Create interactive fiction games by learning game design with Claude Artifacts! Students and adults, alike, will love it. Ever wish you could design interactive fiction games, like text-based Zork from back in the day combined with something like space opera? I sure do. And the good news is that making the game of my dreams is now possible (and simple!) through the use of AI. I bet your students would even love the opportunity to experience game design with Claude Artifacts, too!

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Also check out this blog entry on An Interactive Text Game of Poetry: Haiku Quest by ChatGPT by Kevin’s Meandering Mind

Dive into two more powerful action writing strategies that are sure to sharpen your students’ critical thinking skills. Ready for more action writing strategies that encourage critical thinking in an AI world? In the first part of this blog entry, you saw three powerful action strategies. Those strategies included collaborative writing workshop, structured debate blogs, and reflective journaling with metacognitive prompts. In this follow-up to part one, you will see two more action writing strategies. These two strategies, just like the first three, are designed to engage student writers and improve their analytical skills.

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Looking for AI Tools for Education with Sample Classroom Uses?

You can find a few listed in this Gamma presentation deck.

Over the last few days, I’ve been playing around with the PRISM Framework, a framework that scaffolds thinking. It is inspired by the SOLO Taxonomy. The PRISM Framework is intended to support thinking as it moves from unistructural to multistructural to relational to extended abstract, as defined in the SOLO Taxonomy. Simply, this means shifting from having no idea to some idea to several ideas (but not knowing how they connect) to seeing how ideas and perspectives connect but unable to make sense of the pattern. It concludes with coming up with a hypothesis of how things fit together and ways to test it.

PRISM takes each of those an generates questions and ideas. I have a few blog entries planned that explore PRISM planned for publication elsewhere, but I’m starting to use PRISM for other things, as way to get thinking going around AI in education, and other topics. Since PRISM is a scaffold for thinking, you can really use it for anything. What’s even more fun, I’ve created a Perplexity Space to assist with applying PRISM to new ideas.

Here’s an AI-generated PRISM relevant to AI in education. It includes updates statistics. Citations have been removed.

A PRISM Analysis: AI in K-12 Education

Patterns

AI adoption in K-12 spread unevenly in 2024. Automated tasks, personalized learning, and cloud management led. Advanced applications lagged. 30% of schools deployed AI, up from 25% in 2023. 80% of teachers use AI-powered platforms weekly.

“I’ve noticed AI creeping into our classrooms, mostly for grading and attendance. It’s like having an invisible teaching assistant.”

Reasoning

Schools adopted AI for efficiency and personalization. It cut teacher workload and boosted engagement. Challenges slowed progress. Infrastructure gaps, lack of training, and privacy concerns held back integration. Only 18% of teachers used AI for teaching in 2023. 37% of districts planned training by 2024.

“AI connects to our need for efficiency, but it’s a double-edged sword. It helps with grading, but we’re still figuring out how to use it safely and effectively.”

Ideas

To improve: Blend AI analytics with teacher interventions. Build comprehensive AI ecosystems. Fix infrastructure. Train teachers. Suburban schools lead in AI training at 23%. Urban and rural schools trail at 17% and 16%. Two-thirds of teachers plan to use more AI soon.

“What if we combined AI-driven analytics with our expertise? We could create personalized learning experiences that truly meet each student where they are.”

Situation

AI reshapes more than classrooms. It impacts district policies, teacher development, and home-school links. It aligns with hybrid learning and future-ready education. 52% believe schools should teach AI use. Only 19% of teachers used AI in their training.

“The bigger picture shows AI isn’t just about classroom tech. It’s changing how we approach education as a whole, from policy to parent communication.”

Methods

To test AI’s impact: Compare outcomes in AI-enhanced and traditional classrooms. Track adoption across demographics. Audit data privacy. Newer teachers use AI more: 21% for those under 10 years, 17% for veterans. High school teachers view AI more negatively than elementary teachers.

“We can validate AI’s effectiveness by comparing student outcomes, but we must also ensure it’s equitable and protects student privacy. It’s a balancing act.”

Explore action writing strategies that help teach critical thinking. Flip the script on AI-powered thinking and empower your students’ minds! AI-powered writing threatens the status quo of classrooms. And while AI literacy supersedes digital literacy, teachers and students are scrambling to learn how to use AI the right way, leaving writing teachers in despair. In fact, many educators believe that AI is short-circuiting writing exercises intended to teach critical thinking. In this blog entry, we’ll explore the first three of five research-based action writing strategies that flip the tables on AI-powered, short-circuited critical thinking and writing. Check them out and start incorporating them into your lesson plan today!

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AI-Generated 3-2-1 Summary

Based on the article “Teach Critical Thinking with These Action Writing Strategies: Part One” by Miguel Guhlin, here’s a 3-2-1 summary:

3 Key Points

1. AI-powered writing is challenging traditional classroom practices, prompting educators to seek new strategies for teaching critical thinking through writing.

2. The article presents three action writing strategies to counter AI’s impact: Collaborative Writing Workshops, Structured Debate Blogs, and Reflective Journaling with Metacognitive Prompts.

3. These strategies incorporate evidence-based instructional practices such as peer tutoring, cooperative learning, and classroom discussions, which have high effect sizes for improving learning outcomes.

2 Intriguing Questions

1. How might the implementation of these action writing strategies vary across different grade levels and subject areas?

2. What potential challenges might educators face when integrating these strategies into their existing curriculum, and how can they overcome them?

1 Personal Reflection

The author’s innovative approach to combining traditional writing techniques with modern critical thinking models offers a promising path for educators to adapt to the AI era while still fostering essential skills in students. This blend of old and new methodologies suggests that the future of education lies not in resisting technological advancements, but in creatively leveraging them to enhance learning experiences.

Discover how Sumatra PDF can transform your static PDFs into fullscreen presentations. Get some AI-powered PDF Summarizers, too. Every other Zoom or Google Meet meeting, I found myself wishing I could make a PDF into a full-screen presentation without having to install fancy software. Now, turning your PDF into a fullscreen presentation is easier.

Ever wish you could easily display a PDF full screen? Every other Zoom or Google Meet meeting, I found myself wishing I could make a PDF into a full-screen presentation without having to install fancy software. Now, turning your PDF into a dynamic presentation is easier. A tool to use is Sumatra PDF. It is simple to use and free. Use it to read PDFs, ebooks, comic books, as well as view images on Windows computers. And, you will also find a grab bag of AI PDF Summary tools below. Come along and take a look.

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Learn more about other PDF tools via this link.

Selfie of me at the start of the day in an almost empty room that filled up shortly after I took the photo.

Today, I had the opportunity to present at the Texas Land Title Association (TLTA) event, Emerging Tech in Title. It was a special event for the 33 folks who registered, a pre-conference workshop on Artificial Intelligence (AI). I would like to say I had a lot of fun prepping for this session, but there was so much wonderful content and skills to share, I’m afraid I overwhelmed myself with prep. I spent days and weeks over what to include, agonizing over everything. I set up a website (not included in this blog entry), and tons of support content.

Too much?

This was a great experience for me, but I always feel like I’m packing six hours of content into three hours. Actually, more like 16 hours of content into 3 hours.

I felt like, what one of my principal’s liked to say to my youthful embarassment, “a mosquito in a nudist colony…unsure of where to start.”

Ha ha.

But in the end, everything turned out great. I got some great feedback from participants throughout the day. Here are my session presentations, all created in Gamma, each endlessly revised:

• Beyond AI Myths and Hype
• Prompt Engineering
• AI in Office Operations and Strategic Planning
• Boost Productivity with AI
• Protect Your Prompts and Data

In addition to those presentations, I also had fun whipping a few DURING lunch in response to some of the participants:

• AI Tools Revolutionizing the Texas Land Title Industry
• Major Challenges and Solutions in Texas Land Title Industry 2024

This series of presentations marks my transition from relying on Canva (for which I abandoned Google Slides) to Gamma AI. I have to admit that making presentations with Gamma, mixing in elements of Napkin AI diagrams/designs, is so easy now.

Photo at the start of the day as the room started to fill up

Fast Changing

I read earlier in the day that there were over 1000 AI apps shared in just the last few weeks. For every new problem or old problem, people are crafting AI solutions. Who knows where all this will end up, but it’s certain that my hard work in prepping these presentations won’t mean they last forever. Rather, everything will have changed again all too soon.

That’s why I encourage you to start walking with AI in hand, and learn how to use what’s available now. Tomorrow, it will certainly be different but today’s experience will give you the background knowledge you need to learn the new AI faster.

One of my favorite takeaways from Melanie Trecek-King’s ThinkingisPower.com website? Exploring what the scientific consensus is for something. Whenever there’s an discussion about whether something is valid or not, whether it really helps or not, I find myself wondering, “What the scientific consensus on…[topic goes here]?”

Not surprisingly, while some of the times I’ve asked that, my guess has been right or in the ballpark, there have been several other times when I was wrong.

This discussion came up at work earlier this year, so I cooked up this chart with the help of AI. What do you think?

Scientific consensus refers to the collective judgment, position, and opinion held by the majority of scientists in a particular field of study at a given time. It does not require 100% agreement among all scientists, but rather a strong majority or supermajority. It can change over time as new evidence emerges and scientific understanding evolves. It is based on the weight of empirical evidence rather than opinion polls or votes. The key is that scientific consensus emerges from the accumulation of evidence and widespread agreement among active researchers in a field, not from a formal voting process or subjective opinions. It reflects the state of scientific knowledge while still being open to revision as new discoveries are made.

Stuff Lacking Scientific Consensus

Stuff Lacking Scientific Consensus

This table includes educational ideas and approaches that have gained popularity but lack strong scientific consensus. It’s important to note that some of these ideas, while not strongly supported by current evidence, may still offer valuable insights or practical applications in certain contexts. However, educators and policymakers should approach them critically and consider the available evidence when making decisions about implementation.

Sources of Educational Research

Make sure to research information at one of these sites before citing out-dated ideas, hypotheses, etc.

• Visible Learning MetaX database
• The IRIS Center
• What Works Clearinghouse
• Rand Corporation Research
• UNESCO 2023 GEM Report
• Definitions can be found online Visible Learning Meta X database

Instructional

Educational Technology

These concepts have gained attention in educational technology but still face various challenges in terms of scientific consensus, often due to implementation difficulties, mixed research results, or limited long-term studies on their effectiveness.

Adobe Express empowers educators to model visual literacy. This free tool offers powerful image editing capabilities. Learn how to use it to teach students about interpreting, creating, and using visual content for communication and learning. #EduSky #BookCreator #Adobe

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How are you teaching students to interpret, create, and use visual content for communication and learning? In this blog entry, you will get some suggestions on how to accomplish that with Adobe Express.

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This looked intriguing…

A new artificial intelligence system, called OpenScholar, is promising to rewrite the rules for how researchers access, evaluate, and synthesize scientific literature. Built by the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) and the University of Washington, OpenScholar combines cutting-edge retrieval systems with a fine-tuned language model to deliver citation-backed, comprehensive answers to complex research questions. source

Access OpenScholar

Consent to Use Data or Opt Out

I loved this message about data usage consent. Very considerate, no?

Consent to data collection

By using Ai2 OpenScholar, you agree to the Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Responsible Use, and that you will not submit any sensitive or confidential info.

Ai2 may use your prompts and inputs in a public dataset for future AI research and development. You can still use this tool if you opt-out.

A Quick Search

One topic that’s pretty popular is retrieval practice. I typed it and here’s what I got:

Although I’ve read some other articles and info about this topic, I confess that I’d never heard of the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve!

Retrieval practice is a learning technique that involves actively recalling previously learned information from memory, rather than simply re-reading or passively reviewing it (Pan et al. 2021). Research has shown that retrieval practice can significantly enhance learning and knowledge retention, with benefits extending beyond the learning environment (Khoo et al. 2023). This technique is rooted in the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve, which observes that individuals tend to experience a rapid decline in memory of newly acquired knowledge over time unless they engage in active review of the learned material (Cowan et al. 20232).

Give it a spin! Access OpenScholar

Visit Image Compressor: Compress PNG/JPG Files 80% for Free

Write a blog post, and everyone has a suggestion for improvement. That’s good! Even when suggestions may come from a PR or marketing or digital media person. Someone sent me this note recently featuring the website shown above:

Hello there Miguel, I was using the picture compressor tool you mentioned on your page here: mglead.org/google-connect/gc-slides/gc-presentations While simpleimageresizer.com/ does a good job, I just wanted to share about another tool, that I think looks better. After some exploring I found this other tool and I wanted to suggest you show it along that one. [**www.websiteplanet.com/webtools/…](https://www.websiteplanet.com/webtools/imagecompressor/) This tools allows you to compress both jpeg and png files and each picture can be up to 50 MB in size! In hope I helped back, Christina

Here’s the one I recommended, Simple Image Resizer, which has a ton of pop-up ads:

Thanks, Christina. I like the one you recommended more.

Ok, before you get mad at me, the last thing I want to do is short circuit brain engagement. After all, that’s the WHOLE point of note-taking. But as an educator, I don’t want to spend hours reading and making advance organizers reflecting a particular note-taking strategy like quadrant note-taking.

The quadrant note-taking system offers a structured and efficient approach to help you retain information and enhance comprehension. This method uses visual organization and cognitive strategies to significantly improve memory retention, making it an invaluable tool for students, professionals, and lifelong learners alike. (source).

As I mentioned previously, quadrant note-taking has intrigued me. I am, of course, going to practice it with paper and pencil using my slow human brain, trying to see if it works as promised. However, I thought it might be fun to have an advance organizer that matches the format of a quadrant organizer. To that end, I decided to make a prompt.

Quadrant Note-Taking Organizer Prompt

Obviously, using an AI chatbot to generate your notes defeats the purpose of note-taking. The AI doesn’t need its brain engaged, yours does. . That said, it might be fun to create a “cloze type” set of quadrant notes. We can start with a detailed notes version (begin with the end in mind, right?) and then cut back.

A First Draft of a Quadrant Note-Taking Prompt

My first draft of the prompt, adapting some of the language from the article I cited in the previous blog entry:

Make up some quadrant notes for the article that appears further below. Here are the instructions for quadrant note-taking I want you to follow, making sure to put the results in a markdown table with four quadrants. That is, two columns and two rows. Include the overarching topic for each quadrant as a heading 2 with bullet listing of notes (Use keywords, symbols, and brief phrases rather than full sentences). In quadrant four (column 2, row 2 cell), put a mermaid diagram of the main ideas only. Place information in the appropriate quadrant. Use color coding to further distinguish between categories or highlight key points.

Knowing that my prompt could be better, I decided to run it through the TCEA Prompt Guide Educator. That is a custom GPT tool I made with ChatGPT to improve my prompts. It features the MPAR rubric, which is an awesome rubric (which I generated separately after combining a variety of AI prompt development rubrics and prompt acronyms). I am super pleased with how this tool works.

Revised Prompt

A revised draft aligned to the MPAR rubric featured in the TCEA Prompt Guide Educator Custom GPT tool appears between the horizontal lines below. After trying it out on Perplexity and ChatGPT, it has been reworked a little and you can see the results following it.

Quadrant Note-Taking Expert System Prompt

Create quadrant notes following these refined guidelines:

1. Structure

| **Quadrant 1 Title** | **Quadrant 2 Title** |
|-------------------------|-------------------------|
| • Key points            | • Key points            |
|-------------------------|-------------------------|
| **Quadrant 3 Title** | **Quadrant 4 Title** |
| • Key points            | • Key points            |

2. Content Guidelines:

   • Use clear, simple language for complex terms
   • Include key statistics and metrics
   • Break down information into digestible bullets
   • Ensure balanced content across quadrants
   • Use consistent bullet point style
   • Keep points concise (5-7 words ideal)

3. Formatting Rules:

   • Use ## for quadrant headers
   • Start bullets with •
   • Include percentages and numbers
   • Avoid lengthy sentences
   • Use consistent punctuation

4. Follow with Mermaid Diagram:

   graph TD
       A[Main Concept] --> B[Key Point 1]
       B --> C[Key Point 2]
   

5. Organization Pattern:

   • Q1: Statistics/Current State
   • Q2: Benefits/Impact
   • Q3: Industry/Performance Data
   • Q4: Action Items/Next Steps

6. Best Practices:

   • Balance quantitative and qualitative data
   • Maintain consistent formatting
   • Ensure logical flow between quadrants
   • Keep related information grouped
   • Include source metrics when available

This format ensures comprehensive note organization while maintaining readability and practical utility.—

Results

Here are the results from Perplexity for this article, Where’s the Value in AI?:

graph TD
    A[Current State] --> B[4% Advanced Users]
    B --> C[22% Scaling Value]
    C --> D[74% Still Learning]
    D --> E[Future Potential]
    E --> F[$4.4T Annual Impact]

Citations: [1] https://www.upwork.com/resources/how-is-ai-used-in-business [2] https://www.tribe.ai/applied-ai/measure-ai-roi [3] https://www.naahq.org/intelligence-ais-time-saving-benefits [4] https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en-us/posts/technology/early-ai-adopters-seeing-growth/ [5] https://www.bcg.com/press/24october2024-ai-adoption-in-2024-74-of-companies-struggle-to-achieve-and-scale-value [6] https://www.zoom.com/en/ai-assistant/resources/save-time-with-ai/ [7] https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/overview/in-the-news/ai-could-increase-corporate-profits-by-4-trillion-a-year-according-to-new-research [8] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241113432306/en/Financial-Services-leaders-believe-AI-integration-will-drive-52-revenue-increase-by-2030-new-Seismic-study-reveals

What effective learning strategies can you enhance with AI tools? Leverage AI to make you a more effective and efficient learner! Let’s take a look at how you learn. Then we’ll try to answer the question, “How can I use AI chatbots to improve my application of those effective learning strategies?”

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Prompt Ideas

Some ideas for prompting:

Gathering New Knowledge

I am interested in learning more about [Insert Topic]. I am basing a lot of my new knowledge on [Insert Source (e.g., a book, article, course)]. Here’s what I already know about this topic: [Insert prior knowledge]. Could you generate questions that connect [Source] to what I already know, and create a personalized learning plan based on my interests? Could you also create a visual diagram (e.g., a mermaid diagram) that I can add to over time, connecting key ideas?

Thinking About Content

You are a critical thinking coach. Analyze my perspective on [topic], then play devil’s advocate to challenge my assumptions. Generate thought-provoking questions that prompt deeper reflection. Finally, explain my thought process back to me, highlighting areas for metacognitive improvement. Let me know when you are ready to question my assumptions in an interactive manner.

Maintaining Your Learning

You are a personalized learning assistant. Create a spaced repetition schedule for my study topics. Generate practice problems that interleave different subjects I’ve learned. Regularly quiz me on past material to test my recall. Adjust the schedule and problem difficulty based on my performance.

I want to add something to this that I read about recently and plan to try. It’s called Quadrant Note-Taking.. Stay tuned!

This morning, I found myself exploring browser search replacements to Google. Of course, since I have access to ChatGPT and Perplexity, I started with those.

What are the top 5 chatgpt browser extensions?

Perplexity with Claude 3.5 Model

Sometimes, I imagine that Claude makes interactions a bit of a pain on purpose. While it was quick to give me a list, when I asked for free, non-paid/premium versions, it took a few interactions to get to what I was looking for.

Here are the search results:

Original Results

Here are the top ChatGPT Chrome extensions with brief descriptions:

• Merlin - Quick AI helper that works on over 10 million sites with a simple Alt+J key press[1]

• WebChatGPT - Adds live web data to make ChatGPT’s answers more current and fact-based[1]

• ChatGPT for Google - Shows AI answers right next to your search results on Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo[1]

• Sider - Opens a chat panel on any webpage to talk with multiple AI models at once[2]

• ChatSonic - Makes AI content like blog posts, tweets, and ads with voice commands and real-time data[3]

• Superpower ChatGPT - Helps sort and save your chats in neat folders with smart search tools[1]

• StylerGPT - Makes ChatGPT look nice with themes, fonts and fresh new looks[1]

• ShareGPT - Lets you share your AI chats as links or pics with just one click[3]

• FancyGPT - Shares chats in cool ways with colors and style choices[3]

• Engage AI - Writes smart comments for social media posts to save you time[3]

• AIPRM - Helps SEO pros find good keywords and boost site ranks[3]

• Voice Control - Lets you talk to ChatGPT instead of typing[3]

• YouTube Summary - Makes quick notes of what long videos are about[3]

• TweetGPT - Helps write tweets and replies right on Twitter[3]

• Prometheus - Adds voice chat to make talks with AI feel more real[4]

Citations removed

Search Results with Some Interactions

Based on the search results, here are the truly free ChatGPT Chrome extensions with no hidden costs or usage limits:

• ChatGPT for Google - Shows AI responses alongside regular search results on multiple search engines with OpenAI API integration and no daily limits. Get ChatGPT Search browser extension.

• Perplexity - Offers unlimited queries with real-time web search capabilities and mobile app support, though it only works on its own website or through the extension button. Get the Perplexity Search browser extension

The other extensions have one or more of the following:

• Require paid subscriptions
• Have daily usage limits
• Need API keys
• Include in-app purchases
• Offer limited free trials

Note: Many extensions claiming to be “completely free” often have hidden limitations or may pose security risks. These two options have been verified as genuinely free with no usage restrictions.

Citations Removed

As you can see, Perplexity provided its responses. The list from ChatGPT Search isn’t that different.

ChatGPT Search Results

Here is the list of ChatGPT browser extensions:

Enhance your browsing experience with these top five ChatGPT browser extensions:

1. WebChatGPT: This extension augments ChatGPT by integrating real-time web information, ensuring up-to-date and accurate responses. It allows ChatGPT to search the web for relevant links and includes filters like time, region, and the number of results.

2. ChatGPT for Google: Displays ChatGPT’s responses alongside Google search results, providing AI-generated insights directly within your search engine interface. After logging into OpenAI, it activates whenever you use Google, replacing the existing knowledge panel with ChatGPT’s response.

3. Merlin – OpenAI ChatGPT Powered Assistant: Access ChatGPT across any webpage by pressing a keyboard shortcut (Cmd+M on Mac or Ctrl+M on Windows). Merlin offers quick replies to emails, code generation, and more, functioning across the entire browser.

4. ChatGPT Writer: Specialized in composing emails and messages, this extension generates context-aware drafts for various platforms. It supports all websites and languages, enhancing productivity in communication tasks.

5. YouTube Summary with ChatGPT: Generates concise summaries and transcripts of YouTube videos, allowing you to grasp key points without watching the entire content. A transcript box appears next to the video, and clicking “View AI summary” redirects you to ChatGPT for a detailed summary.

These extensions integrate ChatGPT’s capabilities directly into your browser, streamlining tasks like information retrieval, content creation, and communication.

That response isn’t that bad. I may have to rethink my Perplexity subscription. ;-)

Listening to one of my favorite AI podcasts this morning on the way into work, I was shocked to hear one of the hosts refer to all the junk formatting codes (also known as markdown) messing up with the use of prompt results. The problem? When you use a chatbot, it outputs the result in markdown format. To keep the formatting of the on screen content, you have to run that output through a markdown to HTML/webpage converter, then paste that webpage output into your word processor of choice, whether Google Docs or Microsoft Word.

Some of my colleagues complain about having to do this. “It’s one to many steps to get usable content.” I don’t see it that way, of course. And, Google Docs has made it easier to export content as Markdown (see screenshot below), which makes things a little easier. You can take that export and drop it into an AI chatbot directly without losing the formatting. It’s only when you want to go back from the AI chatbot to Google Docs that formatting must run through a converter first..

AI Chatbots have found their way into the hands of teachers and students around the globe. In classrooms, about half of U.S. teachers and K-12 students now use an AI chatbot like ChatGPT on a weekly basis. Only about 20 percent of students say they haven’t used AI. With widespread use of AI, many continue to struggle with getting information in and out of chatbots. With that in mind, it’s worth brushing up on file formats.

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Here’s a blog entry I wrote a few months ago, but is only appearing now on this important topic.

Explore how AI tools enhance Universal Design for Learning in K-12 classrooms. See 5 ways AI boosts student engagement and success. How can you design learning experiences for students that resonate with them? You offer different ways for students to understand information and show they have learned it. You also design lessons to be interesting and motivating for all students. Doing that can be tough, which is why AI chatbots can be such an aid. Let’s take a look at how AI boosts learning.

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Discover EduSphere: A new tool offering premade AI prompts for educators. Learn how it compares to other AI chatbots and school-centric tools.

Many school-centric and open-ended AI tools are finding their way into the education market. Use a standard prompt of your design that challenges these paid and free options. If the AI tool’s pre-created prompts or assisted chatbots can’t get the job done, don’t waste your time. More sophisticated tools are in the wings waiting for you.

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One of my favorite quotes is one popularized by Marcus Aurelius in the foreword of Ryan Holiday’s book, The Obstacle is The Way. It captures one of those insights life beats into you five words. It seems obvious in hindsight. Ryan Holiday quotes Aurelius in this way:

Our actions may be impeded . . . but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.

My blog entry linked below does not aspire to such lofty wisdom. It begins as an observation, a way of capturing the roadblocks I have encountered and sought to work through or detour around. I suspect that my love of the “roadblocks and detours” approach to writing a blog entry goes back to the time when a TEA Monitoring Committee came to my school in Edgewood ISD in my 3rd year of being a public school educator (4th year if you count Private, Catholic School experience, which the State of Texas does) and my first year as an “Campus Instructional Technology Coordinator.”

To address our use of technology, I hit upon the idea of roadblocks and detours. The roadblocks were issues the campus staff and/or students were facing, the detours the way around them through the use of technology. I am happy to report that my first experience with the Texas Education Agency earned the campus a commendation, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Other campuses being reviewed did not receive such favorable outcomes.

This mattered because, at the time, my campus principal (David Gonzales) and I stood against the onslaught of Integrated Learning Systems (ILSs) in the form of SuccessMaker being deployed district-wide. At our campus, though, our focus was on higher-order thinking skills (HOTS), using technology as a productivity tool, and that approach apparently won the positive regard of the TEA Monitoring team.

In the end, we still lost the fight with the Superintendent. She pushed drill-n-practice into all the school computer labs, earning that rumored kickback cruise and other perks. My principal faced forced retirement. I moved on to East Texas, where I became a District Instructional Technology Specialist, later coordinator and ultimately director in educational technology.

Was it worth it? Yes, yes, it was. Even though we lost the war, we won the battle and that made a difference for many staff and students. If I had simply acceded to what inspired the roadblocks, where would I be now? Taking the detours, that road less travelled made all the difference.

The Blog Entry

Here’s an excerpt from the blog entry inspired from my observations:

Navigate K-12 leadership roadblocks and detours as you learn how to identify common roadblocks and implement data-driven solutions. Imagine you’re a superintendent, director, principal, or a person tasked with a job. You have some autonomy to do amazing work, but roadblocks often appear. A few roadblocks aren’t that big a deal, but others drain your energy. How can you avoid hitting every pothole on the road to success while navigating K-12 leadership roadblocks and detours?

One way is to be aware of the challenges before or as they happen and have an exit strategy. Before we talk about detours, let’s revisit some common roadblocks.

Read more and see the detours to roadblocks

Wow, I’ve jumped into BlueSky with both feet, and learned about #EduSky. It’s crazy to be joining yet another social network, but no matter what I do, I can’t seem to get away from them. That’s because everyone I know appears on any one of the following:

• Mastodon
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Threads
• Instagram
• WhatsApp

And, now, I’m on BlueSky. My profile is mguhlin.bsky.social

Also, to join EduSky, I added my name to the EduSky spreadsheet via this form.. It certainly appears to be taking off.

Here’s a nice image Naomi Louise shared:

Starter Packs

Be sure to check out the available starter packs for BlueSky. It’s an easy way to get started. Want to see what’s getting posted on BlueSky live? Watch the FireSky page..

ClearSky To See What Lists You are On

As more of us join BlueSky, you can use a tool like ClearSky to find out what lists people are putting you on.

And, no, there’s no hope that I’ll abandon the other platforms for now. Just glad to be somewhere I can connect with EduPeeps again!

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While cruising Facebook groups earlier this month, I ran across this question. Having never heard of one of the acronyms, PEARL, I was curious to learn more about it. These days, acronyms are a dime a dozen. But this question resulted in some conversations among the Facebook group

At the end, you’ll get access to a new, text analysis digital tool that combines PEARL and CER.

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This Friday, November 8th, my colleague Diana Benner and I will get a chance to present on the following three topics at the TCEA SysAdmin event being held in Georgetown, Tx. You can find out more registration information online…the event runs for two days, November 7th and 8th.

About the Event

Find out more about the event using the links above. Here’s a quick overview:

To us, it’s clear that what you do is crucial to maintaining high-quality, tech-focused education. As a vital part of the team working to improve students’ classrooms, it’s important that you have access to the training, resources, and support that you need, too. This one-of-a-kind, two-day conference brings together hundreds of CTOs, IT directors, network specialists, technology coordinators, network administrators, technology support specialists, and others in similar roles at the Sheraton Austin Georgetown Hotel & Conference Center to connect on a multitude of relevant and critical topics in educational IT.

That’s why TCEA created our System Administrator and Technical Support Conference (SysAdmin). It’s the conference just for you – the professionals who provide hardware, software, network, and infrastructure support in PreK-16 settings. At SysAdmin, you’ll discuss and learn about topics like software, device and network management, tech support, cybersecurity and internet safety, and so much more, all with other tech professionals just like you.

SysAdmin completely sold out last year, so make sure to secure your spot today!

My Role at SysAdmin

As a presenter, I’m looking forward to the event to showcase three areas:

• AI-Powered Planning: Discover how to leverage AI to analyze and optimize your technology and network plans. This session will explore using custom GPT models to assess disaster recovery, cybersafety, and network architecture strategies, ensuring robust and efficient systems.
• **TCEA PROTECT Privacy: **Learn how to safeguard student data privacy with TCEA’s PROTECT rubric. This session provides K-12 technology leaders with a practical framework to evaluate and implement privacy-conscious edtech tools, ensuring compliance with regulations like FERPA and COPPA while maintaining transparency and security.
• Responsible AI Adoption: Explore the Five Phases of District AI Adoption to responsibly integrate AI into your school system. This session provides a roadmap for K-12 technology leaders, guiding them through secure, phased AI implementation that aligns with district policies, curriculum integration, and community outreach.

Teaser Preso

The image above reflects Compass: A School AI Policy Designer created in Perplexity Spaces. See the ChatGPT Custom GPT version.

I finally had a chance to explore Perplexity Spaces. I am shocked at how much better it is (subjective opinion) than Claude Projects (not to be confused with Artifacts, which Claude continues to excel at) in analyzing documents to inform its chats. Of course, I could be wrong since it’s been a month or so since I last played around in Claude Projects.

What’s more, I have secretly hoped that I could rely on Perplexity Spaces as a replacement for ChatGPT’s Custom GPT.

What I’ve read and experienced so far has me leaning in Perplexity Spaces direction, but Custom GPT continues to edge out Perplexity Spaces. But if Perplexity Spaces keeps innovating, I suspect they will surpass Custom GPT.

Exploring the Difference

Perplexity Space works with free Perplexity accounts. This makes it the equivalent of ChatGPT Custom GPTs in my mind, where a free account is required to interact with an existing Space/CustomGPT.

Perplexity offers an additional benefit. You can use different LLMs. ChatGPT’s Custom GPT’s edge over Perplexity Spaces is slim. What do I think that slim edge is? The CustomGPT design interface. It feels like you are having a conversation with an AI assistant, eager to bring your project to fruition. Perplexity Spaces is more of a warehouse where you can store content with an effective inventory system. To make the transition, Perplexity needs to give its Spaces a human-like presence.

Why not call Perplexity’s agent, Lace or Link?

What about capacity of the files space?

Capacity and Processing

Capacity and processing of data in completing a task are important considerations.

ChatGPT’s Custom GPT

ChatGPT’s Custom GPTs can handle up to 100 files, or 50 megabytes total. Although holding less information than Claude Projects, Custom GPTs are able to leverage uploaded information. Add too much content, you end up with the same problem Claude experiences. I don’t know what the official name for this is, but it’s like a person who can only hold one or two thoughts simultaneously in their mind while doing a task…exceed that capacity, and the task fails.

File format that Custom GPTs can support for upload include:

• Text files (.txt)
• PDF documents
• CSV files
• JSON files
• Images (various formats including .jpg, .png, .gif)

Claude Projects

Claude Projects' allows for a large number of files provided each individual file is under 10MB in size, and does not exceed the total of 500-page book worth of information. While designing a Claude AI for Educators course, I found that Claude was able to handle quite a bit of uploaded content. Unfortunately, I was not so pleased with its ability to process that content without considerable interaction and redirection in my chats. Simply, it appeared to be unable to hold all that content while working on a new task requiring application of the work.

File formats Claude Projects can accept:

• Text documents (e.g., PDF, DOCX, TXT)
• Spreadsheets (e.g., CSV, Excel files)
• Presentations (e.g., PowerPoint, Google Slides)
• Code files (e.g., Python scripts, SQL queries, HTML pages)
• Images (e.g., JPG, PNG, GIF)

Perplexity Spaces

Perplexity’s Spaces can accept 50 files at 25 MBs each or 1.25 gigabytes total (please check my math). If my understanding is accurate, Perplexity’s capacity is greater. I have not yet had the opportunity to test its ability to process tasks, or which LLM is best to have running when doing so.

Supported file formats include:

• Excel (XLSX)
• PowerPoint (PPTX)
• Word (DOCX)
• PDF
• CSV

Comparing the Three

Here’s a chart comparing the three…the information is subject to change with new information:

In Action

I had a lot of fun working on Compass: A School AI Policy Designer Perplexity Space. At the moment, it contains 30 files of varying size (PDFs, Markdown formats). Perplexity made it easy to upload all the files in one go (as opposed to ChatGPT’s Custom GPT which had me do it 10 at a time (sigh).

Perplexity displays these “Space Files” in groups of 10 files, as you can see page 1 below:

To get started, I gave it the following prompt:

Review the Space files and come up with a rubric for assessing school district AI policies, as well as a blank template. Put both documents in markdown table format.

You can see the results online.

I added the rubric and template to the Spaces Files since this is what I was hoping to see.

An Example of the AI Policy

I wanted to see how it would adapt the template, so I gave it this additional prompt:

Divide the blank template into sections with markdown table content beneath each section. Add a column that include sample content for each section, specific to a school district…let’s call it “Ardent Independent School District” or “Ardent ISD” for short.

Here’s the result.

Comparing ChatGPT’s Custom GPT with Spaces

I was pleasantly surprised at ChatGPT’s CustomGPT using the same files and custom instructions.

One feature I love about Custom GPT? The custom questions or prompts it offers the user:

• Can you create a sample AI policy for our district?
• What are the key AI regulations for K-12 education?
• How should we address generative AI in policy?
• Can you review this policy draft for compliance issues?

But it wasn’t all roses. I did encounter an error:

Refreshing the page in the browser (MS Edge) finally allowed the GPT to be published. You can give it a spin here..

Final Thoughts

Perplexity remains my go-to AI chatbot and work assistant. The ability to have a Space with custom instructions is HUGE. My only complaint so far with Perplexity Spaces is that the custom instructions space needs more capacity to allow for more detailed long prompts (a.k.a. megaprompts).

I would also make these improvement suggestions:

• List view for the My Spaces area
• Easy checkbox selection and organization of Spaces into folders
• Separation of Collections and Spaces (Spaces are evolved Collections, essentially) since I have a lot of Collections but not a lot of Spaces yet. The Collections just muddy the waters.
• More capacity for detailed custom instructions

What has been your experience? In the meantime, check out the TCEAignite space. And look for a blog entry on the Custom GPT version of Compass: A School AI Policy Guide at blog.tcea.org in the future.

Wow, pretty interesting conclusion…more studies needed to support this since one study isn’t enough. Check out Dr. Hardman’s take:

A new study from Harvard - currently still under peer review - found that when students were given access to an AI tutor designed using pedagogical principles, it not only doubled their learning gains but did so in less time than traditional methods.

The results offer compelling evidence that AI, when thoughtfully implemented using strict pedagogical principles, could transform how we design, deliver and experience education.

via Dr Philippa Hardman

Streamline school tech planning with the AI-Powered Plan Analyzer. Ideal for tech directors and educators seeking efficient evaluations.

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