Exploring the Nooks and Crannies: Issue #22 of web3🤝education
Hello educator and web3 frens,
The wonderful world of web3 is complex, varied, and full of interesting nooks and crannies to explore. Curious about 3-D renderings generated by AI? How about digital pictures created using written prompts? Fascinated by teenage coders? Check out a business acquisition by a major web3 developer. Does the rise of a multi-million dollar artist enterprise interest you? Take a look at how a Canadian civil engineer started one of the biggest NFT projects in the world.
Choosing to learn about web3 is choosing to learn about art and artificial intelligence, business and blockchain, cryptocurrencies and cybersecurity. You know the normal ABCs (insert lol here).
This is what makes this field so interesting to me as an educator. It is also what inspired me to create this newsletter. With so much to learn about, and so much information being thrown at you at once, it's helpful to have someone finding the signal through the noise.
As I nudge closer to 75 subscribers with the release of this, my 22nd issue, I am hopeful that I am helping people improve their understanding of web3. Yet I still ask myself daily, "why web3?".
Each time that I reflect on this question the thoughtful words of people I respect in the education space who are committed to learning about web3 come to mind. People like The Tech Rabbi. This newsletter closes with a link to a video in which he addresses the question of why teachers should care about web3.
Click through the resources for the week about web3 and education.
🤖 Deep dive into 3-D renderings generated by AI
🤝 News story on a huge acquisition in the coding space
👀 Long form article on the state of NFTs
🗣 Interview with a teacher on why you should care about web3
AI Is Getting Good, Like Really Good — www.nytimes.com
Every so often I come across an article that I would call "mindblowing." This is one of those. It's an article you bookmark, save, email to friends, post on Twitter, etc...
While the metaverse gets a lot of press (thanks Zuck), it's really the world of AI that I find the most fascinating. I believe that before we get to these fully immersive digital environments, we are going to need the digital components to interact with.
This article provides an expansive look at the state of AI-generated art and what is possible with this amazing technology.
Coding Platform Purchased By Major Web3 Developer — techcrunch.com
The purchase and investment in education startups exploded during the post-pandemic edtech money grab. It is estimated that there was $20bn raised by edtech companies globally in 2021. Out of this, there has been much less investment in web3 education companies. I predict we will start to see this change in the next few years.
One first major acquisition was recently announced when web3 developer Alchemy purchased education startup ChainShot. What does this mean for the web3 and education space? It may signal an increase in web3 apps designed and built by younger coders in our schools.
The post-Netscape world saw a boom in young coders that eventually became the app designers for the first smartphones. The post-NFT world may see a similar thing, this time for app designers in web3.
Resetting the State of NFTs — www.theglobeandmail.com
Speaking of NFTs...
I know that it's not even cool anymore to talk about an NFT project that is minting or that you "aped" into. With prices dropping rapidly and the overall dollars being invested in the space trending further and further downward, the entire NFT space is losing some of its appeal.
So what does this mean? That it really was just a trend? Or are we trending towards the post-internet bust of 2000 that we all said was coming?
Regardless of what you may think, check out this article on the state of NFTs. It covers the trends in sales and volume, updates on some of the biggest NFTs projects, and some insightful thoughts on what may be coming up ahead.
Final Word by the Rabbi
I'd like to leave you with this interview with The Tech Rabbi from the ISTE 22 conference in New Orleans. There's a lot that he covers in this conversation, and a lot I'd love to discuss in more detail. But I'll let his words do the 'splaining.
Thank you for stopping by for another issue of my web3🤝education newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here or if you’re on LinkedIn go check out a version of this newsletter on my LinkedIn page and give me a follow.
Link to all my work by checking out my website.