AI capabilities are moving so fast, and the implications are so profound, that we restrict the ability of students to learn through curiosity, experimentation, and hands-on experience at our peril.
Great post. I tend to agree but the reality of working within an institution where many others do not share the same view makes implementing anything close to this kind of vision challenging to say the least. What is also apparent as I have entered into this AI and education community is just how all over the map people are on the AI issue, AI literacy in general, and a willingness to keep an open mind about it all. When I get your piece at the same time I get something like this in my feed: https://themindfile.substack.com/p/knowledge-is-the-moat
it can be very disconcerting to know where the majority lie. I have found anecdotally that those most resistent to student use of AI tend to be behind the curve on both where the tech is and where it's currently headed (the author of the above post relies on a study from 2023 in support of one of her main arguments about hallucination rates that I suspect is very different with today's models). Thanks for sharing - I loved the dissertation piece.
Thanks Steve -- and yes, this is very much my experience as well! And while I think that AI in education needs to be taken far more seriously and with much more expansive thinking than is often seen, there's also a need to work *with* educators from all perspectives to find pathways forward -- and that means humility, patience, and a willingness to open up conversations (for goodness sake, even having conversations -- which seems unnecessarily hard sometimes) that allow communities to chart pathways forward together.
You are far more patient than I am! But I agree - you need to meet people where they are. And, obviously, there are a lot of legitimate issues around all of it - my students (HS) are going into a college and graduate experience (not to mention work life) vastly different than the one I entered (I'm 56). If any of the recent reporting on advances towards the mythical "AGI" (a big "if") are even remotely accurate, there are more major changes awaiting and we know how slowly education is to adapt. Exciting and challenging to say the least.
Exactly. There is so much you can play with at the moment, and you can play for free. Using AI is the best way to figure out what it does and what you can use it for. Love the title.
I’ve been playing around as well. Particularly with text to image and image to video, for children’s picture books and a way to start an AI conversation with students. You can check them out here. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvdvNLNnIJsGlweaH_k43QspDjwVAknkp&si=bTbIbj83fwpHDJlQ Amazing Worlds is my latest, but you’ll probably like the monkey one. This is my playground.
Great post. I tend to agree but the reality of working within an institution where many others do not share the same view makes implementing anything close to this kind of vision challenging to say the least. What is also apparent as I have entered into this AI and education community is just how all over the map people are on the AI issue, AI literacy in general, and a willingness to keep an open mind about it all. When I get your piece at the same time I get something like this in my feed: https://themindfile.substack.com/p/knowledge-is-the-moat
it can be very disconcerting to know where the majority lie. I have found anecdotally that those most resistent to student use of AI tend to be behind the curve on both where the tech is and where it's currently headed (the author of the above post relies on a study from 2023 in support of one of her main arguments about hallucination rates that I suspect is very different with today's models). Thanks for sharing - I loved the dissertation piece.
Thanks Steve -- and yes, this is very much my experience as well! And while I think that AI in education needs to be taken far more seriously and with much more expansive thinking than is often seen, there's also a need to work *with* educators from all perspectives to find pathways forward -- and that means humility, patience, and a willingness to open up conversations (for goodness sake, even having conversations -- which seems unnecessarily hard sometimes) that allow communities to chart pathways forward together.
You are far more patient than I am! But I agree - you need to meet people where they are. And, obviously, there are a lot of legitimate issues around all of it - my students (HS) are going into a college and graduate experience (not to mention work life) vastly different than the one I entered (I'm 56). If any of the recent reporting on advances towards the mythical "AGI" (a big "if") are even remotely accurate, there are more major changes awaiting and we know how slowly education is to adapt. Exciting and challenging to say the least.
Exactly. There is so much you can play with at the moment, and you can play for free. Using AI is the best way to figure out what it does and what you can use it for. Love the title.
Thanks Cathy!
I’ve been playing around as well. Particularly with text to image and image to video, for children’s picture books and a way to start an AI conversation with students. You can check them out here. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvdvNLNnIJsGlweaH_k43QspDjwVAknkp&si=bTbIbj83fwpHDJlQ Amazing Worlds is my latest, but you’ll probably like the monkey one. This is my playground.
This is right on target, Andrew, like so much of your work. But this one in particular.
Thanks Nick!