Building Learning Around the Future We Want with Susan Santone

In this episode, Sean talks with our special guests on the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and education, with a particular focus on fostering equity and access. Sean is joined by Meacie Fairfax from Complete College America, Dr. Linda Garcia of the Center for Community College Student Engagement from The University of Texas at Austin, and Al Anderson, CIO for Salish Kootenai College, share their expert insights and experiences. 

Key highlights and takeaways from the episode:

• The Potential of AI in Education: The discussion opens up with the transformative possibilities AI brings to educational support services, including personalized academic advising and targeted assistance for students' basic needs.
• Challenges and Opportunities: Guests explore both the hurdles and the promising aspects of AI integration within educational institutions, highlighting the critical role of AI in democratizing access to learning resources.
• Equity and Inclusion in AI Design: A significant part of the conversation is dedicated to ensuring AI tools are designed and utilized in a way that includes and benefits all students, especially those from historically marginalized communities.
• Real-World Applications and Success Stories: Examples of AI applications in various educational settings are shared, showcasing how technology is making a tangible difference in students' academic journeys.
• Looking Forward: The episode concludes with a forward-looking perspective on how AI could reshape the educational landscape, emphasizing the need for continued innovation and inclusivity.

Guest Information: 

• Meacie Fairfax - Strategy Director for Complete College America (CCA). She leads the work on student support strategies, which includes Active Academic Support, Proactive Advising, 360° Coaching, and Basic Needs.
• Dr. Linda Garcia - Executive Director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE) at The University of Texas at Austin. https://cccse.org/meet-cccse-team
• AL Anderson -  Chief Information Officer for IT Services at Salish Kootenai College - https://www.skc.edu/

This episode takes a retrospective review on 2023 and one of the most transformative technologies of our time - generative AI. Our panel of experts, including Punya Mishra, Sean Leahy, Rachna Mathur, and Kellie Kreiser, explores the impact of AI on various fields and reflects on personal experiences with this transformative technology. From academic conferences to real-life applications and philosophical musings, this discussion is a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of AI, education, and daily life.

What does this all mean - and where is it going?

Key Episode Highlights include: 

Introduction to the Panel: A warm welcome to our esteemed guests Punya Mishra, Sean Leahy, Rachna Mathur, and Kellie Kreiser.

The Evolution of AI in Education: The panel debates how AI is becoming a normalized tool in education, shedding light on its rapid integration into lesson planning and its potential to democratize knowledge.

Generational Divide in AI Perception: Discussions pivot to the varying levels of comfort and skepticism towards AI among different generations, noting a split between enthusiasts and skeptics.

AI's Impact Over the Past Year: The conversation moves towards the significant advancements in generative AI in 2023, from AI-generated music to multimodal platforms combining text and imagery.

AI in Family Life: Sean shares how AI has become part of his family's routine, especially with his children, reflecting on the immediacy with which younger generations have adopted and adapted to AI.

Closing Thoughts: The episode concludes with a reflection on the speed of AI’s development and its implications for the future, both in education and beyond.

Shared Links: 

• Me|We Exhibit!  Graduate students showcase shows AI as a tool for learning, creating | ASU Enterprise Technology
• Andrew Maynard’s Substack - The Future of Being Human - https://futureofbeinghuman.com
• Artificial Intelligence, Responsible Innovation, and the Future of Humanity with Andrew Maynard

Sean is joined by Rachna Mathur to talk about the successful student led event in Generative AI called Me & We in AI: Exploring what generative AI means to us and for us. 

In our conversation we talked about the challenges and successes of undertaking an event like this as part of a graduate course experience focused on Education by Design. This project gave students an opportunity to go beyond the theory of design and explore the ins and outs, ups and downs of design by directly living with the experience of designing an interactive experience. 

Rachna shared the details on how the aim of the event was focused on developing a hands-on experience to let users experiment with a few generative AI tools to see what these powerful technologies can do. Various stations explore how GenAI may impact aspects of our lives such as creativity, language, and learning.

Special thanks to the CDI 691 Team

Kevin Brown, Jami Carmichael, Theresa Hoover, Rezwana Islam, Kellie Kreiser, J'Shon Lee, Rachna, Mathur, and Lin Yan

Event Website: Me & We in AI Event

Guest Host: Rachna Mathur (ASU Bio)

In this episode of the Learning Futures Podcast, Dr. Siddharth Srivastava, Associate Professor at the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence at Arizona State University discusses the need for responsible development of AI systems that keep users informed of capabilities and limitations. He highlights exciting research on learning generalizable knowledge to make AI more robust and data-efficient. However, dangers arise from overtrusting unproven systems, so regulation and oversight are needed even as innovation continues. By prioritizing users, the current explosion in AI research can drive responsible progress.

Key topics discussed: 

- Dr. Srivastava discusses his background in AI research and the journey that led him to focus on developing safe and reliable AI systems. 

- The recent explosion of interest and adoption of generative AI like ChatGPT took many researchers by surprise, especially the accessibility and breadth of applications people found for these narrow systems.

- It's important to distinguish narrow AI applications like generative models from general AI. Overuse of the term "AI" can lead to misconceptions.

- Considerations around safety, bias, and responsible use need to be built into AI systems from the start. Keeping users informed of capabilities and limitations is key.  

- Exciting new research directions include learning generalizable knowledge to make AI systems more robust and data-efficient.

- Dangers arise from overtrusting unproven AI systems. Regulation and oversight will be needed, but should not stifle innovation.

- Overall, it's an exciting time in AI research. With a thoughtful, practical approach focused on user needs, AI can be developed responsibly.

Links:

• The Alignment Problem - https://brianchristian.org/the-alignment-problem/
• Siddharth’s Website - http://siddharthsrivastava.net/
• Siddharth’s Research Group AAIR - https://aair-lab.github.io/
• NeurIPS 2023 Workshops - https://neurips.cc/virtual/2023/events/workshop
• Siddharth’s NeurIPS 2023 Workshop - https://neurips.cc/virtual/2023/workshop/66542

In this episode, we delve into the pioneering research led by Dr. Chitta Baral though his laboratory of Cognition and Intelligence at Arizona State University. He discusses the ground-breaking work and innovations emerging from his lab, with a special focus on the intersection of cognition, intelligence, and technology. Dr. Chitta's current research is an ambitious blend of exploring natural language, visual objects, and the intricate dynamics of multi-modal documents, with an eye toward impactful applications in cybersecurity, robotics, and the health sciences.

The conversation explores the concept of Human-AI teaming, discussing the potential benefits and challenges of integrating artificial intelligence into our daily work and decision-making processes. Dr. Baral also shares his expert perspective on the explosive growth of Generative AI in the field. He offers a nuanced view, weighing in on whether this trend signifies a genuine paradigm shift or if it's part of a hype cycle with merely short-term advancements.

Further into the discussion, we explore the cultural shift among students and professionals as they adapt to the latest Generative AI tools. Dr. Baral reflects on how these tools are reshaping teaching methodologies and the approach to student projects.

Guest Information

• Chitta Baral, PhD ASU Biography
• Dr. Baral's Online CV with publication links
• Cognition & Intelligence Lab @ Arizona State University

In the spirit of Halloween - Sean (with the help of producer extraordinaire Jake)  pull together a fun compendium of short stories from some of our colleagues and listeners for a special “spooky” episode of the Learning Futures Podcast. 

The Challenge: Create an original short story (about, with, or through) Generative AI, in the spirit of emerging technologies, AI, the future of humanity etc. in the spirit of Halloween. These can be any genre, they can be spooky, funny, creepy, suspenseful, thought provoking, thoughtful, or any combination of the lot. Have fun with this idea. It could be created in any way, and with as much or as little assitwnace from GenAI tools as the author wished. It needed to stay short, 500 words or less or less than 5 minutes of record time. 

Learning Futures Podcast: Sc(AI)ry Stories: A Compendium

• Cauldron Collaboration: by Charla Griffy-Brown, Replica AI called Kira, and prompt engineer James Fields  [Narrated by Eleven Labs]
• The Experiment: by Danah Henriksen, using Bing AI (set to creative mode) [Narrated by Eleven Labs]
• The Assistant: by Jacob Snider, using Claude2, and voice narration by Eleven Labs
• An Echo in the Code: by Sean Leahy, using ChatGPT and narrated by Eleven Labs
• Lost in Recognition: by Kellie Kreiser, using ChatGPT and cloned AI voice
• Vikram or Vetal: by Punya Mishra, using ChatGPT and Bing AI.

Alternative cover art: (if your podcast player supports it) was created in MidJourney with the prompt: "spooky halloween illustration with pumpkins and ghosts, robots and other technology"

In this episode, we explore the multifaceted journey of cognitive scientist Ken Koedinger. With a diverse academic background encompassing degrees in computer science, mathematics, and psychology, Ken's unique trajectory converged at the intersection of technical expertise and an intrinsic understanding of human learning. This fusion of disciplines drew him into the realms of cognitive psychology and educational technology research.

Within this intricate landscape, cognitive models emerge as powerful tools, endeavoring to illuminate the implicit cognitive processes and foundational knowledge that underpin human expertise and learning. Ken employs a combination of think-aloud protocols and insightful analysis of learner data to meticulously dissect the mental components and conditional knowledge that come into play when tackling complex tasks, such as mathematics and science problem-solving.

Intelligent tutoring systems stand as the ultimate manifestation of this synergy between cognitive models and education. These systems seamlessly incorporate cognitive models to deliver adaptive instruction and feedback to learners as they navigate through learning activities. With the cognitive model acting as a vigilant sentinel, it keenly observes student actions, discerning the evolving mastery of essential knowledge components.

At the helm of Carnegie Mellon University's LearnLab, Ken Koedinger spearheads a pioneering initiative committed to embedding research within the educational landscape to enhance learning outcomes. LearnLab serves as a dynamic hub, equipping educators with indispensable tools, robust data infrastructure, and comprehensive training in the realm of learning engineering.

In the ever-evolving realm of education, the advent of groundbreaking AI capabilities, such as chatbots, presents a new frontier. These technologies offer valuable support in designing interactive learning activities. However, they do not operate in isolation; they require meticulous human oversight and quality control. While students may be tempted to employ AI for shortcuts, Ken emphasizes the potential limitations of such tactics, which may inadvertently restrict their own learning.

Overall, Koedinger underscores that the integration of these new AI technologies is not a disruptive revolution but rather a thoughtful evolution. This transformation hinges upon a judicious alignment with educational goals and assessments, ushering in a promising era where technology and pedagogy harmonize to elevate teaching and learning to new heights.

Guest Information & Links: 
See Ken's Full Bio - https://hcii.cmu.edu/people/ken-koedinger 

LearnLab website: https://learnlab.org

Carnegie Learning: https://www.carnegielearning.com/

Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tools: https://github.com/CMUCTAT/CTAT/wiki

Open Learning Initiative: https://oli.cmu.edu

Tutors+ project: tutors.plus

Gorilla Science Project: https://gorillalogic.com/gorilla-labs/

ASU Digital Maker Studio [Podcast Studio]: https://lx.asu.edu/digitalmakerstudio 

In this  episode, host Dr. Sean Leahy engages in a captivating conversation with Dr. Katina Michael. Dr. Michael's unique journey, transitioning from the telecommunications industry to academia and technology/society research, sets the stage for a thought-provoking discussion.

The conversation delves into a wide spectrum of emergent technologies, beginning with an exploration of the metaverse. Dr. Michael offers insights into its definition and current progress, while also pondering its future implications. A significant focus is directed towards the convergence of digital and biological technologies, particularly in the context of implantable tech. The episode also delves into crucial considerations regarding age-appropriate design and the ethical usage of these groundbreaking technologies.

One of the central themes of the conversation revolves around the potential impacts of AI, specifically generative AI, on education. Dr. Michael underscores the importance of thoughtful, collaborative design and emphasizes the need to consider social embeddedness when developing new technologies. Her advocacy for a human-centered approach, which prioritizes consulting end users and empowering human agency, shines through the discussion.

While recognizing the buzz and excitement surrounding these innovations, Dr. Michael encourages a balanced perspective of measured optimism. She urges listeners to think critically about how best to harness these tools for the benefit of society, making this episode a compelling exploration of the evolving technological landscape.

Links & Resources Mentioned:

Katina's ASU Bio: https://search.asu.edu/profile/3298186 

Katina's TED Talks: Brain Implants: Hype or Hope and Microchipping People

The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan

Notebook LLM by Google

Dive into Season 6 with host Dr. Sean Leahy as we navigate the dynamic, fast-paced, and rapidly changing technological landscape, delving deep into its transformative impact on society and education. This season promises enriching dialogues with international thought leaders operating at the crucial intersection of technology, cognition, and society.

This Selects episode was originally published on July 12, 2022. 

--- Original Show Notes --- 

Hosts Clarin Collins and Sean Leahy talk with Leigh Wolf and Audrey Watters about the futures of educational technology, how we have come into an era where technologies are present in almost all classrooms and how that has changed teaching and learning in significant ways. Our guests chat about how we could create a more humanistic approach to existing and emerging EdTech, and how EdTech can become a roadblock for teachers. Our panelist help us unpack what EdTech really means, and define it in a broader sense than a “computerized” or “digital” tool only. They invite us to think critically about what EdTech could be in the future and how to help it become more equitable and accessible.

About our guests:

• Audrey Watters | Blog | Hack Education
• Audrey's new book: Teaching Machines - The History of Personalized Learning available via MIT Press
• Dr. Leigh Wolf | ASU Bio

The Learning Futures Podcast is produced at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. The Executive Producer is Dr. Sean Leahy, the show is produced by Dr. Clarin Collins and Karina Muñoz Baltazar, with technical production provided by Jacob Snider.