Navigating Career Transitions — from er.educause.edu by Jay James, Mike Richichi, Sarah Buszka, and Wes Johnson

In this episode, we hear from professionals at different stages of their career journeys as they reflect on risk, resilience, and growth. They share advice on stepping into leadership roles, recognizing when it may be time for a change, and overcoming imposter syndrome.

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

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.
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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.

 

Google I/O 2025: From research to reality — from blog.google
Here’s how we’re making AI more helpful with Gemini.


Google I/O 2025 LIVE — all the details about Android XR smart glasses, AI Mode, Veo 3, Gemini, Google Beam and more — from tomsguide.com by Philip Michaels
Google’s annual conference goes all in on AI

With a running time of 2 hours, Google I/O 2025 leaned heavily into Gemini and new models that make the assistant work in more places than ever before. Despite focusing the majority of the keynote around Gemini, Google saved its most ambitious and anticipated announcement towards the end with its big Android XR smart glasses reveal.

Shockingly, very little was spent around Android 16. Most of its Android 16 related news, like the redesigned Material 3 Expressive interface, was announced during the Android Show live stream last week — which explains why Google I/O 2025 was such an AI heavy showcase.

That’s because Google carved out most of the keynote to dive deeper into Gemini, its new models, and integrations with other Google services. There’s clearly a lot to unpack, so here’s all the biggest Google I/O 2025 announcements.


Our vision for building a universal AI assistant— from blog.google
We’re extending Gemini to become a world model that can make plans and imagine new experiences by simulating aspects of the world.

Making Gemini a world model is a critical step in developing a new, more general and more useful kind of AI — a universal AI assistant. This is an AI that’s intelligent, understands the context you are in, and that can plan and take action on your behalf, across any device.

By applying LearnLM capabilities, and directly incorporating feedback from experts across the industry, Gemini adheres to the principles of learning science to go beyond just giving you the answer. Instead, Gemini can explain how you get there, helping you untangle even the most complex questions and topics so you can learn more effectively. Our new prompting guide provides sample instructions to see this in action.


Learn in newer, deeper ways with Gemini — from blog.google.com by Ben Gomes
We’re infusing LearnLM directly into Gemini 2.5 — plus more learning news from I/O.

At I/O 2025, we announced that we’re infusing LearnLM directly into Gemini 2.5, which is now the world’s leading model for learning. As detailed in our latest report, Gemini 2.5 Pro outperformed competitors on every category of learning science principles. Educators and pedagogy experts preferred Gemini 2.5 Pro over other offerings across a range of learning scenarios, both for supporting a user’s learning goals and on key principles of good pedagogy.


Gemini gets more personal, proactive and powerful — from blog.google.com by Josh Woodward
It’s your turn to create, learn and explore with an AI assistant that’s starting to understand your world and anticipate your needs.

Here’s what we announced at Google IO:

  • Gemini Live with camera and screen sharing, is now free on Android and iOS for everyone, so you can point your phone at anything and talk it through.
  • Imagen 4, our new image generation model, comes built in and is known for its image quality, better text rendering and speed.
  • Veo 3, our new, state-of-the-art video generation model, comes built in and is the first in the world to have native support for sound effects, background noises and dialogue between characters.
  • Deep Research and Canvas are getting their biggest updates yet, unlocking new ways to analyze information, create podcasts and vibe code websites and apps.
  • Gemini is coming to Chrome, so you can ask questions while browsing the web.
  • Students around the world can easily make interactive quizzes, and college students in the U.S., Brazil, Indonesia, Japan and the UK are eligible for a free school year of the Google AI Pro plan.
  • Google AI Ultra, a new premium plan, is for the pioneers who want the highest rate limits and early access to new features in the Gemini app.
  • 2.5 Flash has become our new default model, and it blends incredible quality with lightning fast response times.

Fuel your creativity with new generative media models and tools — from by Eli Collins
Introducing Veo 3 and Imagen 4, and a new tool for filmmaking called Flow.


AI in Search: Going beyond information to intelligence
We’re introducing new AI features to make it easier to ask any question in Search.

AI in Search is making it easier to ask Google anything and get a helpful response, with links to the web. That’s why AI Overviews is one of the most successful launches in Search in the past decade. As people use AI Overviews, we see they’re happier with their results, and they search more often. In our biggest markets like the U.S. and India, AI Overviews is driving over 10% increase in usage of Google for the types of queries that show AI Overviews.

This means that once people use AI Overviews, they’re coming to do more of these types of queries, and what’s particularly exciting is how this growth increases over time. And we’re delivering this at the speed people expect of Google Search — AI Overviews delivers the fastest AI responses in the industry.

In this story:

  • AI Mode in Search
  • Deep Search
  • Live capabilities
  • Agentic capabilities
  • Shopping
  • Personal context
  • Custom charts

 

 

Welcome to Planet Money

The current economic upheaval has a lot of us scratching our heads and scrambling to look up terms like “trade deficit” and “reserve currency.” If only there was a place you could go where friendly voices break down what’s going on in a way that’s fun and easy to understand. There is a place. It’s called Planet Money.

On each episode of the Planet Money podcast, the hosts tell a sometimes quirky, often surprising story that helps explain a topic you might be hearing about in the news, from tariffs to GDP to memecoins.

They walk you through complex concepts using examples from everyday life, like Tupperware and scratch-off lotto tickets, and people you can relate to, like a guy who’s just looking for a fair way to distribute his chickens’ wares during the current egg shortage.

And when someone else’s story isn’t enough to illustrate an economic principle, the hosts take matters into their own hands. In the process, they’ve shot a satellite into space, started a record label, made their own vodka, and shorted the entire stock market – all to help you grasp how the things you see every day came to be.

Visit Planet Money twice a week and you won’t only better understand money – you’ll better understand the world.

 

GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok… Wait, Which One Do I Use Again? — from thebrainyacts.beehiiv.com by Josh Kubicki
Brainyacts #263

So this edition is simple: a quick, practical guide to the major generative AI models available in 2025 so far. What they’re good at, what to use them for, and where they might fit into your legal work—from document summarization to client communication to research support.

From DSC:
This comprehensive, highly informational posting lists what the model is, its strengths, the best legal use cases for it, and responsible use tips as well.


What’s Happening in LegalTech Other than AI? — from legaltalknetwork.com by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell

Of course AI will continue to make waves, but what other important legal technologies do you need to be aware of in 2025? Dennis and Tom give an overview of legal tech tools—both new and old—you should be using for successful, modernized legal workflows in your practice. They recommend solutions for task management, collaboration, calendars, projects, legal research, and more.

Later, the guys answer a listener’s question about online prompt libraries. Are there reputable, useful prompts available freely on the internet? They discuss their suggestions for prompt resources and share why these libraries tend to quickly become outdated.


LawDroid Founder Tom Martin on Building, Teaching and Advising About AI for Legal — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi and Tom Martin

If you follow legal tech at all, you would be justified in suspecting that Tom Martin has figured out how to use artificial intelligence to clone himself.

While running LawDroid, his legal tech company, the Vancouver-based Martin also still manages a law practice in California, oversees an annual legal tech awards program, teaches a law school course on generative AI, runs an annual AI conference, hosts a podcast, and recently launched a legal tech consultancy.

In January 2023, less than two months after ChatGPT first launched, Martin’s company was one of the first to launch a gen AI assistant specifically for lawyers, called LawDroid Copilot. He has since also launched LawDroid Builder, a no-code platform for creating custom AI agents.


Legal training in the age of AI: A leadership imperative — from thomsonreuters.com by The Hon. Maritza Dominguez Braswell  U.S. Magistrate Judge / District of Colorado

In a profession that’s actively contemplating its future in the face of AI, legal organization leaders who demonstrate a genuine desire to invest in the next generation of legal professionals will undoubtedly set themselves apart


Unlocking the power of AI: Opportunities and use cases for law firms — from todaysconveyancer.co.uk

Artificial intelligence (AI) is here. And it’s already reshaping the way law firms operate. Whether automating repetitive tasks, improving risk management, or boosting efficiency, AI presents a genuine opportunity for forward-thinking legal practices. But with new opportunities come new responsibilities. And as firms explore AI tools, it’s essential they consider how to govern them safely and ethically. That’s where an AI policy becomes indispensable.

So, what can AI actually do for your firm right now? Let’s take a closer look.

 

..which links to:

Duolingo will replace contract workers with AI — from theverge.com by Jay Peters
The company is going to be ‘AI-first,’ says its CEO.

Duolingo will “gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle,” according to an all-hands email sent by cofounder and CEO Luis von Ahn announcing that the company will be “AI-first.” The email was posted on Duolingo’s LinkedIn account.

According to von Ahn, being “AI-first” means the company will “need to rethink much of how we work” and that “making minor tweaks to systems designed for humans won’t get us there.” As part of the shift, the company will roll out “a few constructive constraints,” including the changes to how it works with contractors, looking for AI use in hiring and in performance reviews, and that “headcount will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work.”


Relevant links:

Something strange, and potentially alarming, is happening to the job market for young, educated workers.

According to the New York Federal Reserve, labor conditions for recent college graduates have “deteriorated noticeably” in the past few months, and the unemployment rate now stands at an unusually high 5.8 percent. Even newly minted M.B.A.s from elite programs are struggling to find work. Meanwhile, law-school applications are surging—an ominous echo of when young people used graduate school to bunker down during the great financial crisis.

What’s going on? I see three plausible explanations, and each might be a little bit true.


It’s Time To Get Concerned As More Companies Replace Workers With AI — from forbes.com by Jack Kelly

The new workplace trend is not employee friendly. Artificial intelligence and automation technologies are advancing at blazing speed. A growing number of companies are using AI to streamline operations, cut costs, and boost productivity. Consequently, human workers are facing facing layoffs, replaced by AI. Like it or not, companies need to make tough decisions, including layoffs to remain competitive.

Corporations including Klarna, UPS, Duolingo, Intuit and Cisco are replacing laid-off workers with AI and automation. While these technologies enhance productivity, they raise serious concerns about future job security. For many workers, there is a big concern over whether or not their jobs will be impacted.


The future of career navigation — from medium.com by Sami Tatar

  1. Career navigation market overview

Key takeaway:
Career navigation has remained largely unchanged for decades, relying on personal networks and static job boards. The advent of AI is changing this, offering personalised career pathways, better job matching, democratised job application support, democratised access to career advice/coaching, and tailored skill development to help you get to where you need to be. Hundreds of millions of people start new jobs every year, this transformation opens up a multi-billion dollar opportunity for innovation in the global career navigation market.

A.4 How will AI disrupt this segment?
Personalised recommendations: AI can consume a vast amount of information (skills, education, career history, even youtube history, and x/twitter feeds), standardise this data at scale, and then use data models to match candidate characteristics to relevant careers and jobs. In theory, solutions could then go layers deeper, helping you position yourself for those future roles. Currently based in Amsterdam, and working in Strategy at Uber and want to work in a Product role in the future? Here are X,Y,Z specific things YOU can do in your role today to align yourself perfectly. E.g. find opportunities to manage cross functional projects in your current remit, reach out to Joe Bloggs also at Uber in Amsterdam who did Strategy and moved to Product, etc.


Tales from the Front – What Teachers Are Telling Me at AI Workshops — from aliciabankhofer.substack.com by Alicia Bankhofer
Real conversations, real concerns: What teachers are saying about AI

“Do I really have to use AI?”

No matter the school, no matter the location, when I deliver an AI workshop to a group of teachers, there are always at least a few colleagues thinking (and sometimes voicing), “Do I really need to use AI?”

Nearly three years after ChatGPT 3.5 landed in our lives and disrupted workflows in ways we’re still unpacking, most schools are swiftly catching up. Training sessions, like the ones I lead, are springing up everywhere, with principals and administrators trying to answer the same questions: Which tools should we use? How do we use them responsibly? How do we design learning in this new landscape?

But here’s what surprises me most: despite all the advances in AI technology, the questions and concerns from teachers remain strikingly consistent.

In this article, I want to pull back the curtain on those conversations. These concerns aren’t signs of reluctance – they reflect sincere feelings. And they deserve thoughtful, honest answers.


Welcome To AI Agent World! (Everything you need to know about the AI Agent market.) — from joshbersin.com by Josh Bersin

This week, in advance of major announcements from us and other vendors, I give you a good overview of the AI Agent market, and discuss the new role of AI governance platforms, AI agent development tools, AI agent vendors, and how AI agents will actually manifest and redefine what we call an “application.”

I discuss ServiceNow, Microsoft, SAP, Workday, Paradox, Maki People, and other vendors. My goal today is to “demystify” this space and explain the market, the trends, and why and how your IT department is going to be building a lot of the agents you need. And prepare for our announcements next week!


DeepSeek Unveils Prover V2 — from theaivalley.com

DeepSeek has quietly launched Prover V2, an open-source model built to solve math problems using Lean 4 assistant, which ensures every step of a proof is rigorously verified.

What’s impressive about it?

  • Massive scale: Based on DeepSeek-V3 with 671B parameters using a mixture-of-experts (MoE) architecture, which activates only parts of the model at a time to reduce compute costs.
  • Theorem solving: Uses long context windows (32K+ tokens) to generate detailed, step-by-step formal proofs for a wide range of math problems — from basic algebra to advanced calculus theorems.
  • Research grade: Assists mathematicians in testing new theorems automatically and helps students understand formal logic by generating both Lean 4 code and readable explanations.
  • New benchmark: Introduces ProverBench, a new 325-question benchmark set featuring problems from recent AIME exams and curated academic sources to evaluate mathematical reasoning.

Artificial Intelligence: Lessons Learned from a Graduate-Level Final Exam — from er.educause.edu by Craig Westling and Manish K. Mishra

The need for deep student engagement became clear at Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine when a potential academic-integrity issue revealed gaps in its initial approach to artificial intelligence use in the classroom, leading to significant revisions to ensure equitable learning and assessment.


Deep Research with AI: 9 Ways to Get Started — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan
Practical strategies for thorough, citation-rich AI research
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From George Siemens “SAIL: Transmutation, Assessment, Robots e-newsletter on 5/2/25

All indications are that AI, even if it stops advancing, has the capacity to dramatically change knowledge work. Knowing things matters less than being able to navigate and make sense of complex environments. Put another way, sensemaking, meaningmaking, and wayfinding (with their yet to be defined subelements) will be the foundation for being knowledgeable going forward.

 That will require being able to personalize learning to each individual learner so that who they are (not what our content is) forms the pedagogical entry point to learning.(DSC: And I would add WHAT THEY WANT to ACHIEVE.)LLMs are particularly good and transmutation. Want to explain AI to a farmer? A sentence or two in a system prompt achieves that. Know that a learner has ADHD? A few small prompt changes and it’s reflected in the way the LLM engages with learning. Talk like a pirate. Speak in the language of Shakespeare. Language changes. All a matter of a small meta comment send to the LLM. I’m convinced that this capability to change, transmute, information will become a central part of how LLMS and AI are adopted in education.

Speaking of Duolingo– it took them 12 years to develop 100 courses. In the last year, they developed an additional 148. AI is an accelerant with an impact in education that is hard to overstate. “Instead of taking years to build a single course with humans the company now builds a base course and uses AI to quickly customize it for dozens of different languages.”


FutureHouse Platform: Superintelligent AI Agents for Scientific Discovery — from futurehouse.org by Michael Skarlinski, Tyler Nadolski, James Braza, Remo Storni, Mayk Caldas, Ludovico Mitchener, Michaela Hinks, Andrew White, &  Sam Rodriques

FutureHouse is launching our platform, bringing the first publicly available superintelligent scientific agents to scientists everywhere via a web interface and API. Try it out for free at https://platform.futurehouse.org.

 

AI agents arrive in US classrooms — from zdnet.com by Radhika Rajkumar
Kira AI’s personalized learning platform is currently being implemented in Tennessee schools. How will it change education?

AI for education is a new but rapidly expanding field. Can it support student outcomes and help teachers avoid burnout?

On Wednesday, AI education company Kira launched a “fully AI-native learning platform” for K-12 education, complete with agents to assist teachers with repetitive tasks. The platform hosts assignments, analyzes progress data, offers administrative assistance, helps build lesson plans and quizzes, and more.

“Unlike traditional tools that merely layer AI onto existing platforms, Kira integrates artificial intelligence directly into every educational workflow — from lesson planning and instruction to grading, intervention, and reporting,” the release explains. “This enables schools to improve student outcomes, streamline operations, and provide personalized support at scale.”

Also relevant/see:

Coursera Founder Andrew Ng’s New Venture Brings A.I. to K–12 Classrooms — from observer.com by Victor Dey
Andrew Ng’s Kira Learning uses A.I. agents to transform K–12 education with tools for teachers, students and administrators.

“Teachers today are overloaded with repetitive tasks. A.I. agents can change that, and free up their time to give more personalized help to students,” Ng said in a statement.

Kira was co-founded by Andrea Pasinetti and Jagriti Agrawal, both longtime collaborators of Ng. The platform embeds A.I. directly into lesson planning, instruction, grading and reporting. Teachers can instantly generate standards-aligned lesson plans, monitor student progress in real time and receive automated intervention strategies when a student falls behind.

Students, in turn, receive on-demand tutoring tailored to their learning styles. A.I. agents adapt to each student’s pace and mastery level, while grading is automated with instant feedback—giving educators time to focus on teaching.


‘Using GenAI is easier than asking my supervisor for support’ — from timeshighereducation.com
Doctoral researchers are turning to generative AI to assist in their research. How are they using it, and how can supervisors and candidates have frank discussions about using it responsibly?

Generative AI is increasingly the proverbial elephant in the supervisory room. As supervisors, you may be concerned about whether your doctoral researchers are using GenAI. It can be a tricky topic to broach, especially when you may not feel confident in understanding the technology yourself.

While the potential impact of GenAI use among undergraduate and postgraduate taught students, especially, is well discussed (and it is increasingly accepted that students and staff need to become “AI literate”), doctoral researchers often slip through the cracks in institutional guidance and policymaking.


AI as a Thought Partner in Higher Education — from er.educause.edu by Brian Basgen

When used thoughtfully and transparently, generative artificial intelligence can augment creativity and challenge assumptions, making it an excellent tool for exploring and developing ideas.

The glaring contrast between the perceived ubiquity of GenAI and its actual use also reveals fundamental challenges associated with the practical application of these tools. This article explores two key questions about GenAI to address common misconceptions and encourage broader adoption and more effective use of these tools in higher education.


AI for Automation or Augmentation of L&D? — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
An audio summary of my Learning Technologies talk

Like many of you, I spent the first part of this week at Learning Technologies in London, where I was lucky enough to present a session on the current state of AI and L&D.

In this week’s blog post, I summarise what I covered and share an audio summary of my paper for you to check out.


Bridging the AI Trust Gap — from chronicle.com by Ian Wilhelm, Derek Bruff, Gemma Garcia, and Lee Rainie

In a 2024 Chronicle survey, 86 percent of administrators agreed with the statement: “Generative artificial intelligence tools offer an opportunity for higher education to improve how it educates, operates, and conducts research.” In contrast, just 55 percent of faculty agreed, showing the stark divisions between faculty and administrative perspectives on adopting AI.

Among many faculty members, a prevalent distrust of AI persists — and for valid reasons. How will it impact in-class instruction? What does the popularity of generative AI tools portend for the development of critical thinking skills for Gen-Z students? How can institutions, at the administrative level, develop policies to safeguard against students using these technologies as tools for cheating?

Given this increasing ‘trust gap,’ how can faculty and administrators work together to preserve academic integrity as AI seeps into all areas of academia, from research to the classroom?

Join us for “Bridging the AI Trust Gap,” an extended, 75-minute Virtual Forum exploring the trust gap on campus about AI, the contours of the differences, and what should be done about it.

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT + DISCUSSION
Translating CBE Vision into Learning Design

What if your Portrait of a Graduate could shape every unit, lesson, and conversation you’re building? Check out one of our most requested resources, The Teacher’s First Steps Guide, created in partnership with schools in South Carolina.
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Unpack the vision.
Start with small-group conversations about your graduate profile – where are you aligned? What feels fuzzy?

Connect to practice.
Use Future9 or your own framework to translate vision into observable skills.

Prototype with purpose.
Invite teachers to refine a task or lesson using one of the guide’s steps


Addendum on 4/21/25:

A Close Look at Competency-Based Learning — from cultofpedagogy.com by Jennifer Gonzalez

And despite not getting that original question answered, the search did lead me to something called competency-based learning. Although I was vaguely familiar with it — I believed it was in the same ballpark as standards-based learning and mastery learning, which we’ve seen in the Modern Classrooms approach — I had never looked closely at it. So I’m doing that now. I invited three people onto the podcast who have a lot of experience and success with this approach:

  • Susie Bell, Executive Director of Programs at the Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC), an organization that supports schools in implementing competency-based learning.
  • Heather Messer, a teacher and advisor at a Wisconsin school where competency-based learning is a school-wide practice.
  • Beth Blankenship, an English teacher who has figured out how to use competency-based learning at her Virginia high school, a school that still uses traditional grading.
 

The Education Exchange: Big Money Comes to High School Sports — from educationnext.org by Paul E. Peterson (podcast)
Expansion of NIL to secondary level creates competition between public and private schools

Andrew Perloff, a freelance writer and producer and the co-host of the nationally syndicated sports-radio program “The Maggie and Perloff Show,” joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how the name, image and likeness space is making its way from college athletics into the high school realm.

From DSC:
What could go wrong? Time will tell.

 

Five things to know before you launch a research podcast — from timeshighereducation.com by David Allan  and Andrew Murray
Starting a podcast can open up your research to a new audience. David Allan and Andrew Murray show how

Launching a podcast isn’t necessarily difficult. Sustaining it, on the other hand, is difficult. You’re entering a crowded market – it’s estimated that there are more than 4 million of them – and audience share is far from equal. An alarmingly high number fail to make it past their third episode before being scrapped, and the vast majority put out fewer than 20 episodes.

Despite these challenges, podcasts can be an astonishingly effective tool to promote research or academic knowledge. If you avoid the many pitfalls, you have a communication tool with full control of the message; a tool that exists in perpetuity, drawing attention to the work that you do.

Here, a highly experienced podcast producer and associate lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland and an award-winning former broadcast journalist draw on their experiences to share advice on how to successfully launch a research podcast.


Also from timeshighereducation.com:

An introvert’s guide to networking — from by Yalinu Poya
For academics, networking can greatly enhance your career. But if the very idea fills you with dread, Yalinu Poya offers her advice for putting yourself out there

In academia, meeting the right person can lead to a research collaboration, or it could lead to your work being shared with someone who can use it to make a difference. It could lead to public speaking opportunities or even mentorship. It all goes towards your long-term success.

For some of us, the idea of putting yourself out there in that way – of making an active effort to meet new people – is terrifying.

 

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.


 

 

The legal tech trends that defined 2024 — from abajournal.com by Nicole Black

The year 2024 was one of change. In the midst of a largely unpopular back-to-office push, technological innovation and development occurred at a rapid clip. Legal professionals approached technology with a newfound curiosity and appreciation gained as a result of pandemic-era remote work experimentation. The increasing demand for generative artificial intelligence tools fueled heavy investments in the legal technology industry.

Simultaneously, law firm technology adoption was supported by a flurry of guidance released by ethics committees across the country. As technology upended traditional ways of working, some state bars reconsidered bar exam requirements and others experimented with loosening licensing regulations.

No matter where you looked, change was occurring at a breakneck pace as technology’s impact on the practice of law became inescapable. Through it all, a few key trends emerged that offer clues on where we’re headed in the coming year.

Meanwhile, some states, including Oregon, Washington and Nevada, explored allowing unlicensed professionals to practice law in limited areas, such as family law and small claims. These efforts seek to improve access to justice, representing a revised perspective on long-standing rules about who can —and cannot—deliver legal services.


What to Expect in 2025: AI Legal Tech and Regulation (65 Expert Predictions) — from natlawreview.com by Oliver Roberts

As 2024 comes to a close, it’s time to look ahead to how AI will shape the law and legal practice in 2025. Over the past year, we’ve witnessed growing adoption of AI across the legal sector, substantial investments in legal AI startups, and a rise in state-level AI regulations. While the future of 2025 remains uncertain, industry leaders are already sharing their insights.

Along with 2025 predictions from The National Law Review’s Editor-in-Chief Oliver Roberts, this article presents 65 expert predictions on AI and the law in 2025 from federal judges, startup founders, CEOs, and leaders of AI practice groups at global law firms.


The Potential of GenAI to Promote Access to Justice — from law.com by Joanne Sprague
GenAI-assisted legal support is not a substitute for lawyers, but may help legal aid professionals serve more clients efficiently and effectively.

Generative AI (GenAI) has been heralded as a transformative force, poised to revolutionize everything from medicine to education to law. While GenAI won’t perform surgery or earn diplomas, it holds the promise of enabling lawyers to get due process for more of their clients or even empowering individuals to represent themselves in court. The harsh reality is that low-income individuals do not receive sufficient legal help for 92% of their civil legal problems, and legal aid organizations must turn away one of every two requests they get, according to the 2022 Justice Gap Report. GenAI-assisted legal support is not a substitute for lawyers, but may help legal aid professionals serve more clients efficiently and effectively.

If implemented equitably, GenAI could democratize legal knowledge and empower individuals to navigate the complexities of the justice system more easily.

In her new book “Law Democratized,” Renee Knake Jefferson says that GenAI “has the potential to become the single most important tool in solving the legal justice crisis … if harnessed to do so ethically.” With GenAI, we can envision a possible future of informed self-representation and legal decision-making regardless of ability to pay.


Experimenting in the sandbox — from nationalmagazine.ca by Julie Sobowale
Ontario Bar Association launches AI platform for lawyers to learn tech

The Ontario Bar Association has launched a new, free interactive learning platform for lawyers looking to learn about generative AI.

The new learning platform, created to clarify some of that and help lawyers navigate this technology, is part of OBA’s Real Intelligence on AI project. It is being spearheaded by Colin Lachance, the association’s innovator-in-residence.

Users can ask questions to LawQI, an AI assistant specializing in Canadian law, and work through learning modules about prompt engineering, different generative AI tools and best practices. The portal is free for OBA members and Ontario law students.

“Lawyers need to know how AI works,” says Lachance, principal at PGYA Consulting and former president and CEO of the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII).

“I wanted to create an environment where lawyers can experiment. By using the technology, you learn how to use it.”


The Innovation Strategist: Nicole Black — from substack.com by Tom Martin and Nicole Black
Where I interview Nicole Black about how she merged her legal expertise with her passion for technology to become a leading voice in legal innovation

Excerpt from Key Takeaways:

  • Her role as employee #1 at MyCase in 2012 allowed her to combine her legal expertise with her passion for technology, leading to her current position as Principal Legal Insight Strategist at Affinipay
  • She believes generative AI will fundamentally transform the legal profession, potentially more significantly than previous technological innovations like PCs and the internet
  • Her advice for new lawyers includes actively experimenting with AI tools like ChatGPT and preparing for significant changes in legal education and entry-level legal work

Legal Liabilities of AI for Attorneys and Small Firms — from ethicalailawinstitute.org by Trent Kubasiak

Many small firms and solo attorneys could be in for a nasty shock when it comes to the use of AI. A detailed report from NYU’s Journal of Legislation and Public Policy is shedding light on the potential legal liabilities of using generative AI. Co-authored by EqualAI CEO Miriam Vogel, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, and others, the report underscores a widespread misconception—that liability for AI-related outcomes rests solely with the developers of these technologies.

For attorneys and small business owners, this misconception can be dangerous. As Vogel explains, “There are so many laws on the books that people need to know are applicable.” From lending and housing regulations to employment law, the use of AI—even indirectly—can expose firms to significant risks.


Challenges And Opportunities Of Digital Transformation In US Law Firms — from forbes.com by Chad Sands

So, what is driving the transformation?

Some adoption of new “legal tech” is literally being forced by legacy software companies who are shutting down older, server-based technology platforms. But most law firms are now increasingly becoming more proactive in planning and executing their digital transformation strategies on their own.

This is no longer a choice or matter of “Why should we?”

It’s a question of “When will we?”

There are several factors driving this shift, one being client expectations.


Fresh Voices On Legal Tech with Ilona Logvinova — from legaltalknetwork.com by Dennis Kennedy, Tom Mighell, and Ilona Logvinova

The world of AI and legal tech is evolving ever more rapidly, and it is all too common for lawyers to feel intimidated at the thought of keeping up with the constant barrage of change. How should lawyers maintain their tech competence? Dennis and Tom talk with Ilona Logvinova about her work in tech and AI innovations for lawyers. She shares her career journey and offers perspectives on leveraging technology to create new and better opportunities for attorneys to thrive in their work.


AI Insights for Legal: Ten Key Takeaways from Summit AI New York — from techlawcrossroads.com by Stephen Embry

Despite the shortcomings, it still was a good Conference. (i.e., the Summit AI New York). I learned some things and confirmed that many of the AI related issues being faced by legal are also being faced by many other businesses. What were my top ten takeaways? Here they are in no particular order:

 

Where to start with AI agents: An introduction for COOs — from fortune.com by Ganesh Ayyar

Picture your enterprise as a living ecosystem, where surging market demand instantly informs staffing decisions, where a new vendor’s onboarding optimizes your emissions metrics, where rising customer engagement reveals product opportunities. Now imagine if your systems could see these connections too! This is the promise of AI agents — an intelligent network that thinks, learns, and works across your entire enterprise.

Today, organizations operate in artificial silos. Tomorrow, they could be fluid and responsive. The transformation has already begun. The question is: will your company lead it?

The journey to agent-enabled operations starts with clarity on business objectives. Leaders should begin by mapping their business’s critical processes. The most pressing opportunities often lie where cross-functional handoffs create friction or where high-value activities are slowed by system fragmentation. These pain points become the natural starting points for your agent deployment strategy.


Create podcasts in minutes — from elevenlabs.io by Eleven Labs
Now anyone can be a podcast producer


Top AI tools for business — from theneuron.ai


This week in AI: 3D from images, video tools, and more — from heatherbcooper.substack.com by Heather Cooper
From 3D worlds to consistent characters, explore this week’s AI trends

Another busy AI news week, so I organized it into categories:

  • Image to 3D
  • AI Video
  • AI Image Models & Tools
  • AI Assistants / LLMs
  • AI Creative Workflow: Luma AI Boards

Want to speak Italian? Microsoft AI can make it sound like you do. — this is a gifted article from The Washington Post;
A new AI-powered interpreter is expected to simulate speakers’ voices in different languages during Microsoft Teams meetings.

Artificial intelligence has already proved that it can sound like a human, impersonate individuals and even produce recordings of someone speaking different languages. Now, a new feature from Microsoft will allow video meeting attendees to hear speakers “talk” in a different language with help from AI.


What Is Agentic AI?  — from blogs.nvidia.com by Erik Pounds
Agentic AI uses sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning to autonomously solve complex, multi-step problems.

The next frontier of artificial intelligence is agentic AI, which uses sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning to autonomously solve complex, multi-step problems. And it’s set to enhance productivity and operations across industries.

Agentic AI systems ingest vast amounts of data from multiple sources to independently analyze challenges, develop strategies and execute tasks like supply chain optimization, cybersecurity vulnerability analysis and helping doctors with time-consuming tasks.


 

Focus on School-to-Home Resources for the Holidays

Focus on School-to-Home Resources for the Holidays — from classtechtips.com by Monica Burns

As the holiday season approaches, families might reach out to educators looking for resources to support learning over school break. By leveraging high-quality, vetted resources, you can ensure that the school-to-home connection stays strong, even during winter break. Today on the blog, I’m excited to share some resources for the holidays from the team at Ask, Listen, Learn.


Also see:

Tech-Savvy Approaches for a Differentiated Classroom with Dr. Clare Kilbane and Dr. Natalie Milman – Easy EdTech Podcast 296

Tech-Savvy Approaches for a Differentiated Classroom with Dr. Clare Kilbane and Dr. Natalie Milman – Easy EdTech Podcast 296

In this episode, educational leaders and fellow ASCD authors Dr. Clare Kilbane and Dr. Natalie Milman share expert strategies for using EdTech to personalize learning. Explore insights from their book, Using Technology in a Differentiated Classroom, and discover practical tips to thoughtfully integrate digital tools and support diverse learners. If you’re ready to elevate all students’ learning journeys, this episode is a must-listen!


Also see:

Lesson planning resource -- short, engaging videos for students

Lesson planning resource — short, engaging videos for students
This post is sponsored by ClickView. All opinions are my own.

Where do you go to find engaging, high-quality content for your lesson plans? Searching for short videos for students might feel like a time consuming task. As a classroom teacher there were plenty of times when I knew watching a video clip would help students better understand a concept, but I couldn’t always find the right videos to share with them. ClickView is a platform with video resources curated just for K-12 educators.

Today on the blog we’ll take a look at ClickView, a video platform for K-12 schools designed to make lesson planning easier. Whether you’re introducing a new topic or diving deeper into a complex unit, ClickView’s range of videos and innovative features can transform the way you teach.

 

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:


…which links to:

 
© 2025 | Daniel Christian