Claude is quietly becoming the go-to AI tool for learning designers. Here’s a 101 guide. — from Linkedin.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
Find Fantastic Books — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan
My favorite free resources for reading
Books get my eyes off screens, and my brain welcomes that break from news, vitriol, and ads. Read on for my updated guide to finding great reads this year.
On 02/25/2026,
in communications, creativity, digital learning, digital storytelling, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, ideas, instructional design, interactivity, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, multimedia, skills, story, storytelling, tools, United States, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
5 of the Best Tools To Teach Storytelling — from techlearning.com by Luke Edwards
Use these best tools to teach storytelling to help students progress towards mastery
The best tools to teach storytelling can also be some of the most ideal ways to engage students, both creatively and more generally with education. From sparking their imaginations to helping structure a creative toolset, these digital assistants can be powerful in the classroom and beyond.
Giving a student the ability to structure and tell a compelling story can help to empower them in terms of literacy, empathy, and critical thinking.
Students can be given the opportunity to explore historical perspectives, dive into personal narratives, build fictional worlds, and present research in a story form. All of which helps strengthen communication skills while learning at the same time.
.
On 02/09/2026,
in collaboration, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, United States, vendors, youth,
by Daniel Christian
[Re: Super Bowl ads]
DSC: This is one of the best ads I’ve seen in a long time. Highly relevant to the U.S. right now.
On 02/09/2026,
in collaboration, education technology, Google, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, United States, universities, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
Top Teaching Tools for 2026 — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan
Tested apps to save you time and engage your students
- Pathwright — Design a learning path
- Figjam — Spark visual thinking with collaborative whiteboards
- NotebookLM — Organize and build on your teaching materials
- …and more
On 02/05/2026,
in adult learning, business, career development, change, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, training / L&D, trends, United States, vendors, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Amid AI and Labor Market Changes, Companies Look to Grow Their Own Skilled Workers — from workshift.org by Colleen Connolly
The explosion of artificial intelligence, combined with slowing growth in the labor force, has many companies reconsidering how they hire and develop workers. Where they once relied on colleges and universities for training, a growing number of companies are now looking in-house.
Investment in developing employees and would-be hires is becoming a key differentiator for companies, according to a new report from the Learning Society, a collaborative effort led out of the Stanford Center on Longevity. And that’s true even as AI adoption grows.
The Big Idea: The report authors interviewed 15 human resources executives from major firms, which ranged in size from Hubbell, an electric and utility product manufacturer with about 17K employees, to Walmart with more than 2M employees. The authors asked about four topics: the impact of AI and technology on work, skill building and talent development, supporting workers over longer working lives, and new partnerships between businesses and higher education.
On 02/04/2026,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, game-changing environment, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, youth,
by Daniel Christian
Jim VandeHei’s note to his kids: Blunt AI talk — from axios.com by CEO Jim VandeHei
Axios CEO Jim VandeHei wrote this note to his wife, Autumn, and their three kids. She suggested sharing it more broadly since so many families are wrestling with how to think and talk about AI. So here it is …
Dear Family:
I want to put to words what I’m hearing, seeing, thinking and writing about AI.
- Simply put, I’m now certain it will upend your work and life in ways more profound than the internet or possibly electricity. This will hit in months, not years.
- The changes will be fast, wide, radical, disorienting and scary. No one will avoid its reach.
I’m not trying to frighten you. And I know your opinions range from wonderment to worry. That’s natural and OK. Our species isn’t wired for change of this speed or scale.
- My conversations with the CEOs and builders of these LLMs, as well as my own deep experimentation with AI, have shaken and stirred me in ways I never imagined.
All of you must figure out how to master AI for any specific job or internship you hold or take. You’d be jeopardizing your future careers by not figuring out how to use AI to amplify and improve your work. You’d be wise to replace social media scrolling with LLM testing.
Be the very best at using AI for your gig.
Also see:
Also relevant/see:
On 02/04/2026,
in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, platforms, tools, United States, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
Anthropic unveils Claude legal plugin and causes market meltdown — from legaltechnology.com
Generative AI vendor Anthropic has unveiled a legal plugin that helps customise its large language model Claude for legal tasks such as document review, sending public legal software stocks into an ensuing spin today (3 February).
…
Anthropic entering the legal tech fray comes as part of the launch of a number of different plugins that help users instruct Claude on how to get work done and what tools and data to pull from. A sales plugin, for example could connect Claude to your CRM and knowledge base to help with prospect research and follow ups. The legal plug-in is described as being capable of, for example, reviewing documents, flagging risks, NDA triage, and tracking compliance. The significance is that Anthropic is shifting from model supplier to the application layer and workflow owner.
The announcement is hitting public publishing and legal software companies hard.
Also related/see:
Anthropic’s Legal Plugin for Claude Cowork May Be the Opening Salvo In A Competition Between Foundation Models and Legal Tech Incumbents — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi
Two weeks after introducing a new general-purpose “agentic” work mode called Claude Cowork, Anthropic has now rolled out a legal plugin aimed squarely at the legal workflows of in-house counsel, including contract review, NDA triage, compliance checks, briefings and templated responses.
It is configurable to an organization’s own playbook and risk tolerances, and Anthropic explicitly frames it as assistance, not advice, cautioning that outputs should be reviewed by licensed attorneys.
It may sound like just another feature drop in a crowded AI market. But for legal tech, it is landing more like a tsunami than a drop. For the first time, a foundation-model company is packaging a legal workflow product directly into its platform, rather than merely supplying an API to legal-tech vendors.
On 02/02/2026,
in adjunct faculty, education, faculty/staff, homeschooling/homeschoolers, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning theories, liberal arts, lifelong learning, memory, metacognition / metacognitive skills, pedagogy, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, universities, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
The Essential Retrieval Practice Handbook — from edutopia.org
Retrieval practice is one of the most effective ways to strengthen learning. Here’s a collection of our best resources to use in your classroom today.
January 29, 2026
Also see:
What is retrieval practice? — from retrievalpractice.org
When we think about learning, we typically focus on getting information into students’ heads. What if, instead, we focus on getting information out of students’ heads?