Technolandy

Day 46 (of SOL 2025) a tryout for another #deanie @shareski

I was very excited to learn that Dean Shareksi was our summer learning event ‘special guest’ – I am a big fan of Deans work and was so excited I texted our superintendent much later than I should’ve after I saw the agenda for today! 

So = here is the promo video for Dean that I’ve always thought about (while planning a @bcferries ignite event…) and then my thoughts/notes from the day learning with him!

Had fun using gamma.ai (one I do recommend regularly – I use it often to create visuals for my D&D group since some are remote and visuals are nice) to come up with our teams presentation slides: https://gamma.app/docs/PrincipalPods-Transforming-Internal-Thoughts-into-Polite-Response-mquk93pt6dyow6i

Our morning task: 3 minute pitch

Slides or visuals

Custom designed logo

Theme song/jingle

8 second demo video

Useless AI Tool – “PolitePods”

Work with your AirPods to give you polite ways to respond in the discusion

Student mode

Colleague mode

Parent mode

Fun to explore “failing forward” (exploring multiple tool sites… limited wifi  led to some bonus challenges)

Global Takeaways:

For me: great mindset when seeing AI as a collaborator

* Frustration being a good part of learning when trying something new… okay to get frustrated, just don’t stay frustrated!

* So many ways to get to the finished line

* Everyone at different stages, which is why it is great to work in a group to explore unique expertise (same as I saw a couple decades ago having the class explore GarageBand to create a song…)

* Expenses – 50ml of water = 1 GB of data —> the hidden cost of cooling and using these tools

* Speed of getting first edits… especially how the AI helped refine our ideations. This is also useful for learners of all ages.

Side Conversations: we are in trouble as a profession – in 5 years will we have the quality of teachers that will be needed… what role might AI play in changing that narrative (and not overwhelming ‘new’ teacher candidates)

Be mindful of the learning outcomes being challenged – this activity did NOT work on creative writing, but did accomplish a lot of identifying ‘new skills’ that will be needed (do we still need to spend time on some of those other skills… or to the same level of expectation… for ‘all’ vs for ‘one’. 

Eg. Cursive – not as an output process, but to slow the thinking down… (I’ll still promote printing for most of us…) 

Https://bio.site/shareski “Elbows Up” – Canadian Education Leadership…

Podcast: The CanadianED Leadership Show

BC: Folks that kinda have it together <— people are jealous of our curriculum… structure… (not that it’s perfect… yet)

Book: Nine Lies about work (Marcus Buckingham)

Prompt: What makes you a good leader?

When it comes to AI

• we may be behind in the US – many state departments have AI guidelines – canada, just BC & NS; in US K-12 education is about getting kids a job – thus knowing AI is a growing priority & Canadian ministries of education are much more ‘careful politically’ about moving forward… 
• People want to know ‘what are the rules’ for the sandbox to play in
• You may be interested in AI, but AI is very interested in you…
• Staying ‘on the fence’ is a valid approach… being between the ominous and amazing future that may be coming towards us (for me: the promised Star Trek/Orville communist utopia)… be open to ‘both’
• Defining and Celebrating our humanity may be the most important conversation in education – what does it mean to be human?
• How might AI support the pursuit of human flourishing?

Articles on ways to use AI: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/08/11/upshot/ai-jobs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.eE8.TEzh.Zs_uvEHWrNod&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Core skills in 2030

Grief and therapy…?

https://hopeyscott.substack.com/p/im-building-my-fathers-brain-before

An avatar testifying in court (post death…)

Consider DeepSeek – claims to be 95%more energy efficient, but it’s bias is aggressive and very intrusive (just give it your banking info)

Consider hallucinations– even though creativity is hallucinatory in practice…but when facts are ‘invented’…

Consider learning modes that won’t rush to answers… Google: guided learning to help, not just give answers

Consider AI overview – designed to keep you in an infrastructure

Explore: notebookLM – populate with your resources for local reference source

Consider vibe coding – coding in English…

Synthesis activity

What does success look like a year from now when our district wins an award for our AI use?

Fun collaborative activity to generate strengths and challenges for our environment (Provincial Online Learning School) and using AI to generate some summations and questions for further thought – good teaching/learning is when questions lead to richer questions… not necessarily answers…!

But really value :

Optional Prompts to Spark Deeper Thinking

• • What values should anchor all AI decisions in our context?
• • Which community members have not yet been consulted?
• • If we could only do ONE thing well with AI this year, what should it be?
• • Where is our current AI work performative, and where is it truly transformative?

Always great spending a day with Dean @Shareski – and finally got him a hat about our school that I bought a year ago anticipating we would be in person with each other at some point!