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The Stranger Who Changed My Life: A tribute to Bill Atkinson
Bill Atkinson was someone I had never met. But he changed my life. I learned of Bill's passing a couple of days ago. It was not that I had thought about Bill a lot but the news of his death brought back memories and a recognition of the critical role he had played in...
Guardrails, Guidelines, & Good Intentions + Teaching Creativity in the age of GenAI
I continue to co-host AIR | GPT, a podcast that brings together Caroline Fell Kurban, Liz Kolb, Ruben Puentedura, Helen Crompton, and myself for monthly conversations about AI and education. Our discussions are orchestrated by Emmy Award-winning executive producer...
Keynote at Ankara: International Education Forum on Learning Engineering
In a previous post I had described my recent visit to Turkey and the wonderful time I had at Istanbul with my friend Gokce Kurt. However wonderful that visit was, it was not the main reason I was in Turkey. I was there to speak at the Sixth International Forum on...
Modem Futura Podcast: AI, Education, and the Human Heart of Learning
I recently had the pleasure of joining Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard on their podcast Modem Futura for what turned into a wonderfully sprawling conversation about AI and education—one that went far beyond the typical “robots in classrooms” narrative that dominates so...
From email to Istanbul: A 17-Year Journey
Back in December 2008, I received an email from a graduate student at Yeditepe University in Turkey requesting me to serve on their dissertation committee. I did not respond to it right away—despite my attempt to respond to every email I get. Not sure why, maybe it...
To Dublin and Back: Keynote at UCD
I recently had the opportunity to deliver the keynote address at the 8th annual University College of Dublin's Teaching & Learning Symposium in Dublin. The theme was "Innovative Futures: Engaging Learners," and I spoke on "The Ecological Imperative: Redesigning...
The jagged frontier of reasoning models: Revisiting eclipses & illusions
Keeping up with GenAI can be difficult. Every few months, another language model arrives trumpeting crisper logic, improved outputs and more. The upgrades land so quickly that yesterday’s marvel becomes today’s baseline, enticing us to believe each new release is the...
The Hammer Shapes the Mind: GenAI and the Rise of the Intention Economy
Camera crews search for clues amid the detritusAnd entertainment shapes the landThe way the hammer shapes the hand. Jackson Browne, in Casino Nation In this post, I examine how AI systems have evolved from capturing attention to manipulating intentions, creating an...
AI, Human Rights, and Education: A Virtual Panel Discussion
I recently participated in a virtual panel organized by the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of British Columbia (FPSE), examining the intersection of AI: Human rights, and Education. The event brought together five panelists from different institutions and...
From Symbols to Statistics: The Parallel Histories of Machine and Human Learning
Over the past 12 years, we have been writing a regular column in TechTrends, broadly focused on "Rethinking Creativity and Technology in Education." More recently, we've focused our attention on the role of GenAI in teaching, learning and creativity. In our previous...
Engineered for Attachment: The Hidden Psychology of AI Companions
Note: This post was co-authored with Melissa Warr and cross-posted on the Civics of Technology website as Artificial Intimacy: How AI is Engineered to Hijack Human Connection (published: April 27, 2025). Authors’ note: We had almost finished writing this post,...
Exploring the TypeVerse: When Typography Meets AI Poetry
Back in January I wrote about my typographical designs where letters do double duty and how I was collaborating with Claude to create poetic/verbal responses to my designs. What started as simple visual puzzles—like "THINK INFINITY" with the shared "IN"...
Teacher Education in the Age of GenAI: Special issue of the Journal of Teacher Education
Note: This post was cross-posted on the AACTE/ EdPrep Matters website on April 30, 2025. I am excited to announce that the special issue of the Journal of Teacher Education devoted to GenAI and educator preparation is now published. Back in August of 2023 the members...
Who Ordered That? On AI, Education, and the Illusion of Necessity
On April 22, 2025, The Washington Post reported on a draft executive order from the Trump administration that outlines a sweeping plan to embed artificial intelligence into K-12 education. The order calls for AI to be integrated into teaching practices, teacher...
Can AI Be a Therapist? A Friend? What Are We Even Doing?
I was recently invited to a webinar organized by the AZ AI Alliance, titled: Thorny Topics: AI and Student Mental Health Along with Dr. Kristen Mattson (University of Illinois), Mica Mulloy (Brophy College Prep) and host Luke Allpress, we jumped into some of the most...
Artificial Intimacy: How AI Exploits Our Social Brains
A recent study published in the Harvard Business Review (How People Are Really Using Gen AI in 2025) provides compelling insights into the evolving landscape of generative AI use. The research involved analyzing posts from Reddit, Quora and other articles over the...
Human Creativity to the Power of AI: The Event
When Nicole Oster, Lindsey McCaleb and I were discussing the design of DCI691: Human Creativity × AI in Education before this semester started, we envisioned a space where we (students and faculty alike) could collectively explore the fascinating boundaries between...
Designing for Creative Learning: New book chapter
I'm excited to share my recent work with colleagues Richard West, Jason McDonald, and Melissa Warr exploring how instructional designers can intentionally foster creativity through Gl?veanu's 5A Framework. It was published in the prestigious Oxford Handbook of...
Technology Transforms Learning: Insights from the 2025 Yidan Prize Conference
I recently participated in the 2025 Yidan Prize Conference hosted by the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation at Arizona State University. In large part this conference was a celebration of my colleague Micky Chi, recepient of the 2023 Yidan...
On the Ethical Perils of Mass-Produced Books: A Concerned Scholar’s View
The prose below is from a manuscript that was recently discovered in the archives of the Indian National History Museum. It was found among papers donated in 1923 by the estate of Colonel Jackson Vivian Quill III of the Royal Fusiliers, who served in British India...
ASU-Cintana Innovation Talk for Faculty: Education in an Age of GenAI
I was recently invited to speak on the topic of "Education in an Age of Generative AI" at a special webinar series organized by the ASU-Cintana Alliance. In this talk, I explored both the potential and considerations surrounding Generative AI in education, emphasizing...
Human Creativity^AI: Team Energy Blog post
Below is Team Energy's blog post for my Human Creativity x AI for Education class. In the urge to top every other group in class, Team Energy decided to write two posts - one in third person and the other through their individual voices and perspectives. I have...
Irresistible by Design: AI Companions as Psychological Supernormal Stimuli
In a previous blog post (Supernormal Stimuli: From Birds to Bots) I had written about the idea of super normal stimuli – a term was first introduced by the Nobel prize winning ethologist Nico Tinbergen. His research showed that animals often responded more strongly to...
A New Definition of Literacy
Note: For some context on the title image (above) please see an addendum at the end of this post. This past Friday was AI Literacy day, and I was invited, along with Ian O’Byrne (College of Charleston) to participate in a webinar on the topic. Readers of this blog...
SITE 2025: Lost and Found
I spent the last week in Orlando at the SITE 2025 conference. During this conference, I set a new personal record for losing everything from my belongings to an election, from water bottles to conference panelists and more - all leading to unexpected tensions and...
Play—I: Blog post by Team AI
Below is Team AI's blog post for my Human Creativity x AI for Education class. As always, I have not edited their post in any way. You can read the previous posts by following the links here: Post 1; Post 2; Post 3; Post 4; Post 5; & Post 6 This was a great way to...
Silver Lining for Learning at UNESCO: Celebrating 5 Years of Innovation
I was honored to deliver the closing keynote at UNESCO's International Day for Digital Learning 2025 this past week. The event, focusing on "Digital learning realities in low-resource contexts," brought together educators, policymakers, and innovators from around the...
Supernormal Stimuli: From Birds to Bots
Picture this: a small bird desperately trying to balance atop an egg so enormous it keeps sliding off, while its own perfectly good eggs lie abandoned nearby. This absurd image has stayed with me since childhood, when I first encountered it in a popular science book...
Creative Minds: The AI Edition
Note: Team Catalyst for their weekly blog post for my creativity chose to submit a podcast transcript. I then went ahead and created some python code to convert it into an actual podcast, with real (well... that may be a stretch) voices. You can see how that was done...
Control vs. Agency: Exploring the History of AI in Education
Over the past 12 years we have been writing a regular column in TechTrends, broadly around "Rethinking Creativity and Technology in Education." More recently, we have been exploring the complex relationship between emerging technologies and educational practices, with...