Hello Ed3 Community!
We are all familiar with the Gartner hype cycle. I've referred to it many times here in this newsletter, and it is regularly shared in discussions on tech adoption.
I am feeling a move toward the slope of enlightenment.
The articles this week represent some of the moves by web3 and AI to “go big.” For example, introducing crypto into financial literacy courses in high school demonstrates the growing interest in this investment vehicle as a regular part of one’s financial picture.
Similarly, a major university like Harvard bringing blockchain courses into their curriculum shows that this is no longer a trendy topic, but one that deserves a seat at the learning experience for college students.
AI may seem like it has already fast-forwarded itself from disillusionment, enlightenment, to productivity. But one could argue that the real uses and application of generative AI are just getting started.
The example of how Google is exploring its application in medicine is a prime example of how we will start to see regular integration of this technology into new parts of our lives.
This is all explored a little further in our deep dive for the week in which we hear from students about how they view the use of AI in writing.
Read the detailed summaries of each article below and click on the links to check them out. Also, make sure to see our weekly deep dive in which we hear from students on how they view AI and writing in school.
📰 Featured Articles:
🚌 Crypto comes to the classroom: In 2021, celebrity-endorsed ads heightened young Americans' interest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which, despite being touted as new, had existed for over a decade. As Bitcoin approaches its 15th anniversary, educators are grappling with how to address the growing curiosity about crypto among teenagers.
🏫 Explore Harvard GSD's latest Executive Education course on Blockchain and Real Estate: Blockchain technology holds persistent potential, particularly in architecture, prompting Harvard University Graduate School of Design to offer a program on its applications in real estate, highlighting tokenization and blockchain-enabled transfers of title and ownership claims as areas of interest.
🩺 Google’s New AI Is Learning to Diagnose Patients: The development of AMIE, a new AI model by Google DeepMind, is designed to assist in healthcare by providing clear medical explanations to patients and supporting physicians. This highlights its potential for enhancing diagnostic accuracy and patient understanding without replacing human doctors.
📝 What Students Are Saying About Learning to Write in the Age of A.I.: This article discusses the ongoing relevance of learning to write well despite advancements in AI, with opinions from educators and students emphasizing the importance of originality, creativity, and the irreplaceable human element in writing.
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What Students Are Saying About Learning to Write in the Age of A.I.
Image by Ben Wiseman
This article explores how schools are still grappling with the impact and use of chatGPT in writing instruction. This opinion piece stresses the importance of good writing, a view echoed by many students who believe that writing is crucial for effective communication, creative expression, and personal development. It was redreshing to hear from students who recognize that AI, while beneficial for generating ideas and assisting with language, cannot replace the authenticity, creativity, and personal voice that come with human writing.
It was also interesting to read that many students doubt that it can fully replace human writers. They argue that AI lacks the emotional depth, creativity, and authenticity inherent in human writing, as it relies on existing data and cannot generate truly original ideas. This is part of a trend that I am seeing that views a lot of the AI doom and gloom hype to be overblown and learners are well aware of the importance of authentic idea generation.
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