Fluffy AI and sceptical teachers
Teacher AI scepticism, AI and the SEND crisis, Roblox changes, Bluesky thinking, Moflin and much more....
The Connected Learning Q+A with Michel Buchner, creative technologist in the Netherlands
In this week’s Connected Learning Q+A, Michel Buchner, a creative technologist working in the Netherlands, talks XR, AI and how to dilute social media algorithms
Change is the only given constant factor now
Tell us about your role?
I work as a creative technologist for Corbulo Tech & Design College, a pre-vocational education regional stimulus body to advocate technology education, and John Dewey College, which offers higher pre-vocational and pre-academic education, based on project-based learning – both in the Netherlands. My main role is to investigate and apply technology in education and to connect contemporary education with the technological world of today.
What developments in digital education are you excited about?
I’m excited about extended reality (XR) and AI, which will bring about new ways of education.
What developments in digital education concern you?
My main worry is that the field of education has a hard time keeping up with current developments. That’s not a new issue but the contrast is more stark against the backdrop of the exponential development of the technologically evolving society.
What new digital tools or apps are you finding useful or appealing?
I recently saw an augmented reality (AR) avatar that was connected to an AI large language model (LLM). This LLM was loaded with the contents of an educational book from a publisher. The realisation struck that it’s likely we will have AI analytics reiterating the parts of lessons that need to be revised with the student. So a possible scenario could be that a student is questioned verbally by the AI, which is loaded with course material from the publisher, and the student shares answers verbally to the AI. The student has learned from the book and will test his/her knowledge with the AI character, getting feedback and reiteration on the parts missed or misunderstood.
When it comes to choosing or using technology for learning, other than budget, what principles or philosophies guide your decision-making process?
With every technology implemented I ask myself how it touches the real world and how it broadens the child's vision and perspective on the world.
What’s a problem you are trying to solve?
When a child’s window on the world is through social media apps controlled by an algorithm, it becomes harder to get a broader context on the world. The classroom could be the only place where we can connect consciously and deliberately with the outside world and give context and nuance. We are competing with algorithms. You could argue that the EU should compel social media apps such as TikTok, Snap and Instagram to blend in 15% of content from our public broadcasters. Or, in the case of the UK, mix in content from the BBC.
How have your views on the role of technology in education evolved over the course of your career so far?
My teaching career (after a career as a creative technologist working in design in museums) started during Covid-19 when I entered a school struggling with Microsoft Teams. In the past four to five years I learned that we can’t expect that skills/tools used in the outside world will necessarily be applied in education. For instance, MS Teams and apps like Slack were already changing work and communication since 2014. Education had to step up and learn the hard way with the pandemic. But now the urgency is gone, we’re back to normal while the world is exponentially technically developing.
Language, reading and writing is more relevant than ever.
Society is changing with the advent of AI and virtualisation. Very few people realise that AI rides on the back of the development of virtualisation. The hardware that is responsible for the visual representation of things in the real world, such as 3D, games and automated cars is now the hardware foundation for AI. Looking at the speed of development we should really be aware what it could mean for the future, especially education. Where this will lead to, I really don’t know. But we should try it and explore it. Language, reading and writing is more relevant than ever.
Has AI changed how you work yet and, if so, how?
Not really, yet. It’s a great tool to organise and extract information. I keep an eye on image and 3D generation since this will help to create educational content and simulations. The latter needs a few years, but looks really promising. On the other hand, I see it as a duty to introduce it with the children and play with it. The conversations with them about where it could lead are interesting.
Apart from AI, what do you see as the most significant technological trend/s impacting education in the next couple of years?
The most important element of XR is not the technology itself but the human conversation afterwards.
For me that is the field of XR. I expect to use it for context-rich education and simulations of the real world. As educators we educate children to participate in the real world. The view on this world outside the classroom is under pressure, but technologies like these could help out. The most important element of XR is not the technology itself but the human conversation afterwards.
What have you read or listened to (about education and technology) recently which you would recommend to other educators?
I’m a huge fan of the YouTube channel Two Minute Papers from Dr Károly Zsolnai-Fehér, a computer graphics scientist. As I said, AI piggybacks on the hardware of computer graphics. Dr Károly Zsolnai-Fehér looks at scientific papers concerning AI and computer graphics and explains them in short videos and gives a glimpse of what we can expect in the future. He always ends his videos with the phrase “what a time to be alive!”
AI roundup
Teachers ‘sceptical’ of AI
Despite the UK government spending millions developing AI tools for schools, with the stated aim of reducing teacher workload, teachers have “significant scepticism” about the use of AI in education, according to a YouGov survey commissioned by BETT. More than half the teachers whose schools were using AI said it had no positive impact on their workload. Among the poll respondents who were using AI in school, more than half said the training provided by their school was helpful. But 34% reported receiving no training at all and 12% found their training unhelpful.
AI companions guide
Thanks to Michaela Carmichael for sharing this useful guide for parents from Common Sense Media on AI companions and how to support children and young people who may be using them. And we’ve featured it before but their AI foundations course is worth a look, too.
AI and the SEND crisis
In this month’s The Skinny, Rose Luckin turns her attention to England's special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system. It stands at a critical juncture with 1.67 million pupils requiring special educational support – a number that has grown by nearly 22% in just four years. She asks why so little tech attention appears to have been paid to this area of desperate need:
“the amazing AI breakthroughs within medicine and health are not yet appearing in education. To my mind if some of the substantive breakthroughs that we see in medicine could be paralleled in education – and in particular for the SEND crisis, that would be a huge win for AI for society.”
Do not get Hammy wet – or else
A weird emotional week with Moflin, a fluffy AI robot pet. We want one.
Quick links
On the Parent Zone Tech Shock podcast Ekaterina Hertog and Jun Zhao from the University of Oxford and Netta Weinstein from the University of Reading talk about their recent research paper exploring ‘data-driven parenting’
And on the Learning Scientists podcast, Natalia Kucirkova, Professor of Early Childhood and Development at the University of Stavanger in Norway and Professor of Reading and Children’s Development at the Open University, discusses digital literacy and its impact on education
An academy trust has been scammed out of more than £385,000 after it was targeted by cyber attackers posing as a construction company
In response to a report alleging child grooming, exploitation and sharing of indecent images, Roblox is to grant parents access to a dashboard on their own phone showing who their child is interacting with, how long they are spending on Roblox each day and to make sure they are accurately recording their age
If you’re raising awareness of sextortion, use language that we use, keep your messages fast-paced and don’t scare us, say Scottish teenagers
We’re reading, listening…
From MIT Tech Review: the long-term shift away from centralisation in social media is one of the most interesting and impactful fallouts from the X implosion and the rise of Bluesky and Threads. Plus, we’re mugging up with these guides for BlueSky newbies on how to use the platform from the Verge and the LSE Impact Blog, which takes an academic perspective. We’re at @connectedlearning.bsky.social
From Prospect: an argument is brewing in the Baltic Sea. Two subsea internet cables have mysteriously been cut. Germany has accused Russia of sabotage, while Sky News reports a Chinese ship was nearby. Nothing is confirmed yet – but earlier this year, Isabel Hilton argued that a new front could be emerging in global conflict.
"‘The machines are writing poetry’ is one of the most poetic things I’ve read this year.”
From Leon Furze: “OpenAI clearly doesn’t want to help writers. It wants to replace them. It wants to suck the joy out of writing and replace it with efficient, easy to understand microprose that goes down reeeeeal easy. Fast food for readers. Slop.” For an alternative take, try Yale Professor of Philosophy Paul Bloom’s Six Ways I use AI when writing. And for a reader’s perspective, the Guardian explores a new study which finds that poems written by AI are preferred to those written by humans. Oops.
Give it a try
AI productivity tools
There’s a bonanza of bookmarking tools to try in this Verge roundup of apps that promise to organise all of that content you’re saving for later. Plus can AI productivity apps turbocharge your life?
Connected Learning is by Sarah Horrocks and Michelle Pauli
