Weekly Roundup: Edtech Trends, AI-Resistant Assessments, and Student Microcredentials

Faster than pumpkin spice has infiltrated menus at coffee shops, eateries, and life in general over the past few days (fall’s now official!), here are the week’s best articles from Tech & Learning.

• The Top 4 State Edtech Trends According To SETDA - In its recent survey, SETDA reports that state edtech leaders are increasingly focused on AI but remain concerned about cybersecurity and connectivity issues. No word on their takes for country house chic or Boho 3.0, however.
• High School Math Students Used A GPT-4 AI Tutor. They Did Worse - Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania recently studied the impact of GPT-4-powered tutors and their results suggest the GPT-4 tutors are failing. If there was only some sort of artificially intelligent platform that could help them learn better . . . .
• 4 Tips for Designing AI-Resistant Assessments - AI continues to present challenges for educators, especially when students might use it to complete assignments with minimal original input. Here’s a few things to do to mitigate that.
• Kaibot: How to Use It to Teach - Kaibot is a coding robot that has no relation whatsoever to Cobra Kai as much as I want that to be a thing. And even less of a connection to Eagle Fang karate, which I suppose means it’s actually a legit educational tool.
• Miro: How to Use It to Teach - Miro is a collaborative app used by 99% of the Fortune 100 companies and allows users to present, create images, show flowcharts, and more. Although as helpful as it is, it can’t stop a coworker from microwaving leftover fish in the staff room.?
• Facilitating Microcredentials For K-12 Students - “Right now there's a lot of discussion around employment and how it's really hard for people to enter the job market, especially if they're early career,” says Rita Fennelly-Atkinson, Senior Director of Credentials at Digital Promise. Microcredentials can help demonstrate that students are motivated and have employable skills.
• 3 Tips for Veteran Teachers To Get Comfortable with Classroom Technology - Veteran teachers may not have had an opportunity back during their teacher prep programs to learn how to use edtech, so here's some advice to help. Spoilers: Unlike TV and movies, a training montage is not a viable shortcut for doing the actual work.

Okay, we’re gonna fly now! Enjoy the weekend ahead!