Turn Books Into Conversations

 

Imagine that you could ask an expert questions about a book of classic literature as you’re reading it. Have that expert help explain difficult concepts, compare your perspective on the book with theirs. Turn reading a book into a conversation. Two philosophy professors have used the wonders of artificial intelligence (AI) to make this possible at Rebind Publishing.

 

This new way to read the classics on an e-reader offers the following enrichment techniques:

·      Choose the classic book you want to read.

·      “Prepare to read with beautifully-produced films, embedded right in the book,” along with a reading guide.

·      “Converse” about the book with experts to gain deeper insight. The experts were interviewed about the book. Their opinions have been expanded and enhanced via AI to be a comprehensive, interactive, analysis of the book in “book club-style conversations.”

·      Take notes while you read and write your own interpretation of the classic book, helping you to get the most out of your reading experience.

 

So, what can you read this new way? For right now, ten books. But more will be added to the library over time.

·      Selections from Buddhism. Converse with Deepak Chopra.

·      Selections from John Muir. Converse with Bill McKibben.

·      Thus Spoke Zarathustra, by Friedrich Nietzsche. Converse with Clancy Martin.

·      The Dubliners, by James Joyce. Converse with John Banville.

·      Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad. Converse with Chloe Cooper Jones.

·      Metamorphosis and Two Other Stories, by Franz Kafka. Converse with Deb Olin Unferth.

·      Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. Converse with Sadie Stein.

·      The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton. Converse with Roxane Gay.

·      The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Converse with Peter Catapano.

·      Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. Converse with John Kaag.

 

If you’re interested in trying out AI-enhanced classic literature for free (for a limited time only), join the waitlist to be a beta reader. “A whole new way to read exists.”

 

 

Revisiting Assumptions: Is Technology in the Classroom Beneficial?

For years, the writers of this blog have started from the assumption that online education, i.e. using technology as the conduit for learning, is beneficial. Is that assumption valid?

 

New York Times opinion writer Jessica Grose recently published a series of articles that challenge that assumption, that question whether the use of technology in the classroom (devices and software) actually helps students learn. What she discovered in her research for the articles is eye-opening, and ultimately hopeful.

 

The series of articles starts with Screens are Everywhere in Schools. Do They Actually Help Kids Learn?, which suggests that “[w]e need to start asking better questions about what kinds [of technology] work for teachers and students.” Poll data confirms that post-Covid, K-12 teachers are relying on laptops and iPads as part of the education environment more and more. Some require students to submit their homework electronically. Some use online content to provide additional challenge or tutoring support to individual students who would benefit for this special attention. Some use computers as a babysitter / behavior management device. Many students are in front of screens all the time they are in school, except when at recess or eating lunch. Grose ends this article with a series of questions for her readers, parents and educators, about their experiences with technology use in the classroom.

 

In Get Tech Out of the Classroom Before It’s Too Late, Grose concludes that “[t]he ubiquity of screens is bad for teachers, students and society.” The author received over 900 responses to her questionnaire, which documented that many students are watching YouTube videos or playing video games rather than paying attention to the lesson while on their school-provided devices, often with age-inappropriate content. She also learned that many K-12 students do all their reading and writing on devices, with no requirement or opportunity to touch actual books or practice handwriting. The method of providing educational content via video often mimics a TV show or YouTube video to capture the students’ attention, making it difficult for the students to pay attention to a teacher giving a talk or to engage in collaborative discussion. It also reduces the need for students to think critically or creatively.

 

The next article in the series, Most Teachers Know They’re Playing With Fire When They Use Tech in the Classroom, moves to a more optimistic perspective, suggesting that “many of them [teachers] know how not to get burned.” She gives examples of ways in which technology in the classroom affirmatively helps the learning process. It allows for individualized teaching and assessment, meeting the student at their level of knowledge and targeting lessons to the skills/content that this student needs to learn. Some teachers have devised strategies to monitor what the students are accessing on their devices, reducing the opportunity to avoid learning by watching videos or playing games.

 

The final article in the series, Every Tech Tool in the Classroom Should Be Ruthlessly Evaluation, supports the benefits of using tech in the classroom, but cautions that “[s]creens in K-12 schools need a ‘hard reset’.” The author suggests that educators should be taking the lead on which tech is available in school and how or when it’s used. This would be a change from the current situation where the tech companies provide the devices and install the software and internet access limitations (if any). The author has three suggestions.

·      At the state and federal levels, ensure that students’ privacy is protected while using technology, and require independent evaluations of digital education product quality.

·      At the school district level, centralize the decision-making about the use of technology in the classroom, perhaps creating a director of information security position.

·      At the classroom level, teachers should do a tech audit of their classroom, evaluate its specific functions and frequency of use, and retain only the tech products that serve the teacher’s educational mission.

 

 

Of course, this series of articles focused on the use of technology in classrooms. Online learning, by definition, requires the use of technology for delivery of the educational content. Maybe we educators need to think more carefully about whether and when to require our online students to step away from the screen and absorb information in a different format?

Using AI to create teaching materials

I watch the PBS News Hour virtually every night. Some evenings they end the show with a Brief But Spectacular segment in which a person doing something to make the world a better place talks about their passion. A few weeks ago, the Brief But Spectacular segment featured Adrian Antao, a NYC high school teacher who developed an AI tool to help his students with their writing revisions. His AI tool is available for others to use on the Playlab.ai website.

 

In Mr. Antao’s own words, the Playlab website “provided an open platform for teachers to create their own AI bots.” His creation, Project Toni, acts as a “teaching assistant for teachers and writing tutor for students. … Toni provides strengths and areas for improvement for each paragraph” and “gives paragraph-by-paragraph suggestions for improvement.” “Toni also provides students with opportunities for interaction with or challenge to Toni’s suggestions. In other words, the AI-generated Toni makes the student think critically about their own writing. Mr. Antao describes the process as a conversation mimicking a professional writer and editor’s conversation.

This episode made me curious about Playlab and what other AI tools they have available. Playlab is a non-profit whose mission is simple yet grand: “We build public AI infrastructure for teaching and learning that deeply empowers those closest to kids to create a better education system for all.” To make its services/platform available to the greatest number of educators possible, they offer Professional Learning Communities through which one can learn AI tool design and prompt engineering. From what I can tell on their website, this skill development opportunity is available at no cost.

 

There are several apps built by educators available for free on the Playlab website in multiple categories, listed below.

·      For teaching support:

o   Monika the NGSS phenomena generator

o   Powerful questions assistant

o   ELI, the SDI guy

o   Teaching for equity coach

o   Holistic learning: social emotional learning

o   NATE: neurodiversity, accessibility, tech, and education

o   Write teacher observations quickly!

·      For student support:

o   Ida B, Cornell notes tutor

o   Carter G, Cornell notes grader

o   Jin, math & science tutot

o   HTML, CSS and Javascript support

o   Find an internship the BPL way

o   Ask University of Oregon

·      For English Language Arts educators:

o   Project Toni: a writing assistant

o   Butler: a personal statement tutor

o   Murrow: a journalism writing coach

o   An argumentative paragraph

o   AP Lang: rhetorical analysis coach

o   AP Lit writing scorer

·      For project-based learning:

o   Project launcher

o   Durable skills evidence co-pilot

o   Driving question builder

o   Duara activity designer

o   Project to career

o   History experience simulator

o   Lincoln-Douglas debate assistant

o   Competency-based project builder

·      Miscellaneous:

o   Instructional observation support bot

o   Fleur the high interest phonics story generator

o   Community engagement assistant

o   Student report generator

o   Living Schools thought partner

o   E! activity designer

 

Go to the Playlab website to play around with things and learn more. I’m guessing there will be more teaching support apps posted by the time you visit the website!

 

 

 

 

Microschools: A Mix of the Benefits of Public School and Homeschool

 

We know that during the years of Covid, alternatives to in-person schooling grew because they had to. Since the reopening of schools post-Covid, many parents have decided to continue homeschooling, rather than sending their children back to large school classes. Another alternative, microschools, has also secured its place in the education landscape.

 

What is a microschool? Sometimes referred to as “outsourced homeschooling” or as a “modern version of the one-room schoolhouse,” and similar to “learning pods” created during Covid, each microschool will look a little different. It involves a small group of students (usually ranging from 12-120 students total), a school coordinator (often an education professional, but sometimes a parent), teachers, and a student-centric curriculum. The classes are often mixed-age, allowing older students to learn more thoroughly by mentoring and tutoring younger students. Teachers are often called “coaches” or “facilitators,” not teaching the students (lecturing) as much as encouraging the students to learn in whatever style works best for them. The curriculum is often a combination of online learning and face-to-face project-based and experiential learning (hands-on activities).

 

How are microschools funded? Microschools are private entities, usually funded by curriculum fees. Some states do provide public funding to qualifying microschools. Utah, for example, has recently decided to give up to $8,000/student in scholarships to low-income families whose children attend microschools that have registered as a business and meet all applicable zoning requirements (e.g., not located next to a liquor store).

 

What are the benefits of microschools? Microschools do not need to satisfy public school curriculum requirements in most cases, especially if they choose not to pursue accreditation. The lesson plans can be designed with the students’ needs and interests in mind. This has both emotional and cognitive benefits. Students build self-confidence and practice soft skills (communication, conflict resolution) as a side effect of a more personalized education experience. Students are more engaged in their learning because of small class sizes and varied curricular approaches. Parents can be much more involved in their children’s education, if they wish. Like students who have been homeschooled (also an unaccredited educational option), the graduates of microschools can qualify for college and university via standardized testing and the qualitative reviews of higher education institutions.

 

 

I wish microschools had been “a thing” when my son was in middle and high school. We did find an alternative school that served him well because it had small classes focused on experiential learning, but a microschool might have been a good option too. It will be interesting to see how this type of schooling sustains and develops over time.

Could a Robot Be Your Child’s Next Best Friend? Meet Moxie.

 

There’s been a lot of hand-wringing in the public arena lately about the evils and dangers to our children of social media and time spent with electronic devices. And there’s a lot of validity to those concerns. Reportedly, children’s mental health is in decline, with more and more children reporting feelings of anxiety and depression all the time.

 

So, I was tickled to learn about an AI robot for children that promotes positive learning outcomes by focusing on emotional learning.

 

The newly-introduced Moxie robot uses play-based conversational activities to support age-appropriate learning for kids ages 5-10. It’s self-described as a “tutor, mentor, friend.” It uses play-based learning to help children regulate emotions, build self-confidence, communicate clearly, develop positive relationships, think creatively, and problem solve. For just one example, watch this video in which Moxie teaches a child about affirmations (positive statements to oneself to build self-confidence and self-motivation).

 

Moxie is expensive, thus will not be a possibility for every family. And user reviews of the robot are mixed, with some parents extremely appreciative of the device’s emotional skill-building capacity, and others complaining that the device’s AI appears simplistic. Nevertheless, I am encouraged by the focus on emotional health in the kids’ robot space.

 

This is not a plug for Moxie. It’s just new and seems different from the rest. The other robots for kids I’m familiar with focus on substantive learning, helping kids learn discrete facts and concrete skills (such as coding). Here and here are listings of some other robots specifically designed for kids.

How to Pay for College

Not by loans and not by income sharing!  Although these are today’s common ways of financing higher education.  They are legal exploitation of the less endowed citizens.

In a civilized society, education, in any form, should be a legal right of every subject, and paid for by the government (or the society as a whole).  In many countries this is already the case for elementary school, to learn spelling and arithmetic.  If this makes sense, then logic demands that any further learning should also be paid for by the State, for it’s in the public interest to have a well educated populace, to the maximum possible.

That means that the population needs to vote to increase taxation or otherwise raise the funds to finance more education.  It’s because of this lack of initiative and consensus that today’s conditions exist.  Therefore, politicians and taxpayers, please get your act together and make education a national priority, financing it properly, as you’ve done for elementary school already.

This doesn’t mean pumping money into high cost and for-profit institutions.  Of course whatever “free” education must be provided in a frugal yet highly effective format.  In my humble opinion, ONLINE is the answer here.  At least, I’m sure, 90% or more of the learning CAN be done ONLINE.

It may take some time until progressive nations will come to that status.  So, in the meantime, there are many ways of how whatever education can be obtained at minimal or no cost at all.  Most of that is ONLINE and which we’ve been highlighting in our blog since years.

That raises another issue though, i.e. the question of the reputation or perceived prestige of the college one is going to attend.  From my experience, though, that issue is highly overrated.  If we check the list of success stories, in business (examples: Walt Disney, Ted Turner = founder of CNN) and government (examples: Winston Churchill, Harry Truman), we’ll find that many did NOT graduate from a prestige college, yet got their education through very ordinary institutions, if not through hard knocks in an ordinary life.

The truth is that education need not be obtained through name schools, but can be obtained in many other ways as well, maybe in many ways even better.

And again, in today’s world, ONLINE is one great avenue therefor.

Happy New Year 2024!

 

I’m taking a little break from researching and writing blog posts to celebrate the December holidays and the New Year. Hope you have been doing the same (enjoying quality time with family and friends).

 

Here’s a few highlights from 2023 if you’re looking for something to read:

·      100 Best E-Learning Blogs and Websites

·      7 of the Top Influential Education Blogs to Read in 2023

·      40 Best Online Learning Websites in 2023

·      The 10 Best Online Learning Blogs for Education in 2023

·      11 Incredible eLearning Blogs to be Thankful For

 

 

I’d love to hear what online education topics you, our readers, are interested in learning more about.  Email me your suggestions here, and we’ll see what we can do.

 

Happy New Year!