Newsletter 46: Education 3.0 - The Emperor's New Clothes: Cheating vs. Bypassing Productive Thinking

Zack Justos and Nick Janos are advocating for a pause on all assessment requirements from accrediting bodies in higher education for one year, arguing that almost every piece of student work submitted this year will be in some form enhanced by AI.

They argue this upcoming year should be dedicated to opening dialogue in higher education about the future of assessment and how we measure learning in the age of AI. Ethan Mollock called this "Homework Armageddon," back in late 2023 and as most of us in K-12 education who will have been diligently marking IB, IGCSE, and A-level assignments over Easter, I presume will be facing a similar problem. It is probable that every piece of externally and internally marked coursework, essays, or any other form of assessment will probably demonstrate an amalgamation of AI and student work.

Is this fair? Probably not. However, it is an issue that schools and wider governing bodies need to address.

I personally believe that blockchain offers the best solutions for personalized learning journeys, and exploring what information can be collected in the metadata behind a school NFT/certificate could be an interesting concept to work with in a school. The collection of evidence of learning on the blockchain, linked to tokenization, I believe, is a compelling case for proof of learning. The wider question of what we measure in education and what has value in the age of AI is still wide open. Alex Gray Marcos Navas Silke Otremba Willon Fragoso Vriti Saraf

Here is MIT's take on it all: (Cheating vs bypassing productive thinking.)

This what we want to do with this concept at school.

The supercycle of AI interconnected devices continues:

The rabbit assistant looks very interesting alongside 01 Light. All add fuel to the argument that the AI supercycle will be fueled by this wave of AI-connected devices, which are wearable.

With tech glasses you might actually want to wear.

Ray-Ban tech glasses do make the concept much more palatable to consumers, but are they still just the emperor's new clothes, or will this punish the smartphone market?

There is a fine line between teaching and acting, and it seems that edutainment is being explored here by Professor P-Shen Loh.

His ideas are full-on and very exciting. Here is a website where talented young mathematicians live stream content to aspiring younger mathematicians. Twitch is calling out to be used in learning and asks the question, "If I can now take a course on leadership by ex-presidents of the United States, surely we should be beaming into our classes the real expert knowledge from around the world'?"

What is to be done about chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10% or more of the school year? Here is an interesting article from The New York Times explaining the spike in the US school system, but I am sure that this reflects trends from around the world. Are students skipping school because they understand the system has become obsolete?

I really enjoyed this article by Leon Furze about what does it mean to save time in a school.

And this was Colegio Ikigai take on the matter:

It's way out there at the moment; education is on the wave of the AI supercycle and will be radically transformed by these types of ideas, thought leaders and entrepreneurs. Enjoy the second week of Easter if you are still on holiday, and remember, AI detection devices do not work, so says Ethan Mollock, and who would argue with him.