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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
With Gratitude
About a month ago, I woke up to an unexpected email from Dr. Ravi Gudi, Dean of Alumni and Corporate Relations at IIT Bombay. He informed me that I had been selected to receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award (DAA) in recognition of what he described as my...
Incorrect Scientific Simulations as an educational tool: Vibe coding the wrong way
What happens when you drop a ball while running? Will it fall in front of you, at your feet or behind you? Most people are convinced it will fall behind them. Makes perfect sense, right? Where will the ball fall? Then there's the famous textbook problem of a monkey...
Knowledge, Community & Care: Reimagining STEAM Education for Health Equity
One of the deepest pleasures of an academic life is when something you helped create, an idea, a framework, gets a life of its own. Others run across it, who knows how that happens... and they find meaning in it and use it to guide their work. It is both unexpected...
AI schools, para-social relationships and more: New episodes of AIR|GPT
I am a co-host of a relatively new podcast called AIR | GPT with Caroline Fell Kurban, Liz Kolb, Ruben Puentedura, and Helen Crompton. Our conversations are masterfully orchestrated by Emmy Award-winning executive producer Errol St.Clair Smith. For the uninitiated,...
Corporations as Paperclip Maximizers: AI, Data, and the Future of Learning
Once in a while, you come across a piece of writing that doesn’t just make you think—it makes you rethink. It rearranges the furniture in your head, putting things together in ways you hadn’t considered but now can’t unsee. Charles Stross’s essay, “Dude, You Broke the...
What Arizona’s New AI School Gets Wrong (Hint: Everything)
Two pieces of news caught my attention this week. The first was the passing of Lee Shulman, a giant in educational research, whose profound understanding of teaching and learning shaped generations of educators - including myself. The second was the approval of a new...
Lee Shulman (1938 – 2024)
The news of Lee Shulman's passing has led me to reflect on the profound impact he has had on my career and worldview, despite our paths crossing in person just once. While we never formally collaborated, our academic journeys shared a fascinating connection through...
Perspectives on Global Learning: SLL at the GLOW Conference:
I joined my Silver Lining for Learning (SLL) co-hosts - Chris Dede, Curt Bonk, and Lydia Cao (with Yong Zhao unable to attend due to travel) - to deliver a keynote at the Global Learning for an Open World Conference. SLL has been a labor of love over the past five...
Many Voices, One Song: Orchestrating Polyphonic Learning
In music, polyphony describes a texture where multiple independent melodic voices interweave to create something greater than the sum of its parts. The philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin expanded this idea to human discourse, seeing it as a way for multiple voices and...
Beyond Quick Fixes: What Teacher Prep Really Needs
The Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has a new report out, titled "AI is Evolving, but Teacher Prep is Lagging: A First Look at Teacher Preparation Program Responses to AI." This report, which you can read in its entirety here, raises important questions...
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...
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...
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)...
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...
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...
Teacher Knowledge in an Age of Gen AI: SITE 2024 Keynote
16 years ago, Matt Koehler and I were invited to present a Keynote at the Society for Information Technology in Teacher Education (SITE) conference. That keynote changed our lives (link to YouTube video). I was invited back again this year for the same. A lot has...
Who speaks for the university? Social fiction as a lens for reimagining higher education futures
Note: Image above created using Adobe Firefly, Photoshop and composed in Keynote. A few years ago, I had the pleasure of connecting with author Dr. Phoebe Wagner through the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University. We discussed her...
Student Panel at FOLC Fest
On March 14-15, 2024, Arizona State University hosted its inaugural Future of Learning Community (FOLC) Fest at the Omni Hotel in Tempe. This conference brought together educators, technologists, and student success advocates to explore how ASU can fulfill its charter...
Keynote Presentation: AI in Education Summit
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...
OECD Global Forum on the Future of Education: Bucharest, Romania
I have been in Bucharest for the past few days participating in the OECD Global Forum on the Future of Education. It has been great fun, meeting lots of new people, developing frameworks around AI and education and more. A few resources and photographs from the...
Questioning Assumptions: Podcast episode
I was recently invited as a guest on the Better Learning Podcast. I had a great conversation with the host, Kevin Stoller (and boy does he have a voice designed for audio!). Turns out that we both went to Miami University, though our paths didn't overlap or intersect....