Joseph South’s Post

Appreciated the opportunity to contribute to this article along with the very thoughtful Tal Havivi. The one I would highlight the most is: Focus On Existing Learning Goals  “It is so important that we don’t get distracted by the glitz of AI,” South says. “AI can do some really amazing things, but fundamentally, AI is limited to making predictions. In the end, it's the humans that need to make judgments about what to do with those predictions.” Because of this, South says, the best place to start is not with the technology but with your learning goals. He advises asking yourself the following questions: “What do you want the students to learn?" "How do you want them to learn it?" and "What evidence would you need to see to determine that they did indeed learn it?” He adds, “Once you have a very clear idea of those three things, then you can go to the AI marketplace and see which solutions best match your learning goals and pedagogical approach.” ISTE ASCD

Still getting over jetlag from my recent trip to Toyko and Seoul to engage AI Innovators hosted by Google for Education and to meet with the Ministry of Education, Korea and Korea National University of Education (KNUE). Some learnings: 1. Educators were using AI in support of all ages and subject matter areas, including math, literacy, second language instruction but also music, art, and makerspaces. 2. The efficiency of using AI to design and implement personalized instruction that is generated by the teacher created a tipping point for educators. They used this material to flip their classrooms allowing their students to be much more similarly prepared for shared classroom time. This completely changed how they could use that time, leading to deeper conversations in class. 3. Educators reported efficiencies of 30% to 300% on using AI after their initial investment. 4. Some educators used AI to encourage young students to create more art by offering personalized, encouraging feedback on their creations. This feedback was found to be more helpful and supportive than parental feedback. 🤔 5. Educators used AI to expand the breadth of brainstorming among students leading to more ideas to build upon, leading to more creative solutions being ultimately generated. AI became a companion to their creative output. 6. One administrator used AI to scaffold the communication of newly hired educators who were still learning how to communicate effectively with parents and peers. For example, they created an interface where new teachers could select a particular report card profile (X grade in Y subject area) and it would offer starter phrases and suggestions for how to discuss these topics with anxious parents. The Deputy Minister of Education for Korea shared that they are rolling out AI digital textbooks over the next three years with a vision to completely replace their paper textbooks with personalized, AI-powered instructional resources. Their motto is "5 million [customized] textbooks for 5 million learners." This is a massive, audacious undertaking. We discussed the need for professional learning for teachers and how digital citizenship concepts might be integrated into classrooms as part of the effort. It is clear that we are only scratching the surface of how AI can be integrated into learning experiences. While I continue to believe that the most powerful uses of AI in education will come from using it to level up our pedagogy, there is no doubt that the efficiencies it provides will be a door opener for many, many educators to make the leap to using it regularly. ISTE ASCD

Thanks Jason Green for this great write up of the event yesterday. It was a great reminder that we can build cultures of innovation at both the K-12 and higher ed level, but we have to be extremely intentional about it. I was inspired by the leaders doing the hard work of change management on top of everything else. For some reason, we think the thing is the thing, when most of the time culture change that yields psychological safety is the thing so you can get to the thing. If that makes sense.

I was honored to be one of an amazing team of judges for this competition. Many of these innovators are using AI to push the bounds of what's possible in teaching and learning in a way that scales while attending to the needs of those furthest from opportunity. Some are early stage. Some more advanced. All are moving fast!

Very excited to announce the release of the Transformational Learning Principles at ISTE Live. I will be speaking about these on a panel today at 3:25 pm called "Creating Transformational Learning Experiences for All Students" with other great leaders and thinkers including Keisha Chandler, Ed.D. Anthony Rebora Bryan Goodwin Jeremy Owoh Hundreds of individuals reviewed and provided feedback from learning science researchers to system leaders to classroom educators. The Transformational Learning Principles (TLPs) are a set of evidence-based guidelines highlighting the most essential elements of effective learning. Bringing together core ASCD and ISTE concepts and informed by learning science, they are a key part of our organizational mission and vision. They also bring focus and a common language to our collaborative efforts with schools and educators to ensure all students have access to impactful and joyful learning experiences. I highlighted a few of them yesterday at a press conference. Full document is here: https://lnkd.in/gdgQSGpx #istelive #iste #ascd

It was a privilege to participate in the "AI in Post Secondary Education Working Session: Advancing AI Together" event hosted by the The White House yesterday. Some amazing college and university presidents from across the country were sharing their early experiences and wins, providing feedback on how we can best take advantage of what AI affords while mitigating its risks. I was asked to host a breakout session focused on establishing R&D efforts around teaching and learning with AI. I was impressed with how Cherise Hall at Purdue chose to designate an AI Fellow on the faculty who works with the provost's office to convene and bridge the conversation across the entire institution. We talked about how impactful it might be to expand the approach to other institutions, similar to the approach that the University Innovation Alliance (UIA) led by Dr. Bridget Burns has used in the past to create a cross-institutional community of practice of place-based fellows to spread innovation. What if there was a cohort of AI Fellows engaged at the cabinet level at individual institutions that met together periodically to share notes and strategies? I also appreciated the foresight of the Generative Artificial Intelligence Teaching as Research (GAITAR) center that James H Garrett, Jr has established at Carnegie Mellon University to support faculty in researching the impact of GenAI on teaching and learning. More here: https://lnkd.in/eyeyve92 Appreciated an insightful panel with Erin Mote James L. Moore III and Yolanda Watson Spiva, Ph.D., BCC about the role that government can play in supporting IHEs at times of massive change and opportunity from both a policy and funding perspective. It was also great to see the top levels of the federal government engaged in the conversation, including Arati Prabhakar, the President's top science advisor; James Kvaal, Undersecretary, Roberto Rodriguez, Assistant Secretary for policy, and Nasser H. Paydar, Assistant Secretary for post-secondary education at U.S. Department of Education; and leaders from the Department's Office of Educational Technology (shoutout to Kevin Johnstun and Sara Trettin!). Higher ed still has a long ways to go to really grapple with the changes that AI will bring to the academy, and this was an important step forward. More to come!

This is going to be a great panel! Registration still open: https://lnkd.in/eEf-wh3H

Learned so much at Education in the Gemini Era event hosted at Google's brand new NYC office with incredible views of the Hudson River! While I can't share their future plans (NDA and all that), it is safe to say that AI will be an ever growing part of Google Classroom and Workspace, and there are some very cool new things in the works! Was also a privilege to give feedback directly to their internal product managers. We talked about safety, equity, bias, pedagogy, privacy, learner and teacher empowerment, offline learning, collaboration, sourcing, professional learning and other essential considerations. I loved hearing classroom teachers sharing their personal experience (good and bad) with using AI tools in the classroom directly with the people who make them. We need more of that, tool providers! It was also great to learn more about Gems, which are specialized, personalized LLMs for specific uses or tasks (think for math or social studies) and their LearnLM generative AI model that is designed for learning & tutoring rather than for information retrieval. Also, ICYMI (I did!), in January they released a version of Gemini that runs entirely locally. Doesn't hit the internet, the cloud, or Google servers. All the data stays on your device. That can be a game changer for privacy and offers powerful AI performance when offline. There is so much more to come. Thanks for the invite, Jennie Magiera Sarah Henderson Rosenberg Kimberly Lane Clark, Ed.S! And great to see so many all star friends there! Anna Kimsey Edwards Katrina Stevens Thomas C. Murray Ken Shelton Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Vicki Davis Sasha Rabkin, Ed.D Erin Mote Patricia Brown Vriti Saraf Jorge Valenzuela Eric Sheninger Alexis Menocal Harrigan Tara Carrozza Sarah Thomas, PhD Christina Gardner-McCune Nancye Blair Black Jake Baskin Ruthanne Buck Richard Culatta Amanda Fox I am going to be in so much trouble for forgetting some people on this list! Sorry in advance!

Ethan Mollick is one of the most compelling voices in AI in education out there. Thoughtful, forward-looking, research-grounded. He and his wife (also an AI researcher) are a powerful team! So pleased to welcome him to ISTE Live in Denver this year!

⏱ Time is running out to register for this year’s Solutions Summit ⛰ at ISTELive 2024 on Sunday, June 23 in Denver! This event sells out every year and for good reason. It is a chance for edtech leaders, innovators, and experts from various education-focused businesses to exchange best practices, gain insights, and create valuable new connections. This year, we are foregrounding the responsible use of AI in ed tech products and “designing for impact,” featuring cutting-edge discussions and panels aimed at revolutionizing education. Some of this year’s speakers include Colorado State Superintendent Susana Cordova, David DeSchryver providing his rundown on the state of ed tech funding and the coming fiscal cliff, and Auditi Chakravarty, CEO of AERDF who is taking giant leaps in moving forward moonshot 🌙 education programs for students furthest from opportunity. Anna Kimsey Edwards and myself will be cohosting this year, so you will be well taken care of! And for the food motivated, lunch is included 🥘 🥗 . Register now! https://lnkd.in/eEf-wh3H #iste #istelive! ISTE Whiteboard Advisors Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF)