Last week, I posted this blog about the Current State of AI. In it, I explored how some schools have started to push back on the integration of the tool for various reasons. In writing that piece, I reflected on the hundreds of schools I've been able to work with on integration, including two of the largest school systems in the country: New York City Department of Education and Los Angeles Unified School District. The purpose of both of those visits was to talk with a small percentage of staff about AI literacy and discuss strategies for thoughtful integration of these tools.

For the past three years I've been traveling all over the country to talk to educators, students, and leaders about the implementation of AI in schools. The responses have ranged from enthusiastic to completely opposed. One school I presented at had community members outside actively protesting the implementation of data centers in their community and, in turn, the use of AI. I've seen a teachers' union question administrators' use of AI when writing evaluations. All this to say, the implementation of these tools has been bumpy at best. Over the course of my keynotes, consulting and professional learning, I always ask the audience or group for feedback on some various aspects of AI.

I know it's been a minute, but I've been working on some exciting new projects (more on those in the next few weeks), so I haven't had a chance to blog and share as much as usual. On top of those "top-secret" projects, I've been traveling around the country this summer, meeting with schools and conferences to talk about the shift from "AI-enhanced learning" towards "human-centered design" (hint: one of my new projects centers around this). In the last 17 days I've been to New York, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and tomorrow I'll be in New Jersey speaking to superintendents around the state.

I was on a recent podcast with a couple of fellow educators discussing the latest Los Angeles Unifed School District move to ban all screens from K-1 students and severely limit it for 2nd through 5th graders. As we unpacked how we got here, I couldn't shake one thought: We've seen this movie before. Literally. Here's a hint - It's a1984 Kevin Bacon classic with the groovy Kenny Loggins soundtrack. For those of you who haven't seen the original movie Footloose (SPOILER ALERT), it centers around some teens in a conservative farm community where dancing is banned.

Neural Band journal entry: August 2058: My grandkids are gearing up for their first year of college at AIT (The Algorithmic Institute of Technology) and something just feels...different. I think back 50 years ago when I graduated from college. It was the late 90s, and life was different, to say the least. No neural headbands. I drove my own car. Heck, we only had 50 states back then. I went to parties (too many if I'm being honest) and ran into the person that would later be my wife of 55 years.

Dr. Adam Phyall and Carl Hooker bring you, UnDisrupted, a Future Ready Schools podcast for school and district technology leaders.

The longest running prediction blog for Edtech continues! (Never mind that it might also be the ONLY prediction blog for Edtech...) Each year since 2012, I've put together a list of things I predict will happen in the coming year. The majority of these predictions revolve around the field of educational technology (aka "Edtech") but I sometimes throw in a couple of fun zingers too just to keep people on their toes. Here's a look back at the past few years if you want to take a gander at some near-misses and complete misses.

After a dozen years of doing these bold predictions, one thing is always true...I'm wrong a lot. However, i will say you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take so I'll continue to dredge forward in the years to come. (I'm already working on my 2026 list). A couple of things I couldn't have predicted this year were the complete dismantling of the Department of Education (though I probably should have predicted this) or the rapid rise of the phrase "6-7" amongst all generation alpha kids. But let's face it, neither of those are BOLD predictions.

There's been a lot of chatter online recently about whether or not AI will replace humans or create more jobs. In education circles, I often hear concerns about students using AI to cheat and skip ahead, essentially by-passing the learning process to get to their final product. These are both valid concerns and in some areas, well justified. However, I don't think AI will replace as many jobs as we think, nor will it create as many as we think. I also don't believe it will reach true superintelligence…