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Kern You Believe It? A Typographical Tango with AI
As someone who enjoys playing with images, words, and typography, I'm always seeking new ways to generate ideas. I recently tried an experiment: collaborating with an AI language model (Claude) on a series of typographical designs. It all started after I had created...
From Clairvoyant Fish to Static Earths: Scientific Dialogues with GenAI
In my previous post (From Shortcuts to Simulations: Two Contrasting Uses of AI in Higher Education), I shared how my colleague Jim ingeniously used AI to prepare for a difficult conversation about academic integrity. Today, I want to explore another fascinating...
From Shortcuts to Simulation: Two Contrasting Uses of AI in Higher Education
It is almost a cliché to say that generative AI can be both a challenge and an opportunity in education. Here's a story that captures this duality perfectly, showcasing two different approaches to how generative AI can be used in educational contexts, one ethically...
My (small) Role in ASU’s AI Evolution: New Report and Ethical Evaluation Framework
Arizona State University continues to push boundaries. I'm excited to share two recent developments that intersect with my collaborative work at ASU over the past few years. These initiatives showcase our institution's commitment to leveraging AI responsibly while...
The Conscious Suspension of Belief: Getting Smart about Human-AI Interaction
A classic tale of early cinema recounts the 1896 Paris screening of the Lumière brothers' "L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat" (Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station). According to popular accounts, some viewers reportedly reacted with panic to the realistic...
Tech Integration Models and GenAI: Podcast Episode (Part II)
Last week, I shared information about my participation in the Superspeaks | Microsoft EDU podcast on the BAM Radio Network. The discussion focused on technology integration frameworks in the context of Generative AI, featuring a panel of educational technology...
NotebookLM’s Viral Secret: It’s All in Our Heads
Google's recent release of NotebookLM has stirred up quite a buzz, particularly its podcast feature. At first glance, it might not seem revolutionary—after all, we've had AI tools that can engage with uploaded documents for a while now. And it does not require...
Turing’s Tricksters: How AI Hijacks Our Social Instincts
In a recent article in The Atlantic (Shh, ChatGPT. That’s a Secret), Lila Shroff delves into the surprising willingness of people to share intimate details with AI chatbots. To be clear, this did not come as a surprise. Readers of this blog will know this is something...
From ChatGPT to Chats Devroop: Ed Tech & Time Travel in South Africa
This past week I was in Durban, South Africa presenting at the Innovations in the Science of the Teaching and Learning (ISOTL) Conference 2024: Bridging Ethics, Equity, and Innovation in Higher Education, organized by the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It was a pretty...
Digital Shadows: AI Scripts a Different Curriculum
As we continue to grapple with the hype and transformative potential of generative AI in education, I find myself revisiting a point I've made before: the most significant impacts of this technology may not be within the classroom walls, but in the world that...
Unlocking Creativity: Dr. Anna Abraham on Interdisciplinarity, AI, and Human Innovation
The advent, adoption and rapid evolution of generative AI has raised many questions about how we think about creativity (human and machine), and its impact on learning. As part of our ongoing series in TechTrends, my colleagues and I have been exploring these issues...
Tech integration models and GenAI: Podcast episode (Part I)
I was recently invited to be a guest on the Superspeaks | Microsoft EDU podcast on the BAM Radio Network. the topic at hand were technology integration frameworks in the age of Generative AI. I was joined by a literal who's who of educational technology scholars, all...
AI Literacy: The Ethical Overreach?
A few weeks ago, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek blog post about the need for "Pencil Literacy," defined as "A Framework for the ethical, equitable & meaningful integration of transformative graphite technology." While that post was entertaining to write, it didn't...
Advancing Education in the AI Era: Video Update
I was recently in Washington, DC, for a panel discussion titled "Advancing Education in the AI Era: Promises, Pitfalls, and Policy Strategies" organized by the Center for AI Policy. The panel, moderated by Jason Green-Lowe of the CAIP, also included Michael Brickman,...
Beavers, Brains & Chat Bots: Cognitive Illusions in the Age of AI
Imagine a world where tape recorders fool beavers, triangles tell stories, and AI convinces us it's sentient. Welcome to reality—where our cognitive biases are colliding with technology in ways we're only beginning to understand. In this post, I focus on our tendency...
creAItive teaching: Announcing a new course
I have been working for a while (with some amazing colleagues) on course on creative teaching with AI. This was publicly announced in a story in today’s MLFTC newsletter titled: GenAI as a creative K–12 learning partner For those who haven't had a chance to read the...
Education in the AI Era: Responses to a call for help
Recently, I had the privilege of participating in a panel discussion on "Advancing Education in the AI Era: Promises, Pitfalls, and Policy Strategies" hosted by the Center for AI Policy in Washington, D.C. The event, held in the hallowed (not a word I use lightly)...
S’more Problems: Generative AI, Marshmallows, and the Flattening of Culture
A few days ago, The Washington Post published a story that caught my eye. Titled: The Marshmallow Test and other predictors of success have bias built in, researchers say, the article discusses the famous Marshmallow Test, long heralded as a predictor of future...
Why ChatGPT Isn’t Your Next Teacher
There is a great deal of buzz about how generative AI (GenAI) can transform education—something I have been thinking about a lot as well. That said, I not so sure we're asking the right questions. Let's back up a second. Back in the early 90's I was a grad student at...
Teachers and genAI: Insights from an OECD Webinar
I recently had the privilege of participating in a webinar hosted by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) on the topic of "How teachers can use AI effectively." The session was described as follows Supporters of AI argue it has the...
ChatGPT for Teachers: Insights from Online Discussions
In our ongoing exploration of creativity, learning, and technology for the journal TechTrends, my co-authors and I have turned our attention to the fascinating intersection of generative AI and education. Our past interviews have featured innovators such as Chris...
Cybernetics or AI? What’s in a Name?
What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet—William Shakespeare We propose that a 2 month, 10 man (sic) study of artificial intelligence be carried out during the summer of 1956 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New...
Pencil Literacy: A framework
I have been thinking of pencils lately. Pencils in the context of AI. What if pencils were the latest technological change to hit our world? How would we as educators respond? Would we worry about children using them ethically? What about cheating: erasing answers and...
Endless Sky: AI composes a song
A few years ago I wrote a poem titled “A cosmologist worries (about infinity)” inspired by a conversation with my friend and cosmologist, Tanmay Vachaspati. I remembered this poem recently when I was playing with Suno the generative AI song generator. So I wondered...
A New Chapter
I came to ASU 8 years ago, joining the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College as Associate Dean for Scholarship and Innovation. The primary goal was to support our faculty and doctoral students in their research related activities. That said, my role has shifted over the...
ISTE LIVE 24: Denver
Melissa Warr and I were in Denver earlier this week for the ISTE 2024 conference. We were there to receive the Outstanding Research Paper award from the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, for our paper TPACK in an age of ChatGPT and generative AI....
On What We Lose: Chai, AI and Nostalgia
Technologies give and they take away. This was poignantly highlighted in a recent article by Lisa Lieberman in the Chronicle of Higher Education titled "AI and the Death of Student Writing." The subtitle says it all: "The move away from true hands-on scholarship seems...
Beyond the Algorithm: The Mysterious Variability of Responses from GenAI
Note: The shared blogging with Melissa Warr and Nicole Oster continues and this time we also have Margarita Pivovarova joining the team. I (Punya) wrote the first draft which was then edited and polished by the rest of the team. Do I contradict myself?Very well...
JTE Call for Proposals: Gen AI in Teacher Preparation
The Journal of Teacher Education (JTE), is the flagship journal of American Association of Colleges of Teacher education (AACTE). It has been a leading voice in the field of teacher preparation for 75 years and is one of the most widely read professional journals in...
From Surveillance to Support: Building Student Trust in the Era of AI
Note: This post originates from collaboration and discussions between Melissa, Punya, and Nicole. However, it is written from Nicole’s point of view as a current student, reflecting our efforts to explore student perspectives when considering the integration of AI in...