learning ecosystem

Walt Disney’s Wisdom: Lessons for Learning & Development Leaders [Kelly]

On 10/05/2024, in adult learning, business, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, experimentation, innovation, learning ecosystem, lifelong learning, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Walt Disney’s Wisdom: Lessons for Learning & Development Leaders — from learningguild.com by David Kelly

Here are a few of my favorite [quotes], along with the valuable lessons they offer us in Learning and Development.

“Everyone has deadlines.”
“I believe in being an innovator.”
“Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.
“I can never stand still. I must explore and experiment.”
…and several other quotes.

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.

Students at This High School Do Internships. It’s a Game Changer — from edweek.org by Elizabeth Heubeck

Disengaged students. Sky-high absenteeism. A disconnect between the typical high school’s academic curriculum and post-graduation life.

These and related complaints about the American high school experience have been gathering steam for some time; the pandemic exacerbated them. State-level policymakers have taken note, and many are now trying to figure out how to give high school students access to a more relevant and engaging experience that prepares them for a future—whether it involves college or doesn’t.
…
After a slow start, the school’s internship program has grown exponentially. In 2019-20, just five students completed internships, mainly due to the logistical challenges the pandemic presented. This past year, it grew to over 180 participating seniors, with more than 200 community organizations agreeing to accept interns.

How Do Today’s High Schoolers Fare As They Enter Adulthood? View the Data — from edweek.org by Sarah D. Sparks

Even when students have access to high-quality dual-credit programs, they often do not get guidance about the academic and workplace requirements of particular fields until it’s too late, said Julie Lammers, the senior vice president of advocacy and corporate social responsibility for American Student Assistance, a national nonprofit focused on helping young people learn about college and careers.

“We need to start having career conversations with young people much earlier in their trajectory, at the time young people are still open to possibilities,” Lammers said. “If they don’t see themselves in science by 8th grade, STEM careers come off the table.”

Cost plays a big role in the decision to attend and stay in college. The Education Data Initiative finds that on average, students in 2024 racked up nearly$38,000 in debt to pursue a bachelor’s degree, with many expecting to take up to 20 years to pay it off.

Transforming Education From School-Centered to Learner-Centered
Centering Learners by Design: Shaping the Future of Education — from gettingsmart.com

What outcomes do we truly desire for young people? Many students feel that their current educational experiences do not prepare them adequately for real-world challenges. Supported by data on attendance, disengagement, and stress, it’s evident that a shift is needed. To move beyond outdated school-centered models, we must embrace a learner-centered paradigm that fosters flexibility, personalization, and authentic community engagement. Innovative approaches like multiage microschools and passion projects are transforming how students learn by fostering real-world skills, confidence, and community engagement.

These learner-centered models—ranging from personalized projects to collaborative problem-solving—provide actionable strategies to create environments where every student can thrive. Schools are moving away from one-size-fits-all systems and embracing approaches like flexible learning pathways, mentorship opportunities, and community-integrated learning. These strategies are not only closing the gap between education and the skills needed for the future but also reshaping public schools into dynamic hubs of innovation.

Key Points

Engaging parents, youth, teachers, principals, district leaders, community members, and industry experts in the co-design process ensures that education systems align with the aspirations and needs of the community.
Transitioning from a traditional school-centered model to a learner-centered approach is critical for preparing students with the skills needed to thrive in the 21st century.

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.

Giving ELA Lessons a Little Edtech Boost — from edutopia.org by Julia Torres
Common activities in English language arts classes such as annotation and note-taking can be improved through technology.

6 ELA Practices That Can Be Enhanced by EdTech

Book clubs.
Collective note-taking.
Comprehension checks.
Video lessons.
..and more

Using Edtech Tools to Differentiate Learning— from edutopia.org by Katie Novak and Mary E. Pettit
Teachers can use tech tools to make it easier to give students choice about their learning, increasing engagement.

3 UDL-Aligned EdTech Tools

Digital audiobook platforms.
Multimedia presentation tools.
Digital annotation tools.

Democrats and Republicans Agree Teacher Prep Needs to Change. But How? — from edweek.org by Libby Stanford
The programs have been designed “essentially to mass-produce identical educators,” a teachers college dean told lawmakers

The core problem, witnesses at the hearing said, is that teacher-preparation programs treat all teachers—and, by extension, students—the same, asking teachers to be “everything to everybody.”

“The current model of teaching where one teacher works individually with a group of learners in a classroom—or a small box inside of a larger box that we call school—promotes unrealistic expectations by assuming individual teachers working in isolation can meet the needs of all students,” said Greg Mendez, the principal of Skyline High School in Mesa, Ariz.

From DSC:
I’ve long thought teacher education programs could and should evolve (that’s why I have a “student teacher/teacher education” category on this blog). For example, they should inform their future teachers about the science of learning and how to leverage edtech/emerging technologies into their teaching methods.

But regardless of what happens in our teacher prep programs, the issues about the current PreK-12 learning ecosystem remain — and THOSE things are what we need to address. Or we will continue to see teachers leave the profession.

Are we straight-jacketing our teachers and administrators by having them give so many standardized tests and then having to teach to those tests? (We should require our legislators to teach in a classroom before they can draft any kind of legislation.)
Do teachers have the joy they used to have? The flexibility they used to have? Do students?
Do students have choice and voice?
etc.

Also, I highlighted the above excerpt because we can’t expect a teacher to do it all. They can’t be everything to everybody. It’s a recipe for burnout and depression. There are too many agendas coming at them.

We need to empower our current teachers and listen very carefully to the changes that they recommend. We should also listen very carefully to what our STUDENTS are recommending as well!

This article….

Artificial Intelligence and Schools: When Tech Makers and Educators Collaborate, AI Doesn’t Have to be Scary — from the74million.org by Edward Montalvo
AI is already showing us how to make education more individualized and equitable.

The XQ Institute shares this mindset as part of our mission to reimagine the high school learning experience so it’s more relevant and engaging for today’s learners, while better preparing them for the future. We see AI as a tool with transformative potential for educators and makers to leverage — but only if it’s developed and implemented with ethics, transparency and equity at the forefront. That’s why we’re building partnerships between educators and AI developers to ensure that products are shaped by the real needs and challenges of students, teachers and schools. Here’s how we believe all stakeholders can embrace the Department’s recommendations through ongoing collaborations with tech leaders, educators and students alike.

…lead me to the XQ Institute, and I very much like what I’m initially seeing! Here are some excerpts from their website:

Transforming high school isn’t easy, but it is possible. ? Educator @nwallacecxh from XQ’s @CrosstownHigh shares real-world strategies to make learning relevant and meaningful. Ready to see how it’s done? ? https://t.co/xD8hkP33TH

— XQ (@XQAmerica) September 26, 2024

“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/Agents/LLMs/and Related, 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/staff, 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/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, culture, dangers of the status quo, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, 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.

3 Improvements, 3 Weeks In (I Think?) [Luther]

On 09/23/2024, in education, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, pedagogy, student-related, teachers, by Daniel Christian

3 Improvements, 3 Weeks In (I Think?) — from thebrokencopier.substack.com by Marcus Luther out at The Broken Copier
What I think I’m doing better this year as a teacher—plus reasons why I might be…wrong?

So here we go: three ways I think I’ve improved so far this year as a teacher—along with three potential downsides for these shifts in my practice.

What this looks like: as I noted in my beginning-of-year goals, something I realized that I wanted to improve upon this year was consistently and intentionally protecting enough time at the end of each lesson to allow students to reflect on their learning. Along with creating a slide template I could consistently adapt from throughout the year, I knew this would mean creating and maintaining a system in our classroom of “closing with our takeaway”:

Question: Where Do You Need Guidance in Supporting Students With Learning Disabilities? [edutopia]

On 09/23/2024, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), education, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, neurodivergent/special needs, student-related, teachers, United States, by Daniel Christian

Question: Where Do You Need Guidance in Supporting Students With Learning Disabilities? — from edutopia.org
We want to better serve your needs. Tell us about the specific challenges you’re facing.

As an educator, you’re constantly adapting your teaching to meet the needs of your classroom, but it can be difficult to know everything necessary for effectively supporting your students, including those with learning disabilities.

We’re turning to you, our Edutopia community, to help us shape the content we create around this important topic. Where do you need more guidance in helping students with learning disabilities? Are there specific challenges you face, such as classroom accommodations, identifying learning disabilities early on, or navigating IEPs? Maybe you’re looking for help with differentiated instruction, inclusive teaching practices, or strategies for fostering social-emotional growth in these students.

..
More Guidance for Learning Disabilities
Are you looking for resources that have already been published? We maintain a page dedicated entirely to Special Education. This resource is updated continuously with our latest articles and videos, offering practical tips and insights from educators like you.

DSC: I agree with Brandon Busteed on this item — excellent pricing/tuition transparency!

On 09/18/2024, in changing business models, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, faculty/staff, higher education, ideas, law schools, leadership, learning ecosystem, new business models, parents/guardians, society, sociology, strategy, student-related, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The cost of obtaining a degree is heavily on my mind this morning as I’m having to withdraw funds — again — to help our son get through his senior year of college. He’s a Marine Reservist and he continues to do his best to contribute to his expenses…but man o’ man, these expenses are just crazy.

So it’s no surprise this item caught my eye! Anything colleges and universities can do to bring down the prices — as well as make the total prices more transparent and upfront — would be greatly appreciated by students and families alike.

Also related, see:

How Rising Higher Ed Costs Change Student Attitudes About College — from edsurge.com by Jeffrey R. Young

But she admits the issue is complicated. She said one of her own daughters, who is now 26, would have benefitted from a gap year. “The problem was the cost was a major factor,” Klein told me. “She was offered huge financial aid by a very good school, and I said, ‘We don’t know if you take a gap year if that offer is going to be on the table. And I can’t afford this school without that offer.’”

How might we build the nation’s new learning ecosystem together? [Getting Smart]

On 09/17/2024, in change, education, education reform, experimentation, future, ideas, innovation, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, strategy, student-related, teachers, United States, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

Horizon Three Learning — from gettingsmart.com
How might we build the nation’s new learning ecosystem together?

America’s education system was a groundbreaking effort to help a growing nation thrive in the 19th century. Now, 200 years later, the world has changed; the horizon looks drastically different. Collectively, we need to redesign our education system to enable all of our children — and, by extension, our nation — to thrive today and tomorrow.

“Horizon Three” or “H3” names the future-ready system we need, one that is grounded in equity serving learners’ individual strengths and needs as well as the common good. This series provides a glimpse of where H3 is already being designed and built. It also includes provocations about how we might fundamentally reimagine learning for the future ahead.

Georgia Tech Aims to Take Lifetime Learning from Pastime to Pro — from workshift.org by Lilah Burke

As Americans live and work longer, many now find themselves needing to change jobs and careers several times within their lifetimes.

Now, Georgia Institute of Technology has created a new college to serve just these learners. Georgia Tech last week launched its College of Lifetime Learning, which will combine degree programs with non-degree programs, and seeks to educate 114K students by 2030. That would enable the university to double the current number of degrees granted and nondegree students served.

“What we’re hearing is that with the advancing pace of digitization taking place, changing demographics, people working longer, for example, higher ed needs to do something in addition to what it already has been doing” says Nelson Baker, interim dean of the new college.

Also see:

Is the Workplace the New College Campus? — from workshift.org by Joe Edelheit Ross

Now a quarter way through the 21st century, higher education is again in need of a reboot. Post Covid, colleges are closing one per week. More than 40M U.S. learners have started college but never finished. Nearly two-thirds of those learners would complete their degree but can’t afford to. Student debt now sits at almost $2T. Americans are losing faith in higher education.

Enter the apprenticeship degree, where students can earn a debt-free, four-year degree entirely embedded within a full-time, paid job. In the U.K., with government tax incentives, the apprenticeship-to-degree model has surged in eight years from zero to 50K new enrollments, making progress toward an expected 20% of postsecondary starts within the decade. As I have previously written, I believe the apprenticeship degree is just what American higher education needs to meet the moment.

Learning Ecosystems

Walt Disney’s Wisdom: Lessons for Learning & Development Leaders [Kelly]

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