productivity / tips and tricks

Assistive tech in your classroom: A practical guide — from understood.org by Andrew M.I. Lee, JD
Assistive technology (AT) are tools that let people with differences work around challenges. They make tasks and activities accessible at school, work, and home. Learn how AT apps and software can help with reading, writing, math, and more.

People who learn and think differently can use technology to help work around their challenges. This is called assistive technology (AT). AT helps people with disabilities learn, communicate, or function better. It can be as high-tech as a computer, or as low-tech as a pencil grip. It’s a type of accommodation that involves tools.

Assistive technology has two parts: devices (the actual tools people use) and services (the support to choose and use the tools).

Students who struggle with learning can use AT to help with subjects like reading, writing, and math. AT can also help kids and adults with the tasks of daily life. And many adults use these tools on the job, too.
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The Learning & Development Global Sentiment Survey 2025 [Taylor]

On 02/20/2025, in 21st century, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Augmented Reality (AR), Australia, business, Canada, change, CMS/LMS, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, Europe, experimentation, faculty/staff, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, lifelong learning, microlearning, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, technology (general), training / L&D, trends, UK, United States, universities, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

The Learning & Development Global Sentiment Survey 2025 — from donaldhtaylor.co.uk by Don Taylor

The L&D Global Sentiment Survey, now in its 12th year, once again asked two key questions of L&D professionals worldwide:

What will be hot in workplace learning in 2025?
What are your L&D challenges in 2025?

For the obligatory question on what they considered ‘hot’ topics, respondents voted for one to three of 15 suggested options, plus a free text ‘Other’ option. Over 3,000 voters participated from nearly 100 countries. 85% shared their challenges for 2025.

The results show more interest in AI, a renewed focus on showing the value of L&D, and some signs of greater maturity around our understanding of AI in L&D.

Wonder Tools: An investigative journalist’s favorites [Caplan & Hopkins]

On 02/07/2025, in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, ideas, journalism, productivity / tips and tricks, tools, by Daniel Christian

Wonder Tools: An investigative journalist’s favorites — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan and Madison Hopkins
A field guide to a reporter’s core digital tools

How do investigative journalists organize years of research, thousands of documents, and piles of notes? With toolkits like that of Madison Hopkins, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting has exposed Chicago’s fatal fire safety failures and flawed surveillance programs.

Read on for Madison’s tools for managing long-term investigative projects — from her note-taking system to her workflow for tracking public records. Whether you’re a journalist or manage other kinds of projects, you’ll find multiple resources for your own work. – Jeremy

How to Make Learning as Addictive as Social Media | Duolingo’s Luis Von Ahn | TED

On 02/07/2025, in adjunct faculty, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty/staff, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, interaction design, interactivity, K-12 related, languages and translation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, liberal arts, motivation, participation, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, psychology, social learning / networks, strategy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

How to Make Learning as Addictive as Social Media | Duolingo’s Luis Von Ahn | TED — from youtube.com; via Kamil Banc at AI Adopter

When technologist Luis von Ahn was building the popular language-learning platform Duolingo, he faced a big problem: Could an app designed to teach you something ever compete with addictive platforms like Instagram and TikTok? He explains how Duolingo harnesses the psychological techniques of social media and mobile games to get you excited to learn — all while spreading access to education across the world.
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“Book Review: Designing Accessible Learning Content” [Bozarth] + other items from The Learning Guild

On 02/05/2025, in accessibility / UDL, adult learning, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, training / L&D, by Daniel Christian

Book Review: Designing Accessible Learning Content — from learningguild.com by Jane Bozarth

What a great treat to receive a review copy of Susi Miller’s new book! This updated edition of her wonderful Designing Accessible Learning Content: A Practical Guide to Applying Best Practice Accessibility Standards to L&D Resources (2nd edition) is a must-have for anyone trying to make sense of accessibility standards. Updates in this new version include a deep dive into the revised WCAG 2.2 standards, affordances of and concerns about the evolution of AI, and information about the new European Accessibility Act, which puts pressure on commercial endeavors as well as public sector entities to ensure good accessibility practices.

Not All Learners Love Tech: 4 Ways to Create More Inclusive eLearning — from learningguild.com by Katie Belle (Curry) Nelson
5 Reasons to Make Professional Development a Priority. — from learningguild.com by Dr. Barb Lesniak

10 Extreme Challenges Facing Schools — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard

TL;DR
Schools face 10 extreme challenges

– assessment
– funding
– deportations
– opposition to trans students
– mental health
– AI/AGI world
– a struggle to engage students
– too many hats
– war risks
– resource redistribution and civil conflict

Hundreds of thousands of students are entitled to training and help finding jobs. They don’t get it — from hechingerreport.org by Meredith Kolodner
The best program to help students with disabilities get jobs is so hidden, ‘It’s like a secret society’

There’s a half-billion-dollar federal program that is supposed to help students with disabilities get into the workforce when they leave high school, but most parents — and even some school officials — don’t know it exists. As a result, hundreds of thousands of students who could be getting help go without it. New Jersey had the nation’s lowest proportion — roughly 2 percent — of eligible students receiving these services in 2023.

More than a decade ago, Congress recognized the need to help young people with disabilities get jobs, and earmarked funding for pre-employment transition services to help students explore and train for careers and send them on a pathway to independence after high school. Yet, today, fewer than 40 percent of people with disabilities ages 16 to 64 are employed, even though experts say most are capable of working.

The article links to:

Pre-Employment Transition Services

Both vocational rehabilitation agencies and schools are required by law to provide certain transition services and supports to improve post-school outcomes of students with disabilities.

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) amends the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and requires vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies to set aside at least 15% of their federal funds to provide pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS) to students with disabilities who are eligible or potentially eligible for VR services. The intent of pre-employment transition services is to:

improve the transition of students with disabilities from school to postsecondary education or to an employment outcome, increase opportunities for students with disabilities to practice and improve workplace readiness skills, through work-based learning experiences in a competitive, integrated work setting and increase opportunities for students with disabilities to explore post-secondary training options, leading to more industry recognized credentials, and meaningful post-secondary employment.

Repurposing Furniture to Support Learning in the Early Grades — from edutopia.org by Kendall Stallings
A kindergarten teacher gives five practical examples of repurposing classroom furniture to serve multiple uses.

I’m a supporter of evolving classroom spaces—of redesigning the layout of the room as the needs and interests of students develop. The easiest way to accommodate students, I’ve found, is to use the furniture itself to set up a functional, spacious, and logical classroom. There are several benefits to this approach. It provides children with safe, low-stakes environmental changes; fosters flexibility; and creates opportunities for spatial adaptation and problem-solving. Additionally, rearranging the room throughout the school year enables teachers to address potential catalysts for challenging behaviors and social conflicts that may arise, while sparking curiosity in an otherwise-familiar space.

How Teacher-Generated Videos Support Students in Science — from edutopia.org by Shawn Sutton
A five-minute video can help students get a refresher on important science concepts at their own pace.

While instructional videos were prepared out of necessity in the past, I’ve rediscovered their utility as a quick, flexible, and personal way to enhance classroom teaching. Instructional videos can be created through free screencasting software such as Screencastify, ScreenRec, Loom, or OBS Studio. Screencasting would be ideal for the direct presentation of information, like a slide deck of notes. Phone cameras make practical recording devices for live content beyond the computer screen, like a science demo. A teacher could invest in a phone stand and ring light at a nominal cost to assist in this type of recording.

However, not all teacher videos are created equal, and I’ve discovered four benefits and strategies that help make these teaching tools more effective.

Building Connections With Students as a Middle School Principal — from edutopia.org by Cristiana Jurgensen
This simple (and tasty!) strategy can help middle school principals get to know their students and create a welcoming school community.
6 Strategies for Building a Sustainable STEM Ecosystem — from edutopia.org by Rich Schiccatano
Upper elementary teachers can use these ideas to create meaningful, interdisciplinary STEM opportunities that encourage experimentation.

“Over 100 AI Tools for Teachers” [Kharbach] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 02/01/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, career development, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

DeepSeek: How China’s AI Breakthrough Could Revolutionize Educational Technology — from nickpotkalitsky.substack.com by Nick Potkalitsky
Can DeepSeek’s 90% efficiency boost make AI accessible to every school?

The most revolutionary aspect of DeepSeek for education isn’t just its cost—it’s the combination of open-source accessibility and local deployment capabilities. As Azeem Azhar notes, “R-1 is open-source. Anyone can download and run it on their own hardware. I have R1-8b (the second smallest model) running on my Mac Mini at home.”
…

Real-time Learning Enhancement

AI tutoring networks that collaborate to optimize individual learning paths
Immediate, multi-perspective feedback on student work
Continuous assessment and curriculum adaptation

The question isn’t whether this technology will transform education—it’s how quickly institutions can adapt to a world where advanced AI capabilities are finally within reach of every classroom.

Over 100 AI Tools for Teachers — from educatorstechnology.com by Med Kharbach, PhD

I know through your feedback on my social media and blog posts that several of you have legitimate concerns about the impact of AI in education, especially those related to data privacy, academic dishonesty, AI dependence, loss of creativity and critical thinking, plagiarism, to mention a few. While these concerns are valid and deserve careful consideration, it’s also important to explore the potential benefits AI can bring when used thoughtfully.

Tools such as ChatGPT and Claude are like smart research assistants that are available 24/7 to support you with all kinds of tasks from drafting detailed lesson plans, creating differentiated materials, generating classroom activities, to summarizing and simplifying complex topics. Likewise, students can use them to enhance their learning by, for instance, brainstorming ideas for research projects, generating constructive feedback on assignments, practicing problem-solving in a guided way, and much more.

The point here is that AI is here to stay and expand, and we better learn how to use it thoughtfully and responsibly rather than avoid it out of fear or skepticism.

Beth’s posting links to:

Digital Education Council Global AI Faculty Survey 2025 — from digitaleducationcouncil.com

Derek’s posting on LinkedIn

From Theory to Practice: How Generative AI is Redefining Instructional Materials — from edtechinsiders.substack.com by Alex Sarlin
Top trends and insights from The Edtech Insiders Generative AI Map research process about how Generative AI is transforming Instructional Materials

As part of our updates to the Edtech Insiders Generative AI Map, we’re excited to release a new mini market map and article deep dive on Generative AI tools that are specifically designed for Instructional Materials use cases.

In our database, the Instructional Materials use case category encompasses tools that:

Assist educators by streamlining lesson planning, curriculum development, and content customization
Enable educators or students to transform materials into alternative formats, such as videos, podcasts, or other interactive media, in addition to leveraging gaming principles or immersive VR to enhance engagement
Empower educators or students to transform text, video, slides or other source material into study aids like study guides, flashcards, practice tests, or graphic organizers
Engage students through interactive lessons featuring historical figures, authors, or fictional characters
Customize curriculum to individual needs or pedagogical approaches
Empower educators or students to quickly create online learning assets and courses

On a somewhat-related note, also see:

Tech & Learning Announces Winners of Best of 2024 — from techlearning.com by TL Editors
This annual award celebrates recognizing the best in EdTech from 2024

“DeepSeek R-1 Explained” [Zau] + other items re: AI in general

On 02/01/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, career development, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, emerging technologies, Microsoft, Natural Language Processing (NLP), platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, tools, United States, vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, workplace, by Daniel Christian

DeepSeek R-1 Explained — from aieducation.substack.com by Claire Zau
A no-nonsense FAQ (for everyone drowning in DeepSeek headlines)

There is a good chance you’re exhausted by the amount of DeepSeek coverage flooding your inbox. Between the headlines and hot takes on X, it’s hard not to have questions: What is DeepSeek? Why is it special? Why is everyone freaking out? What does this mean for the AI ecosystem? Can you explain the tech? Am I allowed to use it?

Let’s break down why exactly it’s such a big deal with some straightforward FAQs:

AI Voice Agents: 2025 Update — from a16z.com (Andreessen Horowitz) by Olivia Moore

Voice is one of the most powerful unlocks for AI application companies. It is the most frequent (and most information-dense) form of human communication, made “programmable” for the first time due to AI.
…

For consumers, we believe voice will be the first — and perhaps the primary — way people interact with AI. This interaction could take the form of an always-available companion or coach, or by democratizing services, such as language learning, that were previously inaccessible.

The professions upskilling in AI — from by Rachel Cromidas

The use of artificial intelligence at work continues to climb. Twice as many LinkedIn members in the U.S. say they are using AI on the job now compared to 2023, according to the latest Workforce Confidence survey. Meanwhile, at least half of workers say AI skills will help them progress in their careers. Product managers are the most likely to agree AI will give them a boost, while those in healthcare services roles are least likely.

“Level the playing field: Give consumers access to legally reliable Generative AI” [Furlong] + other legaltech-related items

On 02/01/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Access to Justice (A2J), Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Cost of legal services - including access, emerging technologies, law schools, leadership, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, productivity / tips and tricks, strategy, trends, United States, by Daniel Christian

The AI Shift Lawyers Can’t Afford to Ignore Brainyacts #260 — from thebrainyacts.beehiiv.com by Josh Kubicki

Excerpts from Josh’s Quick Take section (i.e., TL;DR)

As a legal professional, you need to know two things about local AI—right now:

1. It’s Already Here (and You Might Not Know It)
Someone in your organization—maybe on your team—is likely experimenting with local AI. Running AI models directly on personal devices is becoming common (and easier), whether for work projects or productivity hacks.
…
2. It’s a Game-Changer (If You Use It Right)
You should try it! Local AI offers unmatched privacy and control—a personalized tool that can supercharge your productivity.
…
Bottom Line: Local AI is here. Whether you’re managing its risks or leveraging its transformative power, you need to take action—now.

Level the playing field: Give consumers access to legally reliable Generative AI — from jordanfurlong.substack.com by Jordan Furlong
If we agree people shouldn’t use ChatGPT for legal issues, what should they use instead? The public deserves a better answer than “Go without.” Here’s how lawyers can provide one.

In May 2023, LexisNexis did something unusual for a company in the legal industry: It posed a question to normal people. “Have you used Generative AI tools like ChatGPT to obtain legal advice or assistance with a legal question?” it asked 1,765 American consumers. In what Lexis called a “stunning” result, more than 27% of them (48% of the 57% who were aware of these tools) said yes.

That was 20 months ago. I can almost guarantee that number is substantially higher now.

We should be aiming for legally reliable general-access LLMs with which people can forge their own legal solutions. “In years to come, the principal role of AI in law will not be to enhance today’s largely unaffordable legal and justice systems,” said Richard Susskind recently. “It will be to place the law in the hands of everyone.” He is exactly right.

The Shifting E-Discovery Landscape: From Artificial Intelligence to Antitrust — from jdsupra.com by Ari Kaplan

The rapid evolution of e-discovery presents both opportunities and challenges for e-discovery teams. Almost half (49%) of the participants in the 2024 E-Discovery Unfiltered report expected the number of litigation matters to increase, while more than a third (34%) expected it to remain the same. 83% expected their outside providers to have sufficient skill in handling most data types. And 71% noted that the amount of data in a typical case has increased in the past year.

As organizations enhance their processes and infrastructure, the expectation to leverage technology to maximize service delivery increases. However, legal professionals must balance innovation with humanity. That was the consensus of a recent webinar for ACEDS, which you can watch here.

Four objectives to guide artificial intelligence’s impact on higher education — from timeshighereducation.com by Susan C. Aldridge
How can higher education leaders manage both the challenge and the opportunity artificial intelligence presents? Here are four objectives to guide the way

That’s why, today, the question I’m asking is: How best can we proactively guide AI’s use in higher education and shape its impact on our students, faculty and institution? The answer to that broad, strategic question lies in pursuing four objectives that, I believe, are relevant for many colleges and universities.

In This Week’s Gap Letter — by Ryan Craig

Learning to use business software is different from learning to think. But if the software is sufficiently complex, how different is it really? What if AI’s primary impact on education isn’t in the classroom, but rather shifting the locus of learning to outside the classroom?

Instead of sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher, high school and college students could be assigned real work and learn from that work. Students could be matched with employers or specific projects provided by or derived from employers, then do the work on the same software used in the enterprise. As AI-powered digital adoption platforms (DAPs) become increasingly powerful, they have the potential to transform real or simulated work into educational best practice for students only a few years away from seeking full-time employment.

If DAPs take us in this direction, four implications come to mind….

The Impact of Gen AI on Human Learning: a research summary — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
A literature review of the most recent & important peer-reviewed studies

In this week’s blog post, I share a summary of five recent studies on the impact of Gen AI on learning to bring you right up to date.
…
Implications for Educators and Developers

For Educators:

Combine ChatGPT with Structured Activities: …
Use ChatGPT as a Supplement, Not a Replacement:…
Promote Self-Reflection and Evaluation:

For Developers:

Reimagine AI for Reflection-First Design: …
Develop Tools that Foster Critical Thinking: …
Integrate Adaptive Support: …

Assessing the GenAI process, not the output — from timeshighereducation.com by Paul McDermott, Leoni Palmer, and Rosemary Norton
A framework for building AI literacy in a literature-review-type assessment

In this resource, we outline our advice for implementing an approach that opens AI use up to our students through a strategy of assessing the process rather than outputs.

To start with, we recommend identifying learning outcomes for your students that can be achieved in collaboration with AI.

What’s New: The Updated Edtech Insiders Generative AI Map — from edtechinsiders.substack.com by Sarah Morin, Alex Sarlin, and Ben Kornell
A major expansion on our previously released market map, use case database, and AI tool company directory.

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Tutorial: 4 Ways to Use LearnLM as a Professor — from automatedteach.com by Graham Clay
Create better assessments, improve instructions and feedback, and tutor your students with this fine-tuned version of Gemini.

I cover how to use LearnLM

to create sophisticated assessments that promote learning
to develop clearer and more effective assignment instructions
to provide more constructive feedback on student work, and
to support student learning through guided tutoring

DeepSeek hits the scene + other items re: AI in general

On 01/27/2025, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, bots, global / globalization, Open AI, open courseware and systems, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

DeepSeek hits the scene — MUCH too early to say how this open-source platform will play out here in the United States. Things are tense between the U.S. and Chian.

10 WILD Deepseek demos — from theneurondaily.com

Over the last week, pretty much everyone in the AI space has been losing their minds over Deepseek R1. The open source community has been loving it, the closed source tech giants have been less than loving it, and even the mainstream media is starting to pick up on how last week’s R1 launch was a big deal

We’ve been trying to understand just how powerful R1 really is, so we rounded up everything we could find that shows off just what this little AI side project can do.

Here’s some WILD demos of what people have done with Deepseek R1 so far:

Deepseek R1 is one of the most amazing and impressive breakthroughs I’ve ever seen — and as open source, a profound gift to the world. ??

— Marc Andreessen ?? (@pmarca) January 24, 2025

Is DeepSeek the new DeepMind? — from ai-supremacy.com by Michael Spencer
AI supremacy isn’t just about compute or U.S. leadership, it’s about how you work to make models more efficient and improve their accessibility for everyone.

Over the last week especially but over the last month generally, the AI Zeitgeist is flooding with what DeepSeek’s R1 means for the larger ecosystem and the future of AI as a whole. See some articles I’m reading on DeepSeek here (Google Doc).

It’s an important moment in so far as everything from export controls to AI Infrastructure, to capex spend or AI talent moats are being put into question.

Google Workspace enables the future of AI-powered work for every business — from workspace.google.com

The following AI capabilities will start rolling out to Google Workspace Business customers today and to Enterprise customers later this month:

Get AI assistance in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet, Chat, Vids, and more: Do your best work faster with AI embedded in the tools you use every day. Gemini streamlines your communications by helping you summarize, draft, and find information in your emails, chats, and files. It can be a thought partner and source of inspiration, helping you create professional documents, slides, spreadsheets, and videos from scratch. Gemini can even improve your meetings by taking notes, enhancing your audio and video, and catching you up on the conversation if you join late.

Chat with Gemini Advanced, Google’s next-gen AI: Kickstart learning, brainstorming, and planning with the Gemini app on your laptop or mobile device. Gemini Advanced can help you tackle complex projects including coding, research, and data analysis and lets you build Gems, your team of AI experts to help with repeatable or specialized tasks.

Unlock the power of NotebookLM Plus: We’re bringing the revolutionary AI research assistant to every employee, to help them make sense of complex topics. Upload sources to get instant insights and Audio Overviews, then share customized notebooks with the team to accelerate their learning and onboarding.

And per Evelyn from the Stay Ahead newsletter (at FlexOS)

Google’s Gemini AI is stepping up its game in Google Workspace, bringing powerful new capabilities to your favorite tools like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets:

AI-Powered Summaries: Get concise, AI-generated summaries of long emails and documents so you can focus on what matters most.
Smart Reply: Gemini now offers context-aware email replies that feel more natural and tailored to your style.
Slides and images generation: Gemini in Slides can help you generate new images, summarize your slides, write and rewrite content, and refer to existing Drive files and/or emails.
Automated Data Insights: In Google Sheets, Gemini helps create a task tracker, conference agenda, spot trends, suggest formulas, and even build charts with simple prompts.
Intelligent Drafting: Google Docs now gets a creativity boost, helping you draft reports, proposals, or blog posts with AI suggestions and outlines.
Meeting Assistance: Say goodbye to the awkward AI attendees to help you take notes, now Gemini can natively do that for you – no interruption, no avatar, and no extra attendee. Meet can now also automatically generate captions to lower the language barrier.

Eveyln (from FlexOS) also mentions that CoPilot is getting enhancements too:

Copilot is now included in Microsoft 365 Personal and Family — from microsoft.com

Per Evelyn:

It’s exactly what we predicted: stand-alone AI apps like note-takers and image generators have had their moment, but as the tech giants step in, they’re bringing these features directly into their ecosystems, making them harder to ignore.

Announcing The Stargate Project — from openai.com

The Stargate Project is a new company which intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States. We will begin deploying $100 billion immediately. This infrastructure will secure American leadership in AI, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and generate massive economic benefit for the entire world. This project will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies.

The initial equity funders in Stargate are SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX. SoftBank and OpenAI are the lead partners for Stargate, with SoftBank having financial responsibility and OpenAI having operational responsibility. Masayoshi Son will be the chairman.

Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI are the key initial technology partners. The buildout is currently underway, starting in Texas, and we are evaluating potential sites across the country for more campuses as we finalize definitive agreements.

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

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

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

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

Adobe’s new AI tool can edit 10,000 images in one click — from theverge.com by Jess Weatherbed
Firefly Bulk Create can automatically remove, replace, or extend image backgrounds in huge batches.

Adobe is launching new generative AI tools that can automate labor-intensive production tasks like editing large batches of images and translating video presentations. The most notable is “Firefly Bulk Create,” an app that allows users to quickly resize up to 10,000 images or replace all of their backgrounds in a single click instead of tediously editing each picture individually.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s where the new Grammarly feature comes in.

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

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

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

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

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

A Practical Framework for Microlearning Success: A Guide for Learning Leaders [Defelice]

On 01/22/2025, in adult learning, business, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, microlearning, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, training / L&D, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

A Practical Framework for Microlearning Success: A Guide for Learning Leaders — from learningguild.com by Robyn A. Defelice

Gaining insight from the framework

Goals or Measurable Outcomes

Key question: What business results do you expect from your microlearning strategy?
Why it’s valuable: Clear, measurable outcomes create a foundation for alignment and accountability.

Purpose

Key question: Why does this microlearning initiative exist?
Why it’s valuable: L&D needs to know if they are solving a specific problem, supporting a broader strategy, or providing foundational knowledge.

Potential

Key question: What opportunities exist if the purpose is actualized?
Why it’s valuable: This helps to put into focus the measurable outcomes or if it is a true need for L&D to address.

Evaluation

Key question: How will you measure success?
Why it’s valuable: Defining metrics that track learner progress and link to business impact ensures that the design of these pieces is part of the overall solution and implementation plan.

…and more

By focusing on short-term wins, auditing for gaps, and planning strategically, L&D leaders can create initiatives that deliver meaningful, sustained results.

Learning Ecosystems

Wonder Tools: An investigative journalist’s favorites [Caplan & Hopkins]

“Book Review: Designing Accessible Learning Content” [Bozarth] + other items from The Learning Guild

A Practical Framework for Microlearning Success: A Guide for Learning Leaders [Defelice]

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