Guides” + “Teachers using AI tools more regularly” + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 05/27/2025, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, Australia, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital learning, digital textbooks, education, education reform, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, liberal arts, personalized/customized learning, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, trends, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

AI & Schools: 4 Ways Artificial Intelligence Can Help Students — from the74million.org by W. Ian O’Byrne
AI creates potential for more personalized learning

I am a literacy educator and researcher, and here are four ways I believe these kinds of systems can be used to help students learn.

Differentiated instruction
Intelligent textbooks
Improved assessment
Personalized learning

5 Skills Kids (and Adults) Need in an AI World — from oreilly.com by Raffi Krikorian
Hint: Coding Isn’t One of Them

Five Essential Skills Kids Need (More than Coding)
I’m not saying we shouldn’t teach kids to code. It’s a useful skill. But these are the five true foundations that will serve them regardless of how technology evolves.

Loving the journey, not just the destination
Being a question-asker, not just an answer-getter
Trying, failing, and trying differently
Seeing the whole picture
Walking in others’ shoes

The AI moment is now: Are teachers and students ready? — from iblnews.org

Day of AI Australia hosted a panel discussion on 20 May, 2025. Hosted by Dr Sebastian Sequoiah-Grayson (Senior Lecturer in the School of Computer Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney) with panel members Katie Ford (Industry Executive – Higher Education at Microsoft), Tamara Templeton (Primary School Teacher, Townsville), Sarina Wilson (Teaching and Learning Coordinator – Emerging Technology at NSW Department of Education) and Professor Didar Zowghi (Senior Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO’s Data61).

Teachers using AI tools more regularly, survey finds — from iblnews.org

As many students face criticism and punishment for using artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT for assignments, new reporting shows that many instructors are increasingly using those same programs.

Addendum on 5/28/25:

A Museum of Real Use: The Field Guide to Effective AI Use — from mikekentz.substack.com by Mike Kentz
Six Educators Annotate Their Real AI Use—and a Method Emerges for Benchmarking the Chats

Our next challenge is to self-analyze and develop meaningful benchmarks for AI use across contexts. This research exhibit aims to take the first major step in that direction.

With the right approach, a transcript becomes something else:

A window into student decision-making
A record of how understanding evolves
A conversation that can be interpreted and assessed
An opportunity to evaluate content understanding

This week, I’m excited to share something that brings that idea into practice.

Over time, I imagine a future where annotated transcripts are collected and curated. Schools and universities could draw from a shared library of real examples—not polished templates, but genuine conversations that show process, reflection, and revision. These transcripts would live not as static samples but as evolving benchmarks.

This Field Guide is the first move in that direction.

“Student Guide to AI”; “AI Isn’t Just Changing How We Work — It’s Changing How We Learn”; + other items re: AI in our LE’s

On 05/12/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, change, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, digital learning, digital video, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, expectations, experimentation, Facebook / Meta Platforms, faculty/staff, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, Google, health, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, languages and translation, law schools, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, learning spaces, media/film, Microsoft, Mixed Reality (MR), multimedia, new media literacies, online media, online tutoring, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, skills, society, staying relevant, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, wearables, workplace, XR - extended reality, youth, by Daniel Christian

.Get the 2025 Student Guide to Artificial Intelligence — from studentguidetoai.org
This guide is made available under a Creative Commons license by Elon University and the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).
.

AI Isn’t Just Changing How We Work — It’s Changing How We Learn — from entrepreneur.com by Aytekin Tank; edited by Kara McIntyre
AI agents are opening doors to education that just a few years ago would have been unthinkable. Here’s how.

Agentic AI is taking these already huge strides even further. Rather than simply asking a question and receiving an answer, an AI agent can assess your current level of understanding and tailor a reply to help you learn. They can also help you come up with a timetable and personalized lesson plan to make you feel as though you have a one-on-one instructor walking you through the process. If your goal is to learn to speak a new language, for example, an agent might map out a plan starting with basic vocabulary and pronunciation exercises, then progress to simple conversations, grammar rules and finally, real-world listening and speaking practice.
…
For instance, if you’re an entrepreneur looking to sharpen your leadership skills, an AI agent might suggest a mix of foundational books, insightful TED Talks and case studies on high-performing executives. If you’re aiming to master data analysis, it might point you toward hands-on coding exercises, interactive tutorials and real-world datasets to practice with.

The beauty of AI-driven learning is that it’s adaptive. As you gain proficiency, your AI coach can shift its recommendations, challenge you with new concepts and even simulate real-world scenarios to deepen your understanding.

Ironically, the very technology feared by workers can also be leveraged to help them. Rather than requiring expensive external training programs or lengthy in-person workshops, AI agents can deliver personalized, on-demand learning paths tailored to each employee’s role, skill level, and career aspirations. Given that 68% of employees find today’s workplace training to be overly “one-size-fits-all,” an AI-driven approach will not only cut costs and save time but will be more effective.

What’s the Future for AI-Free Spaces? — from higherai.substack.com by Jason Gulya
Please let me dream…

This is one reason why I don’t see AI-embedded classrooms and AI-free classrooms as opposite poles. The bone of contention, here, is not whether we can cultivate AI-free moments in the classroom, but for how long those moments are actually sustainable.

Can we sustain those AI-free moments for an hour? A class session? Longer?
…
Here’s what I think will happen. As AI becomes embedded in society at large, the sustainability of imposed AI-free learning spaces will get tested. Hard. I think it’ll become more and more difficult (though maybe not impossible) to impose AI-free learning spaces on students.

However, consensual and hybrid AI-free learning spaces will continue to have a lot of value. I can imagine classes where students opt into an AI-free space. Or they’ll even create and maintain those spaces.

Duolingo’s AI Revolution — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
What 148 AI-Generated Courses Tell Us About the Future of Instructional Design & Human Learning

Last week, Duolingo announced an unprecedented expansion: 148 new language courses created using generative AI, effectively doubling their content library in just one year. This represents a seismic shift in how learning content is created — a process that previously took the company 12 years for their first 100 courses.

As CEO Luis von Ahn stated in the announcement, “This is a great example of how generative AI can directly benefit our learners… allowing us to scale at unprecedented speed and quality.”

In this week’s blog, I’ll dissect exactly how Duolingo has reimagined instructional design through AI, what this means for the learner experience, and most importantly, what it tells us about the future of our profession.

Are Mixed Reality AI Agents the Future of Medical Education? — from ehealth.eletsonline.com

Medical education is experiencing a quiet revolution—one that’s not taking place in lecture theatres or textbooks, but with headsets and holograms. At the heart of this revolution are Mixed Reality (MR) AI Agents, a new generation of devices that combine the immersive depth of mixed reality with the flexibility of artificial intelligence. These technologies are not mere flashy gadgets; they’re revolutionising the way medical students interact with complicated content, rehearse clinical skills, and prepare for real-world situations. By combining digital simulations with the physical world, MR AI Agents are redefining what it means to learn medicine in the 21st century.

4 Reasons To Use Claude AI to Teach — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
Features that make Claude AI appealing to educators include a focus on privacy and conversational style.

After experimenting using Claude AI on various teaching exercises, from generating quizzes to tutoring and offering writing suggestions, I found that it’s not perfect, but I think it behaves favorably compared to other AI tools in general, with an easy-to-use interface and some unique features that make it particularly suited for use in education.

Outdated Microschool Laws Turn Parents into Criminals [Smith Ewing]

On 04/21/2025, in Alternatives, change, changing business models, education, education reform, homeschooling/homeschoolers, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, legislatures / government / legal, new business models, parents/guardians, policy, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

Outdated Microschool Laws Turn Parents into Criminals — from educationnext.org by Erica Smith Ewing
By over-regulating the pandemic-era schooling alternative, states ignore families’ constitutional rights

Public schools do not work for everyone. But options have increased since 1922, when Oregon tried to ban private education. The Supreme Court shut down that scheme fast. But now, after more than 100 years, political insiders are rallying again to stop a new source of choice.

The target this time is microschooling, a Covid-era alternative that has outlasted the pandemic. Key players in the movement will gather May 8–9, 2025, at the International Microschools Conference in Washington, D.C. I will join them.

Most likely, I will meet educators running all kinds of programs in all kinds of community spaces. Microschools blur the lines between home, public, and private schooling—combining elements from all three models.

The result is a fourth category of schooling that hinges on flexibility. Some parents pool their resources and hire outside instructors. Other groups rotate teaching duties among themselves, gathering daily or perhaps only once or twice per week. These are the do-it-yourselfers. Professionals also get involved with standalone enterprises and national networks.

“Age appropriate” AI literacy, the future of AI in education + other items re: AI in our LE’s

On 04/17/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, design, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning theories, workplace, by Daniel Christian

What does ‘age appropriate’ AI literacy look like in higher education? — from timeshighereducation.com by Fun Siong Lim
As AI literacy becomes an essential work skill, universities need to move beyond developing these competencies at ‘primary school’ level in their students. Here, Fun Siong Lim reflects on frameworks to support higher-order AI literacies

Like platforms developed at other universities, Project NALA offers a front-end interface (known as the builder) for faculty to create their own learning assistant. An idea we have is to open the builder up to students to allow them to create their own GenAI assistant as part of our AI literacy curriculum. As they design, configure and test their own assistant, they will learn firsthand how generative AI works. They get to test performance-enhancement approaches beyond prompt engineering, such as grounding the learning assistant with curated materials (retrieval-augmented generation) and advanced ideas such as incorporating knowledge graphs.

They should have the opportunity to analyse, evaluate and create responsible AI solutions. Offering students the opportunity to build their own AI assistants could be a way forward to develop these much-needed skills.

How to Use ChatGPT 4o’s Update to Turn Key Insights Into Clear Infographics (Prompts Included) — from evakeiffenheim.substack.com by Eva Keiffenheim
This 3-step workflow helps you break down books, reports, or slide-decks into professional visuals that accelerate understanding.

This article shows you how to find core ideas, prompt GPT-4o3 for a design brief, and generate clean, professional images that stick. These aren’t vague “creative visuals”—they’re structured for learning, memory, and action.

If you’re a lifelong learner, educator, creator, or just someone who wants to work smarter, this process is for you.

You’ll spend less time re-reading and more time understanding. And maybe—just maybe—you’ll build ideas that not only click in your brain, but also stick in someone else’s.

SchoolAI Secures $25 Million to Help Teachers and Schools Reach Every Student — from globenewswire.com
The Classroom Experience platform gives every teacher and student their own AI tools for personalized learning

SchoolAI’s Classroom Experience platform combines AI assistants for teachers that help with classroom preparation and other administrative work, and Spaces–personalized AI tutors, games, and lessons that can adapt to each student’s unique learning style and interests. Together, these tools give teachers actionable insights into how students are doing, and how the teacher can deliver targeted support when it matters most.

“Teachers and schools are navigating hard challenges with shrinking budgets, teacher shortages, growing class sizes, and ongoing recovery from pandemic-related learning gaps,” said Caleb Hicks, founder and CEO of SchoolAI. “It’s harder than ever to understand how every student is really doing. Teachers deserve powerful tools to help extend their impact, not add to their workload. This funding helps us double down on connecting the dots for teachers and students, and later this year, bringing school administrators and parents at home onto the platform as well.”

AI in Education, Part 3: Looking Ahead – The Future of AI in Learning — from rdene915.com by Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth

In the first and second parts of my AI series, I focused on where we see AI in classrooms. Benefits range from personalized learning and accessibility tools to AI-driven grading and support of a teaching assistant. In Part 2, I chose to focus on some of the important considerations related to ethics that must be part of the conversation. Schools need to focus on data privacy, bias, overreliance, and the equity divide. I wanted to focus on the future for this last part in the current AI series. Where do we go from here?

Anthropic Education Report: How University Students Use Claude — from anthropic.com

The key findings from our Education Report are:

STEM students are early adopters of AI tools like Claude, with Computer Science students particularly overrepresented (accounting for 36.8% of students’ conversations while comprising only 5.4% of U.S. degrees). In contrast, Business, Health, and Humanities students show lower adoption rates relative to their enrollment numbers.
We identified four patterns by which students interact with AI, each of which were present in our data at approximately equal rates (each 23-29% of conversations): Direct Problem Solving, Direct Output Creation, Collaborative Problem Solving, and Collaborative Output Creation.
Students primarily use AI systems for creating (using information to learn something new) and analyzing (taking apart the known and identifying relationships), such as creating coding projects or analyzing law concepts. This aligns with higher-order cognitive functions on Bloom’s Taxonomy. This raises questions about ensuring students don’t offload critical cognitive tasks to AI systems.

From the Kuali Days 2025 Conference: A CEO’s View of Planning for AI — from campustechnology.com by Mary Grush
A Conversation with Joel Dehlin

How can a company serving higher education navigate the changes AI brings to the ed tech marketplace? What will customers expect in this dynamic? Here, CT talks with Kuali CEO Joel Dehlin, who shared his company’s AI strategies in a featured plenary session, “Sneak Peek of AI in Kuali Build,” at Kuali Days 2025 in Anaheim.

How students can use generative AI — from aliciabankhofer.substack.com by Alicia Bankhofer
Part 4 of 4 in my series on Teaching and Learning in the AI Age

This article is the culmination of a series exploring AI’s impact on education.

Part 1: What Educators Need outlined essential AI literacy skills for teachers, emphasizing the need to move beyond basic ChatGPT exploration to understand the full spectrum of AI tools available in education.

Part 2: What Students Need addressed how students require clear guidance to use AI safely, ethically, and responsibly, with emphasis on developing critical thinking skills alongside AI literacy.

Part 3: How Educators Can Use GenAI presented ten practical use cases for teachers, from creating differentiated resources to designing assessments, demonstrating how AI can reclaim 5-7 hours weekly for meaningful student interactions.

Part 4: How Students Can Use GenAI (this article) provides frameworks for guiding student AI use based on Joscha Falck’s dimensions: learning about, with, through, despite, and without AI.

Mapping a Multidimensional Framework for GenAI in Education — from er.educause.edu by Patricia Turner
Prompting careful dialogue through incisive questions can help chart a course through the ongoing storm of artificial intelligence.

The goal of this framework is to help faculty, educational developers, instructional designers, administrators, and others in higher education engage in productive discussions about the use of GenAI in teaching and learning. As others have noted, theoretical frameworks will need to be accompanied by research and teaching practice, each reinforcing and reshaping the others to create understandings that will inform the development of approaches to GenAI that are both ethical and maximally beneficial, while mitigating potential harms to those who engage with it.

Instructional Design Isn’t Dying — It’s Specialising — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
Aka, how AI is impacting role & purpose of Instructional Design

Together, these developments have revealed something important: despite widespread anxiety, the instructional design role isn’t dying—it’s specialising.

What we’re witnessing isn’t the automation of instructional design and the death of the instructional designer, but rather the evolution of the ID role into multiple distinct professional pathways.

The generalist “full stack” instructional designer is slowly but decisively fracturing into specialised roles that reflect both the capabilities of generative AI and the strategic imperatives facing modern organisations.

In this week’s blog post, I’ll share what I’ve learned about how our field is transforming, and what it likely means for you and your career path.

Those instructional designers who cling to traditional generalist models risk being replaced, but those who embrace specialisation, data fluency, and AI collaboration will excel and lead the next evolution of the field. Similarly, those businesses that continue to view L&D as a cost centre and focus on automating content delivery will be outperformed, while those that invest in building agile, AI-enabled learning ecosystems will drive measurable performance gains and secure their competitive advantage.

Adding AI to Every Step in Your eLearning Design Workflow — from learningguild.com by George Hanshaw

We know that eLearning is a staple of training and development. The expectations of the learners are higher than ever: They expect a dynamic, interactive, and personalized learning experience. As instructional designers, we are tasked with meeting these expectations by creating engaging and effective learning solutions.

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into our eLearning design process is a game-changer that can significantly enhance the quality and efficiency of our work.

No matter if you use ADDIE or rapid prototyping, AI has a fit in every aspect of your workflow. By integrating AI, you can ensure a more efficient and effective design process that adapts to the unique needs of your learners. This not only saves time and resources but also significantly enhances the overall learning experience. We will explore the needs analysis and the general design process.

How might the memory of an AI — over time — impact personalized and lifelong learning? [Christian]

On 04/11/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, education, education reform, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, skills, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, training / L&D, trends, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
After seeing Sam’s posting below, I can’t help but wonder:

How might the memory of an AI over time impact the ability to offer much more personalized learning?
How will that kind of memory positively impact a person’s learning-related profile?
Which learning-related agents get called upon?
Which learning-related preferences does a person have while learning about something new?
Which methods have worked best in the past for that individual? Which methods didn’t work so well with him or her?

we have greatly improved memory in chatgpt–it can now reference all your past conversations!

this is a surprisingly great feature imo, and it points at something we are excited about: ai systems that get to know you over your life, and become extremely useful and personalized.

— Sam Altman (@sama) April 10, 2025

Starting today, memory in ChatGPT can now reference all of your past chats to provide more personalized responses, drawing on your preferences and interests to make it even more helpful for writing, getting advice, learning, and beyond. pic.twitter.com/s9BrWl94iY

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) April 10, 2025

What trauma-informed practice is not — from timeshighereducation.com by Kate Cantrell, India Bryce, and Jessica Gildersleeve from The University of Southern Queensland
Before trauma-informed care can be the norm across all areas of the university, academic and professional staff need to understand what it is. Here, three academics debunk myths and demystify best practice

Recently, we conducted focus groups at our university to better ascertain how academics, administrators and student support staff perceive the purpose and value of trauma-informed practice, and how they perceive their capacity to contribute to organisational change.

We discovered that while most staff were united on the importance of trauma-informed care, several myths persist about what trauma-informed practice is (and is not). Some academic staff, for example, conflated teaching about trauma with trauma-informed teaching, confused trigger warnings with trigger points and, perhaps most alarmingly – given the prevalence of trauma exposure and risk among university students – misjudged trauma-informed practice as “the business of psychologists” rather than educators.

OpenAI opens OpenAI Academy — A free, online platform to help people gain AI literacy

On 03/28/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, curriculum, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, economics, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), informal learning, intelligent systems, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning ecosystem, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, Open AI, open courseware and systems, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, skills, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Students and folks looking for work may want to check out:

AI Career Prep: Resumes and Interviews

Also relevant/see:

OpenAI Launches OpenAI Academy: Free Guide To Understanding AI — from voi.id
OpenAI Launches OpenAI Academy to Drive AI Innovation in Low- and Middle-Income Countries — from startupsvibes.com by Emmaunel Daniji

“Leadership & Generative AI: Hard-Earned Lessons That Matter” [Klitgaard Stricker] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 01/22/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, library / librarians, lifelong learning, Michigan, microlearning, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, reading, research, strategy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, writing, by Daniel Christian

Your AI Writing Partner: The 30-Day Book Framework — from aidisruptor.ai by Alex McFarland and Kamil Banc
How to Turn Your “Someday” Manuscript into a “Shipped” Project Using AI-Powered Prompts

With that out of the way, I prefer Claude.ai for writing. For larger projects like a book, create a Claude Project to keep all context in one place.

Copy [the following] prompts into a document
Use them in sequence as you write
Adjust the word counts and specifics as needed
Keep your responses for reference
Use the same prompt template for similar sections to maintain consistency

Each prompt builds on the previous one, creating a systematic approach to helping you write your book.

Using NotebookLM to Boost College Reading Comprehension — from michellekassorla.substack.com by Michelle Kassorla and Eugenia Novokshanova
This semester, we are using NotebookLM to help our students comprehend and engage with scholarly texts

We were looking hard for a new tool when Google released NotebookLM. Not only does Google allow unfettered use of this amazing tool, it is also a much better tool for the work we require in our courses. So, this semester, we have scrapped our “old” tools and added NotebookLM as the primary tool for our English Composition II courses (and we hope, fervently, that Google won’t decide to severely limit its free tier before this semester ends!)

If you know next-to-nothing about NotebookLM, that’s OK. What follows is the specific lesson we present to our students. We hope this will help you understand all you need to know about NotebookLM, and how to successfully integrate the tool into your own teaching this semester.

Leadership & Generative AI: Hard-Earned Lessons That Matter — from jeppestricker.substack.com by Jeppe Klitgaard Stricker
Actionable Advice for Higher Education Leaders in 2025

AFTER two years of working closely with leadership in multiple institutions, and delivering countless workshops, I’ve seen one thing repeatedly: the biggest challenge isn’t the technology itself, but how we lead through it. Here is some of my best advice to help you navigate generative AI with clarity and confidence:

Break your own AI policies before you implement them. …
Fund your failures. …
Resist the pilot program. …
Host Anti-Tech Tech Talks …
…+ several more tips

While generative AI in higher education obviously involves new technology, it’s much more about adopting a curious and human-centric approach in your institution and communities. It’s about empowering learners in new, human-oriented and innovative ways. It is, in a nutshell, about people adapting to new ways of doing things.

Maria Anderson responded to Clay’s posting with this idea:

Here’s an idea: […] the teacher can use the [most advanced] AI tool to generate a complete solution to “the problem” — whatever that is — and demonstrate how to do that in class. Give all the students access to the document with the results.

And then grade the students on a comprehensive followup activity / presentation of executing that solution (no notes, no more than 10 words on a slide). So the students all have access to the same deep AI result, but have to show they comprehend and can iterate on that result.

Grammarly just made it easier to prove the sources of your text in Google Docs — from zdnet.com by Jack Wallen
If you want to be diligent about proving your sources within Google Documents, Grammarly has a new feature you’ll want to use.

In this age of distrust, misinformation, and skepticism, you may wonder how to demonstrate your sources within a Google Document. Did you type it yourself, copy and paste it from a browser-based source, copy and paste it from an unknown source, or did it come from generative AI?

You may not think this is an important clarification, but if writing is a critical part of your livelihood or life, you will definitely want to demonstrate your sources.

That’s where the new Grammarly feature comes in.

The new feature is called Authorship, and according to Grammarly, “Grammarly Authorship is a set of features that helps users demonstrate their sources of text in a Google doc. When you activate Authorship within Google Docs, it proactively tracks the writing process as you write.”

AI Agents Are Coming to Higher Education — from govtech.com
AI agents are customizable tools with more decision-making power than chatbots. They have the potential to automate more tasks, and some schools have implemented them for administrative and educational purposes.

Custom GPTs are on the rise in education. Google’s version, Gemini Gems, includes a premade version called Learning Coach, and Microsoft announced last week a new agent addition to Copilot featuring use cases at educational institutions.

Generative Artificial Intelligence and Education: A Brief Ethical Reflection on Autonomy — from er.educause.edu by Vicki Strunk and James Willis
Given the widespread impacts of generative AI, looking at this technology through the lens of autonomy can help equip students for the workplaces of the present and of the future, while ensuring academic integrity for both students and instructors.

The principle of autonomy stresses that we should be free agents who can govern ourselves and who are able to make our own choices. This principle applies to AI in higher education because it raises serious questions about how, when, and whether AI should be used in varying contexts. Although we have only begun asking questions related to autonomy and many more remain to be asked, we hope that this serves as a starting place to consider the uses of AI in higher education.

AI educators are coming to this school [Hal Schwartz] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 01/07/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, experimentation, faculty/staff, 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, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, liberal arts, library / librarians, research, society, teachers, teaching & learning, training / L&D, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

AI educators are coming to this school – and it’s part of a trend — from techradar.com by Eric Hal Schwartz
Two hours of lessons, zero teachers

An Arizona charter school will use AI instead of human teachers for two hours a day on academic lessons.
The AI will customize lessons in real-time to match each student’s needs.
The company has only tested this idea at private schools before but claims it hugely increases student academic success.

One school in Arizona is trying out a new educational model built around AI and a two-hour school day. When Arizona’s Unbound Academy opens, the only teachers will be artificial intelligence algorithms in a perfect utopia or dystopia, depending on your point of view.

AI in Instructional Design: reflections on 2024 & predictions for 2025 — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
Aka, four new year’s resolutions for the AI-savvy instructional designer.

Debating About AI: A Free Comprehensive Guide to the Issues — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard

In order to encourage and facilitate debate on key controversies related to AI, I put together this free 130+ page guide to the main arguments and ideas related to the controversies.

Universities need to step up their AGI game — from futureofbeinghuman.com by Andrew Maynard
As Sam Altman and others push toward a future where AI changes everything, universities need to decide if they’re going to be leaders or bystanders in helping society navigate advanced AI transitions

And because of this, I think there’s a unique opportunity for universities (research universities in particular) to up their game and play a leadership role in navigating the coming advanced AI transition.

Of course, there are already a number of respected university-based initiatives that are working on parts of the challenge. Stanford HAI (Human-centered Artificial Intelligence) is one that stands out, as does the Leverhulm Center for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, and the Center for Governance of AI at the University of Oxford. But these and other initiatives are barely scratching the surface of what is needed to help successfully navigate advanced AI transitions.

If universities are to be leaders rather than bystanders in ensuring human flourishing in an age of AI, there’s an urgent need for bolder and more creative forward-looking initiatives that support research, teaching, thought leadership, and knowledge mobilization, at the intersection of advanced AI and all aspects of what it means to thrive and grow as a species.

“5 Ways Teachers Can Use NotebookLM Today” [Burns} + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 12/29/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Australia, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, Open AI, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

How AI Is Changing Education: The Year’s Top 5 Stories — from edweek.org by Alyson Klein

Ever since a new revolutionary version of chat ChatGPT became operable in late 2022, educators have faced several complex challenges as they learn how to navigate artificial intelligence systems.
…
Education Week produced a significant amount of coverage in 2024 exploring these and other critical questions involving the understanding and use of AI.

Here are the five most popular stories that Education Week published in 2024 about AI in schools.

What’s next with AI in higher education? — from msn.com by Science X Staff

Dr. Lodge said there are five key areas the higher education sector needs to address to adapt to the use of AI:

1. Teach ‘people’ skills as well as tech skills
2. Help all students use new tech
3. Prepare students for the jobs of the future
4. Learn to make sense of complex information
5. Universities to lead the tech change

5 Ways Teachers Can Use NotebookLM Today — from classtechtips.com by Dr. Monica Burns

A Three-Phase, Rational System of Education — from petergray.substack.com by Peter Gray; with thanks to Dr. Kate Christian for this resource
What will replace k-12 and college?

A Three-Phase, Rational System of Education
I don’t know just how or how fast the change will happen, but I think the days of K-12 and four years of college are numbered and sanity will begin to prevail in the educational world. I envision a future with something like the following three-phase approach to education:

Phase I. Discovery: Learning about your world, your self, and how the two fit together.…
Phase II. Exploring a career path.…
Phase III. Becoming credentialed for specialized work.…

Several items re: the higher ed and K-12 learning ecosystems

On 12/12/2024, in accreditation, Asia, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), business, career development, colleges, community colleges, curriculum, education, education reform, education technology, engagement / engaging students, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, innovation, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, pathways, skills, society, sociology, strategy, teachers, United States, universities, vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, youth, by Daniel Christian

Teacher Shortage: Is Hybrid or Remote Teaching the Answer? — from edtechmagazine.com by Adam Stone
In these uncertain times, K–12 schools use technology to better support students and teachers.

How Can Remote or Hybrid Teaching Help?
A shift to virtual learning can help close the gaps.

First, remote work can draw more people into the field. “For some folks, particularly with the pandemic and teaching for a year or more online, they found that model appealing to them from a professional and personal standpoint,” Carbaugh says.

While many educators still prefer face-to-face interactions, he says, others may find the ability to work from home appealing.

Virtual learning can also broaden the candidate pool in hard-to-fill roles. In STEM, for instance, “you might have someone who is willing to teach a class for you in addition to their normal job,” Speegle says. “They can teach computer science, biology or calculus for an hour a day, and they’re done.”

What Happens When Public School Districts Embrace Hybrid Schools? — from asthe74million.org by Eric Wearne & Tom Loud
With a fifth of its school-age children engaged in homeschooling, one Tennessee district found a way to connect them to the public system

With one in five school-age children engaged in homeschooling, Blount County Schools decided in 2018 to offer an option aimed at bridging the best of both homeschooling and public school, while offering a flexible schedule and college preparatory academics.
…
While the hybrid schooling model is not necessarily new, two developments have emerged in recent years. First, interest in attending, founding, and working at these schools has increased since the Covid pandemic; and second, conventional public-school systems are starting to get into the game.

Launchpad Jobs — from burningglassinstitute.org; via Paul Fain’s Education Pipeline posting

Launchpad Jobs highlights how nondegree workers can achieve career success through strategic job choices. It reveals that nearly 2 million workers without college degrees earn six-figure salaries, demonstrating that fulfilling and well-paying careers are accessible without a traditional four-year education.

The report identifies key 73 roles, termed “Launchpad Jobs,” that offer a combination of strong wages, job stability, and upward mobility. These include positions such as EMTs, electricians, and bank tellers, which often serve as steppingstones to long-term success. Using big data analysis of career histories this report maps the trajectories of workers starting in various roles, showcasing how initial job choices influence future earnings and advancement potential.

Why College Freshman Enrollment Declined and What it Could Mean for Students — from usnews.com by Sarah Wood
Experts cite possible reasons for the 5% overall enrollment drop in fall 2024 and implications for the current admission cycle.

From DSC:
Speaking of learning ecosystems, this next piece is absolutely incredible in terms of learning ecosystems from other nations!!!

China leads world in massive open online courses: Ministry of Education — from globaltimes.cn by Chen Xi; via GSV

China has established the world’s largest online education system, according to a document sent by the Ministry of Education to the Global Times on Wednesday.

As of now, the country has developed over 30 various online course platforms, with more than 97,000 massive open online courses (MOOCs) made available, 483 million registered users, and 1.39 billion learning instances. Additionally, 440 million instances of students obtaining course credits have been recorded, making China’s number of MOOCs and learners the highest in the world, according to the document.

Furthermore, a national smart education platform – the Smart Education of China in Higher Education – has launched 31,000 high-quality online courses, with 78,000 teachers participating in teaching and over 16.82 million users visiting, with more than 93 million visits, covering 183 countries and regions worldwide.

Many of these courses have garnered high praise among global students.

2025 Job Skills Report — from coursera.org

Uncover the fastest-growing skills with the Job Skills Report 2025. This practical resource draws on data from Coursera’s 5 million enterprise learners to highlight the skills and learning experiences that employees, students, and job seekers will prioritize for career success* in 2025.

This year’s report reveals that generative AI (GenAI) is the most in-demand skill, with enterprise course enrollments soaring by 866% year-over-year. By upskilling learners globally, industry, higher education, and governments can unlock AI’s potential $15.7 trillion in global economic value ?by 2030.**

Access the report to:

Identify the fastest-growing skills in AI, business, data science, and technology.
Compare skill priorities of students, employees, and job seekers.
Understand how learners engage with AI learning experiences.

Break the monopoly on higher education pathways — from fastcompany.com by Antonio Gutierrez; via GSV
New models prove that younger and underserved populations are finding success with skills-based programs and hybrid educational models.

The Duet-SNHU model proves that accessible, flexible, and cost-effective alternatives are possible and scalable. Meanwhile, the explosion of nondegree credentials offers additional pathways to skills-focused career readiness, reflecting a growing appetite for innovation in education. To remain competitive in the global economy, the U.S. must embrace these alternatives while reforming traditional institutions.

Policymakers must prioritize funding based on performance metrics like graduation rates and job placements, and accreditors must hold institutions accountable for real-world outcomes. Business leaders, educators, and community stakeholders must champion scalable models that deliver equity and opportunity. The stakes are too high to cling to an outdated system. By disrupting the status quo, we can create an education system that serves all Americans and strengthens the economy for generations to come.

Learning Ecosystems

Outdated Microschool Laws Turn Parents into Criminals [Smith Ewing]

Categories

Tags