It’s Time
I don’t have the imagination to see the amazing future ahead, so it’s time to rely on others to lead us. Continue reading It’s Time
Tag: innovation
Prepared for Anything
When I was in high school, I had a calculus teacher who would sometimes disparage some of his fixed-mindset colleagues. “In her lesson plans, there’s a week-long gap at the end of November,” he’d say. “It just says ‘No School — Kennedy was shot.’” Of course, he was exaggerating. This was 25 years after the Kennedy assassination. His point was that some teachers seem to … Continue reading Prepared for Anything
Should We Stop Using AI in School?
Generative artificial intelligence has been with us for a little over three years now. At the time, I called ChatGPT “astonishing” and “revolutionary.” That’s high praise from me. It’s one of the very rare disrupters: it has the potential to change both the why and the what of school. Just like ubiquitous Internet access and Smartphones changed the purpose of school 15 years ago, AI … Continue reading Should We Stop Using AI in School?
Where is the School?
Where is the school? The school that empowers our children to create the better world that we have decided to eschew?The school that fosters curious, lifelong learners?The school that invites skepticism and expects students to point out inconsistencies between the things we say and the things we do?The school that embraces Christian values, and Muslim values, and Hindu values, and Jewish values: that taking care … Continue reading Where is the School?
AI Literacy
“Has your district implemented any AI literacy materials for staff and/or students?” It’s a reasonable question. I was in a virtual meeting with about 60 other educators earlier this week. We were talking about artificial intelligence, and how schools are working to embrace it, manage it, leverage it, govern it. It’s a working group. We’re trying to figure things out. There are no right answers. … Continue reading AI Literacy
Complacent Innovation
Last month, the Beatles won a Grammy award for best rock performance for their song, “Now and Then.” They had also been nominated for record of the year for the same song. The Beatles last performed together on August 29, 1966, and last recorded together on August 20, 1969. This “new” song is built on a demo recorded by John Lennon in 1977, with some … Continue reading Complacent Innovation
Artificial Words
Technology makes us stupid. I’ve written about this before. The availability of amazing tools that provide knowlege and organization allows us to stay on the ball without remembering anything. My car knows where I’m going and how to get there. My calendar will tell me what I’m doing this weekend. My phone knows how to contact everyone I care about, so I don’t need to … Continue reading Artificial Words
The Grand Plan
Last week, this image showed up as a memory online. I tweeted it at the beginning of 2012 with the caption “This might be our nextgen learning / tech planning process.” I remember drawing this. I recall a long conversation with my superintendent about it. Just the two of us, sitting at the table in his office. I wanted to redefine public education. He was … Continue reading The Grand Plan
What’s Next?
I was playing with Notebook LM a few weeks ago. This is an AI tool, developed by Google, that is supposed to help people interact with documents and resources. You can give it a bunch of content, and then summarize that content and ask questions about it. It has a cool feature that creates AI-generated audio overviews in a conversational, podcast-like format. So I fed … Continue reading What’s Next?
Odds and Ends
For the last decade or so, I’ve carried around a little notebook that I refer to as my “think book.” It’s a place to put notes and ideas and observations and connections that I may want to come back to later. This week, I transitioned from volume 9 of the book to volume 10. Whenever I do that, I read through the old book one … Continue reading Odds and Ends
The Days of Miracle & Wonder
I handed my passport to the TSA agent. She told me to look at the camera, which I did. She handed the passport back and told me to have a nice day. The system matched my photo to the one on the passport, verified my identity, cross checked me against active flight reservations and no-fly lists, and approved me to fly. The whole thing took … Continue reading The Days of Miracle & Wonder
Are They Ready?
Yesterday, 206 students walked across the stage, accepted their diplomas, shook hands with a bunch of people they didn’t know, and walked off into their futures. They’re an impressive group. Eight of them are National Merit finalists, putting them among the top 1% of American students. An additional 11 are commended scholars (top 4% nationally). Collectively, they took 136 advanced placement courses and 255 college … Continue reading Are They Ready?
Taste of Tech 