Photo by Clarisse Croset on Unsplash
Writing Something at Last
This is more of a “link blog” than anything reflective and in fact it is really just a lightly edited version of a page that was used in a course that I was teaching in Emerging Trends in Education. However, perhaps it does serve as a way to reopen this blog and my writing. Perhaps there are some links here that might be useful.
Quote of the week.
“The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men but that men will begin to think like computers” (Sydney Harris – Journalist)
Jon Dron quickly mentioned the quote during his recent webinar and so brought it to my attention.
How Good are you at Identifying Fake GAI Images?
Try this to find out. Might be a useful resource to use with students as well.
No Need to Worry – Everything is Going to be Wonderful
So says Sam Altman, Head of Open AI in his recent blog post. Why? Because “Deep Learning Worked”
AI in Early Years and School Settings
Much of the literature shared on AI in education has a higher education focus. Happy to see this from the Teacher Learning Network (TLN) in Australia which provides “high quality professional development for staff in early childhood, primary and secondary school settings.”
Link Here to home page and PDF of the Issue here.
UNESCO AI Competencies for Teachers
A new report. It does include a short summary for the TL/DR.
Funding for AI in Education
Google.org announces new AI funding for students and educators. I had personal experience of this sort of thing with Microsoft. A Faustian deal or a useful source of money and PD, both of those or neither? You decide.
Call for Papers
Metaphors of AI in Higher Education – Discourses, Histories and Practices: Call for Papers. If you have ideas and want to talk them through, happy to do that.
Contrarian Views?
There have been an increasing number of calls for the development and enactment of “AI Literacy” and this almost always includes a focus on the ethics of AI. Punya Mishra questions that assumption.
Bloom’s Two Sigma from the 1980’s is pretty well embedded as a given and often cited to support arguments in education. Just how valid and reliable is the research and has it been repeatable? This article takes a look.
Both of these are shared in the spirit of being “critical” and questioning assumptions.
Where Good Ideas Come From?
This is not so new, but rather it is only recently that I made a connection. One of the Substacks that I read is by Steven Johnson. He is also one of the main people working at Google and behind their NotebookLM project.
What I had not connected is that this is the same Steven Johnson who wrote “How We Got to Now” and also “Where Good Ideas Come From“. Both of these I had read some years ago but I just had not made the connection that it was the same guy.
This led me to revisit “Where Good Ideas Come From” because I think there are some interesting insights in that book, some of which have also been built upon by others. For example, he writes a whole chapter on the The Adjacent Possible and another on Liquid Networks. Some of you will no doubt recall that Jon Dron also writes and speaks about the Adjacent Possible and the role of Path Dependencies, in his papers, books and presentations. I also think that my own thinking about a Liquid Curriculum and also Networked Knowledge is influenced by Johnson’s writing in this book, although I was not seeing the source of my own ideas.
If you do not have time for the book or just prefer video then here are some resources:
This 4 minute video focusses on The Slow Hunch and the importance of Connectivity.
This is 17 minute Ted Talk Video, provides greater detail.
Although these are more than a decade old, I think they might be useful. To bring this right up to date, this Sept 2024 article from Verge picks up the story with NotebookLM and how he envisions a Chatbot as a teacher! Now no matter what you or I think of that and your natural objections, we have to engage with these narratives.
Punya Mishra (of TPACK fame and many articles and books) – does not agree and explains Why ChatGPT Isn’t Your Next Teacher.
