The AI Education Conversation

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, Becky Bobek, and Joyce Zhou-Yile Schnieders from the ACT Research team.  SHOW NOTES JOIN THE CONVERSATION REGISTER FOR SEQUOIA CON & CHECK OUT MY LIVE SESSION (USE CODE: AICONVO FOR $50 OFF)

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 do in a world with AI to encourage students to complete their own work beyond using flawed AI detectors? I share six strategies teachers can leverage to encourage authentic student work in a world of AI. Episode Show notes

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 allow students to generate an essay or writing sample in seconds. In today's AI Essentials, we explore the world of AI writing detection so you have some context on the experience and impact of detectors as you continue on your artificial intelligence journey. I will take us on this journey by testing two of my personal writing samples, two AI generated samples, and a mixed AI/human written piece in two popular AI detectors - Undetectable AI and GPTZero. Episode show notes

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 here. Aditya, Lily, and I talk student perspectives on AI, writing, AI tips, and much more.

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 more folks in our conversation in 2024! EPISODE SHOW NOTES

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 continue to expand nationwide. At the same time, all major companies are experimenting with AI and it is leading to major disruptions across the workforce. This could lead to huge changes in roles/industries of the next couple years. So, how do we prepare our students for a workforce experiencing extreme disruptions if specialization may not be the answer? Episode Show notes

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 engineering?  Prompt engineering = fancy industry term that basically means the words you are putting in this search bar to instruct the AI chatbot to achieve whatever task you have instructed.  For many of our colleagues in education - teachers, principals, team leaders, counselors, coaches, advisors, and parents - you are already proficient at prompt engineering. You just don’t know it yet!

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. Dr. Siwei Lyu is an Empire Innovation Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Buffalo SUNY. Dr. Lyu has published over 190 referenced journal and conference papers and received his Doctoral degree from Dartmouth College. You can read full show notes at www.TheAIEducationConversation.com Episode show notes

Predictions for AI's impact on education in 2024, slow adoption in K-12 due to lack of resources, importance of expert support, timeline of technological innovation, interview with AI co-founder discussing evolution of AI models, potential impact of AI in education including physical technology and concerns surrounding deep fakes.