The GSV Big 10: Library or Homeless Shelter?
Life for Credit, Looping in Teachers, and Dead End Code...
Today’s Big 10 is brought to you by Guidde.
🚀 Revolutionize Learning with AI-Powered Video Guides
Upgrade your organization training with engaging, interactive video content powered by Guidde.Here’s what you’ll love about it:
1️⃣ Fast & Simple Creation: AI transforms text into video in moments.
2️⃣ Easily Editable: Update videos as fast as your processes evolve.
3️⃣ Language-Ready: Reach every learner with guides in their native tongue.Bring your training materials to life.
The best part? The browser extension is 100% free.
Chart of the Week
The Big 10:
The Death of the Public Library | The Free Press
I was told you become who are by the people you meet and the books you read. Public libraries have been a major asset for Americans of all backgrounds for literacy, lifelong learning, self improvement and community connections. Alas, despite a resurgence in bookstores, public libraries have been transformed from places of acquiring knowledge to homeless shelters. The librarians are becoming social workers and getting trained on how to use NARCAN.
Are We Preparing Students for a World That No Longer Exists? | Whiteboard Advisors
Our friend Ben Wallerstein reflects on a future that is very different the past through the lens of his “screenager” son. Listening to lectures at 1.8x speed while practicing soccer. Acquiring skills where the half-life is 5 years…2.5 years if it’s technical. Remember how everybody needed to be a coder? Now people with a computer science degree are 2x more unemployed than art history majors.
Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge celebrates 1st graduating class from charter schools | Abu Dhabi Media Office
It turns out Charter Schools aren’t just a United States phenomenon but are happening around the World. While the U.S. has the most charter schools with just over 8,000, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Chile, and Germany are also on the Charter School bandwagon, with Abu Dhabi the most recent adopter. While Abu Dhabi is unquestionably the “capital of capital”, it’s also the window to the future with education being the prerequisite to achieve its ambitious goals.
Human-in-the-Loop Is Not a Buzzword: It’s a Teacher’s Job | Getting Smart
One only had to see the episode with Grok gone rogue last week praising Adolph Hitler to recognize that at a minimum AI needs supervision. But even more to the point, it’s not that “human in the loop” is just a nice slogan…it’s an obligation. Magic can happen combing man and machine to enhance learning.
Microsoft Pledges $4 Billion Toward A.I. Education | NYT
With Microsoft arguably having more chips on the table betting on the future of AI, it would seem a pretty smart move to train millions of students how to use AI products it’s creating. Not leaving any stone unturned, Microsoft also funded the American Federation of Teachers with $23 million for AI training and started the Microsoft Elevate Academy which aspires to have 20 million people with AI Certificates.
California high school reimagines classrooms as ‘learning studios’ | K-12 Dive
A cynic might say they are just “rearranging chairs on the Titanic” but optimists believe creating a different environment for learning can improve resultants. Characteristics of a “learning studio” include a more flexible and open space, and design is meant to foster more of a community. My view is the $225 million that is being spent on “learning studios” could buy a lot of technology, tutors and teacher training, so I hope the outcomes warrant the new approach.
To fill seats, more colleges offer credit for life experience | The Hechinger Report
38 million U.S. adults have taken some college courses but haven’t completed their degrees. For some, life just got in the way. But for others, being able to exchange life experience for college credit was theoretically possible but the “friction” was exorbitant…like going to Heathrow and wanting to get pounds for your dollars (and Thomas Cook would take 30% commission and you would spend a week in line). Now with the confluence of AI and a more difficult environment for universities motivating them to make it easier, ‘credits for life experience’ is happening in a big way.
Honor Education Secures $38M Series A To Reinvent Digital Learning Experiences | Business Wire
We are thrilled to see our friend Joel Podolny raise a major A round for his company Honor Education. Reminiscent of his former company where he ran Apple University, Joel has combined a beautiful and easy to use mobile first interface with a compelling content platform for student and teachers alike. Sprinkle a smart dose of AI and you have a tiger by the tail.
☀️EP. 15: Penny Schwinn: Deputy Secretary of Education Nominee | Edreform in 10
We are still waiting for our friend Penny Schwinn to be confirmed by the United States Senate for Deputy Secretary of Education, but for the sake of children in America, we hope that’s happening very soon. Watch her interview with CER’s founder and GSV friend Jeannie Allen from the ASU+GSV Summit.
Dubai Emerges As New Education Hub For India | Greatandhra
A major beneficiary of India’s boom is its neighboring United Emirates city-state Dubai. Having long been the preferred second home for wealthy Indians, it’s the place they go for opportunity and increasingly education. 42% of students in Dubai’s universities come from India and with a perceived less-welcoming reception from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, it’s likely to gain even more Indian students.