Today I had lots of fun with middle and high school students at the New Mexico Educators Rising State Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We did several activities that helped us think about how AI works–it predicts the next token based on its (biased) training data. it doesn’t “know” anything, it fills in the blanks. […]
The other day, I asked my students to write a song about what they learned that day. In 5 minutes. And yes, they could use AI. A few minutes later, I had a playlist of AI-generated songs—different styles and lyrics, but quite polished (see here and here, for example). We had fun. And now I […]
At my house we have a Valentine’s Fairy 🧚🏼 (also a Christmas Eve Fairy, but that’s for another day)! This year, I have a child in my home for the first time and am excited to introduce her to this special fairy. As I was preparing, I decided I wanted to crochet a Valentine’s dog. […]
What if you could give someone a magical spell—a carefully crafted incantation that allowed them to access a piece of your own magic? You might develop a book of spells—a grimoire—allowing others to perform your magic. This is exactly the concept that Ethan Mollick has explored in his work. He argues that effective AI prompts […]
There’s always a lot of hype around new technologies–my favorite example was how the “educational talking picture” was going to be epochal: The introduction of the use of the talking picture into education may prove to be an event as epochal as the application of the principle of the wheel to transportation or the application […]
Note: This post was written with extensive interaction with ChatGPT. You’d think I would know how to fully take advantage of writing with AI by now. But using ChatGPT’s canvas has made a major difference in how I use the tool to really refine my thinking as I write, truly being able to focus almost […]
The more I use AI–particularly Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT–the more I notice my tendency to get into a mode of thinking where I quickly ask stuff, skim the answer, then move on. This is concerning: it shows my tendency to minimize thinking effort. If a tool will do the hard stuff for me, […]
To use GenAI effectively, we need to shift our mindset from how most other digital technologies work. We’re used to many technologies (such as the printing press and internet) being about access to information. We are used to digital tools giving consistent responses (input/output). We are used to using tools to produce stuff (documents, images, […]
Finally! Nicole Oster, Roger Isaac and I wrote this article last October. It took some work finding the right home for it, and we have published (or have under review) some more updated studies, but it this original manuscript is officially out! Warr, M., Oster, N. J., & Isaac, R. (2024). Implicit bias in large […]
After a bit of a hiatus from blogging (life happens), I’m back! We each have our own way of speaking that originates from where we come from–some of these differences are more distinct and systematic than others. What does this mean for how LLMs respond to us? And to our students? A few weeks ago, […]