iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 7h

Yeah, because this approach to grading sure has held back MIT over the years. 🫠

Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I love that Jack Smith reacts like a totally normal person. You can see him thinking, “Um, yeah, I would have to check my Google Calendar.”

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Here’s some swag I haven’t received before—a robot-shaped stress ball from the Vandy School of Nursing’s AI initiative!

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Y’all, Vanderbilt School of Nursing is having me in for a talk, and they ordered piles of the new book! @anetv.bsky.social @marcwatkins.bsky.social

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

So the Divinity faculty aren’t sure why the school is in receivership. That’s a good sign. Sigh.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Some of yesterday’s birds from Sarapiqui, Costa Rica. Three of these belong to families that don’t even appear in Tennessee! #birding

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Time for more birds from Costa Rica! I think I’ve picked up 75 lifers this trip. #birding

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

First installment of photos from my Costa Rica #birding trip!

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

We've been developing promising practices for responding to AI at the course level, but what about at the curricular level? Today on the podcast, we hear how UC Berkeley Public Health has been defining program-level AI competencies. intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...

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Marc Watkins @marcwatkins.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Physical copies of The Norton Guide To AI-Aware teaching have arrived! @derekbruff.bsky.social @anetv.bsky.social, and I wrote about approaches teachers can use to raise awareness about AI’s impact on learning. The guide is loaded with ideas to help students learn about AI, without AI, and with AI.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

That time we had a four-day weekend and I had never been to Maine so we drove to Maine and back

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I'm not really sure I could finish writing a book chapter without the soundtrack from Battlestar Galatica.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

So Auburn's board decided this summer that they will have primary responsibility for the curriculum, even though (a) they lack the curricular expertise that faculty have and (b) Auburn's accreditor (SACS) requires faculty to have that responsibility. Things are not well at Auburn.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Episode 100 of my Intentional Teaching podcast is right around the corner! I would love your help making it a special one. What’s one idea or example or question or quote from an Intentional Teaching episode that you keep thinking about? Send me a message, email, or voice mail!

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Fixing up the transcript for last week's episode. I thought that the acronym TEK was a challenge--AI transcribed it as "tech" about a hundred times in the episode--then I got to the Schitts Creek reference. #facepalm

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

TIL that I don't have to live with Windows Explorer's default column headings for folders full of MP3s. I knew you could edit columns for a specific folder--I didn't know you could apply to all folders with MP3s. Because my podcast recordings don't need "Album" or "Contributing Artists" columns!

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

How can humanities courseshelp students develop the durable skills--communication, collaboration, adaptability--that employers want? Today on the podcast, I talk with three U. Kentucky faculty who have an answer to that question! Listen here: intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching by is now available as an ebook and later in September as a paperback! @anetv.bsky.social and @marcwatkins.bsky.social and I have pulled together teaching principles and practical examples to help you adapt to a world with AI. More info: derekbruff.org/books/

Cover of The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching showing the title and authors and a swirl of colors

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

“Over the past few years I’ve watched resentment grow as students complain that the things they’re learning to do at university are becoming increasingly detached from the external reality of the world of work.” generativehistory.substack.com/p/no-more-mu...

generativehistory.substack.com

No More Muddling Through

Why the détente between students and professors over AI will end in 2026.

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John Kane @johnkane.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

In today's Tea for Teaching podcast, @sarahesilverman.bsky.social discusses her new book, Classroom Mindscapes: An Introduction to Neurodiversity for Educators, which addesses strategies for supporting neurodivergent students. teaforteaching.podbean.com/e/classroom-... @cyberthread.bsky.social

teaforteaching.podbean.com

Classroom Mindscapes | Tea for Teaching

Neurodivergent students bring varied strengths, needs, and ways of thinking to our classrooms. In this episode, Sarah Silverman joins us to discuss teaching strategies that reduce access friction, inc...

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

“Artificial intelligence” is to intelligence as “stuffed animals” is to animals. The one is inspired by the other while not being a type of the other.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

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H. John Tran @johnhtran.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

MapQuest just beat ChatGPT. It’s the No. 1 free app in Apple’s App Store after refusing Trump’s order to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.” Google complied. Apple Maps still says Lake Ontario. I predict Apple will change it by September 30. MapQuest could say no. Apple can’t.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I’ll second Liz… this is a fantastic review of the research on notetaking and its implications for teaching. Y’all, it’s complicated, but Sara presents a way forward.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I'm reading and annotating the new MIT report on AI and education. Care to join me, via Hypothesis? hyp.is/go?url=https...

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

MapQuest being the grown up in the room:

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

The partial lunar eclipse here in Nashville last night was pretty great. It seemed like a good time to break out my tripod.

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Marc Watkins @marcwatkins.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

The MIT report on AI in education mentions the phrase "AI-Aware" some 13 times. @anetv.bsky.social , @derekbruff.bsky.social , and I wrote a book about what being AI aware means for faculty, students, and universities--The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching. Out now as an eBook. In print next month.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I could screenshot a lot of paragraphs in the new MIT report. This is one that caught my eye, too.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

This is for @josheyler.bsky.social: “Several peer institutions recently imposed limits on the number of As instructors can give in a subject. We do not advocate this kind of grade rationing, in part because we expect it to be counterproductive in helping the Institute navigate the challenges of AI.”

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Ted Underwood @tedunderwood.com · 27/08/2026

MIT report is superb. It acknowledges disruption, concedes different disciplines will handle this differently, foregrounds people and social interaction — but also says something obvious I had just about given up hope institutions could say: aiandeducation.mit.edu/report/

3.1.1. Revisit course goals
Before considering how to construct Al-aware assessments, instructors should reconsider their goals for student learning- in every subject they teach. What should students know or be able to do by the end of the course?

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Hummingbird update: We still have lots of hummingbirds. They're so feisty.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

What does an effective online math course look like in the age of AI? This week on the podcast, I talk with Jessica Bernards, who teaches math online at Portland CC and U. Oregon. Her high-structure, async online course has a lot of moving pieces! Listen here: www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...

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Keegan Osinski @keeganosinski.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Say what you want about Tennessee but we are the only state in the Union with Dolly Parton on our license plates

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

We have so many books at our house with Dolly’s name on them! Her Imagination Library is a treasure.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

If the goal is to provide students “an active, vibrant campus,” then motivating half your full-time faculty to quit is the wrong way to get there.

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John Moe @johnmoe.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

We got to live in the same world as Dolly.

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Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 24/08/2026

Hummingbirds.

A four panel comic. In panel 1, a rufous hummingbird flies down toward a large hummingbird feeder with as many as 6 holes on top. He thinks "The humans put up a new feeder!" In panel 2, he lands on the feeder and gazes down at it. He thinks "It's huge. Many of us could feed here at once." In panel 3, we see a close up view of the hummingbird, and he's thinking "This could end the ancient rivalries. Usher in an era of peace. Interesting." In panel 4, an Anna's hummingbird hovers over the feeder and says "Hey, can I have some necta-" and the rufous hummingbird says "No."

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kottke.org @kottke.org · 24/08/2026

Meat proxy (noun): “A person who forwards AI-generated text, code, or other output without reading, understanding, or validating it. The person acts only as a relay between the AI system and the intended recipient.” [sfisms.org]

sfisms.org

Meat proxy

A person who forwards AI-generated text, code, or other output without reading, understanding, or validating it. The person acts only as a relay between the AI system and the intended recipient.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Saw and heard some birds at Fort Ontario Park in Oswego, this morning. But the Lake Ontario views were the highlight of my short walk.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Everything is dumb. “On August 6, 2026, the US Commerce Department issued a request for comment this month on a proposal to impose tariffs on imported brass wind instruments such as trombones, trumpets, and tubas as a threat to national security.” www.piie.com/blogs/realti...

piie.com

Weapons of brass destruction? Trump's tariffs target musical instruments as a national security threat

As school districts, parents, and students nationwide prepare for fall, music educators are wrangling with a sour note. On August 6, 2026, the US Commerce Department issued a request for comment this ...

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

This is new: I sent my newsletter out just now and got two auto-responses letting me know the email was received outside of regular business hours and would be responded to in due time. Here's the new part: These weren't from people on my mailing list--these were from their institutions!

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Somewhat buried in this report is a key fact: “Additionally, the judge in the lawsuit ruled it was fair use and not a copyright violation for Anthropic to scan a book for training data in part because it destroyed the original, printed copy.” Our current copyright laws encourage this behavior.

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Today on the podcast, I talk with @jasongulya.bsky.social about the ways he has adapted his teaching to respond to AI—and to push back against the transactional nature of higher ed. It’s all about student agency. www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Baltimore Oriole! At long last. This is a way overdue lifer for me. Thanks to Chris Greene Lake here in Charlottesville. #birding

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Finally saw my first Cerulean Warbler today! I had maybe heard them back home in Timberland Park, but I saw two today at Ivy Creek Natural Area in Charlottesville. #birding

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Pilot, as we continue to taxi waiting for a gate: “The level of disfunction at the Atlanta airport is at its maximum.” 🫠

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Yesterday's talk had maybe 3-4 more slides than it should have, given the time. Today's talk had like 7-8 more slides than I had time for. At this rate, I'll only get through like 10% of my slides at Friday's talk. #meltyfaceemoji

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Derek Bruff @derekbruff.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I have finally found a use for this photo in a slide deck. (It will introduce the section of my talk titled "How can we help students avoid unhelpful uses of AI?")

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