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Artificial Intelligence Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: The Innovator’s Solution

The Innovator’s Solution, with a New Foreword: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor.

The Innovator’s Solution, with a New Foreword: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor

Clayton holds a BS in economics from Brigham Young University. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and spent two years studying applied econometrics at Oxford University. He also holds a MBA and PhD in Business Administration from Harvard University. Michael holds an BA in Philosophy from Harvard, an MBA from Western University in London, Ontario Canada, and a DBA from Harvard.

Even in the age of AI’s disruption, as noted by Rudyard Kipling, “Funny how the new things are the old things.” Time and again, I frequently find lessons so well presented, they can easily be adapted to other fields or circumstances. At its core, AI is fundamentally about using technology to create new value as every organization is seeking new growth channels regardless of marketplace.

In our new AI-driven era, Rudyard Kipling’s words ring true: “Funny how the new things are the old things.” As I read books from various fields, I continually encounter well-crafted lessons that, while seemingly fresh, often serve as bridges connecting insights from one field or event to another.

Clayton Christensen’s simply amazing 1997 bestseller, The Innovator’s Dilemma, introduced readers to the groundbreaking idea of disruptive innovation. He demonstrated how even respected companies and organizations can do everything right and yet still lose market leadership.

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Education Reading

Latest Read: Reskilling America

Reskilling America: Learning to Labor in the Twenty-First Century By Katherine S. Newman and Hella Winston.

Reskilling America: Learning to Labor in the Twenty-First Century by Katherine S. Newman and Hella Winston

Katherine holds holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Sociology from the University of California, San Diego and a Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Today Katherine is Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of California. She was formerly the Provost of UMass Amherst and Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, professor at Princeton University and Harvard University, and professor of anthropology at Columbia University.

Hella was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, The Johns Hopkins University, and Princeton University. Today she is pursuing her Ph.D. in sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is a Senior Fellow at Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism.

The book begins with a certainly sobering assessment of the current state of American secondary education. They highlight misguided policies that have driven economic inequalities for decades.

Categories
Education Innovation OpenSource Reading Technology

Latest Read: Failure to Disrupt

Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can’t Transform Education by Justin Reich.

Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can’t Transform Education by Justin Reich

Justin holds a PhD from Harvard University’s School of Education. He began his career as a high school history teacher. Today his is an associate professor at MIT and the director of the Teaching Systems Lab and is the host of the TeachLab podcast.

This book is tackling head on the many bold promises that technology can accelerating learning and provide customized education. There are an overwhelming number of technology projects funded by Silicon Valley firms, educational think tanks, and various entrepreneurs bringing emerging educational technology to the most underserved communities.

Recall when MOOCs were claimed to be the educational technology that would revolutionize education? Justin is revealing that MOOCs and even the number of “intelligent tutor” solutions only resulted in confusing educators and bypassing students. Perhaps those funded projects should have determined how benefactors were always students from affluent zip codes. The projects never made the impact as intended.

Schools and Silicon Valley favor programs that scale up. It turns out that technology cannot by itself disrupt education or provide shortcuts past the more difficult challenge of institutional change.

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Education Reading

Latest Read: How to Become Famous

How to Become Famous: Lost Einsteins, Forgotten Superstars, and How the Beatles Came to Be by Cass R. Sunstein

How to Become Famous: Lost Einsteins, Forgotten Superstars, and How the Beatles Came to Be by Cass R. Sunstein

Cass holds a AB and JD from Harvard. He is currently a professor at Harvard and was a professor at the University of Chicago Law School for 27 years. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School.

How to Become Famous investigates mechanisms behind why certain individuals, groups, or works become famous while others, in fact superior in quality or talent are overlooked and even forgotten.

Clearly Cass is not focusing on a step-by-step guide to achieving fame, it is in fact exploring unpredictable and often times arbitrary forces that result in fame and fortune and those who fade into obscurity.

Cass is revealing the role of luck actually serendipity. It’s the fact that talent and resilience were always important but simply not enough to achieve fame and fortune. Rather its about being in the right place at the right time: chance or having the right connections.

Categories
Artificial Intelligence Education Reading

Latest Read: Co-Intelligence

Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick.

Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick

Ethan holds a BS from Harvard University, MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and PhD in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from MIT Sloan School of Management. Today he is an Associate Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is Co-Director of the Generative AI Labs at Wharton. Ethan is recognized as one of TIME Magazine’s Most Influential People in Artificial Intelligence.

Today Ethan is a well respected educator addressing AI’s potential specifically for education. Since the arrival of ChatGPT, consumers for the first time used an AI tools that changed their lives. Over the last two years this has caused a global change as the world is wrestling with this technology and what it means for humanity, education, our daily lives, and of course what it means for work and government.

He is actually urging everyone to engage AI as co-worker, co-teacher and coach. Wide ranging, hugely thought-provoking and optimistic, Co-Intelligence reveals the promise and power of this new era. The real view from Ethan is that AI is a co-worker and should not be not be viewed as another program. His key message is collaboration which will enhance productivity and creativity. However to be fair, he is also acknowledging we must avoid becoming over-reliance on AI.