liberal arts

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

Creating Assessments for Micro-Credentials in Higher Education Organizations. [Reed & Abramovich]

On 12/29/2024, in assessment, colleges, community colleges, credentialing, faculty/staff, higher education, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, liberal arts, microlearning, teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Build-your-own media literacy calendar — Introducing the 2025 Calendar from Wonder Media [Sue Ellen Christian & Students]

On 12/29/2024, in 21st century, adjunct faculty, adult learning, business, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, curriculum, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, experimentation, faculty/staff, global / globalization, graphics, higher education, ideas, internet, journalism, K-12 related, liberal arts, library / librarians, media/film, Michigan, multimedia, music, new media literacies, online media, parents/guardians, platforms, podcasting, political science, reading, skills, social learning / networks, social media, society, sociology, story, student-related, teachers, technologies for your home, TVs, United States, universities, vendors, writing, youth, by Daniel Christian

Introducing the 2025 Wonder Media Calendar for tweens, teens, and their families/households. Designed by Sue Ellen Christian and her students in her Global Media Literacy class (in the fall 2024 semester at Western Michigan University), the calendar’s purpose is to help people create a new year filled with skills and smart decisions about their media use. This calendar is part of the ongoing Wonder Media Library.com project that includes videos, lesson plans, games, songs and more. The website is funded by a generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, in partnership with Western Michigan University and the Library of Michigan.

“An AI tutor for every student” + numerous other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 12/21/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, lifelong learning, Open AI, personalized/customized learning, strategy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, training / L&D, United States, vendors, virtual tutoring, youth, by Daniel Christian

60 Minutes Overtime
Sal Khan wants an AI tutor for every student: here’s how it’s working at an Indiana high school — from cbsnews.com by Anderson Cooper, Aliza Chasan, Denise Schrier Cetta, and Katie Brennan

“I mean, that’s what I’ll always want for my own children and, frankly, for anyone’s children,” Khan said. “And the hope here is that we can use artificial intelligence and other technologies to amplify what a teacher can do so they can spend more time standing next to a student, figuring them out, having a person-to-person connection.”
…
“After a week you start to realize, like, how you can use it,” Brockman said. “That’s been one of the really important things about working with Sal and his team, to really figure out what’s the right way to sort of bring this to parents and to teachers and to classrooms and to do that in a way…so that the students really learn and aren’t just, you know, asking for the answers and that the parents can have oversight and the teachers can be involved in that process.”

Nectir lets teachers tailor AI chatbots to provide their students with 24/7 educational support — from techcrunch.com by Lauren Forristal

More than 100 colleges and high schools are turning to a new AI tool called Nectir, allowing teachers to create a personalized learning partner that’s trained on their syllabi, textbooks, and assignments to help students with anything from questions related to their coursework to essay writing assistance and even future career guidance.
…
With Nectir, teachers can create an AI assistant tailored to their specific needs, whether for a single class, a department, or the entire campus. There are various personalization options available, enabling teachers to establish clear boundaries for the AI’s interactions, such as programming the assistant to assist only with certain subjects or responding in a way that aligns with their teaching style.

“It’ll really be that customized learning partner. Every single conversation that a student has with any of their assistants will then be fed into that student profile for them to be able to see based on what the AI thinks, what should I be doing next, not only in my educational journey, but in my career journey,” Ghai said.

How Will AI Influence Higher Ed in 2025? — from insidehighered.com by Kathryn Palmer
No one knows for sure, but Inside Higher Ed asked seven experts for their predictions.

As the technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, no one knows for sure how AI will influence higher education in 2025. But several experts offered Inside Higher Ed their predictions—and some guidance—for how colleges and universities will have to navigate AI’s potential in the new year.

How A.I. Can Revive a Love of Learning — from nytimes.com by Anant Agarwal
Modern technology offers new possibilities for transforming teaching.

In the short term, A.I. will help teachers create lesson plans, find illustrative examples and generate quizzes tailored to each student. Customized problem sets will serve as tools to combat cheating while A.I. provides instant feedback.
…
In the longer term, it’s possible to imagine a world where A.I. can ingest rich learner data and create personalized learning paths for students, all within a curriculum established by the teacher. Teachers can continue to be deeply involved in fostering student discussions, guiding group projects and engaging their students, while A.I. handles grading and uses the Socratic method to help students discover answers on their own. Teachers provide encouragement and one-on-one support when needed, using their newfound availability to give students some extra care.

Let’s be clear: A.I. will never replace the human touch that is so vital to education. No algorithm can replicate the empathy, creativity and passion a teacher brings to the classroom. But A.I. can certainly amplify those qualities. It can be our co-pilot, our chief of staff helping us extend our reach and improve our effectiveness.

Dancing with the Devil We Know: OpenAI and the Future of Education — from nickpotkalitsky.substack.com by Nick Potkalitsky
Analyzing OpenAI’s Student Writing Guide and Latest AI Tools

Today, I want to reflect on two recent OpenAI developments that highlight this evolution: their belated publication of advice for students on integrating AI into writing workflows, and last week’s launch of the full GPTo1 Pro version. When OpenAI released their student writing guide, there were plenty of snarky comments about how this guidance arrives almost a year after they thoroughly disrupted the educational landscape. Fair enough – I took my own side swipes initially. But let’s look at what they’re actually advising, because the details matter more than the timing.

Tutor CoPilot: A Human-AI Approach for Scaling Real-Time Expertise — from studentsupportaccelerator.org by Rose E.Wang, Ana T. Ribeiro, Carly D. Robinson, Susanna Loeb, and Dora Demszky

Pandemic, Politics, Pre-K & More: 12 Charts That Defined Education in 2024 — from the74million.org
From the spread of AI to the limits of federal COVID aid, these research findings captured the world of education this year.

Tutoring programs exploded in the last five years as states and school districts searched for ways to counter plummeting achievement during COVID. But the cost of providing supplemental instruction to tens of millions of students can be eye-watering, even as the results seem to taper off as programs serve more students.

That’s where artificial intelligence could prove a decisive advantage. A report circulated in October by the National Student Support Accelerator found that an AI-powered tutoring assistant significantly improved the performance of hundreds of tutors by prompting them with new ways to explain concepts to students. With the help of the tool, dubbed Tutor CoPilot, students assigned to the weakest tutors began posting academic results nearly equal to those assigned to the strongest. And the cost to run the program was just $20 per pupil.

On Capacity, Sustainability, And Attention — from marcwatkins.substack.com by Marc Watkins

Faculty must have the time and support necessary to come to terms with this new technology and that requires us to change how we view professional development in higher education and K-12. We cannot treat generative AI as a one-off problem that can be solved by a workshop, an invited talk, or a course policy discussion. Generative AI in education has to be viewed as a continuum. Faculty need a myriad of support options each semester:

Course buyouts
Fellowships
Learning communities
Reading groups
AI Institutes and workshops
Funding to explore the scholarship of teaching and learning around generative AI

New in 2025 and What Edleaders Should Do About It — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark and Mason Pashia

Key Points

Education leaders should focus on integrating AI literacy, civic education, and work-based learning to equip students for future challenges and opportunities.
Building social capital and personalized learning environments will be crucial for student success in a world increasingly influenced by AI and decentralized power structures.

Reflections on “US College Closures Are Expected to Soar, Fed Research Says” [Bloomberg.com]

On 12/07/2024, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, business side of he, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, economics, faculty/staff, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, legislatures / government / legal, liberal arts, new business models, parents/guardians, policy, reinvent, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

US College Closures Are Expected to Soar, Fed Research Says — from bloomberg.com

Fed research created predictive model of college stress
Worst-case scenario forecasts 80 additional closures

The number of colleges that close each year is poised to significantly increase as schools contend with a slowdown in prospective students.

That’s the finding of a new working paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, where researchers created predictive models of schools’ financial distress using metrics like enrollment and staffing patterns, sources of revenue and liquidity data. They overlayed those models with simulations to estimate the likely increase of future closures.

Excerpt from the working paper:

We document a high degree of missing data among colleges that eventually close and show that this is a key impediment to identifying at risk institutions. We then show that modern machine learning techniques, combined with richer data, are far more effective at predicting college closures than linear probability models, and considerably more effective than existing accountability metrics. Our preferred model, which combines an off-the-shelf machine learning algorithm with the richest set of explanatory variables, can significantly improve predictive accuracy even for institutions with complete data, but is particularly helpful for predicting instances of financial distress for institutions with spotty data.

From DSC:
Questions that come to my mind here include:

Shouldn’t the public — especially those relevant parents and students — be made more aware of these types of papers and reports?
.
How would any of us like finishing up 1-3 years of school and then being told that our colleges or universities were closing, effective immediately? (This has happened many times already.) and with the demographic cliff starting to hit higher education, this will happen even more now.
.
Adding insult to injury…when we transfer to different institutions, we’re told that many of our prior credits don’t transfer — thus adding a significant amount to the overall cost of obtaining our degrees.
.
Would we not be absolutely furious to discover such communications from our prior — and new — colleges and universities?
.
Will all of these types of closures move more people to this vision here?

Relevant excerpts from Ray Schroeder’s recent articles out at insidehighered.com:

Winds of Change in Higher Ed to Become a Hurricane in 2025

A number of factors are converging to create a huge storm. Generative AI advances, massive federal policy shifts, broad societal and economic changes, and the demographic cliff combine to create uncertainty today and change tomorrow.

Higher Education in 2025: AGI Agents to Displace People

The anticipated enrollment cliff, reductions in federal and state funding, increased inflation, and dwindling public support for tuition increases will combine to put even greater pressure on university budgets.

On the positive side of things, the completion rates have been getting better:

National college completion rate ticks up to 61.1% — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz
Those who started at two-year public colleges helped drive the overall increase in students completing a credential.

Dive Brief:

Completion rates ticked up to 61.1% for students who entered college in fall 2018, a 0.5 percentage-point increase compared to the previous cohort, according to data released Wednesday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
The increase marks the highest six-year completion rate since 2007 when the clearinghouse began tracking the data. The growth was driven by fewer students stopping out of college, as well as completion gains among students who started at public two-year colleges.
“Higher completion rates are welcome news for colleges and universities still struggling to regain enrollment levels from before the pandemic,” Doug Shapiro, the research center’s executive director, said in a statement dated Wednesday.

Addendum:

Attention Please: Professors Struggle With Student Disengagement — from edsurge.com

The stakes are huge, because the concern is that maybe the social contract between students and professors is kind of breaking down. Do students believe that all this college lecturing is worth hearing? Or, will this moment force a change in the way college teaching is done?

Adapting to the future | Educause

Institutions are balancing capacity issues and rapid technological advancements—including artificial intelligence—while addressing a loss of trust in higher education.

To adapt to the future, technology and data leaders must work strategically to restore trust, prepare for policy updates, and plan for online education growth.

What DICE does in this posting will be available 24x7x365 in the future [Christian]

On 11/20/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, career development, changing business models, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, MBA, microlearning, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), neurodivergent/special needs, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, remote teaching and learning, skills, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, training / L&D, universities, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, Web3, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
First of all, when you look at the following posting:

What Top Tech Skills Should You Learn for 2025? — from dice.com by Nick Kolakowski

…you will see that they outline which skills you should consider mastering in 2025 if you want to stay on top of the latest career opportunities. They then list more information about the skills, how you apply the skills, and WHERE to get those skills.

I assert that in the future, people will be able to see this information on a 24x7x365 basis.

Which jobs are in demand?
What skills do I need to do those jobs?
WHERE do I get/develop those skills?

And that last part (about the WHERE do I develop those skills) will pull from many different institutions, people, companies, etc.

BUT PEOPLE are the key! Oftentimes, we need to — and prefer to — learn with others!

Using AI to brainstorm students own learning objectives [Potkalitsky] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 11/13/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, change, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, ethics, experimentation, faculty/staff, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, 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, mathematics, morals/values, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, UK, United States, universities, vendors, youth, by Daniel Christian

“The Value of Doing Things: What AI Agents Mean for Teachers” — from nickpotkalitsky.substack.com by guest author Jason Gulya, Professor of English and Applied Media at Berkeley College in New York City

AI Agents make me nervous. Really nervous.

I wish they didn’t.

I wish I could write that the last two years have made me more confident, more self-assured that AI is here to augment workers rather than replace them.

But I can’t.

I wish I could write that I know where schools and colleges will end up. I wish I could say that AI Agents will help us get where we need to be.

But I can’t.

At this point, today, I’m at a loss. I’m not sure where the rise of AI agents will take us, in terms of how we work and learn. I’m in the question-asking part of my journey. I have few answers.

So, let’s talk about where (I think) AI Agents will take education. And who knows? Maybe as I write I’ll come up with something more concrete.

It’s worth a shot, right?

From DSC:
I completely agree with Jason’s following assertion:

A good portion of AI advancement will come down to employee replacement. And AI Agents push companies towards that.

THAT’s where/what the ROI will be for corporations. They will make their investments up in the headcount area, and likely in other areas as well (product design, marketing campaigns, engineering-related items, and more). But how much time it takes to get there is a big question mark.

One last quote here…it’s too good not to include:

Behind these questions lies a more abstract, more philosophical one: what is the relationship between thinking and doing in a world of AI Agents and other kinds of automation?

How Good are Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini at Instructional Design? — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr Philippa Hardman
A test of AI’s Instruction Design skills in theory & in practice

By examining models across three AI families—Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini—I’ve started to identify each model’s strengths, limitations, and typical pitfalls.

Spoiler: my findings underscore that until we have specialised, fine-tuned AI copilots for instructional design, we should be cautious about relying on general-purpose models and ensure expert oversight in all ID tasks.

From DSC — I’m going to (have Nick) say this again:
I simply asked my students to use AI to brainstorm their own learning objectives. No restrictions. No predetermined pathways. Just pure exploration. The results? Astonishing.

Students began mapping out research directions I’d never considered. They created dialogue spaces with AI that looked more like intellectual partnerships than simple query-response patterns.

The Digital Literacy Quest: Become an AI Hero — from gamma.app

From DSC:
I have not gone through all of these online-based materials, but I like what they are trying to get at:

Confidence with AI
Students gain practical skills and confidence in using AI tools effectively.
Ethical Navigation
Learn to navigate the ethical landscape of AI with integrity and responsibility. Make informed decisions about AI usage.
Mastering Essential Skills
Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills in the context of AI.

Expanding access to the Gemini app for teen students in education — from workspaceupdates.googleblog.com

Google Workspace for Education admins can now turn on the Gemini app with added data protection as an additional service for their teen users (ages 13+ or the applicable age in your country) in the following languages and countries. With added data protection, chats are not reviewed by human reviewers or otherwise used to improve AI models. The Gemini app will be a core service in the coming weeks for Education Standard and Plus users, including teens,

5 Essential Questions Educators Have About AI — from edsurge.com by Annie Ning

Recently, I spoke with several teachers regarding their primary questions and reflections on using AI in teaching and learning. Their thought-provoking responses challenge us to consider not only what AI can do but what it means for meaningful and equitable learning environments. Keeping in mind these reflections, we can better understand how we move forward toward meaningful AI integration in education.

FrontierMath: A Benchmark for Evaluating Advanced Mathematical Reasoning in AI — from epoch.ai
FrontierMath presents hundreds of unpublished, expert-level mathematics problems that specialists spend days solving. It offers an ongoing measure of AI complex mathematical reasoning progress.

We’re introducing FrontierMath, a benchmark of hundreds of original, expert-crafted mathematics problems designed to evaluate advanced reasoning capabilities in AI systems. These problems span major branches of modern mathematics—from computational number theory to abstract algebraic geometry—and typically require hours or days for expert mathematicians to solve.

Rising demand for AI courses in UK universities shows 453% growth as students adapt to an AI-driven job market — from edtechinnovationhub.com

The demand for artificial intelligence courses in UK universities has surged dramatically over the past five years, with enrollments increasing by 453%, according to a recent study by Currys, a UK tech retailer.

The study, which analyzed UK university admissions data and surveyed current students and recent graduates, reveals how the growing influence of AI is shaping students’ educational choices and career paths.

This growth reflects the broader trend of AI integration across industries, creating new opportunities while transforming traditional roles. With AI’s influence on career prospects rising, students and graduates are increasingly drawn to AI-related courses to stay competitive in a rapidly changing job market.

“AI Tutors Double Rates of Learning in Less Learning Time” [Hardman] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 11/01/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, CMS/LMS, colleges, community colleges, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, platforms, podcasting, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

AI Tutors Double Rates of Learning in Less Learning Time — by drphilippahardman.substack.com Dr. Philippa Hardman
Inside Harvard’s new groundbreaking study

Conclusion
This Harvard study provides robust evidence that AI tutoring, when thoughtfully designed, can significantly enhance learning outcomes. The combination of doubled learning gains, increased engagement, and reduced time to competency suggests we’re seeing just the beginning of AI’s potential in education and that its potential is significant.

If this data is anything to go by, and if we – as humans – are open and willing to acting on it, it’s possible AI will have a significant and for some deeply positive impact on how we design and deliver learning experiences.

That said, as we look forward, the question shouldn’t just be, “how AI can enhance current educational methods?”, but also “how it might AI transform the very nature of learning itself?”. With continued research and careful implementation, we could be moving toward an era of education that’s more effective but also more accessible than ever before.

Three Quick Examples of Teaching with and about Generative AI — from derekbruff.org Derek Bruff

Text-to-Podcast.
Assigning Students to Groups.
AI Acceptable Use Scale.

Also from Derek’s blog, see:

From Mike Sharples on LinkedIn:

ChatGPT’s free voice wizard — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan
How and why to try the new Advanced Voice Mode

7 surprisingly practical ways to use voice AI
Opening up ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode (AVM) is like conjuring a tutor eager to help with whatever simple — or crazy — query you throw at it. Talking is more fluid and engaging than typing, especially if you’re out and about. It’s not a substitute for human expertise, but AVM provides valuable machine intelligence.

Get a virtual museum tour. …
Chat with historical figures….
Practice languages. …
Explore books. …
Others…

Though not AI-related, this is along the lines of edtech:

MoodleMoot Global 24 Conference Notes — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Glenda Morgan
A first look at Moodle under new leadership

Here’s the link to access it: https://t.co/kHq0S2r4aD

It’s only available in the US at the moment, but it works with a VPN.

Truly the best tool for learning a new subject I’ve tried so far.

— Paul Couvert (@itsPaulAi) October 31, 2024

…which links to:

“College competition & operational pain are the ‘new normal,’ S&P says” [Unglesbee] + other items re: higher ed

On 10/14/2024, in adjunct faculty, business side of he, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, faculty/staff, higher education, learning ecosystem, liberal arts, neurodivergent/special needs, parents/guardians, student-related, teaching & learning, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

S&P: Community colleges lifted by improved enrollment and finances — from highereddive.com by Ben Unglesbee

Dive Brief:

With enrollment trends improving and state appropriations increasing, the community college sector has reason for “optimism,” according to a recent report from S&P Global Ratings.
For 2023, median full-time equivalent enrollment, at 5,439 students, was down just 0.3% from 2021 and up nearly 8.1% from the previous year, S&P found among the roughly 200 community colleges it rates. That comes after enrollment in the sector fell 7.7% year over year in 2022,.
Meanwhile, median state appropriations per FTE student for the sector increased 19.1% to $4,930 between 2021 and 2023, analysts found.

College competition and operational pain are the ‘new normal,’ S&P says — from highereddive.com by Ben Unglesbee-
Margins are down, costs are up and tuition revenue is constrained after the pandemic exacerbated existing challenges, according to a recent report.

Dive Brief:

U.S. colleges face a “new normal” and accelerated existing challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, including constrained operations and heavy competition, a recent report from S&P Global Ratings found.
Between 2018 and 2023, operating margin rates fell from 0.8% to -0.1% amid rising costs to colleges, according to S&P. Meanwhile, median tuition discount rates at private colleges rose by more than 5 percentage points, to 44.4%, in that period, putting pressure on college revenues.
From 2019 through the second quarter of 2024, the ratings agency issued 126 credit downgrades for the higher ed sector, compared to 62 upgrades, per the report.

5 ways colleges can improve outreach to rural students — from highereddive.com by Laura Spitalniak
Students from small towns help strengthen campus communities, said panelists at the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s conference.

We cannot just swoop in and take the best and brightest and just say, ‘Oh, good job us.’ We want this to be a two-way highway, not a one-way brain drain.

Marjorie Betley
Deputy director of admissions at the University of Chicago

A Trauma-Informed Teaching Framework for Stewards — from scholarlyteacher.com by Jeannette Baca, New Mexico Highlands University; Debbie Gonzalez, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt; Jamie Langlois, Grand Valley State University; and Mary Kirk, Winona State University

Using the Trauma-Informed Community of Inquiry (T-I CoI) framework as a pedagogical design helped us address students’ emotional stress and facilitated cognitive growth and connection to the learning process. It also provided an opportunity to create a sense of community within an online learning environment. When we returned to in-person instruction, the model continued to be beneficial.

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.

DC: Shame on you Northwestern University!

On 09/06/2024, in cost of getting a degree, culture, Daniel S. Christian, ethics, faculty/staff, hearts -- matters of the heart, higher education, liberal arts, psychology, society, sociology, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

DC: Shame on you Northwestern University. It’s yet another example of how the U continues to move away from our far more noble roots.https://t.co/uQoxFAdTpW

— Daniel S. Christian (@dchristian5) September 6, 2024

Speaking of higher education…

Higher Ed in 4 charts — from jeffselingo-14576223.hs-sites.com by Jeff Selingo

We’ve reached the peak of high-school graduates.
The colleges in the best financial shape educate only 600,000 students.
and two others…

Majoring in video games? A new wave of degrees underscores the pressures on colleges — from usatoday.com by Zachary Schermele
From degrees in AI to social media influencing, colleges are adapting to economic trends with new majors that emphasize the debate about getting students their money’s worth.

Majors like hers are part of a broader wave of less conventional, avant-garde majors, in specialties such as artificial intelligence, that are taking root in American higher education, as colleges grapple with changes in the economy and a shrinking pool of students.
…
The trend underscores the distinct ways schools are responding to growing concerns over which degrees provide the best return on investment. As college costs soared to new heights in recent years, saddling many students with crippling loan debt, that discourse has only become increasingly fraught, raising the stakes for schools to prove their degrees leave students better prepared and employable.

“I’m a big believer in the liberal arts, but universities don’t get to print money,” he said. “If enrollment interests are shifting, they have to be able to hire faculty to teach in those areas. Money has to come from someplace.”

From DSC:
Years ago, I remember having lunch with one of the finalists for the President position of a local university. He withdrew himself from the search because the institution’s culture would be like oil and water with him at the helm. He was very innovative, and this organization was not. I remember him saying, “The marketplace will determine what that organization ultimately does.” In other words, he was saying that higher education was market-driven. I agreed with him then, and I still agree with that perspective now.

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

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

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

Dive Brief:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Learning Ecosystems

Creating Assessments for Micro-Credentials in Higher Education Organizations. [Reed & Abramovich]

DC: Shame on you Northwestern University!

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