iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

OpenAI's new image generator in ChatGPT-4o has passed my mood meter test. Teachers no longer have to settle for one they find online that's not quite right for their classroom. ChatGPT can generate holiday/topic mood meters kids will love. oftechandlearning.com/chatgpt-pass... #EduSky #AiEDU

oftechandlearning.com

ChatGPT Just Passed the Mood Meter Test for Image Generation

ChatGPT is the first AI tool to pass a real-world image generation test I created for creating classroom mood meters.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

When I used Google Deep Research to learn why Sweden switched back from digital devices to textbooks, it sourced several low-quality content farm sites. In this case, a simple Google search gave me better results. Anyone else have the same experience? #EduSky oftechandlearning.com/watch-out-lo...

oftechandlearning.com

Watch out for low-quality sources when using Google Deep Research

Google Deep Research misses primary news sources in favor of content farms and other low-quality sources that lack depth.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Really good insight here by @danielmiessler.bsky.social. There's meaning in the effort of reading. Use AI to discover the content worthy of your time, then struggle with and challenge the ideas as you aborb it. Quality over quantity. danielmiessler.com/blog/fast-vs...

danielmiessler.com

Fast vs. Slow AI | Daniel Miessler

SECURITY | AI | PURPOSE :: Building AI that upgrades humans.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Keeping up with the pace of AI advances can feel overwhelming. But you don't have to try everything. Just start experimenting with one tool and see where it leads you. Ethan's latest post gives you good places to start. www.oneusefulthing.org/p/which-ai-t...

oneusefulthing.org

Which AI to Use Now: An Updated Opinionated Guide

Picking your general-purpose AI

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Great moment! I love how still the water is in the foreground.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

This is a glimpse into the future about how software will work for everyday people. You won't have to Google or watch videos. You'll just tell AI what you need, and it'll make the software for you, the way you want it. oftechandlearning.com/generative-a...

oftechandlearning.com

Generative AI: The Day I Stopped Searching and Started Creating

Stop searching for solutions and start creating them! This personal story shows how AI helped me build software I never thought I could make.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Awesome! If teachers understood this, I think they'd use it more. I just need to come up with a less nerdy way of saying "it lowers the activation energy for grading."

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

How did this go? I was wondering if the glow and grow is a good low stakes way to start. Did they know the feedback was generated? How did they respond to it?

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

I can't repost this enough. Just use it. The more I experiment with AI, the more use cases I find for it. Even in the cases where it doesn't work well, I still keep them in the back of my mind so I can try again when a new model is released. #EduSky

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

@emollick.bsky.social's fantastic to getting the 30,000 ft overview where we're headed with generative AI in work and education.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

This is going to be a lot more important as generative AI renders essays less valuable as a tool for assessing understanding of reading assignments.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Sure thing! Claude, Google Gemini, and Meta.ai should work, too.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

For younger kids, use ChatGPT to reword word problems that cater to their interests.

Screenshot of a ChatGPT prompt to reword a math word problem according to a student's interests.

Appealing to student interests
Prompt
A six grade student likes Super Mario games. Her favorite sport is baseball. She likes Disney princesses, her favorite is Bell. She loves to sing her own pop songs. She wants to be an art teacher when she grows up. Her favorite animals are pandas. Reword the following math problem in a way that appeals to the student's interests. Make sure to keep the quantities the same. Cater to only one of the interests, possibly more if appropriate.
A farmer is putting a fence around a rectangular pasture. If the pastor measures 320 feet by 135 feet and the fencing cost $8 per foot, how much will the fence cost?
Output
Belle, the Disney princess, is helping to design a magical panda sanctuary in the shape of a rectangular garden. The garden measures 320 feet by 135 feet. To protect the pandas and their enchanting home, Belle needs to install a beautiful, floral fence that costs $8 per foot. How much will the floral fence cost to surround the entire panda sanctuary?

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Also try to get them to connect what they do in class with things they experience every day. "Why do I need to learn about complex numbers?" Complex numbers help make the animation in video games more smooth and natural. If they make beats, complex numbers are needed for the EQ and other effects.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

If any of your students are athletes, they'll understand putting in the work (doing boring drills, lifting weights, etc.) so that they can compete better in their games. Every day that they do math, they become better problem solvers. People who like solving problems enjoy their jobs a lot more.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Check my pinned post. If you create the audio, you can also create your own podcast feed for students to add to their podcast players.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Now let's just hope Google doesn't abandon it like has for so many other useful tools they created.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

A2: NotebookLM Audio Overviews. #EduSkyChat Helps me get oriented with large reports, like Unesco's AI Competency Framework for Students/Teachers. I can then send a podcast feed to the other members of our AI working group so they can do the same. Could be a great #UDL option for students.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Really cool dendritic drainage patterns during a very low tide yesterday. Reminds me of bristlecone pines.

Close-up of intricate dendritic patterns in wet sand, resembling tree branches, with seaweed in the bottom right corner illuminated by soft sunlight.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Doesn't that depend on for whom it stops working? If a system still works for those with money and power, aren't they in the advantageous position to keep it going regardless of how it's working for others?

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

I think this is absolutely the way to go. Students will learn more about the content if they have to vet everything in the generated podcast. It's a great way to build their critical reading & listening skills. Maybe start w/students choosing 1-3 facts/conclusions in the pod they want to challenge.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

If your students like to listen to podcasts, I created a tutorial for teachers to create a podcast feed for their NotebookLM audio overviews. oftechandlearning.com/turn-noteboo...

oftechandlearning.com

Turn NoteBookLM Audio Overviews into a Podcast Feed with PushPod

Turn NotebookLM audio overviews into a personal podcast feed with PushPod and boost your productivity on the go.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

I feel like the cuts are too quick to make an emotional connection. That and the cuts are all the same length, which feels robotic.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

And ChatGPT is great for quickly creating alt-text. Just paste the image and use this prompt. Create a text description for this image that I can use for an image alt tag. Don't created the code for the tag. Just give me the text. #EduSky #Edtech #InclusiveEdtech #UDL

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

And it's really easy to use ChatGPT to generate the alt text. It does a great job of describing the image in detail. Just make sure you review and make any necessary tweaks.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

That's not to say generative AI shouldn't be used in the creative process, but it should be used thoughtfully. Using AI for feedback on grammar, for example, frees up teachers to connect with students in ways that spark new ideas: a conversation, a joke, a childhood story—all unique to that teacher.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Excellent read for anyone thinking of letting students use AI to create. "Students write quality, process-driven work when we simply ask them to avoid AI, to trust their creative instincts and we turn around and offer meaningful, human feedback." #EduSky www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

insidehighered.com

Burn it down: a license for AI resistance (opinion)

Resistance is not futile, Melanie Dusseau writes.

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Reposted by Bryan Kerr

Jason Gulya @jasongulya.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

Here's some quick evidence of why this world needs college. Melanie Dusseau and I could easily teach back-to-back. She could actively resist AI. I could work it into my classes selectively. Students could: - See both approaches - Compare our ideas Then... They can make their own decision.

insidehighered.com

Burn it down: a license for AI resistance (opinion)

Resistance is not futile, Melanie Dusseau writes.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

Go to your profile and then click on your Starter Packs tab. More here: bsky.social/about/blog/0...

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

I love that feature. And I found a web app called PushPod that lets you create a podcast feed for your NotebookLM Audio Overviews. So students could listen to a podcast about their upcoming unit on their own devices. I wrote a quick How-To here: oftechandlearning.com/turn-noteboo...

oftechandlearning.com

Turn NoteBookLM Audio Overviews into a Podcast Feed with PushPod

Turn NotebookLM audio overviews into a personal podcast feed with PushPod and boost your productivity on the go.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

That's pretty cool. Ideally, I'd like teachers to transcribe locally on their laptops to preserve privacy. MacWhisper is really good at it, but it doesn't yet have diarization (it's in the works). That's key to be able to match students with their speech assess them in a device-free discussion.

Screenshot of a Claude Opus conversation evaluating student understanding of a reading assignment and Socratic discussion. The user requests an assessment of student comprehension on a scale of 1-5. The response provides detailed feedback for a student named Calvin, who receives a score of 5 for demonstrating excellent understanding and effectively explaining key concepts from the reading.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

Soon we'll be able transcribe socratic discussions and use generative AI to help assess them. Those discussions will be used to understand how well students grasp the reading they do at home. No more worries about whether essays are generated. There'll be lots of kinks to work out, though. #EduSky

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

Maybe start by having them augment their notes for homework, or the next day in class? Even adding simple, but meaningful doodles next to key points might trigger some synthesis, and it's a low-stakes way to start. After they build that habit, they can start adding more text. Just spitballing here.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

How do you think the rise of the Toolbelt Generation affects the leverage that K-12 schools might now have in influencing curriculum?

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

Being comfortable and even embracing that failure.

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Bryan Kerr @bryankerr.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

I figured out how to listen to Google's NotebookLM Audio Overviews in my podcast app. Now I feel more accomplished during my podwalks and commutes. All you need is a Dropbox or OneDrive account and an account with PushPod, a simple web app. oftechandlearning.com/turn-noteboo...

oftechandlearning.com

Turn NoteBookLM Audio Overviews into a Podcast Feed with PushPod

Turn NotebookLM audio overviews into a personal podcast feed with PushPod and boost your productivity on the go.

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