Chris Alexander, MBA, MA

Media ecology includes the analysis of each new tech. #NeilPostman recommends asking "What is the problem to which this technology is a solution?" In that light: some people who don't like #human tutors may benefit from #AI! Our options have expanded. Pete Dunford created this: https://lnkd.in/gc6ZkJUw #medialiteracy #mediaeducation #mediaecology #tutoring #artificialintelligence

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If you’re looking for a helpful read on the evolving model of university-OPM partnerships, and how to manage critical elements of this type of collaboration, check out Dawn Marie Gilmore, Ph.D. and Chinh Nguyen, Ph.D.’s latest book. It also features expert input from Boundless Learning’s own Aaron W.. #OnlineEducation #OPM #HE #TNE

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Project 2025: its analysis on radically reshaping Higher Education

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If you're in higher education and are interested in getting the most out of generative AI, this is a discussion you shouldn't miss. I'll be talking with Jaime Hunt and Bart Caylor about prompting strategies and I'm sure we'll get into some different use cases. We'll be covering everything from basic prompts for different tools to creating custom GPTs. If you're not a member of the Higher Education Web Professionals Association (HighEdWeb), you can sign up for a free general membership as long as you have a .edu email. Wednesday, May 30, from 3-4 ET. Link in the comments. #highered #AI #genAI

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🚨 AI Alert: 30% of College Students Are in the Dark 🚨 New data reveals a startling gap in AI education. Are we failing our future workforce? 🎓🤖 I've just posted a video diving into how AI is set to transform higher education by 2035. But recent findings from Inside Higher Ed’s 2024 Student Voice survey paint a concerning picture of where we are today: • 3 in 10 college students don’t know when they're allowed to use AI in coursework • Only 16% of students say their institution has a clear AI policy (here’s Elon University’s published principles on the AI Revolution, at https://lnkd.in/ekTpu_Wk) • There are significant awareness gaps among different student groups Read more on these findings at https://lnkd.in/ehW2Nb6J This raises some big questions: 1. How can we better prepare students for an AI-driven future? 2. Are we inadvertently creating new equity gaps? 3. Should AI skills be part of core curriculum? Watch the video for my take on AI's potential, then let's discuss these new findings. Together, let's tackle these pressing questions: • How can we better prepare ALL students for an AI-driven future? • Are current policies widening the digital divide? • Should AI literacy be a core competency for graduates? • How do you think we should address these challenges? Your insights are crucial. Share your thoughts below with your perspective on bridging this AI knowledge gap. Together, let's shape the future of education together. 🎓🤖 #AIinEducation #HigherEd #FutureofLearning #DigitalDivide #EdTech

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The 2024 EDUCAUSE Horizons report focuses on the impact of AI on education. The full report takes longer to read if you opt to click on the links to supporting resources. With apologies to Cliff Notes, I've attempted to provide a comprehensive overview. The quality of the content is worth downloading the report and referring to it from time-to-time as you consider increasing the level of AI activity at your institution. https://lnkd.in/eByXDdj9

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Research: People Don’t Like Stories They Think AI Wrote -- This headline showed in in a daily Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) email that I get. I've been in multiple conversations about how our industry is using AI to help us be more efficient, effective, etc. However, I wonder how everyone feels about getting AI back from our teams. Does it bother you? Does AI have a perception problem? Curious topic for sure! #highered #highereducation #higheredmarketing #highereducationmarketign #higheredcommunications #highereducationcommunications https://lnkd.in/gEuXUhh3

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This is generally how think about skills acquisition as it applies to real world outcomes. Not a complete rendering of my view. Let's say it's a weak attempt to reduce a more nuanced perspective into manageable boxes that need cafeful unpacking. I do, however, think higher ed tends to certify learners as those who add value when they may be stuck somewhere between bad art and unnecessary risks. This is why learning in the flow of work is so important. It provides the necessary skill building in an appropriate scaffold. This way workers can consistently add value while limiting damage and increasing opportunities to innovate. pardon the crudity of my sketch. still getting used to the notepad pen on my s24. #instructionaldesign #learningtheory #skillsxstakes

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To all my Journalism & Media friends. Pay attention to Capitol AI (YC S24) - this is what a future with ai looks like makes more time and value out of original reporting by drawing new insights out of it. The visionary work of my friend Thomas H. & Shaun Modi will be something you will keep seeing. #ai #futureofjournalism https://lnkd.in/gnNYPhnN

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If you’re a higher ed marketer, you’re accustomed to (and perhaps occasionally frustrated by) feedback from colleagues on the institution’s marketing. In Inside Higher Ed, I offer four approaches for embracing feedback from nonmarketers and receiving that feedback as the gift that it can be.

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Generative AI tools are transforming higher education, prompting educators and administrators to grapple with new challenges and opportunities. The The Chronicle of Higher Education conducted a survey of over 800 higher education administrators and faculty members to delve into these evolving dynamics. Key findings include: -Diverse Perspectives: Faculty and administrators show varying levels of agreement on the appropriate uses of generative AI in teaching and learning. -Curriculum Redefinition: Generative AI tools are prompting instructors to reconsider their teaching methods and assessment strategies. -Policy Development: Institutions are developing new policies to regulate the use of AI in education while aiming to harness its benefits effectively. -AI Literacy and Ethics: There is a growing emphasis on ensuring all students graduate with basic AI literacy and an ethical understanding of AI technology. For a comprehensive analysis of these findings and more insights, read The Chronicle’s full Research Brief. #DiversePerspective#CurriculumRedefinition#PolicyDevelopment#AILiteracy #Ethics

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It’s rarely necessary to simulate authentic contexts since we find ourselves in them so often. However, it is our responsibility to recognize when we are in those contexts so we can seize the opportunity to practice. Baked into this process is a wonderfully uncomfortable amount of failure, awkwardness, and reflection. Now, let’s go out there and do as Samuel Beckett said: “Fail. Fail again. Fail better.” It’s rare to get something right the first time when we’re learning to do anything. In fact, if we do get it right the first time, it may actually hinder us from progressing past the point of good enough. Failure is the lifeblood of growth, especially when it comes to skills learning. So, when approaching practice within our contexts, let’s keep in mind that there will most certainly be failure—that’s the point. Once we embrace that, we’re more likely to succeed in the overall process. As an added bonus, the process chain of objectives-to-content-to-context-to-practice-to-failure provides us with the opportunity to reflect on how we interpreted the content into practice and how those practice attempts led to failure. Cognitive scientists call this metacognition—thinking about thinking. It’s highly conducive to creating explicit knowledge and nipping any bad habits in the bud. It allows us to look back and pinpoint missteps, adjust our actions, and deliberately try again with specific corrections in mind. It’s a form of self-coaching, and since this is self-directed learning, metacognition is a critical step in the process. The image below is an example of how to better track our failed attempts through metacognition. In this case the technique being practiced is from the book Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. Once we’ve identified areas for improvement, we can be more deliberate in future attempts. Practice isn’t just about repetition; it’s about making adjustments. Therefore, it’s fruitful to track and compare failures. We also need to be careful not to exchange improvement in one area for decline in another, which can happen when we assume a previous success is a given. In short, it’s not just our weaknesses that need improvement—our strengths do, too. This process takes time, so we must be patient with ourselves. Remember, failure is necessary to progress. Each one brings us a small precise step closer to success. When we leverage the power of context, deliberate practice, and metacognition, we streamline that journey. #selfdirectedlearning #instructionaldesign #selregulatedlearning #metacogniton

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When we think about AI and higher Ed, this is it. “We are indeed at a forked-road moment, one that will define whether higher education flourishes or falters.” The solution? It is messy, but I agree with Dan Sarofian-Butin that “we must double down on a learning-centered model in the age of AI.” https://lnkd.in/gaKB9rJK

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Amidst the multitude of expectations placed on #highereducation institutions by various stakeholders, how can we refocus efforts to prioritize the fundamental goal of preparing students for successful careers and lives?

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Learning isn’t just about acquiring information; it’s about filtering, selecting, and organizing it to make meaningful changes in our memory and behavior. As such, instruction serves as a map, simplifying complex realities, but we must remember—the map is never the terrain, and a plan rarely survives the battle. As we navigate this process, technology becomes a powerful tool, not because it creates new learners or knowledge, but because it helps us organize and access information more efficiently. However, we need to distinguish between what is necessary to internalize in the mind and what should be stored externally in the cloud. Still, while these digital networks extend our minds and help us manage information, they don’t eliminate the biases and tendencies inherent in human behavior. For instance, sometimes we lie to ourselves to be kind to others, and sometimes we lie to others to be kind to ourselves. This fundamental attribution error—our tendency to overestimate our own grit in success while downplaying the role of circumstances—can be something data helps us course correct. But even as data informs our understanding, it’s important to remember that no success is linear and no mechanism is perfect. In the end, the goal isn’t just to "think for ourselves," but to gain the skills, knowledge, and attitudes we seek more efficiently and effectively so we can make sure our thinking is useful or at very least accurate. #instructionaldesign #learning #bias #technology

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I am often asked “what type of budget model works best for universities?” This is the wrong question, or at least incorrectly cast. To get to the right questions, and the needed answers for any decision, we first need some history, some present-day context, and some insight into WHY, WHEN, and HOW new budget models are designed and implemented at universities. We also need to understand the organizational, operational, and decision-making dynamics that characterize much of US higher education today. My article on this important topic will be published in the January issue of AGB (Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges) Trusteeship magazine. Stay tuned and let's continue the conversation. #highered #universities #budgets #budgetmodels #finances #changemanagement #responsibilitycenteredmanagement #faculty #governance #boards #leadership #strategy #transparency

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Honest question for industry employers & those evaluating graduate school essays - particularly if you value leveraging LLM usage to improve efficiency in your workplace. - What would you think if someone submitted an application, work, or essay, which clearly relied on chatGPT, CoPilot, etc usage? - Does the type of Generative AI usage matter (for coding vs for essay writing)? - Does it matter if it is explicitly clear that Gen AI or if you are noticing because of certain style trademarks? TIA - I plan to share responses with my students!

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Digesting the latest publication from the Institute For Fiscal Studies on the state of the education system that the next government will inherit offers a critical picture about political choices we can make about closing the knowledge gaps vs addressing inequalities in our education system (or both!) https://lnkd.in/gPqKgbRt When comparing Wales and England—often used to contrast Labour performance against Conservatives—it's clear that political choices can be made to tackle long lasting challenges in our system. The report reveals that "England sits squarely in the middle of the pack in terms of inequality (similar place to Colombia), much less equal than Wales. But England outperforms Wales on PISA maths and reading”. This smaller gap between the least and most advantaged comes at the expense of overall performance for Wales. This chart potentially highlights an important trade-off (or not!): achieving a world-class education system that teaches students how to read, write and calculate and creating an equitable system where every student has an equal chance to succeed and also has access to a well-rounded education that goes beyond teaching math and English and international rankings. Interestingly, a few countries seem to have struck the right balance and achieved both: Canada, Ireland, Japan, and Estonia. What political choices can we make to ensure every young person in our country has fair opportunities and access to quality education? Maybe a good question for the next debate! #education #attainment #opportunityforall #educationpolicy

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