educators

Airpod Live Translation Coming soon? While we're talking Apple, the AirPods might get a live translation feature soon. It will be able to translate life in-person conversations from one language to another. When this happens, it will be truly a game changer for communications (and also possibly training data for the apple devices, but they are already full of data.) Could you imagine what this would do in ELA classrooms?

AI will soon be taking your drive-thru orders at 500 Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC locations as they partner with nVidia starting in April and through June. Let's see how this goes.

Ethan Kross, says that we spend ⅓ of our time focused on the past or the future and not living in the moment and we engage in those conversations with ourselves. The negative self talk can consume us as anyone who loves a personal struggling with mental health knows. This article says that if you can address yourself by name and use second-person pronouns in a strategy called "distanced self talk" that you can literally help yourself. There are other powerful strategies in this article and it is worth reading.

Math and AI? Yes, AI is being used by math teachers - here's how.

This video on image generation and the new engine that replaces Dall-E is a must-watch to get started on your journey. While not full of glitz and glamor, this down to earth, here's how to do it by the people who make the stuff always helps me learn in new ways. I also like to show these to students so they can see how people in the industry work. I already have teachers asking for ChatGPT now - I think we're going to have to price a group rate to see if it is possible.

Dr. Phillipa Hardman gives a great overview of AI generation, how it works and the challenges of using it to generate infographics in the classroom. If you're teaching us teachers how to use AI, this is a must read.

With budget cuts and changes in the organizations running a variety of education programs, the Hechinger Report gives an overview on what will change about funding for those with special needs (it won't). If you're concerned, read this article.

NVidia, Disney, and DeepMind have unveiled "Blue" a cute little R2D2 like Robot. While it doesn't talk yet, the bells and whistles sound pretty familiar. It responds and you can sort of tell how it is responding. I'm not sure of the applications of these, but it walked out of video onto the stage recently and into the hearts and minds of those who are eager to learn about the future. This is a video I'm sharing with my students.

What is draining your laptop? This article will help you understand the problems in your laptop.

AI detectors don't work. They don't work. How many times do we have to tell people? This is the article I point to when people don't understand this.

"Overall, 68% of U.S. adults say they support a ban on middle and high school students using cellphones during class, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2024. This includes 45% who strongly support this."

"High school teachers are especially likely to see cellphones as problematic. About seven-in-ten (72%) say that students being distracted by cellphones is a major problem in their classroom, compared with 33% of middle school teachers and 6% of elementary school teachers."

"There is no evidence that restrictive school policies are associated with overall phone and social media use or better mental wellbeing in adolescents. The findings do not provide evidence to support the use of school policies that prohibit phone use during the school day in their current form, and indicate that these policies require further development."

These Alexa changes impact classroom and privacy! "What do I mean by that? Well, take, for example, that recently, Amazon announced a significant change in its Alexa device privacy policy. Starting March 28, 2025, Amazon will remove the option to process Alexa voice requests locally on specific Echo devices. Instead, all voice recordings will be sent to the cloud for processing, a move intended to support Amazon's new generative AI features in Alexa Plus."

"Leveraging the same technology that powers NotebookLM's Audio Overviews, Gemini app users can now generate podcast-style conversations based on documents, slides, and Deep Research reports. Upload files about topics you want to explore and enjoy dynamic discussions between two AI hosts with unique perspectives."

"This 2.5-hour CEU is designed to help individuals and educators gain a better understanding of the latest advancements of AI, the future implications of its use, and to obtain valuable insight about how AI can be used to help educators become more proficient and inspire new ways of learning among their students and colleagues. It is designed for educators at any stage in their career, educational administrators, parents, students, and individuals who desire a better understanding of artificial intelligence in the education sector."

This really concerns me but also points to a need to train humans to supervise AI chatbots. "An artificial intelligance (AI) chatbot trained by Dartmouth researchers to deliver cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) significantly reduced depression, anxiety, and eating disorder symptoms. The randomized clinical trial of Therabot, published in NEJM AI, found that an AI-trained therapy chatbot could play a vital role in expanding access to CBT."

"Generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) chatbots hold promise for building highly personalized, effective mental health treatments at scale, while also addressing user engagement and retention issues common among digital therapeutics. We present a randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing an expert-fine-tuned Gen-AI-powered chatbot, Therabot, for mental health treatment."

A new malware is impacting gamers - it pretends to be an ASUS utility. Be careful and use this article to fix this and to be educated about the problem.

I appreciate the rundown and detail on what Miguel Guhlin heard and his observations about a webinar he attended. His experience is much like mine. The only place we differ is I do not like the term "thought partner." AI doesn't think. It also can't be a partner. A partner implies an equal. It is a tool for thinking, perhaps. I guess I'm careful on anthropomorphising AI as the worldview I want to teach the kids. Otherwise, this is a fantastic overview and very helpful and I'll be sharing it.