THOUGHTS
34 posts
NYC public schools put a one-year moratorium on student-facing generative AI through 8th grade. Kids with their own devices will use it anyway; kids on school-issued devices won’t. And a major purpose of school is to prepare kids for life beyond school.
A recent notification on my phone’s lock screen: “Dinner music praised; expressions of love and admiration shared; pride conveyed.” Thanks, Siri, really nailed that sentiment. We live in a world of constant dehumanizing AI influence. But it still needs saying: AI is only as good as the human using it. …
Are your best intentions sabotaging your presentation? 😬 You’ve got such great information for your audience. You spent all week putting together your masterpiece of a deck. So why does it feel like you’re losing them? And [gasp] was that a YAWN? 😱 Here’s the thing: sometimes when we try to help our audience learn, …
AI and learning? Everything has changed. And nothing has. The “everything” is obvious: AI tutors, automated assessments, rampant cheating, legit fear of replacement, and the potential of truly individualized learning. The learning landscape is facing enormous disruption. And yet: A few of the constants:👉 Intentionality: Great learning requires meaningful goals and meaningful assessment built from …
Learning isn’t learning if it doesn’t create change. It’s a core belief that’s driven more than two decades of my work. And it’s why I’m so honored to be included in The Upside‘s 2025 Impact Index alongside some other truly impactful experts. Because impactful learning isn’t magic. It’s engineered. Because it’s eminently achievable when it’s …
Forgetting is a path to remembering. 🧠💪 Last week I posted about my recent CPLEE project: building a tech-infused, learning science-informed approach to passing a licensing exam. Today let’s talk about some of the learning science I used and how it can help you! We’ve all learned something and then immediately forgotten it. The name …
Critical thinking with AI?Don’t trust. VERIFY! (👆 there’s your AI mantra for the week) I just came up for air after a lengthy project helping someone study for the California Psychology Laws and Ethics Exam (CPLEE), the licensing exam for psychologists who practice in CA. They’d already tried one of the 3rd party exam prep …
Sometimes it’s not this or that. Sometimes it’s both.That’s why I’m pivoting my consulting business in the new year. Thanks to The Upside‘s This or That campaign, I got to thinking about some things I’ve learned (or re-learned) about myself this year:🤏 Less is more (except for the clutter on my desk, that’s just more)🤯 …
Disruptive innovation? or copyright violation? I’ve become an armchair expert on copyright over the years – partly from sheer 🤓, and partly because my edtech work required me to teach faculty and students how to stay on the ethical side of copyright in a world where copying was so easy (and the fines so astronomical). …
“All change is harm.” 🧐🤯 My friend Caitlin Harper shared so many valuable insights on managing change in today’s Ways We Learn Podcast, but that one in particular keeps rolling around in my head. As in: even something seemingly good, like her example of free money, changes the status quo in (definitely) unpredictable and (possibly) …
Question for you: what’s the most important factor in learning? 🧐 I’ve got a new Ways We Learn Podcast episode dropping tomorrow, and a bonus episode in a week, featuring Amin Shaykho of Kadama. Kadama is a tutoring app for the gig economy. It’s an awesome conversation about how Amin built the company and how …
Mine is inquiry. We prize decisiveness, creativity, empathy, and plenty of others. And they’re all important! But I think approaching situations with questions has served me best. In the classroom, it looks like asking how a student got to their result, or why their problem-solving approach was successful. Approaching with inquiry, even when the student …
Think back to your school days. What do you remember learning? Not the subjects or topics you know you learned, but what learning activities do you actually remember? My memories don’t include most of my time in classes. I remember the fact of taking courses, but would be hard-pressed to tell you what I learned …
(I haven’t lost my mind. Allow me to explain.) Math and math-adjacent fields faced a crisis in the 1970s when digital calculators arrived in students’ hands. These were just basic versions, nothing close to scientific or graphing calculators (just go look up the TI-30!), but they were a quantum leap ahead of the slide rule …
That question was at the heart of the professional development session I ran last week for Horace Mann School‘s History Department. I think the teachers left a little less certain about the answer. (Which was one of my goals. Sorrynotsorry.) I showed them how, with just a few minutes of prompting, Generative AI can create …
Psychologically safe working environments should include stress (meaning pressure to perform and grow). They shouldn’t be overly stressFUL (meaning an overload of nerves). Too much stress reduces productivity and becomes counter-productive. So how do we productively leverage stress? We take a lesson from great teachers! 👩🎓 Students don’t learn by doing easy work, and they …
One of my earliest supervisors berated us when things went wrong. I found myself constantly watching my back, afraid to make a mistake and get yelled at. Sure, there were benefits. I still think of her when I diligently follow up on my tasks. But she also taught me that trying unfamiliar things carried the …
Yet 60% of teachers still don’t use it. 🤔Spoiler alert: it’s not their fault. Plenty of past EdTechs have claimed they will revolutionize teaching. Most have failed. Remember filmstrips? Interactive whiteboards? The list goes on and on. The difference with AI, as I’ve argued in past posts, is that no other EdTech can replace thinking. …
But… what if you can’t use AI? 😰 My last few posts used AI assists to illuminate what your learners need to learn next.🦾 First we predicted learning gaps with AI to help build your lesson plans.🦾 Then we built individualized assessment using AI to show exactly what each person needs to learn next. Now …
You’ll learn best if the learning is targeted to your personal needs. 😎 (This isn’t about learning styles. Don’t get me started on learning styles.) What if, every time you learned something, it started at exactly the right place for you based on what you already know? There would be no need for background research …
But… how do you know what’s needed? 🧐 I had high school classes where the teacher said “We were on page 87 yesterday, so today we’ll start at the top of page 88”? I’m sure you’ve had the same. Wait. Why is that wrong? Page 88 is the next page, after all! Here’s the problem: …
Teaching is way more than telling. A great teacher unearths their learners’ misconceptions and misunderstandings, and then targets them to fill gaps and build higher quality knowledge. In other words, you don’t just teach what’s next; you teach what’s NEEDED. One of the more challenging elements of teaching is figuring out what our learners need …
My edu-geekery dial went to 11 last week when OpenAI announced custom GPTs. And here I’ve been talking about how you can use ChatGPT for learning! 🤓 I’ve been building an AI tutor ever since. Turns out it isn’t easy. Here are a sampling of the things I wanted it to do:🤔 Start by evaluating the …
She’d just told me she’d started learning about the human nervous system for a class by Googling articles. I asked her a few questions about the topic, and then thought: Aha! Perfect opportunity to employ AI for learning! I asked whether she’d like to build a prompt in ChatGPT that would help her learn what …
If you’ve been following this series, you know the answer is yes. At least in some ways. Here’s where you find out what to do about it! Part 1 of this series, on Human Intelligence vs. Artificial Intelligence, is here. Part 2, on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Generative AI, is here.Part 3, Is Artificial …
Most likely: yes. And you’ll find out why in this very post! Wait, don’t leave! This is a four-part series on how we can use artificial intelligence to our advantage! Part 1 of this series, on Human Intelligence vs. Artificial Intelligence, is here.Part 2, on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Generative AI, is here.This is …
Sorry, but the answer might be yes. Wait, don’t leave! This is a four-part series on how we can use artificial intelligence to our advantage! Part 1 of this series, on Human Intelligence vs. Artificial Intelligence, is here.This is part 2, on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Generative AI.Part 3, Is Artificial Intelligence Smarter Than …
Sorry, but the answer might be yes. Wait, don’t leave! This is a four-part series on how we can use artificial intelligence to our advantage! This is Part 1, on Human Intelligence vs. Artificial Intelligence.Part 2, on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Generative AI, is here.Part 3, Is Artificial Intelligence Smarter Than I Am? is …
Another notable voice has spoken against banning ChatGPT in schools. Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, was interviewed by Education Week yesterday. He says banning ChatGPT and other AI technologies will leave students at a disadvantage: “The same week that New York City public schools banned ChatGPT, Anthropic [an AI safety and research company] posted a prompt engineer …
I’m thrilled to announce the launch of the new podcast Ways We Learn! Joe Burgess, Brian Tobal, and I are investigating the ways people learn across all modalities and ages. We’ll cover it all, from the power of storytelling to hands-on experience to the effectiveness of science-backed learning techniques. We’ll explore the latest educational technology, …
You’ve heard the expression “drinking from the firehose,” right? If you’ve ever worked in a startup, taken an unfamiliar course, or started a new job, you’ve probably also felt it: an overload of information that your brain just can’t handle. Cognitive Load Theory explains why incoming information is sometimes too much to handle. In very …
Fine, it’s a provocative title. Of course we do. But here’s a real question for those in a school or professional learning environment: how are you preparing for a world in which AI writing is indistinguishable from human writing, what are you doing regarding AI/ML and evaluating student learning, and how are you considering incorporating …
I created my second podcast at ThriveDX. It’s called The Future of Professional Education and examines the world of adult learning and all the interesting theories and people that contribute to it. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts, or via this link.
I created my first podcast, Pursuing Mastery, at Flatiron School. Through it I’ve been able to interview a ton of interesting people and just basically geek out on educational theory and teaching. Search for it wherever you get your podcasts, or use this link.
