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: nextgen
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
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
Worried
They’re worried about our kids. They’re worried that we’re teaching them that some kids don’t have one Mommy and one Daddy. Some have two Mommies, or no Mommies. They’re worried that we’re teaching them that some people don’t feel safe at home, or don’t have enough to eat, or don’t have a warm place to sleep. And knowing that might make them ask questions about … Continue reading Worried
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?
Self-Evident
I don’t know where I learned about the purpose of government. I don’t think it was in high school. While my American History class did a deep dive into information literacy through the lens of primary sources, the motivations of those creating the sources, and the necessity of identifying and accounting for bias, we didn’t get into the big picture of why there’s a government … Continue reading Self-Evident
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?
Recalculating…
It’s been 20 years since I bought my first car with an in-dash navigation system. It was magic. Type in a destination, and it’ll show you a map with turn-by-turn directions telling you how to get there. “This will make you stupid,” one of my colleagues exclaimed at the time. “You don’t need to know anything.” And it’s true in the sense that I don’t … Continue reading Recalculating…
What Should We Do About AI?
Artificial Intelligence is here. It’s embedded in the tools we use every day. There’s no practical way to block it in schools, and there’s no reliable method for detecting its use. We know our students are going to use it whether we want them to or not, and we know that there are lots of issues around privacy, safety, ethics, and security that we should … Continue reading What Should We Do About AI?
The Fundamental Realities of AI
There are not many transformative technologies. In my role, I’ve become desensitized to the hype of new technologies. Yes, I know. This new shiny thing is going to revolutionize the way we live our lives. It’s going to redefine public education. It will fundamentally change the way humans interact with each other. Sure. But next year, there will be a new shiny thing and we’ll … Continue reading The Fundamental Realities of AI
Taste of Tech 