Friday News Roundup

It’s Friday. Time for the News Roundup.

At These Universities, Using AI Isn’t Shunned – It’s a Graduation Requirement (The 74)

It’s interesting how some folks are doing everything in their power to limit the use of artificial intelligence, while others are embracing it and seeing it as a powerful force for good.

The 74 reported this week that,

“While most colleges and universities are reluctantly grappling with widespread student use of artificial intelligence, a few are not only tolerating it but making it part of their core curricula. In the process, they’re signaling to new students that using and critically evaluating AI will be a large part of their post-college lives.”

Purdue University, The Ohio State University, and the entire State University of New York system have endorsed teaching artificial intelligence as part of their university curriculum.

More colleges and universities are sure to jump on board as artificial intelligence becomes an even more powerful learning force moving forward.

Kim Kardashian Says the Moon Landing Was Fake. There’s a Lesson Here for Schools (EdWeek)

“The population of the United States is 342 million, 11 million fewer than the number of followers Kim Kardashian has on Instagram.”

“While chatting with a producer during a break from her reality TV show last year, Kardashian doubted whether there had been a moon landing. ‘I think it was fake,’ she said. The clip went viral, breathing new life into an old conspiracy thanks to the star’s extraordinary influence.”

Sam Wineburg and Nadav Ziv from the Digital Inquiry Group used Kardashian’s wacko proclamation to write this:

“Digital literacy requires exposing students to inaccurate content, not shielding them from it. Schools don’t have to open the floodgates by eliminating internet filters. Videos and screenshots from social media can be thoughtfully selected, downloaded, and imported into the classroom. This is precisely what we have been doing at the Digital Inquiry Group. Many of our new Reading Like a Historian lessons for middle and high school students include digital literacy exercises. Professional development for teachers provides guidance for weaving digital literacy into the fabric of subject-matter instruction.”

If there is one skill traditional K-12 schools are remiss from teaching, it is the ability to discern facts from non-facts. It’s like they are entirely missing the elephant in the room.

Exclusive: Parents Favor Free Tutoring, Summer Camp, Open Enrollment…Annual Testing? Not So Much (The 74)

A new 50CAN survey of over 23,000 parents finds shifting priorities across the political spectrum, according to a recent post by The 74.

Free tutoring, free summer camp, and open enrollment were all strongly favored by the parents surveyed. Annual testing, charter schools, education savings accounts, and school vouchers were strongly favored by less than half of those parents surveyed, but education savings accounts and school vouchers have increased in their popularity in recent years.

Let’s see if traditional districts begin to acknowledge what parents are telling them they want from their public education system.

University of Texas Regents Approve Limits on Teaching ‘Unnecessary Controversial Subjects’ (The Texas Tribune)

So who decides what is an “Unnecessary Controversial Subject”?

And what happens after that decision is made?

According to The Texas Tribune,

“The policy does not define what qualifies as ‘controversial’ or what constitutes a ‘broad and balanced approach.’ Opponents warned that leaving those terms undefined would force administrators to interpret them case by case, pressuring professors to avoid difficult material rather than risk complaints.”

“Board Chair Kevin Eltife said the lack of specificity came as the system tried to craft a policy that could work in today’s politically charged environment.”

“’We are in difficult times,’ he said. ‘Vagueness can be our friend.’”

And the beat goes on in the Lone Star State.

Til Monday. SVB