The AI Education Conversation

While the AI boom of the last year and a half continues to be novel for many of us, there are pioneers in the field who’ve thought about AI in education for decades.  As the leader of InnovateEDU, Erin Mote, has served as a thought leader and coalition builder to leverage technology, research, and policy to catalyze transformation in education.  One such focus area of InnovateEDU has been the EDSA...

Are we finally at “the get on the train or be left at the station” moment? Our guest today says there’s still time: it’s okay to breathe. My SECOND conversation with Dr. Nneka McGee was a special one. In addition to being the first guest to return to our conversation, Dr. McGee is a true AI unicorn — a district leader with deep experiences in education (most recently as Chief Academic Officer of S...

Implementing AI in a large, urban school district can feel like adding one more card at the top of an already grandiose house of cards. Can you imagine the type of pressure and considerations you would have to hold in being responsible for the whole house of cards as a school superintendent? Beyond the sheer size of large, urban school districts, what are some of the cards they balance to get the...

The emergence of AI has brought with it a tsunami of new AI tools and products, all which can bring efficiencies to one off tasks we engage in our daily lives. This can be a great initial step, but the long term strategy of educational institutions cannot be to purchase 10 new AI powered products in the spirit of transforming their school. Transforming education will require a foundational vision...

A picture is worth 1000 words. Now you can use just a few words to create a picture. Hope you all are ready to get creative! In today’s AI Essentials, we dive into the exciting world of AI image generators! JOIN THE CONVERSATION REGISTER FOR SEQUOIA CON ($50 OFF W/ CODE: AICONVO ) SHOW NOTES

What do 4000 high school students have to say about AI in education? The ACT recently published the largest study I’ve seen on student perceptions and mindsets of artificial intelligence to date. The study explores quite a few different topics including how many students use AI, what types of AI, their perspectives on career and writing, and school conditions with AI. I talk with Jeff Schiel, Beck...

Let's talk AI stories that have been living in my head rent free this week! SHOW NOTES

Many schools and educators are frustrated with AI. They’re frustrated because students can now leverage AI tools to produce written assignments in seconds. The fallout here is teachers are now having to rely on AI writing detection tools or other one-off tactics to respond to instances where they suspect students might be using AI to craft one of their classroom assignments. So what can teachers d...

Do AI writing detectors work? So much of the mainstream conversation around artificial intelligence in education of the last twelve months has orbited around academic integrity and the emergence of AI writing detectors. In absence of concrete strategies and practices for adapting to a world with AI, many educators have resorted to leveraging AI writing detectors as a response to AI chatbots, which...

AIxEducation is a student-led AI in education movement. Higher education students across the world have organized with the aim of bringing artificial intelligence into their learning experiences and co-creating a vision and policies for its usage across education. Lily Lee and Aditya Syam run a top notch newsletter with AIxEducation with over 5000 followers. You can subscribe to their newsletter h...

Time flies! Today marks one year since we launched our learning journey with The AI Education Conversation. In our anniversary episode, I recap five of my big takeaways from year one, alongside notable episodes which connect to each takeaway. Thank you to those of you who've supported through recommendations, reaching out, rating, and subscribing. Looking forward to connecting with so many mor...

Education and the workforce may be on a collision course because of artificial intelligence. Over the last couple decades, education has been on a trajectory of increasing specialization in the educational experience for students. Many students are asked to declare a concentration or endorsement while in high school. Vocational, early college, and dual enrollment programs with career focuses conti...

I continue to hear one reason why educators don't use AI - they believe they need coding expertise to be able to effectively use these tools. I am kicking off a series for our friends and colleagues who have yet to join the AI Education Party: AI Essentials.  highly tactical, basic tips to help you learn more about the essentials of AI in a short period of time. What the heck is prompt enginee...

In the last episode of The AI Education in 2023, I predicted deepfakes will become a major problem for education (and the world) in 2024. Deepfakes, or artificially generated content being weaponized for malicious intention, have emerged as a concerning phenomenon. I explore the complex world of deepfakes and their impact on educational integrity with AI and media forensics expert Dr. Siwei Lyu ....

AI became mainstream and brought waves of disruption across many sectors in 2023. Given all we've learned about AI in education in 2023, what can we predict for AI's impact on education in 2024? I share my five predictions for AI in education in 2024. Technology timeline (referenced in prediction 2) Parameter counts of GPT-3 and GPT-4 Stanford AI agent study

As we enter a new school year, how has AI impacted educators? In today’s episode we will explore how AI has impacted educators. I am excited to jump into my conversation with Michael Smith. Michael is an OG listener who started his AI learning journey around the same time I did. He and I have had some insightful convos around how he is using and thinking about AI in his role as a health and physic...

In today’s episode I sit down with the manufacturing millennial, Jake Hall. Jake has built a huge following on social media by shedding light on the many cool, innovative automations happening in manufacturing. From machines which can pick up trash in a park, bake cookies, and improve so many facets of everyday life, Jake reminds us that manufacturing is awesome and so many opportunities exist in...

We've explored many ways AI hopes to bring transformation to the educational experience. When a school goes beyond dreaming and enters the hard work of implementation, does AI live up to its promise? Steven Eno leads AI powered Project Leo at Da Vinci schools as an instructional coach/engineering pathway lead. Steven shares an inside look into his classroom and the experience behind Project Le...

How will AI impact college admissions? Today’s episode is a special one for me because I had the opportunity to interview Marie Bigham, someone who I’ve respected and looked up to because of her many contributions to the field of college access over her career. Most notably through founding the group ACCEPT. In high schools across the world, seniors are undergoing an intensive season as they deter...

One year after AI has become mainstream, are we seeing states/districts integrate AI at scale? My conversation with Bree was a journey through a vast landscape that is the current responses of state departments of education on AI, yet we also dive deep into the trenches around stakeholder decision making and dynamics between states, districts, and schools.  Though the landscape is complex, I walke...

AI is disrupting all forms of art and media as we know it. We've seen lawsuits, strikes, and tools intended to fight back against AI because so many artists are having to compete against AI tools creating images, videos, text, and music instantly. For our young people who aspire to be artists and content creators in a world of AI, how do prepare them to navigate this increasingly complex lands...

Is the next big AI breakthrough already here? In this episode, I walkthrough OpenAI's announcement, how to create a GPT for schools, my honest review, and the risks/opportunities. Referenced links: Introducing GPTs Word Dash GPT Ethan Mollick Working with AI

As the new year kicks off, have schools started to adopt AI? Amanda Bickerstaff has deep experiences as a high school teacher and edtech entrepreneur. She recently founded AI For Education to try and bridge the massive chasm which exists between k-12 education and AI technology circles. Amanda has much to say around acknowledging the current good, bad, and ugly with Artificial Intelligence and wha...

With a summer season to hold conversations and strategize around AI, I continue to wonder how schools, districts, and universities will use AI this school year. How will AI usage be different this school year?  In today’s episode, I’m excited to chat with computer science and entrepreneurship student at the University of Pennsylvania, Aashika Vishwanath.  Beyond her impressive knowledge of AI tool...

Has AI killed the essay? Do students actually need to learn how to write essays anymore? In a world of AI, how should we be reimagining reading and writing? We know that over the last three years of the pandemic, the United States and many other countries saw unprecedented learning losses in students. We also know these declines continue to happen at a pivotal moment in our technological history -...