Starting up AI+Edu=Simplified

Oh, another substack...on AI....how original...

I know, I know…

The world doesn’t need another substack, blog, YouTube channel, or short-form feed about generative AI—like, it’s all been done. All of it—and whatever hasn’t been done is probably gonna be done by generative AI in the future, so seriously, why bother?

Created with Bing Image Creator. Prompt: “human and robot sitting at a table across from each other in noir style with a neon aspect to it”

Because…

I do think while I may not have anything new or entirely original to add, I do have ways that I can be helpful. If the conversations I’ve been involved in or the talks that I’ve been giving in the last 10 months indicate anything, it’s that I can find useful ways of talking about, discussing, and complicating the conversation around generative artificial intelligence—most particularly, in the realm of learning, higher education, and career exploration.

For those new to my work, you can get a sense of some of the selected resources below including these places where my work has been mentioned or I’ve been interviewed:

• Forbes (September 2023)

• AI In Education – AI Launchpad Webinars: Creating AI Policies for K12 & Higher Ed (September 2023)

• CNN.com (August, 2023)

• Future Trends Forum with Bryan Alexander (August, 2023)

• ShiftED Podcast (August, 2023)

• AI and Academia Substack by Bryan Alexander (July 2023)

• Inside Higher Ed (July 2023) (as well as in June 2023)

• ITHAKA S+R (June 2023)

• Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast (June 2023)

• Chronicle of Higher Ed (March 2023)

• Demystifying Instructional Design (February 2023)

I’ve also been writing and speaking about this over the past year:

• EDUCUASE Review, October 2023. Co-authored with Stan Waddell. 10 Ways Technology Leaders Can Step Up and In to the Generative AI Discussion in Higher Ed.

• Boston University, October 2023. Invited Talk: The Good, The Bad, & The AI: Exploring Generative AI in Education.

• Husson University, August 2023. Keynote Speaker: The Questions to Be AIsking in Education

• Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching, June 2023. Co-authored with Anna Mills & Maha Bali. How do we respond to generative AI in education? Open educational practices give us a framework for an ongoing process

• Massachusetts Colleges Online Annual Conference, June 2023. Keynote Speaker: Ready or Not, Here AI Come: Exploring the Role of Generative AI in Higher Education

• North Shore Community College, June 2023. Summer Institute Invited Speaker: Finding StAIbility in a Shifting LAIndscape

• ChatGPT, AI Generative Tools and Your Career: Parallels, Possibilities, and Problems (Rhode Island Career Development Association; Feb 2022)

• The Future’s Already Here: AI Generative Tools and Teaching (NERCOMP; Feb 2023)

Soooo….

Why sign up for another Substack? I think my goal is different than others. My goal is to help simplify or sift through so many of the conversations going on out there to help readers build a framework for what to pay attention to and what to ignore when it comes to generative AI in higher education. I think many folks are doing great things in the AI and higher education space—I’ll be referencing them regularly, but I’m not finding the space where I can direct someone to that’s needs to get grounded in different ways of thinking about these new tools and practices. So, I figured I’d create it.

Coming to a Substack near you (if you subscribe)…

There’s a lot already swirling in my head about how to help folks out (and of course, suggestions are always welcomed). But these are some of the topics you can anticipate forthcoming

• Different levels of generative AI use in higher education

  • AI in the classroom vs AI in the university

  • AI as co-pilots vs AI as institutional systems

  • AI in teaching vs AI in research

  • AI as a singular tool vs AI as an embedded tool

• Different challenges for generative AI use in higher education

  • AI for teaching

  • AI for learning

  • AI in admissions

  • AI for marketing

  • AI for institutional research

  • AI in IT

  • AI in resource-rich institutions vs low-resourced institutions

• Use-cases for generative AI in higher education or how are people using it in ways that are informative, useful, or concerning.

• Interesting tools that I come across or new releases of current tools that change the game somehow.

• Summarize research and other news out there for more digestible cross-connections around generative AI.

• Share talks and other content I create elsewhere. I’ve typically been doing this one my blog but will direct it more here in the future.

So that’s the running start of things to come—feel free to suggest more.

And yes, I will be using AI…

I’ll be using it to help with summaries of things and probably also for imagery and other media creation as well. When I do, yes, I will indicate what was taken from where and how (e.g. offer the prompt). I don’t think there’s a way for me to do this functionally and authentically without using it.

Let me know

Your ideas and requests are welcomed. I certainly have the things that I know I want to talk about but if you find you are interested in my take on something, then please let me know. I can’t always promise I can deliver but I can certainly try.

AI+Edu=Simplified by Lance Eaton is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

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