student-related

[Gifted article] This used to be a cornerstone of every job application. Not anymore. [Carpenter]

On 10/16/2026, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, change, skills, student-related, surviving, United States, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

This used to be a cornerstone of every job application. Not anymore. — from washingtonpost.com by Julia Carpenter; this is a gifted article
Has AI finally killed the cover letter?

“It’s not just easier to write a cover letter, it’s easier to write a phenomenal cover letter,” Kessler said. “That’s become more of a prerequisite and less of a differentiator.”

At the same time, the use of AI has contributed to an explosion of applications. For every open role in 2026 there are twice as many applicants as there would have been for similar roles in 2022, according to a recent study from LinkedIn Research.

That makes hiring managers and recruiters less likely to give cover letters even a perfunctory glance. They have too much else to handle during a busy job search, said Johnny C. Taylor, president and chief executive officer of the Society for Human Resource Management.

“The cover letter is literally dead, never to be resuscitated,” he said. “There’s too much volume for this beautiful piece of prose.”

“It’s tough when no one can give you a right answer,” Ogunlana said. “You have some recruiters saying ‘It’s worth it’ and others saying ‘No.’”

If there is any consensus, it’s that cover letters with a “human element” still can help an applicant stand out.

They need to sound different from all the ones written with AI, said Jason Baker, vice president of talent acquisition at Arctic Wolf, a security operations firm.

Baker recalled one applicant who didn’t land the job they originally applied for, but because their cover letter made such an impression, Baker invited them back when the company was hiring again for a similar position.

What Can School Leaders Do to Support a Struggling Teacher? [Shultz]

On 10/16/2026, in education, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, strategy, student-related, teachers, United States, by Daniel Christian

What Can School Leaders Do to Support a Struggling Teacher? — from edutopia.org by Alex Shultz
Teachers often feel alone facing an issue in the classroom, and maintaining lots of points of contact can help them open the door to offers of support.

All educators encounter struggles, no matter how far along they are in their careers. They might have difficulty communicating with families or clearing their inboxes. They might be disorganized. They might have a persistent classroom issue that they struggle to manage. Or they might be dealing with distracting personal-life complications. The tough part is getting teachers to acknowledge that they’re struggling, which requires strong relationships and sufficient face time with school leaders before issues arise. The alternative is having teachers who aren’t comfortable admitting they need assistance.

Recently, I spoke with four school leaders—two principals and two assistant principals—about how they forge institutional trust, keep an eye out for teachers in need of a hand, and deliver advice and action steps without isolating or aggravating anyone.

Light Bulb Moments from 100 Episodes — from intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com by Derek Bruff

Per Derek:

Welcome to the 100th episode of Intentional Teaching! I am very excited to reach this milestone, and I am deeply grateful to all my guests and all my listeners for making this possible. I learn so much from my guests, and I’m thrilled to know that folks out there appreciate the interviews and the show.

In this 100th episode, I take a look back at some of the light bulb moments I’ve had interviewing guests over the last four years. What quotes and ideas and examples have really stuck with me and informed my work?

My hope is that you’ll find these moments interesting and perhaps useful to your work in higher education, and that this clip show might interest you in digging into the podcast archives and listening to some older episodes.

Anthropic released a law student plugin. It’s designed to act as a tutor, but it will brief cases, build outlines, predict exam questions based on sample exams, and many other skills.
I’ll show you how to install it in the comments. You should expect your students are using this. You should probably use it for your footnotes.

— Paul Weitzel (@IThinkIAgree) October 13, 2026

The Reinvention of Liberal Arts Colleges — from educationnext.org by Jon Marcus; via Ryan Craig
To remain relevant amid evolving attitudes toward higher education, Brandeis University and institutions like it are redefining their purpose

By the fall, the university will have reorganized itself into four new schools that bring together existing professional programs in areas such as business, technology, and public policy with liberal arts disciplines including history, biology, philosophy, and sociology. Before the first semester starts, each arriving student will be assigned not only an academic adviser, but also a career counselor. And in what has become the most prominent symbol of the strategy, graduates will leave with “career-competency” transcripts alongside their conventional ones, listing what skills they have learned that employers value, from communicating and writing to proficiency with AI. This second transcript also will include internships and jobs students have held as well as microcredentials, which the university now gives them a chance to earn, at no additional cost, in digital-knowledge-economy subjects such as data analytics and statistical analysis.

Let’s record the durable skills. Let’s record the life skills. Let’s record the career skills.” That way, employers will understand exactly what students have been taught to do—as will students themselves.

…
The liberal arts are in a quiet crisis of their own. The number of bachelor’s degrees awarded in the liberal arts—generally defined as a broad education offering majors in humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and math—fell to a 30-year low in 2024, the latest period for which data are available, according to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. That was 30 percent below the peak in 2012. Students have instead been choosing majors in subjects they consider tied directly to careers, including business, management, and health professions.

New: Essential Resources for Special Education [edutopia.org]

On 10/13/2026, in assistive technologies, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), education, engagement / engaging students, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, parents/guardians, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, student-related, teachers, tools, United States, vendors, youth, by Daniel Christian

New: Essential Resources for Special Education — from edutopia.org

We’ve gathered advice for teachers on managing student accommodations, navigating IEPs, and much more, as well as ideas for administrators on how to support teachers in this work.

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Online Course Video Statistics — from markstudios.com by Mark Santos

“Every figure on this page links to the organization that produced it, and each was re-checked against that source before publishing. How many people take online courses, how big the platforms are, how long course videos actually hold attention, how many learners finish, what the money looks like, and which popular online course statistics do not survive being traced to their origin.”
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2026 National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM): Celebrating Value and Talent

On 10/13/2026, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), neurodivergent/special needs, parents/guardians, society, sociology, student-related, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Each October, during National Disability Employment Awareness Month, or “NDEAM,” we recognize the positive impact of people with disabilities in the American workforce. This year’s NDEAM theme will be “Celebrating Value and Talent,” carrying the spirit of last year’s celebration forward through 2026 in honor of America’s 250th birthday. Learn more: dol.gov/ndeam

Also relevant/see:

The American Dream Employment Network (ADEN)

ADEN is an administrative EN – a consortium of service providers and employers working together to create a path for individuals with disabilities, who are currently receiving Social Security disability benefits, and want to return to, or begin working for the first time. ADEN is an approved Employment Network operating under Social Security’s Ticket to Work program.

Make Work Pay

U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) launched Make Work Pay Hub which includes the important role ABLE accounts can play in growing savings for people with disabilities. The hub provides additional resources including The Secure Your Financial Future Toolkit, developed in collaboration with NDI’s LEAD Center. Visitors of the hub will find employment lifecycle stages and tools for employers, service providers and workforce leaders. Thank you to Assistant Secretaries, Julie Hocker and Dan Aronowitz, for sharing how we can all work, save, and build our futures.

AKF Consulting Group published an insightful article this summer, ABLE 2026 Expanding the Reach, encouraging further ABLE outreach to financial planners and other trusted advisors.

AI Is Changing Career Guidance. It May Be Missing the Hardest Part. [Tavenner & Dulin Salisbury]

On 10/08/2026, in career development, education, education reform, emerging technologies, K-12 related, more voice more choice more control, motivation, parents/guardians, passions, reinvent, skills, student-related, youth, by Daniel Christian

AI Is Changing Career Guidance. It May Be Missing the Hardest Part. (Diane Tavenner, Futre – Part 2) — from humanistxyz.substack.com by Allison Dulin Salisbury and Diane Tavenner
“AI is getting very good at telling young people what they could do. The harder question is who they want to become.”

Diane’s view is that you cannot shortcut the work of figuring out who you want to become. Young people need to form hypotheses about the lives they might want, go out into the world and test them, reflect on what they learn, and change their minds. Parents, teachers, mentors, and other caring adults matter enormously, but their job is to help a young person make sense of the evidence, not supply the answer.

I find this framing particularly important right now. The world of work is changing quickly, and AI will keep getting better at showing young people their options.

But having more options, or better information about them, doesn’t necessarily make it easier to choose a life.

Several teaching-related articles and ideas from edutopia.org

On 10/08/2026, in art, creativity, culture, education, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, library / librarians, metacognition / metacognitive skills, pedagogy, reading, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

How Book Cover Keychains Boosted Our School’s Culture of Reading — from edutopia.org by Carsyn Smothers
This clever idea, which came from a librarian’s TikTok, is easy to carry out and encourages lively conversations about books.

Last year, I came across a TikTok that instantly caught my attention. School librarian Lauren Mobley explained how she managed to insert specially designed book covers into keychains, which students could attach to their backpacks and show off to their friends. Mobley created the book cover designs in Canva, she said, and then purchased a batch of keychains.

I loved the idea. I also wondered whether the keychains could be more than a fun craft or a decoration. Could they additionally serve as a reader advisory tool?

How Good Teachers Get Even Better — from edutopia.org by Youki Terada
Like elite athletes and musicians, even outstanding teachers have room to grow. Here are 6 research-based ways to keep sharpening your skills.

Effective teaching, then, is less about executing a set of prescribed strategies and more about developing the “informed judgment” necessary to “engage in complex decision-making and practice,” the researchers note. For example, watching how a master teacher delivers a lesson or handles difficult moments in the classroom, and then rehearsing those moves while getting feedback from coaches, allows for authentic “feedback in the moment” along with quick hints on “how to elevate instruction.”

That kind of expertise doesn’t happen automatically; it develops when teachers take the long view and engage, over many years, in a disciplined course of deliberate practice, identifying a set of skills they want to improve and then making the time to reflect on and practice them.

Arts-Integrated Outdoor Lessons for Elementary Students — from edutopia.org by Charlene Lutz
A pumpkin can become an entire unit if you let it: These engaging fall activities encourage students to slow down and learn from what’s around them.

October is one of my favorite times to take learning outside.

There is so much already happening in the environment that we really do not need to create an elaborate setup. Leaves are changing, seed pods are drying out, sticks and pine cones are everywhere, and pumpkins are suddenly easy to find. I have found that these ordinary seasonal materials can lead to some of the richest learning experiences because students are able to observe, move, touch, collect, build, draw, measure, and ask questions all within the same lesson.

Here are three October investigations I have found especially easy to adapt across K–5.

A 4-Step Plan for Promoting Metacognition in Middle School — from edutopia.org by Kasey Short
Thinking about how they think helps students develop an essential skill that supports their academic success and independence.

In middle school, as students gain independence and are given increased responsibility, it’s an essential time to explicitly teach metacognitive skills. Middle school is often the first opportunity for students to move from one class to another and interact each period with a new teacher who has their own style and set of expectations. Students also move from concrete to abstract thinking while managing long-term assignments, preparing for assessments, revising writing, and solving increasingly complex problems. When students are instructed to study, revise, prepare, and more, they need tools to make effective decisions about those tasks and useful strategies to manage their additional responsibilities.

Metacognition is an essential part of providing students with the tools and strategies they need to be successful in middle school. Work with metacognition is best used as a regular classroom practice that can be implemented by naming it, modeling, providing students with language to discuss their thinking, and creating consistent opportunities for students to engage with this skill and see its impact on their learning.

Want to Close the Skills Gap? Bring Learning Closer to Work — from campustechnology.com by Elise Awwad

Key Takeaways

The skills gap is a workforce access problem as much as a talent problem: Employers broadly plan to upskill workers, yet many employees still lack sufficient time or access to AI training.
AI fluency compounds where workers already have access: Employees who use AI regularly build confidence and capability, while those whose jobs keep them farther from the technology risk falling further behind.
Upskilling works better when learning is integrated with work: Employers and higher education should create pathways that combine technical and durable skills with on-the-job application, rather than treating reskilling as an individual responsibility.

The skills employers say they cannot find are increasingly the skills they expect employees and candidates to arrive with, fully formed, at their own expense.
…
Upskilling or reskilling is often framed as an individual responsibility: a matter of initiative, of staying current. But if employers need these skills, they have a stake in making sure workers have a realistic way to develop them.

How to spot bias in your own teaching – and what to do about it [Folayan]

On 10/08/2026, in adjunct faculty, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), faculty/staff, higher education, ideas, pedagogy, student-related, teaching & learning, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

How to spot bias in your own teaching – and what to do about it — from timeshighereducation.com by Dami Folayan
Bias can materialise as a set of habits no one thought to question. Here’s how to look at your own teaching with clear eyes

Bias in higher education rarely announces itself, but this hidden problem is within a lecturer’s power to put right.

Imagine a criminology lecture on violent offenders, where the slide shows a young Black man in a hoodie. There might not be intended harm or overt racism behind the choice, but that stock image has taught the class something the syllabus never intended: who to picture when we think of a criminal.

Bias takes many forms, and in my research on race, gender and inequality in higher education, it rarely shows up as overt hostility. Far more often, it’s a habit no one has stopped to question, in how we choose examples, award marks and decide who we expect to struggle, whether along lines of race, gender, class or disability.

This bias shapes outcomes because a student who feels out of place gets less from a course than one who thinks it was made for them. These habits sit within our own teaching, so they’re ours to correct.

[Gifted article] Most college students get grants. See how they cut the price at 2,100 schools. [Wallack, Moriarty & Douglas-Gabriel]

On 10/08/2026, in business side of he, change, changing business models, colleges, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, dangers of the status quo, funding / grants, higher education, parents/guardians, society, student-related, trends, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Most college students get grants. See how they cut the price at 2,100 schools. — from washingtonpost.com by Todd Wallack, Dylan Moriarty and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel (this is a gifted article)
The Post created a list that shows the average cost to attend over 2,100 U.S. colleges. This tool allows you to see a school’s sticker price compared with the average real price — factoring in the average amount students get in grants and scholarships.

You might have seen us report recently that students often don’t pay the full sticker price for tuition at expensive schools.

So how much does college actually cost where you live?

We put together a searchable list of more than 2,100 four-year colleges and universities across the country so you can see how much colleges cost on average after factoring in grants and scholarships, including money students receive from the government, private organizations or the schools themselves.

The Age of Perpetual Change — from educause.edu
Artificial intelligence (AI) has risen to the number one spot on the 2027 EDUCAUSE Top 10. But its rank signals urgency more than consensus, and higher education is still grappling with what AI-driven change could mean for institutions. In many ways, AI embodies a broader reality: We’re living in an age of perpetual change.

2027 Top 10 Overview
Technological innovation is outpacing our ability to manage and harness it. The political and economic winds around us are erratic. And higher education itself is undergoing profound shifts that will reshape how our institutions function.

While this atmosphere breeds uncertainty and anxiety, it can also inspire innovation and growth. The 2027 EDUCAUSE Top 10 highlights how the higher education technology community is responding to those opportunities.

[Gifted article] The unexpected toll of searching endlessly for a new job [Carpenter]

On 10/08/2026, in business, career development, Daniel S. Christian, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, expectations, hearts -- matters of the heart, society, sociology, student-related, United States, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The unexpected toll of searching endlessly for a new job — from washingtonpost.com by Julia Carpenter [this is a gifted article]
“Ghost job” postings, AI interviewers and a lack of in-person connection can take a toll on your mental health.

A prolonged job search doesn’t just sap job seekers of time, money and energy — for many, the hunt takes a devastating toll on their mental health.

Although unemployment rates in the United States have been historically low, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that more than a quarter of jobless people qualify as “long-term unemployed,” meaning they have been hunting for 27 weeks or more.
…

“A prolonged job search isn’t simply a logistical challenge,” she said. “It erodes a person’s confidence over time and their sense of agency, along with their financial security, obviously.”

Studies show unemployment is linked to the development of mental disorders, including anxiety and depression. Long-term job seekers describe heightened stress and exhaustion, which can make the everyday work of a job hunt feel even more burdensome, said Mindy Shoss, professor of industrial and organizational psychology at the University of Central Florida.

From DSC:
I retired at the end of 2021, so I haven’t been in any kind of job search for years now. But I went through a time of job searching back in 2017 that lasted 9 months. I had some part-time work during that time, but nothing like the long work weeks that I was used to for years. It was a highly emotional time for me. Putting in the work to apply for a job took me at least a day per job application. Over time, not hearing anything back was discouraging. It’s hard not to take things personally, even though I knew these were business decisions. (But I also strongly believed that I faced age discrimination.) Putting oneself out there in a job search can be highly grueling and discouraging.

As any good job searching firm will tell you, networking is key. Students — know that up front. Go find out about networking, and if you aren’t doing it now, start doing it as soon as you can. Start to:

Share relevant and useful information via a blog, out on LinkedIn, or via other types of social media
Develop contacts and help them out whenever possible
Connect people to each other

Don’t just initiate something with your network when you need something. Feed your network constantly. (Though I will say, my network on LinkedIn was very little help to me. It turned out that the people I knew locally came through for me the most.)

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