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Conversations from ISTE Live with Liz Voci · Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to the integrate this ed tech podcast
• 0:02
  I'm Jeremy McClay and I'm really excited to be
• 0:05
  joined by this guest that we have with us That
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  we're catching up with people from the at the
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  ISTE conference that we've had on the show before
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  And Liz Volce is definitely one of those we you
• 0:16
  and I met about a year ago at this conference
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  Except it was in San Antonio And I was really
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  excited when I got the schedule for that conference.
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  I remember the the topic of your your table talk
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  that you had was the Perfect Book Project. And
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  so I'd like to start with that. Can you give
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  us a little bit of a recap of what the Perfect
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  Book Project was and how it's evolved in the
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  last year? Yeah, absolutely. First I have to
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  say you are like the best audience member ever.
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  You're one of those people who like my eyes go
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  to because you're like always smiling and nodding
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  and you can tell you're like dialed in. So thank
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  you for that. I remember that smile from last
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  year and it just warms my heart. David compliments
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  me on it all the time. No, it's like you're a
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  great like audience. I just want to have you
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  with me all the time. So that project was part
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  of the Google Innovator project where my goal
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  is to try to start a foundational understanding
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  of AI literacy for our liberalist learners. And
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  so through that project I collaborated with teachers
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  to integrate actual literacy topics along with
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  AI literacy conversations in order for students
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  to develop their perfect book. I think a lot
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  of people when they see like oh the perfect book
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  you just want into AI and we're like write a
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  book about clowns. But there was so much more
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  to it than that. The students were learning about.
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  prompting, they were learning about how large
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  language models are, hallucinations, bias, and
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  then at the same time they were learning about
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  genre and characterization and really going through
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  a five -step process to develop their perfect
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  book. We would say it was like a sneaky reading
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  project because by the time they were done they
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  had done more than 20 hours of reading in the
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  development of this book. But then at the end
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  they had a physical book that we got printed
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  and we have a copy for themselves and for the
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  school library and they just love reading each
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  other. books and they're these books that like
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  you never no adults could have ever thought of
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  these books but no student could ever develop
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  it into a full ten chapter book and I think people
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  want to hear even you talk more about that they
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  could check out the podcast episode the full
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  -length one that we have that's on our channel
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  but now how is it morphed and evolved in that
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  last year. Yeah, so this was year two of the
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  project, and we started off very similar. The
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  students were familiar with the process already,
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  which helped a lot. So we could really dive deeper
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  into the topics, the literacy topics, as well
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  as the AI literacy topics. Our students still
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  don't actually use the AI tools, but it's about
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  building an understanding. So when they're ready
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  to use them, and we know some of them are using
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  them at home, it's about that front loading and
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  that modeling of healthy practices. So this year,
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  though, as it evolved, I went down a deep rabbit
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  hole of vibe coding and actually found it as
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  a great entry point for teachers learning about
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  AI. Because we all have this idea of the perfect
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  ed tech tool that's going to solve our problems.
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  And up until now, you'd have to find it. But
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  now you just make it. And so that started with
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  the teachers and then trickled down to the students.
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  And we actually had an almost like a perfect
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  game project where the students worked to follow
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  up prompts. basically prompt frames, like sentence
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  starters, and build a perfect game to help them
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  practice all sorts of skills. So we put up all
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  the standards and said, pick a standard, whether
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  it's multiplication or fractions or even parts
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  of speech, and build a learning game. And so
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  in plain language, the students built the game,
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  and then I used Gemini Canvas to actually create
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  the game. So now we have a whole website of books,
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  as well as a whole website of learning games
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  developed by the students. Cool, that's fantastic.
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  And I can just envision. because if you've played
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  a part in helping to design that process yourself,
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  you wanna share it with other people. And those
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  people that you're sharing it with also made
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  their own. And so they're gonna give you good
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  feedback, but also needed critical feedback too,
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  I imagine. Yes, and that's part of the process
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  too with developing the game itself, is that
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  they're learning about giving concrete and like...
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  Solid feedback at first to the model because
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  when they get the first iteration of their game
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  It never works correctly, and it's not the way
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  they envisioned it, but then they're learning
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  about okay next time I'm gonna give more information
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  up front that way I'm not going back and forth
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  through this like iteration process But even
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  if you put like a 10 page prompt there's still
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  gonna be parts of it that you have to go back
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  But it takes the emotional component out because
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  you're just focused on like articulating what
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  doesn't work and what you need it to do. And
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  that process then carries over to their interactions
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  with each other. Exactly, exactly. So I imagine
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  you've had a pretty busy conference here so far.
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  What sessions have you been leading and attending?
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  So yesterday was a big talk day. I've been honored
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  to come on behalf of ISTE in some. some spaces
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  because they've had me modeling and doing demos
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  of the new stretch AI that ISTE's developed,
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  which is incredible instructional coach and wellness
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  coach for educators. It's their new AI tool through
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  the ISTE membership. And so I've been able to
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  do that for some state leaders and some instructional
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  leaders. So it's been amazing being in those
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  rooms, like as I'm getting ready to do the demo,
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  like just hearing the conversation and the excitement
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  around the possibilities for innovating education.
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  It's just been. so cool but then yesterday I
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  also did a talk on the demo on the Google stage
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  and then did a talk about my most recent project
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  with Generation AI. Yeah and let's let's go down
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  that rabbit hole because I hear you've won a
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  major award and I don't think of it like the
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  the lamp with the leg in the from the Christmas
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  story movie right? Why don't you announce that
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  for us? Okay, I mean that would be an awesome
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  award to have that. But this one is definitely
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  much more of an honor. So it's the Generation
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  AI Luminary Award and there's 10 educators that
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  received it this year. Congratulations. Thank
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  you. I mean the list is just, I'm so honored
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  and humbled to be on that list because when you
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  look at the names and the things that these educators
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  are doing to transform education with AI and
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  to really be on the cutting edge of youth. it
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  to do good. From our perspective we know you're
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  well deserving because we've been able to follow
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  a lot of the great things that you're doing with
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  with the posts that you make on on LinkedIn and
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  other places and just to be able to see all of
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  that has been really really cool. Well thank
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  you. But it's such an honor to be honored in
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  that way but that project was really through
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  Generation AI this past year I was able to work
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  in one of their communities of practice. and
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  develop a learning series for my educators that
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  focuses on teaching them AI through the lens
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  of a learner first before we even touch using
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  it for teaching. So how can we use it to advance
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  their own personal professional learning and
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  professional collaboration? And so I was in a
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  really cool spot because I had 40 teachers and
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  most of them had never used AI because it. in
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  an elementary school, like there's so many other
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  things going on, it's just, it's so low on the
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  list. So I had this group to do my action research
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  project with, with really no experience, and
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  we got to have them experience it, to help them
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  pick a topic that they've always wanted to dig
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  deeper on, or like that we call like their dirty
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  secret, like what's that? that acronym that you
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  don't really know. Yeah. And do a deep dive with
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  AI for their own professional learning. And it
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  turned into this amazing project, where by the
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  end of it, they were vibe coding and collaborating
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  to create. We made an amazing executive function
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  timer that the whole school uses now, along with
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  these classroom management tools. And I found,
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  too, with educators that I've worked with that
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  have never experienced using AI in a professional
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  way. Maybe they've dabbled a little bit personally,
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  right? But that growth that they experience is
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  just exponential, like very, very quickly. Yes.
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  Yeah. But it was really powerful to see them
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  use it for themselves as a learner because then
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  that changes. their perspective when they want
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  to build things for their students, because they
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  knew what it could do for them, and now they
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  can transfer that to their students. That's cool.
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  I mean, it sounds like you're really busy with
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  all of these things, but I know that's not the
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  only things that you're still doing, and I know
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  you started up a podcast here recently too. So
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  tell us about the podcast. Oh my gosh, the podcast
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  was such a passion project, and we actually used
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  a lot of AI coaching to help us get started,
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  as well as like, I know I reached out to you
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  guys, because we just admire you guys as professional
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  podcasters. But Tina and I were part of the Google
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  Innovator program and it's such a unique community
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  of educators, but a disconnected community of
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  educators outside of these events. Like these
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  events are so energizing to get the family back
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  together. But we were having a meeting actually
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  because I was stuck on my project and I reached
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  out to like six or seven members of the community.
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  I was like, can you just meet with me for 10
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  minutes so we can just, can you talk me through
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  this? That's one of the things that the community
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  is so great about. And then by the end of my
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  conversation with Tina, we're like, we need this
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  energy. Like we need to get the band back together
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  and start a podcast. And so that was Tuesday.
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  And by Saturday, we had like recorded our first
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  episode, like our pilot. And we were like, all
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  right, let's do it. Well, it's really fantastic.
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  I know I've checked out a couple of episodes
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  and I'm not an innovator myself, but you know,
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  I could still relate to the things that you're
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  definitely talking about. So that's that's really,
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  really cool. Awesome. Thanks for listening. Yeah.
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  Yeah. You know, kind of as we wrap up here. What
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  other things do you have coming up on your radar
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  here after ISTE is over? Are you still going
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  to be working or are you going to be taking a
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  little bit of well -deserved time off? I actually
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  have a really amazing and crazy summer ahead
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  of me. ISTE right now is the main focus of my
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  brain. But once I get through this, I'm actually
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  helping facilitate the Google Educator AI series
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  through ISTE, ASCD, and Google. It's their collaboration
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  where they've made these micro credentials. And
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  there's trainings happening at Google offices
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  across the country this summer. And so I'm going
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  to be traveling and going to these two -day events
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  to help teachers understand this new resource.
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  Plus you get to travel and experience kind of
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  fun places, too, at the same time, right? Yeah,
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  I'm really excited about it. Good. Well, Liz,
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  before we go, is there any way or how would you
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  like people to get into contact with you or where
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  can they find out more resources? You know, maybe
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  a website where they can find more information
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  about Perfect Book Project or any other things
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  that you'd like to share. Yeah, so it's so funny.
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  Last time we talked, I was a ghost. I didn't
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  have any social media. Yeah, I remember that.
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  I've only been on social media. for about six
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  months. But when I do something, I do it, which
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  is like a toxic trait of mine. So LinkedIn is
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  definitely the way to get in touch with me. And
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  I do post about all of the tools and resources.
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  I love giving stuff away for free. So definitely
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  connect with me on LinkedIn. Yeah. Well, Liz,
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  it was great to have you here. Thank you so much.
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  Great to see you again and reconnect. And I hope
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  you have a great rest of the conference. Thanks.
• 11:23
  You too. Yeah.