A weekly collection of education-related news from around the web.

“How Do We Know What People Know?” How Assessment Is Evolving

“For most of the twentieth century, assessment worked on a simple assumption: completing the task required doing the thinking. If a student submitted an essay, they probably wrote it. If a job applicant submitted a polished cover letter, they probably had the writing skills it demonstrated. The act of production and the act of understanding […]

How To Learn From Survey Feedback By Talking With It – Via AI

“I was reading through a set of open-ended survey responses from faculty members regarding their feelings, experiences, and desires as it pertained to AI in their classroom… The responses were so nuanced that shifting in any one direction might shift away from the sentiment of another audience member. Reaching out to one person might mean […]

How A Chem Teacher Used AI For An Open-Ended Mystery Powder Lab

“Then we introduced the challenge: they would conduct a chemistry experiment AND learn to use AI as a research tool. The ground rules were simple—use AI to ask any questions needed to fill out their worksheet and design an experiment using the provided compounds. All approved experimental protocols would be conducted the next day.”

How To Scaffold Faculty Experimentation With AI

“Faculty don’t need another mandate. They need space. They need structure. And most of all, they need support that respects their expertise while helping them grow into a rapidly changing landscape. The Structured Sandbox Model isn’t about pushing AI into every classroom. It’s about creating the conditions where thoughtful experimentation feels possible—where faculty can move […]

Issues

Every week I send out articles I encounter from around the web. Subject matter ranges from hard knowledge about teaching to research about creativity and cognitive science to stories from other industries that, by analogy, inform what we do as educators. This breadth helps us see our work in new ways.

Readers include teachers, school leaders, university overseers, conference organizers, think tank workers, startup founders, nonprofit leaders, and people who are simply interested in what’s happening in education. They say it helps them keep tabs on what matters most in the conversation surrounding schools, teaching, learning, and more.

Peter Nilsson

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