Note: The image above is the result of a two-stage creative process—done in collaboration with AI. Dall-E was tasked, over multiple iterations, to craft a woodcut-style image, to abstractly capture the idea of AI and education, with dark and light motifs, aiming to represent the inherent risks and boundless opportunities in this space. The backdrop, the textured wall was generated using the Adobe Firefly. The overall composition and design aesthetics of the piece were curated by me in Keynote.

I was invited to give a Keynote presentation at the AI Summit organized by MACUL (Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning) and Michigan Virtual in East Lansing, Michigan. It was great to be back in East Lansing, on the MSU campus. There was more than a bit of nostalgia in the cool December air, given the 18 years I had spent at MSU, before coming to ASU.

The nostalgia factor was heightened by the fact that I was staying in the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center. As it happens, the last time I had stayed there was 25 years ago, when I had come to East Lansing for a job interview. The rest, as they say, is history.

At this conference, I was part of an impressive lineup of speakers, including Dan Fitzpatrick, Dr. Sabba Quidwai and Sal Khan. No pressure there! You can read a report about the conference overall, written by Justin Bruno on the Michigan Virtual website titled: Highlights from the 2023 AI Summit.

In my talk I spoke to both my excitement and concerns about generative AI and its implications for education and broader society. Sarah Wood (@myedtechworld) live-sketched my talk (what an awesome super power). In an email conversation with me she told me that the sketch was created using Powerpoint. Powerpoint? Wow. What an amazing super power. The live-sketch, capturing the key ideas of my talk, is included, with permission, below:

You can watch my keynote (synchronized to my slides) below.

Note: A couple of corrections. In the talk I showed a screenshot of an early version of my website and described it as being from 1996, it is actually from 1999. Also, the MSUrbanSTEM project worked with 125 STEM educators in Chicago, not 150.

It was great to meet up with some old friends, Ken Dirkin (one of the organizers of the conference), Matt Koehler, Kathryn Dirkin, Jon Good, Joe Freidhoff as well as a few graduates of the MAET program. Some photographs below: