What I Wrote in 2023
I published 39 essays in 2023 and quite a few of you read and shared them. For that, I am truly grateful. Most of what I wrote was from the perspective of someone on the front line of how generative AI is impacting education. A few let me take a step back and explore some deeper implications. I’m going to try and do more of those this coming year.
Most Read Posts in 2023
Our Obsession with Cheating is Ruining Our Relationships with Students
AI Runs Amok in the Classroom While Big Tech Dreams of Terminators
It’s Time to Step off the AI Panic Carousel Before we Harm our Students
Tools vs. Agents: The Dehumanizing Effect of Impersonal Education
OpenAI’s GPT Strategy: Turn Users into Bot-Building Marketers
Themes for the Year
AI Detection
For educators, 2023 was the year generative AI disrupted their teaching and it isn’t surprising that AI detection remains the topic most people wanted to know about. We’ve seen a surge of institutions turning off Turnitin’s AI detection system because of too many false positive rates.
AI Literacy
Many of the posts explore how faculty and teachers are grappling with generative AI. I’ve been spending a considerable amount of time developing AI literacy training for educators in an ever-evolving generative landscape. Molly Roberts wrote an amazing profile of the work I’ve helped start at the University of Mississippi.
Trying to Make Sense of an Increasingly Chaotic Landscape
Many of the posts covered what it was like trying to introduce a new generative tool/ technique to students or consider the implication it will have on education. Under normal circumstances, this would be a very slow process and a relatively stable one. However, none of that is true with generative AI. Without a slow down education will remain in a reactive panic mode for some time to come.
To Me, Writing is Feeling
I started this blog as a means of wrestling with some major questions that caused a fair amount of existential dread in people who dedicated their lives to teaching others. In the space of a little over a year, I went from solely an educator to spending an increasing amount of my time providing faculty development about generative AI.
When I write publicly, I do so as a means of connection and communion. I think that’s where I’d like to continue the trajectory of many of these essays moving into the New Year. There will still be posts about generative AI, but its implications go well beyond education and I’m drawn to spending more time thinking about the cultural impact and how it makes me feel.
Thank you for your time, your energy, and your focus. We get so few moments where we get to think deeply about our world and I am immensely grateful to all of you who’ve subscribed and read my words. I’m committed to keeping this site free, but it’s hard to overstate how important paid subscribers have been to support this work. This is true for this blog and the professional development course I launched. I remain a non-tenure track lecturer and the support from readers like you means that I don’t have to scramble to ask for overloads or seek out a myriad of odd jobs I’ve worked over the past decade. If you’ve valued what I’ve written and wish to support the future of this work, then I hope you will consider subscribing.
If you are interested in finding out more about the professional development courses I put together for educators to help them navigate generative AI, then please do take a look.
Happy New Year!
Best,
Marc