Saturday, April 5, 2025

NEW: Daily Education and News for Schools 5/5/2025

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

This week, there continues to be news about AI. ChatGPT and some other tools are giving themselves away to college students. Notebook LM has rolled out new features making it a more popular tool for studying finals than probably anything else (we talked about this last week as well.)

Additionally, there's some interesting research about back lash against brands and people who use AI and AI-generated images to write and publish. While AI is cool, using it heavily can have consequences, so beware. There have been some posts I've written and leaned on AI but I always end up rewriting to make them more “like me.” AI has uses but not everywhere, all the time.

As for this post, I bookmarked to Diigo. The quotes are excerpts from the articles and the words are my opinions. I exported and organized them onto this page and included a table of contents to help you move easily around this page.

Read this week's email newsletter and then dig in to some of these links.

Table of contents

Does using AI-generated content cause a negative response in readers?

Studies Reveal Consumers Easily Detect AI-Generated Content

LINK 🔗 https://www.searchenginejournal.com/studies-reveal-consumers-easily-detect-ai-generated-content/543620

AI may not be the writing boon that, well, AI claims it is. From the image study, Youngblood warned,

“If consumers determine that AI images are poor quality or a bad fit they may hold that against your brand/product/services.”

The content study showed:

50.1% of respondents would think less of writers who use AI.
40.4% would view brands more negatively if they used AI-generated content.
Only 10.1% would view the brands more favorably.

What is ChatGPT's free offer for college students?

College Students Can Get a Two-Month Free Trial of ChatGPT Plus | Lifehacker

LINK 🔗 https://lifehacker.com/tech/chatgpt-plus-free-trial-college-students?utm_medium=RSS

“You can only take advantage of this offer if you are a full or part-time student at a degree-granting school in either the U.S. or Canada. Don't be dissuaded if you don't see your school when attempting to sign up for the offer: OpenAI has a support link to help find or add your school to the list. This tool may also confirmed whether your school is ineligible. You need to be physically present in the U.S. (and its territories) or Canada to sign up for this offer, too—VPNs will not work, unless its a whitelisted educational VPN.

OpenAI says it'll confirm your student credentials through a service called SheerID. If the service is unable to verify you through your school's registrar office, or via your school's single sign-on service, you may need to provide SheerID with extra documents to prove your eligibility. SheerID says it only uses this data to authenticate your eligibility for this promotion, and does not sell or share your data with third parties.”

How do you help people make better decisions?

Social Proof Backfire: The Marketing Mistake Costing You Conversions

LINK 🔗 https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/negative-social-proof

How to be careful that your messaging to people doesn't have unintended consequences. Sometimes when you normalize behaviors you want to minimize you actually encourage that behavior. Parents and educators working in anti-vaping programs should look at this research and information.


“These anti-drug ads backfired because the ads unintentionally reinforced the idea that drug use was common. Rather than making the unwanted behavior seem scarce, the ads made drug-taking seem popular.

This is called negative social proof.

People look to others to determine what’s normal. The more they hear about something, the more they assume it’s widespread. 

We follow the actions of others. For example, simply reframing a menu item as “most popular” can make it 20% more popular.”

Are there free tools on a PC with AI image creation? Yes! MS Paint!

These AI Features Make Paint My Favorite Windows Photo Editing App

LINK 🔗 https://www.makeuseof.com/paint-ai-feature-benefits

In a day when AI graphics are all the rage, more people are talking about the AI features built into Microsoft Paint. Here's a rundown of those features for those of you using PC's and without access to some of the other AI tools out there.

What are the new features in Notebook LM?

NotebookLM Discover Sources: Add web research to your notebook

LINK 🔗 https://blog.google/technology/google-labs/notebooklm-discover-sources

Discover sources is a new feature in Notebook LM that will let you find new sources to go into your notebook. As always, verify those sources.

NotebookLM launches new features to help students study

LINK 🔗 https://blog.google/technology/google-labs/notebooklm-studying-help

One of the most exciting things my college-bound seniors learned this semester is Notebook LM. Now, Google has rolled out three more features for students as they study for exams (many of which are college-level exams for my seniors.)

How can digital reconstruction help us see a woman from the Bronze Age?

‘Peering into the eyes of the past’: reconstruction reveals face of woman who lived before Trojan war | History | The Guardian

LINK 🔗 https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/apr/05/peering-into-the-eyes-of-the-past-reconstruction-reveals-face-of-woman-who-lived-before-trojan-war

This digital reconstruction of a face of a woman from the bronze age is really fascinating. This is a great way to weave AI/digital tech into history. “Dr Emily Hauser, the historian who commissioned the digital reconstruction, told the Observer: “She’s incredibly modern. She took my breath away.

“For the first time, we are looking into the face of a woman from a kingdom associated with Helen of Troy – Helen’s sister, Clytemnestra, was queen of Mycenae in legend – and from where the poet Homer imagined the Greeks of the Trojan war setting out. Such digital reconstructions persuade us that these were real people.””

How will people be celebrating National Library Week April 6-12, 2025?

National Library Week | ALA

LINK 🔗 https://www.ala.org/conferencesevents/celebrationweeks/natlibraryweek

National Library week is coming up, April 6-12. here are some resources for it.

What did presenters at CoSN say about cell phones in the classroom?

CoSN2025: Why Are Cellphone Bans in K–12 Classrooms Sparking Controversy? | EdTech Magazine

LINK 🔗 https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2025/04/cosn2025-why-are-cellphone-bans-k-12-classrooms-sparking-controversy

A balanced overview of this debate from CoSN's conference. in Edtech Magazine.

“In reality, Lapus shared, kids check their phones 52 times per day on average and spend an average of 43 minutes on their phones at school, according to research from Common Sense Media.

These numbers don’t paint a complete picture, however. There are the subsequent effects of children’s cellphone use to consider, as well as the ramifications of taking devices away.”

How can you use choose your own adventure games to learn about classic literature with Playbrary?

Playbrary

LINK 🔗 https://playbrary.ai

Larry Ferlazzo shared this in 2024 but this AI tool took many of the classic adventure stories and turned them into choose your own adventure games using chat. So frankenstein, Jane Eyre and many more are now interactive in a new way. I can see many exciting adventures in learning by using this as a tool. (And remember to have kids compare and contrast these to the novels they read, there is no substitute for a good book!)

What happened to NaNoWriMo? How does it relate to AI backlash?

NaNoWriMo shut down after AI, content moderation scandals | TechCrunch

LINK 🔗:https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/01/nanowrimo-shut-down-after-ai-content-moderation-scandals/

So sad to see NaNoWriMo Go! Hat tip to Stephen Downes for telling us about this one. It is an issue with the organization saying it was ok to use AI in creative writing – a stand some best selling authors disagreed with. “Around the same time, the nonprofit was also lambasted for inconsistent moderation on its all-ages forums, which created an unsafe environment for teenage writers, community members claimed.

According to NaNoWriMo, these controversies over content moderation and AI did not directly lead to the organization’s demise. But they certainly didn’t help.

“To blame NaNoWriMo’s demise on the events of the last year does a disservice to all struggling nonprofits,” a NaNoWriMo spokesperson, Kilby, stated in a YouTube video. “Too many members of a very large, very engaged community let themselves believe the service to be provided was free.””

What if we can't find time to work out for extended periods during the week?

Weekend Exercise Lowers Risk Of Cancer, Heart Disease, Study Finds

LINK 🔗 https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a64388450/weekend-warrior-heart-cancer-health-benefits-study

Working out on the weekend is better than not working out at all — 150 minutes a week – that is the number.

“The researchers discovered that both the active regular and weekend warrior groups had a lower risk of death from all causes (up to 32 percent), as well as a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and cancer. “Engaging in physical activity concentrated within one to two days was related with a similar reduction in mortality risk as more evenly spread activity,” the researchers concluded.

Basically, you shouldn’t sweat it if all you can manage is to crank out your workouts on weekends—it's still better for your health than being less active.”

What does Miguel Guhlin think about Carnegie Learning's State of AI in Education overview from this week?

LINK 🔗 MyNotes: Carnegie Learning’s State of #AI in #Education #EduSky – Another Think Coming

I appreciate the rundown and detail on what Miguel Guhlin heard and his observations about a webinar he attended. His experience is much like mine. The only place we differ is I do not like the term “thought partner.” AI doesn't think. It also can't be a partner. A partner implies an equal. It is a tool for thinking, perhaps. I guess I'm careful not to anthropomorphize AI as the worldview I want to teach the kids. Otherwise, this is a fantastic overview and very helpful and I'll be sharing it.

How are Chatbots being used in mental health today? What are they finding?

Randomized Trial of a Generative AI Chatbot for Mental Health Treatment | NEJM AI

LINK 🔗 https://ai.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/AIoa2400802

“Generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) chatbots hold promise for building highly personalized, effective mental health treatments at scale, while also addressing user engagement and retention issues common among digital therapeutics. We present a randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing an expert–fine-tuned Gen-AI–powered chatbot, Therabot, for mental health treatment.”

AI Therapy Breakthrough: New Study Reveals Promising Results | Psychology Today

LINK 🔗 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/urban-survival/202504/ai-therapy-breakthrough-new-study-reveals-promising-results

This really concerns me but also points to a need to train humans to supervise AI chatbots.

“An artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot trained by Dartmouth researchers to deliver cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) significantly reduced depression, anxiety, and eating disorder symptoms.

The randomized clinical trial of Therabot, published in NEJM AI, found that an AI-trained therapy chatbot could play a vital role in expanding access to CBT.”

What is some inexpensive online PD I can take about AI in the classroom for 2.5 CEU's as part of a webinar? (Vicki Davis is teaching.)

AI's Role in Transforming Education: A Journey to Understanding Tickets, Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 5:30 PM | Eventbrite

LINK 🔗

“This 2.5-hour CEU is designed to help individuals and educators gain a better understanding of the latest advancements of AI, the future implications of its use, and to obtain valuable insight about how AI can be used to help educators become more proficient and inspire new ways of learning among their students and colleagues. It is designed for educators at any stage in their career, educational administrators, parents, students, and individuals who desire a better understanding of artificial intelligence in the education sector.”

How can you generate podcasts outside of Notebook LM?

Google Workspace Updates: Introducing Audio Overviews, now available in the Gemini app

LINK 🔗 https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2025/03/audio-overview-gemini-app.html

“Leveraging the same technology that powers NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews, Gemini app users can now generate podcast-style conversations based on documents, slides, and Deep Research reports. Upload files about topics you want to explore and enjoy dynamic discussions between two AI hosts with unique perspectives.”

What are concerns with Alexa privacy and classrooms?

Privacy died last century, the only way to go is off-grid • The Register

LINK 🔗 https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/31/privacy_dead_opinion

These Alexa changes impact classroom and privacy! “

What do I mean by that? Well, take, for example, that recently, Amazon announced a significant change in its Alexa device privacy policy. Starting March 28, 2025, Amazon will remove the option to process Alexa voice requests locally on specific Echo devices. Instead, all voice recordings will be sent to the cloud for processing, a move intended to support Amazon's new generative AI features in Alexa Plus.”

What is the research showing about cell phone bans?

School phone policies and their association with mental wellbeing, phone use, and social media use (SMART Schools): a cross-sectional observational study – The Lancet Regional Health – Europe

LINK 🔗 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(25)00003-1/fulltext

This UK funded study found the following. That said, a SMART school by definition is one that uses technology. So, I would be curious how a school not as focused on technology might find these results.

“There is no evidence that restrictive school policies are associated with overall phone and social media use or better mental wellbeing in adolescents. The findings do not provide evidence to support the use of school policies that prohibit phone use during the school day in their current form, and indicate that these policies require further development.”

What are teachers saying about cell phones in the classroom?

High school teachers say phone distraction in class is a big problem in the US | Pew Research Center

LINK 🔗 https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/06/12/72-percent-of-us-high-school-teachers-say-cellphone-distraction-is-a-major-problem-in-the-classroom

“High school teachers are especially likely to see cellphones as problematic. About seven-in-ten (72%) say that students being distracted by cellphones is a major problem in their classroom, compared with 33% of middle school teachers and 6% of elementary school teachers.”

What does the general public in America say about cell phones in schools?

Cellphones in schools: Most Americans favor class bans, but not all-day bans | Pew Research Center

LINK 🔗 https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/10/14/most-americans-back-cellphone-bans-during-class-but-fewer-support-all-day-restrictions

“Overall, 68% of U.S. adults say they support a ban on middle and high school students using cellphones during class, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2024. This includes 45% who strongly support this.”

What does the research say about AI detectors?

AI Detectors Don't Work. Here's What to Do Instead. – MIT Sloan Teaching & Learning Technologies

LINK 🔗 https://mitsloanedtech.mit.edu/ai/teach/ai-detectors-dont-work

AI detectors don't work. They don't work. How many times do we have to tell people? This is the article I point to when people don't understand this.

daily news for schools
daily news for schools

The post NEW: Daily Education and News for Schools 5/5/2025 appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!


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Wednesday, April 2, 2025

How to Actually Engage Students Who Have Zero Attention Span

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Dr. Marc Isseks, author of Captivate: Engaging and Empowering Students in a World of Digital Distractions, talks bluntly about cell phone policies and his opinion that attempting to ban cell phones is pointless. He also discusses the ways that you can engage students who have a short attention span (sometimes it feels like zero, but there are a few seconds — 3 seconds. Some would say that is zero!)

His thoughts on starting class are important ones to discuss. Whether it is pop culture, or other tips he offers, we can engage students in learning from the moment they walk in the door.

Listen to the Audio Podcast

  • Stream by clicking here.
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    10 minute teacher podcas audible

    Watch the YouTube Video

    It will appear at this link.

    https://youtu.be/wZ6LxjdqoOo

    Dr. Marc Isseks – Bio as Submitted

    Dr. Marc Isseks is a third-generation educator with 30 years of experience. He has served as a teacher, curriculum coordinator, and building administrator in Brooklyn and Long Island. Marc is passionate about sharing strategies to increase student engagement and ensuring that schools cultivate the nurturing and invigorating learning environment every student deserves.  A self-proclaimed Educational Pyromaniac, Marc is dedicated to lighting fires under people who work and setting fire to systemic conventions that do not. 

    Blog: marcisseks.com

    Twitter: @marcisseks

    Linked In: @marcisseks

    YouTube: @edupyro Podcast:

    State of Ed Podcast www.stateofedpodcast.com

    Disclosure of Material Connection: This episode includes some affiliate links. This means that if you choose to buy I will be paid a commission on the affiliate program. However, this is at no additional cost to you.  Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

    The post How to Actually Engage Students Who Have Zero Attention Span appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!


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    Monday, March 31, 2025

    NEW: Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 3/29/2025

    From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

    Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

    Today, I'm sharing what I've learned and my favorite links from this week. In a world where Perplexity can give us so much, it can't give the perspective of an American teacher who is in the classroom and her observations on what is going on around us. And while I like Perplexity like others do, I used to do these blog posts where I would share what I'd bookmarked from that week.

    I used Diigo for years and have been missing the functionality I had in that tool. So, I still have an account and I went back over there this week. This tool lets me bookmark and then generate a report that I can then share. For many years, it was such a great way to share, and honestly, as we move back towards valuing human curation.

    (and yes, I do think we will shift that way. While AI is can be helpful, I predict there will be an inevitable backlash and a desire for human curation, particularly as people start sharing fake links and malware intrudes its nasty little head into non-vetted links and websites that aren't adequately maintained but get cited by that form of search.)

    What is the new Image Generation engine on ChatGPT 4.5 that everyone is talking about?

    In eighth grade class Thursday we discussed the new Image Generation Feature that rolled out with ChatGPT 4.5 on Thursday. It first rolled out to Pro users and then it is coming to free users. We were amazed at the results. I will be writing a full blog post on how I did this.

    So, I watched this video (⬆ above) on YouTube about Image Generation on ChatGPT 4.5 and my journey began.

    How are Teachers using the new image generation feature in Chat GPT 4.5?

    I'm going to do a whole blog post on this, but for creating infographics and content,t we have a massively exciting update to ChatGPT — image creation.

    We were playing with it in class, and I turned a picture of three adventurous boys in the class into cartoon characters and then into Veggie Tales characters.

    🔗 See what we did: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BnDASfs4c

    So I saw a note from Holly Clark on Linked In – about how she generated an image from the water cycle (the conversation underneath her post is an interesting one.) She encouraged educators to learn how to use this when it is in the free plan.

    I shared this thought and graphic on her post that gives insight to some early observations I have on this tool.

    A ChatGPT generated directional blood flow graphic containing errors in labeling the aortic arch and a mispelling of the left atrium.
    A ChatGPT generated directional blood flow graphic containing errors in labeling the aortic arch and a mispelling of the left atrium. My friend Jessica, our science department chair, and I worked with ChatGPT 4.5 until we had to give up because it wouldn't edit. Stay tuned for an upcoming blog post about this.

    So the free version is not quite there yet for teachers (but will be.) Also, I generated an image with our science teacher on blood circulation of the heart and there were subtle issues that she saw that I was clueless about – there is a selection and correction tool but we could not get it to work, it wouldn't label the aorta for anything and we ended up having to go into canva to fix it. So this is yet another example of content knowledge being king.

    So I've run out of credits until April 2nd (I have pro version ($20/month) and my teachers don't – yet — that is a big price tag for the school to pay but we'll figure it out.) But the problem with it for teachers is if it gets really really close the first time it is great, but if it makes mistakes and you have to fix them, it is almost impossible to get it to do that.

    Revision is where it is very very weak. But I do agree with you that ChatGPT is the best and it is my favorite tool by far. (I will be blogging about the experience this week but this is the chart we finally abandoned and yes, this was a harder task but it is ok. It did get the deoxygenated and oxygenated blood right and it is attractive. Just needs to let us revise better. Thanks for sharing, Holly.

    How can someone get started with ChatGPT?

    I do agree with the “knowing the reasoning behind” and the ability to analyze photos and I also do use the “talk to ChatGPT” features in the car. If you’re feeling like a beginner and want to sharpen up your ChatGPT skills, this is a good place to start.

    🔗 The 5 Best ChatGPT Features You Must Try

    https://www.makeuseof.com/best-chatgpt-features-you-must-try

    How can students use Notebook LM in order to study for final exams?

    My AP students loved this lesson as I demonstrated Notebook LM to them for studying for finals. They thanked me. Now, these are the same students who expressed skepticism in my Global AI Literacy Day podcast I released Friday but they said, “now, finally an AI that helps me learn. I don't want AI to do work for, I want it to help me learn.”

    Note that students must be 18 or older to use Notebook LM from Google.

    This video gave me the content, but I'll be sharing in an upcoming video.

    How is AI changing the way math teachers plan lessons?

    Lauraine Langreo writes an article for education week on how AI is changing the way math teachers plan lessons.
    Lauraine Langreo writes an article for Education Week on how AI is changing the way math teachers plan lessons.

    Math and AI? Yes, AI is being used by math teachers – here's how.

    Opinion: I think what I like most about this article is I know how it was written. The reporter, Lauraine Langreo spent a good thirty minutes talking to me about all of the ways I use AI in the classroom (I have a small quote at the end.) I'm sure each person in this article she talked to them for just as long if not longer, since I'm more Computer Science than math (even though math is in my subject quite heavily.) We need to value, appreciate and reshare the kind of reporting that is humans talking to humans. Human written, human researched and shared. If we do not, we will delegate our most precious freedom – that of personal expression to the bots. And bots can parrot us but they cannot spot moral issues or other things as well as we can. Our words matter and humans matter and so as someone who loves words, I'm going to continue to write in my flawed, imperfect way and to cherish that in my own students.

    I suggest sharing this one to your math teachers.

    🔗 How AI Is Changing the Way Math Teachers Plan Lessons https://www.edweek.org/technology/how-ai-is-changing-the-way-math-teachers-plan-lessons/2025/03

    How do we help develop the metacognitive skills to help us think better and live better?

    How Emotionally Intelligent People learn to Control Their Inner Voice Backed by Neuroscience: Start by using Second person. by Bill Murphy Junior in Inc Magazine.
    Bill Murphy, Jr.

    In Inc Magazine, Ethan Kross says that we spend ⅓ of our time focused on the past or the future and not living in the moment, and we engage in those conversations with ourselves. The negative self-talk can consume us, as anyone who loves a personal struggle with mental health knows. This article says that if you can address yourself by name and use second-person pronouns in a strategy called “distanced self-talk,” you can literally help yourself. There are other powerful strategies in this article, and it is worth reading.

    🔗 How Emotionally Intelligent People Learn to Control Their Inner Voice, Backed by Neuroscience

    Link: https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/how-emotionally-intelligent-people-learn-to-control-their-inner-voice-backed-by-neuroscience/91164751

    How do we talk to students about AI and the ethics of AI?

    Taco Bell AI opinions
    People share their opinions as AI takes their order at Taco Bell. It makes a perfect conversation with my students about the role AI will have in our society.

    My goal is to bring in 1-2 real world examples of AI a week. Yesterday in Atlanta I filmed a Waymo training car driving down the street in Atlanta

    We discuss what this will feel like. The impact on workers who work at the location and how people might respond to an AI order taker. We discuss what programmers must look for and how it will be trained.

    Article Summary

    According to USA Today, AI will soon be taking your drive-thru orders at 500 Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC locations as they partner with nVidia starting in April and through June. Let’s see how this goes.

    🔗 AI will soon be taking your drive-thru orders at 500 Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC locations

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ai-soon-taking-drive-thru-100530533.html

    How can AI help us in ELA classrooms?

    AirPod Live Translation coming soon! While we’re talking Apple, the AirPods might get a live translation feature soon. It can translate live in-person conversations from one language to another. When this happens, it will be truly be a game changer for communications (and also possibly training data for the Apple devices, but they are already full of data.)

    Could you imagine what this would do in ELA classrooms where students just grab their airpods and everything can be translated? Also, how do we teach them about mistranslation and what to do when it glitches and doesn't translate everything correctly? Will this be a new school supply?

    🔗 AirPods rumored to get a live translation feature soon

    How can educators better use their commute time?

    Some of my favorite apps for my commute are:

    • Audible. -I love to listen to books in the car.It always gives me fresh content from brilliant minds to talk about that day in class.
    • My Radar – is the best weather app. It willshow you live weather radar on your carplay. There have been times I have changed my leave time from school or direction home and avoided very bad weather. This is literally a lifesaver in my book that everyone should have.
    • Overcast – My favorite podcast app after Castro went on the fritz for an extended period. (Plus my dear Cuban friend, Mirna just hated it when I recommended Castro even though it has nothing to do with Cuba.)
    • Music apps – we all have these….

    So, depending on how long you commute and even if you don't have carplay, taking time to research the apps can make your commute better and more productive, so here are some links to do that.

    🔗 These 5 free Apple CarPlay apps make my commute actually enjoyable

    https://www.pocket-lint.com/best-apple-carplay-apps

    🔗 10 awesome Android Auto apps that most people don't know about

    https://www.androidpolice.com/underappreciated-android-auto-apps

    from Android Police shares some great tools to get the most of out of your phone when you’re in the car if you have an android. On my iphone I love the live radar and the podcast apps that help me get the most out of my commute.

    How can AI help me handle my Gmail faster?

    If you use gmail, the new AI-powered search results factors in how you click on things, frequent contacts and they say that emails you are looking for are more likely to be at the top of your results. The new “most relevant” search results are rolling out now.

    🔗 Gmail’s new search update finds relevant emails faster

    https://blog.google/products/gmail/gmail-search-update-relevant-emails

    How are student attendance numbers now in 2024-2025?

    According to an article in Schools news, for the first half of 2024-2025 overall K12 school attendance rates have improved, says eschool news, in a study that analyzed more than 1 million students in 143 districts. The overall rate is 93.45%.

    What are common interventions that are improving attendance?

    They noticed that 7th grade is the “tipping point” where attendance rates drop and chronic absenteeism rises. The report goes on to recommend early warning systems and proactive intervention. Perhaps this is a conversation for middle school teachers in your staff meeting this week.

    K-12 student attendance improves, but interventions are still needed

    What are student technology leadership programs and how do they work?

    So much of technology is taught in-situ as we experience concerns and problems. I can teach more with one real world problem than a thousand textbooks. If you want to produce tech whizzes, give them lots of problems. Tech and Learning has information on how this works and why they are so effective. If you don’t have one, check it out!

    🔗 Creating a Student Technology Leadership Program | Tech & Learning

    https://www.techlearning.com/news/creating-a-student-technology-leadership-program

    How do we teach information literacy?

    I do this with my truth or fiction game but this approach helps students learn about how people manipulate media and is a simulation. I’m not sure I’ll do with students until I spend some time testing this simulation but the interface and approach are intriguing and worth a look for all of you who are (hopefully) teaching information literacy.

    🔗 Bad News – Play the fake news game!

    https://www.getbadnews.com/en/intro

    Are people turning away from smart phones and using them differently?

    Matthew Hew Lloyd on Linked in wrote about how he is using his smartphone now. It is a great read. I'm finding increasingly good content on Linked In, but let me give you a warning. As someone who has seen the algorithms come and go, I think writing where you control your ownership is very important. Otherwise, when something changes, as has Facebook and their live videos, you are stuck losing content. (If you want to connect on Linked In, here's my profile link.)

    Here's my response:

    And as I work with kids who have mental health issues – who are so concerned about possible war, problems with China, problems with Russia, the first thing we are taught to do to help is to take away the phone and get rid of all of the news. I know that isn't great sounding but we have to start finding trusted news sources that are human-written, sometimes might be boring, are different from us.
    For me, I've gone back to Feedly and am working to curate and add more of my favorite writers there. I've gone back to Diigo and am starting to bookmark again. And I'm pulling away from certain tasks being done by AI.
    For example, I derive great joy from writing. It moves my heart and makes me feel alive. Therefore, generating does not spark the same joy for me as writing it myself. Also, no matter what I do, it cannot write like me.
    It cannot share that I recorded a waymo self driving training car in Atlanta yesterday that I'll show to my students or discussed the Taco Bell Ai ordering attendant with my family last night at dinner and rolled with laughter.
    I'm also working to respond more on writing I like because then the algorithm will do a better job of not bringing the sensational and disturbing to me but good writing like this.

    🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hewloyd_my-phone-these-days-shes-bone-dry-zero-activity-7310005260255657984-RBHC

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    daily news for schools

    The post NEW: Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 3/29/2025 appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!


    from Cool Cat Teacher Blog
    https://www.coolcatteacher.com/new-daily-education-and-technology-news-for-schools-3-29-2025/

    Saturday, March 29, 2025

    AI in Education: Friend or Foe? A Student Perspective #AILiteracyDay

    From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

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    Today is AI Literacy Day, Friday, March 28, 2025. So, as my part in celebrating this day, I thought the best people to speak about this topic is my students. So, I issued a call to my AP students and two of them showed up this past Tuesday and we recorded this show. I think that their honest, intelligent, reflective thoughts of the issue of their generation and their concerns and hopes for the future where my students share:

    • How teachers can respond in healthy, helpful ways
    • How they really use AI in the classroom
    • What AI gets wrong — and how to spot it
    • Whether AI detection tools work (or not)
    • Why understanding AI is a national security issue
    • The ethical dilemmas students face every day

    If you didn't want to talk to your students about Artificial Intelligence, you will after this show.

    I'm going to watch this with my other classes to start the conversation. The boldness and honesty shines through and I know I'm biased, but I'm just so, so proud of them! Way to go Will and Lucy. Thanks for speaking out!

    Also, I'll share how I used AI to edit the show and create graphics below the show content.

    Listen to the Show: AI Friend or Foe

  • Stream by clicking here.
  • Subscribe to the Show

    10 minute teacher podcas audible

    Watch the Show on YouTube: AI Friend or Foe

    Thank you for tuning in!

    How I used AI to edit the show and create graphics

    So, as part of AI Literacy Day, I'm going to share all of the ways I used AI in the development, production, and publication of this podcast episode.

    Graphic: ChatGPT 4.5

    As a note, I developed the Podcast graphic with the new ChatGPT 4.5 Graphic generator (before I ran out of credits – will be writing on that soon!) ChatGPT 4.5 graphics were released this past Wednesday, March 26, 2025. This is one of the most exciting things.

    Title: Headline Analyzer

    I use Coschedule and Yoast to help me with feedback as I develop titles, so I've been using this a long time. I create options and also generate a few on ChatGPT. (Today I used 4.5 but I created a project for this activity trained on how I like to write titles but I'm pretty sure it uses an older version so I wanted to try the newer one.)

    Introduction: Eleven Labs

    I also used ElevenLabs and their AI voice for my intro. You can sign up free and use credits to generate what you type into it.

    Recording, Camera Selection, Editing with Text to Video

    I used Riverside to record, which has text editing (a feature that is AI-based, although I made every edit – you just edit the text and it makes the cuts in the video for me. Riverside AI also determined which camera shot would be featured, and I made a few tweaks to that.)

    Spell Check

    I used Grammarly for Spell check but not for any AI rewrites. Just commas. (I'm terrible at them. Mrs. Caldwell tried, she really did.)

    This Blog Post

    I wrote it myself while looking at a summary from Riverside and my own personal handwritten notes.

    Thumbnail for Blog Post

    I used Canva. I'm out of GPT 4.5 Photo Credits. 😊

    AI Transcription

    Apple's AI transcription is better than I can do. So, now, if people want a transcript, I refer them to the show on Apple Podcasts, you can click and copy the transcript and read it there. It just happens behind the scenes and I don't check it.

    Tags for YouTube

    I use VidIQ to help me with my YouTube videos. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep this service as I've been testing it for about a month. I type in 5 tags I think I should use, and it suggests others based on popularity.

    Opus Clip

    I am also testing Opus Clip for short-form video content, something people consume a lot of these days. I will import the YouTube link, and it will make suggested clips, apply the captions, and my logo. It is a time saver, although I'm still unsure if I like it. Riverside can also generate these, but Opus Clip does auto-scheduling for them.

    My Testing

    I usually test 1-2 new tools a month. I have a little budget for monthly payment (not annual) to see what I think. So, right now as part of my “innovate like a turtle” strategy, Vidiq and Opus Clip are part of my turtle time as I'm learning. I haven't decided to recommend them or not.

    Why Use AI?

    So, through the use of AI, I could produce this show in a couple of hours instead of at least 10 or more while still making all of the decisions on edits and content.

    Ai Literacy Day
    Ai Literacy Day

    The post AI in Education: Friend or Foe? A Student Perspective #AILiteracyDay appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!


    from Cool Cat Teacher Blog
    https://www.coolcatteacher.com/ailiteracyday2025/