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Pedal-Powered Pedagogy: Teaching, Tech & Timeless Tips from Eric Curts · Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast

0:00
Welcome to Integrate This, your go -to EdTech
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podcast where curiosity meets classroom innovation.
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Join your hosts, David Berner and Jeremy Mikla,
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as we explore the rapidly evolving world of educational
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technology. From game -changing tools to insightful
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conversations with today's top EdTech voices,
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we're here to help educators stay informed, inspired,
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and ready to innovate. So tune in, level up,
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and let's integrate this. Welcome to the Integrate
0:40
This EdTech podcast. As you can see, it's not
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just David and I on the screen here today. We're
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joined here by our special guest. Today we have
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Eric Kurtz. With over 30 years of experience,
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Eric works as an EdTech specialist in Ohio, providing
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training to schools and organizations all around
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the world. He shares his EdTech resources for
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AI. Google tools, accessibility, and much more
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on his website, ControlAltAchieve .com. I know
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David and I have had the pleasure of attending
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many of your sessions as well at ISTE and other
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conferences, and as well as checking out all
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of the resources that you more than willingly
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share, I think, to educators to help make their
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craft better. And we're sure Eric just want to
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give a big thank you here to you before we begin
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for all that you do and have done for education
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and the betterment of our students, which is,
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I think, why David and I are here to begin with.
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And so a big shout out, a big thank you for that.
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Well, hey, well, first of all, thanks for having
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me. I really appreciate that. And you're very
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welcome. I'm so glad the resources are helpful.
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You know, I'm happy to share those out. That's
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what it's all about. It's about taking stuff,
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you know, whatever it is we come up with and
2:01
just putting it out there and letting people
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run with it. That's a big thing that I've always
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tried to do is to to share from way back in the
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day. And I'm sure we'll talk about some of that
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as we go through here up through I put everything
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out under a Creative Commons license, basically
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meaning people can copy, distribute, adapt, use
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it, put your own spin on it, do something awesome
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with it. I think that's fantastic. Yeah, that's
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great. You mentioned way back, right? Actually,
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I think it's a good place to start. What I wanted
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to start with is, How did you get started in
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education and what led you into educational technology?
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Was there a particular moment that you can remember
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that you realized that technology was going to
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start transforming learning? Well, yeah, so I
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started off as a math teacher I this is so I'm
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finishing my 33rd year right now in education.
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So I've been doing this a long time I started
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in 1992 as a math teacher and Loved teaching
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math. I really enjoyed it But I also just loved
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technology and I've always loved technology I
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mean as a kid I had a Commodore 64 computer and
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I learned how to do basic programming And I mean,
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I was just a total nerd as a kid. Well, still
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I am now. But then when I became a teacher and
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taught math, I naturally wanted to bring that
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passion for technology into my classroom. But
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this was in the early 90s. I mean, we didn't
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have much technology. So like we had a computer
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in the room. And I don't even know if it was
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my first year. Early on, we got a computer in
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the room, and that was it. And even back then,
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it's like, OK, I got one computer in this classroom.
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What can I do with it? And so, yeah, it was stuff
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like I taught math. So I ended up doing this
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project where I simply used email to reach out
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to schools all around. Ohio and basically said,
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I'm looking for schools that are willing to do
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a data project with my students. What we were
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learning about, you know, statistics and mean
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and median and mode. And what I wanted to do
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was put together a survey that our students would
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answer, but then the students from other schools
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would answer and then we would compare our school
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with other schools. And it was questions that
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all had numeric. Like, you know, how many siblings
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do you have? How many trees are in your yard?
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How many pets do you have? And the idea was we
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were a suburban school, so I found... a rural
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school, I found an urban school that would work
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with us. And, you know, we emailed back and forth
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and they, you know, sent us their responses.
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And then we used Lotus one, two, three to generate
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graphs and charts, you know, but it was about
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predicting, you know, what do we think is going
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to be different with this, you know, urban school
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or rural school or ours house? And so even way
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back then it was using the technology that was
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available to make the learning more meaningful.
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Because a lot of times when you do like statistics
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in the math class, you know, it might just be
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made up data. It's like, OK, here's the data
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that's been provided and it's just pretend data.
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It's way more interesting if the kids think we're
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going. Yeah, that number up there. That's me.
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You know, I'm in that data. You know, I answered
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those questions and so did this other school
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and there are a lot more invested in it. So being
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able to connect it to real life to bring in real
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data. So yeah, from very early on I was trying
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to find. ways to take even the most basic technology
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we had back in the early 90s and help it make
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learning more exciting and more engaging. Right,
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and accessible to students because, like you
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said, they are part of it. It's also kind of
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interesting here too, and I know we'll definitely
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get into AI topics here, but to take the concepts
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and the things that you were doing then. If you
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were able to use this technology now way back
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then that we have access to now, especially when
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it comes to some of the data analysis things
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that our AI tools offer us, I could just imagine
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where you could have been at that time. Having
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said that though, Not having everything at your
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disposal forces you to be creative. And I think
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that is something that I appreciate, that I have
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over the years basically had to struggle with,
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okay, this is all we have, so what can we do
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with what we have? And we may talk about some
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of that, but a lot of this you're gonna see on
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my blog, if you go and look over the years, it's
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okay. Here's a tool. like Google Slides that
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everybody has, what can we do with it that's
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different than just presentations? It's about
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taking what we have and going, oh, we can do
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stop motion animation. We can do non -linear
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self -checking quizzes. We can do what it's taking
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things. It's like, OK, here's the limitations
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we're in. But as educators, we go, OK, well.
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How can we be creative? How can we look at this
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from a different angle and make something exciting
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out of it? And so, you know, to a degree, that's
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a neat challenge. I guess I always enjoyed that.
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Plus, it also means that as I share things with
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other schools, it doesn't mean like, oh, you
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have to go purchase this software or whatever.
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Hey, if you've got just normal tools, you can
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do these activities. Yeah. Yeah. So you mentioned
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your blog here at Control Alpha Chief. Where
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did the name? For that come from how did that
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started and what kind of inspired that? Well,
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I mean as far as starting the blog It was really
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just a matter of I realized I needed to consolidate
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things in one location I at that time I don't
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know. I thought it was fun to buy a new domain
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name for every idea I had, you know, and so it's
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like I had you know a website that was just for
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Chrome extensions and apps. I had a website that
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was just for Google things. I had a website that
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was for and it was like, OK, what was I thinking?
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And at some point I realized, OK, I've got stuff
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spread all over the place. I need to pull it
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all together. So as far as the practicality of
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it, I decided I need, you know, one location
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where everything was at. As far as the name,
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I can explain that I just. probably now, looking
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back, would have picked something that's easier
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to make a hashtag out of. You know, I probably
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would have picked a different name, but it's
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too late. It's too late. I'm not. I'm not changing
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that now. But, you know, it goes back to the
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idea, of course, of a Windows computer and control
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alt delete. Now, the further we get away from
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that, eventually people are not going to understand
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what my reference was. But I think today people
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probably still kind of remember. So with, you
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know, a Windows computer. If it froze up, if
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it locked up, which unfortunately happened a
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lot, you had to press Control -Alt -Delete to
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get to Task Manager, to reboot your computer,
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to get things fixed. And I thought that was a
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fun thing to say, OK, let's reboot our classrooms.
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Let's take any of the ruts we might have gotten
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stuck in, because that happens as educators.
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Let's reboot our classroom with technology. So
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it became Control -Alt -Achieve. That's the idea
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behind this. behind the name. Yeah. On the blog
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too, I mean this is kind of known. I mean you
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have a lot of connections to Google stuff. There's
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a lot there that you've provided and offer a
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lot of tips and tricks and things and have done
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tons of tutorials on. How has that impacted you
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just being the Google certified innovator and
10:02
trainer and from from the beginning of those
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certifications and getting those to now, how
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has that impacted your whole journey and the
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blog too, honestly, because that's a big piece
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of what you do. Oh, absolutely. So I mean, first
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of all, just being a part of the Google communities,
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the innovator, the trainer group, all that. That's
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just fantastic just to be connected with so many
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amazing people. It's all about these thousands
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of people around the world who are innovating
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and trying new things and being able to learn
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from them, being able to bounce ideas off of
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them. Really, that community has been phenomenal
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to be a part of. As far as Google in general,
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it really goes back to what I was saying earlier.
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It's about using these tools that Google provides
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for free to schools. in creative ways. And here
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in Ohio, at least, I think it's probably true
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most places, we have a high amount of schools
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that use Google for education. And so knowing
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that, OK, I can walk into almost any school and
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there's a really good chance they're going to
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have the Google Suite, that seemed to be a reasonable
11:11
thing for me to use as. the foundation for a
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lot of my content because it's like, okay, I
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could do a really cool blog post on this particular
11:22
piece of software, but what if people don't have
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it or what if they can't afford it? So I tried
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to go with something that. most everybody could
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take advantage of and do that for free. And so,
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yeah, that's informed a lot of what I've put
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on the site for years. It's been a big focus
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on the Google Suite. And I imagine you could
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take a lot of that stuff and apply it to other
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tools. Like, you know, you could probably do
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a lot of the same projects. But, yeah, that was
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the idea, again, just trying to reach as many
11:50
people as possible with projects that anybody
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could do. Sure. So it sounds like it was pretty
11:55
natural then because it was so ubiquitous, like
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in your region that you it just naturally came
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to you like, well, this only makes sense to provide
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resources on these. Right. It's going to impact
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the most people. Right. Yeah. And that's where
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our school was at, too. So the school that I
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worked for, I taught for seven years and then
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I moved into a role as a technology coach, tech
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integration specialist, something like that.
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And as I was in that role, You know, my job was,
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of course, to get the teachers to use technology
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as a as a school district. Our town hit a really
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bad spot where we were the home of Hoover Appliances,
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the the the city where we were in. And Hoover
12:40
pulled out and they they left and it kind of
12:44
decimated our tax base. And suddenly our school
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had no money. And so we went from being, you
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know, in a pretty good spot to several years.
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I mean, there that school district is doing fantastic,
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you know, once again, but there was a period
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there where we're like, oh, we have no budgets.
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And so it's like, you know, if I'm going to do
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something, if I'm going to try to get technology
13:05
to my district, I've got to find something that
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we can do for free. And it was. at that point,
13:11
G Suite, you know, or it was Google Apps. It
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was Google Apps and then G Suite. And then so
13:15
Google Apps for Education was the answer. That
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was the only way I could bring technology to
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our teachers and do it in a manner that was free.
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And so we were one of the early districts in
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Ohio. I mean, not like the first, but we were
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somewhere in the. earliest districts in Ohio
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to adopt Google Apps for Education. And then
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you're right, exactly after that, a lot followed
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suit and it just made sense to share those resources.
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So do you think would you say that some of this
13:44
has definitely shaped your philosophy when it
13:46
comes towards using technology in the classroom
13:49
and in education is just the the ubiquitousness
13:53
of it that David had mentioned as well as the
13:56
accessibility how How reachable is it for teachers
14:00
and students to be able to use different tools?
14:03
You know, what do you have a philosophy when
14:05
it comes to you? Yeah, I mean, certainly, I would
14:11
agree with what most people would say, that technology
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is a tool. It's a means to an end, not the end
14:20
itself. The curriculum is what's important. What
14:24
is it that we're trying to teach? And how can
14:26
the technology support that? So I totally, totally
14:29
have always pushed that. I would say most recently,
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my focus when it comes to philosophy related
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to technology, probably is a little bit more
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informed by what's happening with AI. And that
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is my main focus on my philosophy is that AI
14:44
or technology in general is an assistant. And
14:47
trying to really focus on that, that it's not
14:51
a matter of technology taking the place of a
14:56
teacher. It's a matter of technology supporting
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us. helping us be the best teacher we can possibly
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be. I even do a keynote just on that because
15:09
AI has. come to the point where some educators
15:13
are concerned. Is this going to take my job?
15:15
Is this going to replace me? And it's like, no,
15:18
no, no. AI is not here to do your job. AI is
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here to help you do your job better. I like to
15:24
tell people AI is your TA. I was a teaching assistant
15:28
back in college. And so I helped grade papers
15:31
and create content and stuff. That's the idea.
15:34
The buck still stops with you. You are the ultimate.
15:38
Say in the classroom, But it's your teaching
15:40
assistant. And technology in general is that.
15:43
I believe that the best teacher in the world
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is somebody who's going to take advantage of
15:48
all of these tools to help them be the best they
15:52
can be. And the same thing with students. The
15:53
best learner in the world is going to be a student
15:56
who is leveraging these tools. Now, that in itself
15:59
is a challenge. How much is too much? At what
16:03
point is it assisting? At what point is it going
16:07
too far? And I mean, that may be something we
16:09
could chat about as well. How much is too much?
16:14
Where's that balance there? But that's my philosophy
16:19
right now that I really focus a lot on is that
16:21
think of AI as your co -teacher, think of technology
16:24
in general as your assistant. How can it help
16:27
you be the best that you can be? Yeah, and I
16:31
think it's a good segue too because with EdTech,
16:36
there's always been some tension right with you
16:40
know traditional teaching methods and the integration
16:43
of technology into the classroom and differing
16:46
opinions around that. So I wanted to ask you
16:50
why do you think it's important going back to
16:53
what you were just talking about with using it
16:55
as a tool and not to replace teachers or students
17:00
or you know being continuing to build on your
17:06
cognitive load. Why is it important for students
17:11
to struggle or all people for that matter? Absolutely.
17:16
I think the fear is that technology replaces
17:19
that struggle and I would say even more so with
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AI. You're absolutely right. Sometimes the concern
17:27
is I don't want students cheating with AI. And
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so we talk about academic integrity and all that.
17:32
But this is different than that. This is saying,
17:34
OK, we're not even talking about cheating. The
17:36
student's not cheating, but they're not. struggling,
17:41
you know, they're not, you know, they're just
17:43
turning to or as an adult. I mean, this is the
17:45
same for us as well. We can turn to technology
17:48
or turn to A .I. so quickly that we don't take
17:52
the time to wrestle with the information. And
17:55
so I guess my philosophy on that, I don't know
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who. Somebody shared there have been a lot of
18:02
analogy shared. This is my twist on somebody
18:05
else's analogy. But I like to think of A .I.
18:08
as an e -bike rather than a motorcycle, you know.
18:12
And I guess, you know, the idea is this. I don't
18:14
know. Have you guys been on on e -bikes before?
18:16
I've had an occasion to be on an e -bike. OK,
18:19
I've only been on one once. So my wife and I,
18:24
we, for our honeymoon, we went to Europe. It's
18:26
the only time I've been out of the country other
18:28
than like, you know, Canada or something like
18:30
that, you know, but actually gone somewhere.
18:32
So I would love to travel more, but we went to
18:35
Europe. And one of the things we did one day
18:38
was we went on a bike ride with a group of folks.
18:42
You know, it was a arranged thing up into the
18:46
Black Forest. And so to do this bike ride, though,
18:53
they gave us e -bikes. And the idea with the
18:56
e -bike is, sure, we could have had anything.
18:59
They could have given us a motorcycle or something.
19:02
At that point, you just, you know. do this and
19:05
you go, you know, and so we could have just gone
19:08
all the way up to the top of, you know, because
19:10
the black horse, it's I knew nothing about it.
19:13
But as you go into it, it's really nice at first.
19:15
And then at the end, it does this kind of thing.
19:18
As you go up into the mountains, it's like suddenly
19:20
it's like. Oh my gosh, the it was like 20 mile
19:23
bike. I don't know. I don't. It was it was a
19:26
long bike ride. It was a really, really. It was
19:28
like I think it was like 20 miles, 14, 15, something.
19:31
And in the end gets really steep. You know, we
19:33
could have just jumped on motorcycles and just,
19:35
you know, just gone the whole way up. And that's
19:37
fine. But with the bike, the idea is it helps
19:40
you as much as you need. So when you get on it
19:43
at first, you just start pedaling it and it's
19:45
just fine. It just feels like a bike, you know.
19:47
And so for the first, I don't know, hour. I just
19:50
pebble it like a bike, but then as you start
19:54
to get tired, as the grade starts to increase,
19:57
there's little buttons you can flip on there
19:59
to say, okay, let's put this on a two, let's
20:01
put it on a three, let's, you know, and now there's,
20:04
you know, these batteries on the bike and they
20:06
start assisting in the pedaling. So by the end,
20:12
everybody's like. cranking this thing up to like,
20:15
it's on a 10. You're like, okay, because there's
20:18
no way, there's no way I would have made it to
20:21
the top where they had this really awesome little
20:24
building we went to, where they gave us some
20:28
awesome local food and we got to see all these
20:30
things and a gorgeous vista and all this stuff.
20:32
There's no way I could have made it. Nobody,
20:35
by the end, we're all just dying. And so you're
20:37
turning this thing all the way up. But that's
20:40
the idea is, I think that's how technology should
20:42
be when it comes to AI, is it should assist us
20:47
as much as needed for us to accomplish our tasks,
20:52
but for us to still be able to do work. Because
20:56
like, I don't know, I mean. trying to be a healthy
21:00
person in my life. So bike riding is one of those
21:03
things. I don't just do it. If I just wanted
21:06
to get somewhere, yeah, jump on a motorcycle,
21:08
that's fine. But I'm bike riding because I'm
21:10
trying to build my muscles. I'm trying to get
21:13
stronger. Same thing for our brains, right? We
21:15
want to get stronger. We want to increase our.
21:18
critical thinking skills, our creativity. We
21:21
want to increase our problem solving, our brainstorming.
21:28
We want to be better writers and all that sort
21:30
of stuff. And so I think there's no easy answer
21:34
as to, well, we'll just do this and that's how
21:36
it happens. But I think that's the philosophy
21:38
we need to take into it, is to say, OK, there
21:41
are some times in life where it makes sense just
21:44
to jump on the motorcycle. You just got to get
21:47
this done, AI or some tech tool, let it do the
21:50
thing for us. But if the goal is to get stronger,
21:56
to be healthier, to improve our mind, that's
22:01
a question we all have to ask. Now, as educators,
22:04
I think we can help by creating activities that
22:08
support that for our students. We can model it,
22:11
and we can also We can use tools like school
22:15
AI or magic school or brisk that create AI chat
22:20
bots for students that create. specifically constructed
22:26
activities where the AI is not going to do the
22:29
work for them, but it's going to come alongside
22:31
them and give them feedback on their writing,
22:33
or it's going to help them brainstorm, or it's
22:36
going to have a dialogue with them or debate
22:39
with them. I think modeling things like that
22:42
can be helpful so they can see, oh, I can use
22:45
AI without just going, give me the answer. Anyway,
22:50
that would be the approach I would bring into
22:52
a question like that, because the struggle, that's
22:55
the only way that I get stronger as a human is
23:00
by exercising. The only way we learn is by the
23:04
struggle. If we don't, we're not learning. We're
23:06
not actually increasing our skills and abilities.
23:10
So we have to have the struggle. Yeah, and keeping
23:14
the struggle at the front of the mind too, I
23:16
would say. I know AI will improve, but honestly,
23:19
sometimes some of my best conversations with
23:22
AI are actually when it's not really giving me
23:24
what I want, and I have to continue to coax it
23:26
through that process to get the end product that
23:30
I'm looking for. And that exercise is much more
23:34
valuable than if it spits out what I want instantly.
23:39
That's just how I feel about it. I think it's...
23:42
it's much more of a partnership process as opposed
23:46
to like just letting it take the wheel and you
23:49
know, accepting whatever absolutely. But could
23:54
you expand a little bit on how you know, so with
23:58
with that notion of using it for some things
24:01
and and maybe not as much for others, if you
24:05
look at your own You know the projects that you've
24:10
been working on over the maybe the last three
24:12
years since AI kind of started to take place
24:16
When you when you've done presentations maybe
24:19
on how or what you've presented Have there been
24:22
big shifts in your approach to things or you
24:25
know prior to the AI? You know released mass
24:30
Yeah, absolutely So I would say early on It really
24:37
was a lot of a focus on teacher use. That was
24:41
the main thing. How can AI come alongside and
24:44
help you as a teacher? So it was a lot of, here's
24:49
a prompt or a tool that can help you create a
24:52
rubric, create a lesson plan, re -level stuff.
24:57
And that makes perfect sense because we were
24:59
not. turning this loose on students yet. I mean,
25:03
you know, everybody's like, no, no, no, no, no,
25:04
you know, which is understandable. Totally get
25:07
that. And so early on, yeah, I would say the
25:09
focus was absolutely on on teachers and how this
25:12
can help them with efficiencies, how it can save
25:15
time and stuff like that. And we still do that.
25:19
I mean, there's still trainings on that. I'm
25:21
happy, though, to say that, no, we're starting
25:23
to see now a lot more focus on students. Like
25:27
I just mentioned earlier, Brisk and Magic School
25:29
and School AI and there's tons of Mizzou and
25:31
all kinds of tools out there where the focus
25:33
is more on the student interacting with the AI.
25:37
Now, of course, there's a lot of concerns there.
25:39
You have to make sure you check all the boxes,
25:41
have student data privacy agreements signed,
25:43
make sure the tool is appropriate to use with
25:46
students and all that kind of stuff. that I'm
25:50
excited about because ultimately I think that's
25:52
where we need to be. As much as, sure, that's
25:55
fantastic that AI can save you time and make
25:57
you a better teacher and more efficient, wonderful.
26:02
But we're not in education for us. We're in education
26:06
for students. That's what it's all about. Ultimately.
26:10
everybody in the school is there for the students.
26:13
That's why we're there. So that's where the AI
26:15
needs to get to eventually is being able to have
26:19
students interacting with it responsibly, ethically,
26:22
appropriately, and like we said, as a support.
26:26
not as a replacement for their thinking. And
26:28
that's what we're starting. I'm starting to do
26:29
more trainings on that. I'm doing a whole lot
26:31
more trainings on brisk and magic school and
26:34
school AI and showing schools how they can use
26:37
these tools with their students to be a 24 hour
26:41
tutor, to meet the student where they're at and
26:45
provide personalized feedback and support. We
26:48
do the best we can as educators. But it's hard
26:52
to meet every single student's needs exactly
26:54
where they're at. And so it's like basically
26:57
hiring a teaching aide. It's like, OK, well,
27:02
now here's your teaching aide that comes alongside,
27:05
fills in some of those gaps. But then it provides,
27:08
not just provides the student with personalized
27:12
support and learning, but provides the teacher
27:14
with you know, information, you know, actionable
27:17
data on, OK, well, here's the students that didn't
27:20
get this idea. Here's the students that are struggling
27:22
with this. And now we can pull those kids aside
27:25
and work more intentionally and directly with
27:28
those. You know, so that is what the shift I'm
27:32
starting to see is more from just teacher focused
27:35
to student focused. while being very careful
27:39
that we're, you know, working on policies and
27:41
guidelines so that it's appropriate for the students
27:45
and it's all being rolled out properly. Right.
27:48
And I think recently you even posted about AI
27:51
guidance and seeking to collect guidance from
27:53
people all over the country in different districts
27:56
just to kind of make some comparisons about what
27:59
direction are districts going? Because I think
28:02
as I look out even in the region of Minnesota
28:06
where I am, there's so many districts, they're
28:10
all going their own different directions. But
28:13
I think they all do recognize the value that
28:16
tools like risk in school AI and having school
28:19
that you had mentioned that they can provide
28:21
for students to get to that point, right? But
28:24
yet at the same time, districts and teachers
28:27
do need to be, I think, a little bit guided in
28:32
how they choose those tools, how they implement
28:35
those tools so that it's kind of being done in
28:38
a safe and an ethical and in a way that they
28:42
can use it effectively, right? So are those the
28:45
types of things that you're hoping to collect,
28:47
or what would you like to see as a result of
28:50
this accumulation of sources? So yeah, I did.
28:55
So for the last several years, I've been trying
28:58
to collect good examples of policies, guidelines,
29:03
guidance documents, things like that. And I just
29:06
felt, OK, it's time to, you know. ask again and
29:11
see, you know, because I felt like I really needed
29:13
to update the list that I had. And I will be
29:17
publishing an updated list soon. What if you
29:21
go to my website now, what you see is the old
29:24
list of those. But what I've been working on
29:27
is collecting a whole bunch. So now I have. Again,
29:33
I haven't put it on the site yet, but I've got
29:35
a collection of guidance and policies and guidelines
29:38
that are general, that are by state, that are
29:43
by school, and they're in these different categories.
29:50
Six states, 25, 26 states have official guidance
29:53
documents. I've collected all of those. And then
29:56
as far as individual schools, I'm expanding the
30:00
list of schools that have been kind enough to
30:03
share their guidance documents as well. And then
30:06
I've just got ones that are more general, like
30:08
Teach AI and groups like that that have put things
30:10
out. What's the goal of it? Well, it's a couple
30:14
of things. One is I just want to make it. easy
30:16
in one spot, anybody can come here and they can
30:19
see all this guidance and they can have at it,
30:22
you know, explore these and use them. For me,
30:24
though, what I've been doing is I've been feeding
30:26
them all into Notebook LM. So I've got in Notebook
30:31
LM, I've been taking every single one of these
30:33
and I've been uploading them as PDFs into there.
30:36
So at the moment, I should maybe not everyone,
30:39
but most of the ones, you know, if it feels like
30:41
it's something that makes sense to add in, I
30:43
think I've got like 38 or 40 guidance documents
30:47
in my notebook now. And what I'm doing then is
30:51
now I'm interacting with it. I'm saying, OK,
30:54
let's look across all 40 of these guidance documents.
30:58
What are the most common themes when it comes
31:00
to what is prohibited? for students, or what
31:04
is allowed for students, or academic integrity,
31:07
or data privacy, or staff, what's appropriate
31:10
for staff, what is not appropriate for staff.
31:13
And I'm trying to have it. pull the wisdom of
31:17
all of these people who have worked so hard to
31:21
pull it all together. Then what I'm doing is
31:22
I'm taking those, then I'm putting my own twist
31:26
on it. So I'm reading through saying, OK, this
31:28
is what Notebook LM says is the summary of this.
31:32
OK, I like this. Let's twig. tweak that, let's
31:34
move this. And my goal in the end is what I want
31:37
to produce, what I'm working on producing, is
31:39
basically just a thing that says, in general,
31:42
here are what most guidance documents are saying
31:45
is appropriate for students, not appropriate
31:47
for students, appropriate for staff, not appropriate
31:50
for staff, all these different things. And saying,
31:52
here's the big list. Use this however you want.
31:56
Take this, and this helps you when you're developing
31:59
your guidance documents. have at it, you know,
32:02
here it all is. I think what it sounds to me
32:04
is like you're perfectly modeling the struggle
32:08
that you're going through, but you're finding
32:11
that assistant that can help you. Yes. You're
32:14
not avoiding doing the work at all because what
32:17
you're putting together and your background and
32:21
your knowledge and your expertise is definitely
32:22
showing through that when you can say, yep, I
32:26
believe this will be effective based upon all
32:28
of these other factors. That still has to come
32:30
from you, not from the AI. And I think that's
32:34
really, really neat. And it makes a lot of sense
32:37
to like the the first thing that this is probably
32:39
just a natural consequence of of us using AI
32:42
so much now but the first thing I thought when
32:44
you Sent that out when I saw your post. I was
32:47
like notebook LM, right? Yeah, that's exactly
32:50
what you did But my the thought still is there
32:54
of like, okay Well, it would make sense to feed
32:56
all that into there So you guys see what are
32:59
the common themes or pillars of AI guidance?
33:02
I'm current all of these various documents which
33:05
Some of them are very large, right? So it's like
33:07
yes, how can you? How can you pull out like some
33:10
of the main things from all of these that have
33:13
a common through line? And so is there anything
33:17
that you know when we're talking about teachers
33:19
using it ethically and responsibly? Is there
33:21
anything so far that you saw that has stood out
33:25
to you in that process of like this is one thing
33:27
for sure that a district should include because
33:30
it's extremely important in. starting to implement
33:34
ethical and responsible use? Yeah, I mean, I
33:38
think since you mentioned, you know, you know,
33:41
teachers, you know, certainly there's a lot of
33:45
times we think, OK, guidelines can be all about
33:47
the student, you know, don't do this, don't do
33:50
this. What I've noticed is there's as much or
33:54
more content for the staff member as there is
33:56
for the student, you know, the things that have
33:59
been bubbling to the top in there. And it's not
34:02
just like, you know, well, you know, staff also,
34:05
you know, make sure you don't use this inappropriately.
34:08
That's not what I mean. I mean guidance for how,
34:11
you know, the staff can. use the technology appropriately
34:15
with students to help then guide the students.
34:19
So it's things like if you just take academic
34:22
integrity as an example, it's things like guidance
34:25
telling teachers to be very clear with your students
34:28
on what is acceptable use of AI on assignments.
34:33
Don't assume that they're just going to know.
34:35
Be very clear on this assignment. You can use
34:38
AI for brainstorming and for feedback, and that's
34:41
it. Or this is a no AI. assignment or whatever
34:44
the case is. There's also guidance in there that
34:48
bubbles up about adjusting assignments and making
34:51
them more AI resistant, you know, encouragements
34:55
for assignments that focus more on the four C's
34:59
or that assignments that are. that have multi
35:03
-stage check -ins. So we're not just grading
35:05
the product, we're analyzing the process, you
35:08
know, and the importance of that in the whole
35:11
thing. So many things in there. The idea of not
35:18
relying on AI detectors because of their inherent
35:23
flaws and they'll never be 100 % accurate. Although...
35:28
They are still being used dramatically. I just
35:31
saw a news article that, oh, I think it's chat
35:34
or not. It's GPT zero is the name of the it's
35:38
one of the companies that does these like. had
35:40
its highest earning, like it made $160 million
35:43
last year or something. It's like, so they're
35:46
still being used. People are using them. But
35:48
the thing about how we can't rely on those instead,
35:51
we need to focus on these other ways to more
35:54
authentically assess student learning. And so
35:58
that's the kind of thing I'm seeing in there
36:01
is a lot of stuff that is trying to help us as
36:06
educators. actually improve the quality of our
36:10
assessments. I mean, sometimes this can be frustrating.
36:13
But think back to this. 15 years ago, Google
36:16
search became popular. And I remember teachers
36:19
getting angry and coming up to me saying, oh,
36:21
this Google. I'm so upset. I'm sending home my
36:24
worksheets. And the kids are just googling the
36:27
questions. And they're just writing in the answer.
36:29
And what did we say? Well, You might have to
36:32
change your assessments. Maybe we need better
36:34
assessments. Well, guess what? Technology is
36:36
once again forcing us to improve. our assessments.
36:41
We're moving toward more authentic assessments,
36:44
using a tool like Snorkel, which I didn't mention
36:46
earlier. It's another one of my favorite AI tools
36:48
where students speak their responses. And Snorkel
36:52
then takes that and transcribes it. It also gives
36:54
them a digital whiteboard. They can work out
36:56
math or draw diagrams. It grabs that, something
37:00
that's more of an authentic assessment. And the
37:02
technology comes along and helps us to grade
37:05
those. But also just the idea of not just expecting
37:09
a final product turned in at the end, but being
37:12
involved in every step along the way. When this
37:16
is all said and done, I hope it means we're going
37:18
to have better assessments because of AI. Stick
37:24
on this AI theme here for just one or two more
37:27
questions here. I'm not trying to beat it to
37:29
death or anything. No, it's fine. It's fine.
37:31
I'm curious to get your take on here too. Is
37:36
AI a tool that is destroying originality and
37:41
creativity? Or is AI perhaps a tool that can
37:44
help to enhance creativity and originality? Well,
37:48
I mean, it's both. I mean, it's absolutely both,
37:51
without a doubt. I mean, because, yeah, you know,
37:54
it is a tool. And as a tool, you can use it or
37:58
abuse it. And so, yeah, there are folks that
38:02
are just using AI to write for them, create images
38:07
for them, create music, create whatever. I have
38:11
made songs with AI using Suno. I have used ChatGPT
38:16
to make images. I have used it. And on the other
38:20
hand, there are folks who are using it. to assist
38:25
them in that, to say, OK, I want to be able to
38:30
create something, but I could use some brainstorm
38:35
help, or I could use a starting point, or I could
38:38
use a partner. I don't know where you draw that
38:41
line as to, let's put it this way. I used to
38:47
code. I used to code a lot many years ago. I
38:50
don't code anymore. I've forgotten so much and
38:54
whatever, but I still have ideas of things. Like
38:56
I wanted to make a game. that was a spelling
39:00
game that was based on the snake game. And as
39:03
you take the snake around, I wanted you to eat
39:05
the letters that eat the letters of a word in
39:07
the correct order. So you spell it. I wanted
39:09
to make spelling snake. Well, I don't know how
39:11
to make spelling snake, but I was able to cooperate
39:14
with, you know, Gemini and the coding ability
39:17
in there and say, here's this game I'm trying
39:19
to make and go back and forth and back and forth
39:21
and back and forth. And now I have a game called
39:24
spelling snake that, you know, you can go in
39:25
and pick your category and go around and eat
39:28
all the letters and learn to spell the words.
39:30
People could argue and say, well, Eric, you know,
39:33
you you didn't create anything. I don't know.
39:36
I mean, I think I did. I think I did. I was able
39:39
to create something I couldn't have otherwise.
39:41
And, you know, but yes, it wasn't just me. Absolutely.
39:46
The A .I. did a whole bunch there. So, you know.
39:50
You know, maybe there's this middle ground in
39:52
there where we are being creative, but with the
39:56
assistance of the technology. And again, I mean,
39:59
that's been the case forever when people move
40:01
from, you know. doing art freehand to using technology,
40:07
to using an iPad Pro and using Procreate or something
40:10
like that. And people are like, well, that's
40:12
not real art. There's a symbiosis there where
40:17
it's coming along and helping us. So I think
40:19
it really is going to be, in the end, everybody's
40:24
going to have to be intentional about how much
40:28
they use, how much it helps. And as educators,
40:33
like I said, trying to create activities, create
40:36
situations where we guide our students in finding
40:39
a healthy balance with that. And a quick shout
40:43
out there to Nokia phones, too, for the snake
40:46
game, right? That's where I used to play it.
40:48
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I can remember
40:52
being in school and on my Nokia phone sometimes
40:55
playing some snakes. So. So. Another, you know
41:00
one last artificial intelligence themed question
41:03
here. What is your go -to large language model
41:07
and why? Yeah, I mean honestly it's both chat
41:12
GPT and Gemini and the reason for me a couple
41:18
of things I think it's important that I don't
41:20
just use one tool, because since I do training,
41:22
actually, I mean, I use Claude as well, and I
41:24
use lots of others, because it's important that
41:26
I stay up to date on what's happening. So I definitely
41:31
use both ChatGP and Gemini every single day.
41:35
And they're both wide, both because they're both
41:37
incredibly powerful. I mean, they're state of
41:40
the art leading the way. If I have to recommend,
41:43
though, if I'm like, OK, if I'm talking to schools,
41:46
I am going to push them toward Gemini. You know,
41:50
Google got a little slow out of the gate when
41:52
it came to, you know, the large language model
41:54
chat bot, but they weren't slow out of the gate
41:57
when it comes to AI. I mean, they invented AI,
42:01
basically, you know, the the. The T in chat GPT
42:05
is transformer. Google invented the transformer
42:08
technology that powers all large language models.
42:12
They came up with this back with AlphaGo, you
42:14
know, back in 2016, you know, so, you know, and
42:18
they just, they, you know, put it out there for
42:20
the world to use, and OpenAI and others built
42:23
on top of it. So I'm not saying that, but they
42:26
were slow out of the gate when it came to making
42:28
a consumer -facing thing. And so Bard, when it
42:32
came out, yeah, it was rough, man. It was really
42:35
rough. And I think if some people were like,
42:37
oh, that's what Google made, and they've never
42:39
come back, they don't understand that Gemini
42:41
is amazing. It is. phenomenal. If you go to those
42:47
websites that do all the rankings and stuff with
42:52
the large language models, Jim and I is absolutely
42:57
at the top or right up there with ChatGPT taking
43:00
first and second place back and forth. So it's
43:03
an incredibly powerful tool. But more importantly,
43:07
when I'm talking to educators, if you're using
43:09
your school account, and they may not know this,
43:11
and so I just want to make sure I throw this
43:12
out there. If you're using a school account with
43:14
Gemini, you get Google's built -in data privacy
43:18
protections. It's built into it for school accounts.
43:21
And that's something that's so important for
43:23
schools to understand, that when you go to any
43:26
of these tools, you know, chat, GPT, or the,
43:29
you know, if I'm using Gmail with my Gemini account,
43:32
any of those, if I type something in, it is fair
43:35
game for that. Company to use that data any way
43:38
they want they can train future models on it.
43:41
They can sell it to advertisers They could do
43:43
anything they want with that data Not if you're
43:46
using Gemini on a school account. If you're using
43:49
a school account, it's governed by the same agreement
43:51
they have for your Gmail, your Docs. Basically,
43:54
no human will ever look at it. They will not
43:56
use it for advertising. They will not train future
43:59
models on it. They will not share it outside
44:02
of your organization. It's, you know, HIPAA,
44:05
COPPA, FERPA compliant, all those things. That's
44:08
critical, you know? So when I'm talking to schools,
44:10
I'm like, and it's free. Yeah, there's a paid
44:13
version. But my gosh, what's free in Gemini is
44:16
outstanding. They've rolled out deep research
44:19
for free. The Canvas feature is free. Image generation
44:22
is free. File upload is free. Audio generation
44:25
is free. All of that stuff is all included. And
44:28
it's got fact checking built into it as well.
44:30
So Gemini has to be absolutely my recommendation
44:34
when it comes to a large language model for schools.
44:39
So let's pivot here a little bit. And I'm going
44:42
to force you into the non AI box. OK, right.
44:47
What non AI EdTech things excite you now or are
44:52
there anything that maybe is like underrated
44:54
or underused in the classroom that teachers could
44:57
really leverage to improve their practice? Well,
45:03
I mean, it's probably cheating a little bit,
45:06
but I would still go. back to the whole Google
45:09
Suite, the non -AI pieces of it, I think that
45:14
all the things I've shared over the years are
45:16
still as powerful as they've ever been using
45:19
tools like Google Slides and using them in creative
45:24
ways. Let me use, I don't know if you guys are
45:26
familiar with the Edu Protocols movement. Take
45:31
something like Edu Protocols. They are Lesson
45:36
frames, basically, that you can use with any
45:39
grade level or subject area with usually a technology
45:41
twist on them, like Google Slides is very commonly
45:45
used with things like, you know, sketch and tell
45:49
or tier list or, you know, iron chef or any of
45:52
those different edgy protocols. Those are things.
45:56
that a teacher can be using tomorrow with their
45:59
students that engage students in the learning
46:04
process. It moves the... the focus, the weight
46:09
of energy expenditure from the teacher to the
46:13
students. The students are the ones wrestling
46:15
with the information, and they're the ones that
46:18
are learning and working and sharing, and the
46:21
teacher is facilitating. Now, you're using technology
46:24
to help with that, typically a slideshow or something
46:26
like that that's being used as a template that
46:28
the kids are working in, but it's all about getting
46:32
the students engaged and having ownership in
46:35
their learning. That excites me, because you
46:38
see classrooms that are doing that, and the kids
46:40
are talking, and they're debating, and they're
46:43
standing up for their opinion on a topic, and
46:45
then they're teaching. That's what I want to
46:48
see in a classroom, is students being actively
46:50
engaged. And none of that needs AI. None of that
46:53
needs AI at all. And it doesn't. technically
46:57
need technology. You can probably do a lot of
46:59
this without it, but it really helps. Most every
47:01
edger protocol has a Google slides or docs template
47:05
that goes along with it. So that's the kind of
47:07
thing that I would love. And I'm still surprised.
47:10
I do trainings on edger protocols frequently.
47:12
I'm still surprised. I'll do a show of hands.
47:14
Who knows about this? And I'll get two people,
47:16
three people in the entire room. Well, awesome.
47:19
I get to tell you guys something amazing, you
47:21
know, and I'm still surprised how many educators
47:24
have not, you know, become aware of that and
47:27
leverage it more in their classroom. So say if
47:30
you had a Hunger Games style showdown and all
47:34
the contestants were your Google workspace tools.
47:37
Oh, my God. Well, I mean, if it was just on the
47:44
like the idea. student projects, it would have
47:47
to be slides. I mean, Google slides. If I'm just
47:50
looking at the sessions I do, like I'll do, I
47:52
do a session on creative uses of slides, docs,
47:56
sheets, drawings, you know, all the different
47:57
tools. There are more in my slides presentation
48:01
than I can ever get through. You know, that's
48:03
one that I can do as a three hour workshop and
48:05
still not get through every possible creative
48:07
use of it. So if it's just on that, yeah, it
48:10
is. That's the one that is the most flexible
48:14
of any of them. Yeah. And Jeremy technically
48:17
didn't say you couldn't. putting any extensions
48:20
in there. So you might have some, you know, play
48:22
there. Well, yeah, yeah, I got you. So, um, if
48:27
so one thing to that I was thinking about with
48:30
you, you've been assisting teachers for a long
48:34
time, right? And, you know, I I'm in the ed tech
48:37
space, Jeremy's in that tech space, but we we
48:39
haven't been in that space as long as you have.
48:43
If you're looking at you know, teachers that
48:46
used to come out of college and teachers that
48:48
come out today. How do you, do you feel like
48:52
they're much more prepared today when they come
48:57
into a school and you work with them? Or do you
49:01
think that, is there a little bit of overwhelm
49:04
sometimes with all the different things that
49:06
are available to them? You know, as opposed to
49:10
maybe if you're thinking back, you know, 10,
49:13
15 years ago, um where there might have been
49:16
some things introduced but you know more gradually
49:19
or um what is your perception of that with just
49:22
working with teachers over these years well so
49:27
i think younger teachers or teachers just coming
49:30
out of college i think in general they might
49:34
have a higher comfort level with technology but
49:39
i don't know that that necessarily translates
49:41
into a proficiency on using technology in a pedagogical
49:47
sense, using it in a classroom. You take somebody
49:52
who's been teaching for 10, 15, 20 years, maybe
49:58
on average, you could say, well, they're older,
50:00
so they're a little bit more resistant or something
50:02
like that. Maybe, maybe. But they have a lot
50:05
more understanding of how to use. tools in a
50:10
classroom, because they've been in the classroom.
50:12
So I think that, you know, it is wrong to assume,
50:19
oh, I've got these, you know, brand new teachers,
50:23
these young teachers, they don't need support,
50:26
you know, they're fine. You know, they'll be
50:28
fine. I got to focus on these teachers have been
50:30
around forever and try to twist their arm. No,
50:33
trust me, your brand new teachers need just as
50:35
much support as those that have been in this
50:37
for the whole time because, yeah, they may know
50:40
how to, they may be more open and more comfortable
50:42
with technology, but they need to see how to
50:45
use it in a way that makes sense with their students.
50:48
And don't sell your older teacher short. Like
50:51
I said, I've been doing this for 33 years, you
50:54
know? And my philosophy is learn something new
50:57
every day. Keep on growing. And I think that's
51:00
so important. I think that is so important that
51:03
we model that for our students, that we show
51:05
them we are lifelong learners. We want them to
51:08
be learners. We need to show them that we are
51:11
lifelong learners. And if that means admitting
51:13
that we don't know something, that's fine. We
51:16
don't have to have all the answers. We can do
51:18
an activity in class and be like, well, you know,
51:21
I don't. you know, totally understand this tool,
51:23
but we're going to figure it out together. And
51:26
that's showing you've got a growth mindset that
51:28
shows that, you know, you're modeling that for
51:31
your kids. And I think that's fantastic. That's
51:33
a great, great point, too. Going back to Never
51:36
Judge a Book by its cover. Right. I know in my
51:38
my own trainings, I've had teachers that have
51:42
been there for a couple of decades and yet have
51:45
things I've presented on are very. very much
51:48
engaged and actually excel at, you know, using
51:51
something like the AI tool or something like
51:52
that. So it's a really good point. Yeah, gotcha.
51:56
I think the whole lifelong learning piece for
51:59
educators too is so important. Even if it is
52:03
something that you can model to your students,
52:05
that you're learning something beyond its usefulness
52:09
in the classroom. Like even when I go out and
52:12
do trainings with things, I've discovered some
52:14
sort of a passion for cooking. And so I share
52:19
a lot of examples of cooking and recipes and
52:22
things like that when I go out just to show people
52:24
that. hey, apply what you are doing here, whether
52:29
it's using AI or whether it's just modeling that
52:32
lifelong learning and demonstrate that for teachers
52:35
and then. they get the idea to go back and demonstrate
52:38
that same thing for their students. Absolutely.
52:41
Thank you, David. I think you were trying to
52:44
be very kind to me. I'm finishing my 26th year
52:48
in education. I don't think I'm that young spring
52:52
chicken here anymore. I think part of that is,
52:59
I found passion for things and I think that helps
53:01
to lessen the burnout factor is you have interest
53:05
in these other areas, right? But do you think
53:08
teachers, educators hit that technology fatigue
53:12
at, you know, like, hey, I don't want one more
53:15
thing. But yet they do still realize it's important
53:19
to stay up to date. Is there a way they can stay
53:21
up to date without feeling overwhelmed or or
53:24
burnt out on the use of technology in education?
53:28
Well, yeah, so it is absolutely important to
53:31
stay up to date because it is a constantly moving
53:34
target. This is not something where you're like,
53:36
oh, yeah, you know, I took a technology training,
53:39
so I'm done, you know, because it's not going
53:42
to be the same next week, next month, next year.
53:45
You know, it is a moving target that is constantly
53:48
changing. And so we do need to stay up to date.
53:51
I mean, how you do it. I guess that's going to
53:55
depend on the best way for you to consume things.
53:57
Some people love podcasts, you know, like what
54:00
you guys are doing. That's perfect. If you're
54:02
somebody who loves podcasts. There are so many
54:06
good educational podcasts out there. Just subscribe
54:09
to some, find the ones that you like, and just
54:12
listen to those while you're mowing the yard
54:15
or whatever it is that you're doing. If you're
54:18
a YouTube person, if you're a TikTok person,
54:21
there's stuff out there. For me personally, I've
54:26
always been somebody who really loves blogs and
54:29
websites and things like that. And so I still
54:32
use an RSS aggregator that pulls together, you
54:35
know, content from over, I think like 150 websites
54:39
that I've fed into it of, you know, people's
54:42
educational blogs and really good educational
54:44
technology websites. And so I go to my RSS aggregator,
54:48
you know, maybe once or twice a week and I'm
54:50
like, okay. What's every new article that has
54:52
come out in the last week or the last few days?
54:55
And I just click down through them and go, oh,
54:56
well, that one's great. Better look into that.
54:58
You know, I just go down. And so for me, that
55:01
keeps me. Another one is newsletters. I subscribe
55:04
to a whole bunch of great newsletters. I think
55:06
I've got a. post on my blog with a list of my
55:09
favorite ed tech newsletters. Maybe that's how
55:12
you do it, is you just subscribe to those and
55:16
read through those each week and see what's new.
55:19
But I think it's a matter of something that,
55:23
if it can come to you, it's probably better.
55:26
It's like a podcast, or a subscribed YouTube
55:29
channel, or a newsletter, or RSS feeds, because
55:33
otherwise, life gets in the way. And we just
55:36
forget about it, you know, but if it's something
55:38
that you are subscribed to that comes to you
55:41
on a routine basis, that's that's good. That's
55:44
going to give you that little mental nudge to
55:46
say, hey, take a look at this when when you have
55:48
a moment. Yeah. And I think if I were to add
55:51
one thing to yours, I would say if you need to
55:54
add something to your RSS feed, I think Control
55:57
Alt Achieve would probably be a great one. Especially
56:00
if you find that you don't have the time. Eric,
56:03
I think you do a great job of keeping us all
56:06
updated on new trends, new tools, new tricks
56:11
and the like. Yeah, please do. I also put out
56:15
a weekly newsletter. Well, mostly weekly. Sometimes
56:18
it's every other week. It just depends. But I
56:20
put out an email newsletter and that's a great
56:22
one. You can sign up for that. It's going to
56:24
say here's the new stuff I have put on my blog
56:27
and then here's cool stuff I've come across from
56:30
others. So it's always what I've done and then
56:33
other really neat things that I've seen. And
56:35
usually it's like, you know, six or seven items
56:38
per newsletter and. You know boom it just comes
56:41
right to you and that way you can stay in the
56:43
loop really well Yeah, and some of those things
56:46
the the supplemental things lend themselves to
56:49
What I wanted to ask you next is we we did have
56:52
the the executive order that came down through
56:55
Yeah, you know the advancing artificial intelligence
56:58
right education for American youth that you know
57:02
it it tries to start raising the importance of
57:08
educators receiving training on that and, you
57:10
know, in getting students caught up to speed
57:12
as well. Do you have any advice for how educators
57:17
or administrators can, you know, address that
57:22
with some of the other constraints that they
57:23
have, you know, obviously time, right, there
57:26
are a number of mandated trainings that teachers
57:30
have to do in professional. And then there's
57:33
also still the their reality of the monetary
57:36
constraints with that. Um, do you have, and maybe
57:39
it is going back to like, hey, there, you know,
57:41
these supplemental things like podcasts and,
57:43
and, and staying up to speed. What, what advice
57:46
would you have any piece of advice for that,
57:50
that struggle because that's, that's a reality,
57:53
right? Yeah, absolutely. Um, so I guess there's
57:57
a number of things to mention there. I mean,
57:59
one is it's important that we don't treat this
58:03
AI training for our staff and stuff as one more
58:08
thing we're asking the staff to put on top of
58:11
what they're already doing. Whatever training
58:14
you do, it's always important to say, how can
58:17
this help you do what you're already doing better?
58:20
How can it assist you? It's not like, oh, I've
58:22
got to do one more thing. No, no, no. You don't
58:25
have time to squeeze in another thing. So the
58:28
leverage, the carrot to this is like, how can
58:31
this help make your life? better? How can this
58:34
help you do your job better, be a better teacher,
58:37
support you? That's going to be, I think, really
58:40
important rather than just, hey, this AI thing's
58:43
out there, and you have to embrace it, and we
58:45
have to do this training. That's true with any
58:49
kind of technology. Try to approach it from that
58:51
point of view. And then as far as how to get
58:58
that training to your teachers, Thankfully, there's
59:04
a lot of amazing people out there that do this
59:06
kind of training. I mean, this is what I do pretty
59:08
much almost every day. I'm somewhere working
59:12
with the school, doing training and stuff like
59:14
that. But not everybody can, you know, that may
59:17
not work out, you know, whether it's because
59:19
of budgets or time schedules or whatever. So
59:22
you're right. Thankfully, there is a lot of good
59:24
free content out there. As an example, you know,
59:28
if you go to my blog and click on my AI link
59:30
at the top, Every single training video I've
59:33
done is just sitting right there. It's all free.
59:36
People can watch them at any point. They can
59:38
get certificates of attendance for completing
59:40
them, you know, the whole thing. So there are
59:43
ways that even if people are budget constrained
59:46
to be able to provide their staff with, you know,
59:50
AI training and AI resources. But and as always,
59:55
what do we say many times, you know, try to focus
59:57
on, you know, The ones that are receptive and,
1:00:02
you know, maybe get some teachers to become the
1:00:06
Paul Revere's, I think is the phrase we typically
1:00:09
use where they're the ones that people will listen
1:00:11
to, you know, more than maybe, you know, the
1:00:13
the administration, you know, get the folks that
1:00:15
are will get excited about it. And then as a
1:00:18
teacher, they will spread that to the rest of
1:00:21
their colleagues and their colleagues will be
1:00:23
like, well, since it came from them, I think
1:00:25
I'm going to listen to that. Yeah, so Eric we're
1:00:28
coming up on an hour here and I just can't tell
1:00:31
you how much we've really appreciated having
1:00:33
the opportunity to be able to chat with you.
1:00:36
But you know one thing that we would like to
1:00:38
be able to do too is promote any of the things
1:00:40
that you've got going on or that are upcoming
1:00:43
that you want to give a shout out to. So is there
1:00:46
anything like that that you would like to to
1:00:49
highlight or promote here before we wrap up?
1:00:51
I mean, I would just say, as always, my website,
1:00:55
Control All to Chief, has pretty much everything
1:00:57
there. There is a calendar page people can click
1:01:01
on to see where am I going to be. It needs updated,
1:01:05
of course, as always, because it's constantly
1:01:07
changing and evolving. But people can see this
1:01:10
summer, for example, we've got the ISTE conference
1:01:14
coming up, which I'll be at that. Really excited.
1:01:19
That's going to be probably my biggest event.
1:01:21
This summer I've got a lot of other trainings
1:01:24
and conferences and things, but if anybody's
1:01:25
coming to SD. Love to connect with you. I will
1:01:29
give a shout out to our third annual board game
1:01:33
meetup that we're doing at ISTE. So Matt Winters
1:01:37
and Dan Ryder and myself have organized a board
1:01:41
game event for the last two ISTEs. This will
1:01:45
be our third one doing it. It's going to be Sunday
1:01:48
night from like 6 to 11. People can just come
1:01:50
and go all throughout the evening. We're going
1:01:52
to have, you know, tons and tons of games to
1:01:54
play. And it's just a great way to meet people
1:01:57
in a more chill environment where you don't have
1:01:59
to scream above, you know, some loud music or
1:02:02
something. It's a great way to kick off SD. And
1:02:04
I'm a big board game nerd as well as, you know,
1:02:08
our Matt and Dan. But it's even if you're not,
1:02:10
it's just a great way to come and hang out and
1:02:12
meet people and have a good time. So so I'll
1:02:15
go give a shout out to that that I'm pretty excited
1:02:18
about. Well, and I will definitely run into you
1:02:21
somewhere at ISTE while we're there and I'll
1:02:24
make sure to come up and meet you in person.
1:02:28
So, but David, any other things you want to end
1:02:31
with here? No, we just really appreciate you
1:02:35
taking the time to talk with us and offer some
1:02:37
insights on a lot of these topics. I think it's
1:02:40
great for people in our region and beyond that
1:02:43
to hear. hear the conversation and be a part
1:02:46
of it. So thank you again. Well, thanks for having
1:02:48
me. I really appreciate it. Thank you guys for
1:02:50
what you do. This is part of what helps people
1:02:53
keep learning. And so please keep doing what
1:02:56
you're doing. I'm looking forward to sharing
1:02:58
this out with as many people as I can and help
1:03:02
pass the learning on. That puts a wrap on today's
1:03:06
show. Thank you for joining the Integrate This
1:03:08
community. Remember, keep sharing, keep learning,
1:03:11
and we'll catch up with you next time.