ChatEDU: AI in Education

An AI agent can log into a student's Canvas and do the whole assignment. A writing professor on who is actually learning, and the process steps that work.

First Up
Cornell researchers found chatbots keep writing the same story, down to the names Mara, Elias and Elara in 88 percent of them. Liz ran one prompt through Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT and got three keepers of lost things, three bakeries and three villages tucked between sleepy hills.
Why Do Chatbots Keep Telling Stories About Someone Named 'Elias Thorne'?: https://tinyurl.com/ydewzeav 
Elvis estate sues Anthropic over training on Elvis recordings: https://tinyurl.com/3u56sbkw 

The Rundown
Gemini Notebook
Teacher-led Gemini Notebook in Google Classroom: Insight Summaries and Trusted Domain Sharing: https://tinyurl.com/mds89n2d 
The Crackdown
The New Nanny State: https://tinyurl.com/3hcxsm2s 
'Checkmate' looms for traditional tests amid smart glasses epidemic: https://tinyurl.com/byc4ybsw 
The Hardware Bill
The Memory Shortage Comes for Schools: https://tinyurl.com/4ukmzxf5 
Agents Meet the Real World
Websites are closing their doors to AI agents: https://tinyurl.com/e5jp4y6d 
Scoop: Unvetted AI agents are accessing U.S. bank accounts: https://tinyurl.com/2w2bpjuf 
Moving Beyond the AI Cop-Out: How I Got My Students to Write Their Own Tech Policies: https://tinyurl.com/m859uvf9 
AI in Education Newsletter (Sid's Research Community): https://tinyurl.com/4m267jbk 

Beneath the Surface
Bay Area writing instructor Anna Mills discusses AI agents completing coursework autonomously, why companies haven't blocked them, and her classroom response: student topic choice, process credit, peer and AI review, and treating AI detection as a dialogue.
MLA Statement on Educational Technologies and AI Agents: https://tinyurl.com/4sf3ptdh 
AI and College Writing: An Orientation (Anna Mills): https://tinyurl.com/3drp9hjb 
The Peer & AI Review + Reflection Project (PAIRR): https://tinyurl.com/3dajfab7 
AI Is Problematic. Why Does PAIRR Use It? An Ethics Statement: https://tinyurl.com/jne7japz 
Designing for Agency and Critical AI Literacy: The PAIRR Project (LTHEchat): https://tinyurl.com/2s36p45z 
MLA Framework for AI-Resilient Assessment and Grading: https://tinyurl.com/mvtvswdz 
Anna Mills on LinkedIn: https://tinyurl.com/4h38utbm 

Bright Byte
Hugging Face released Carbon-X, an open model trained on DNA sequences alongside English, so researchers can ask in plain language what a genetic change might do. It reads DNA in six-letter chunks and runs locally on a laptop.
Hugging Face's New AI Model Lets You Chat With DNA: https://tinyurl.com/3e34pvnx 

Announcements
Register for our Winter Microcredential and upcoming AI events: https://tinyurl.com/43jwkwyp
Purchase Learning They'll Love - Dr. Elizabeth Radday on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/22t9hz77
Check out our middle / high school Student AI Literacy course: www.skills21.org/ai/learnai
Explore Skills21’s FREE social media literacy curriculum: https://www.skills21.org/social
Address Screen Time concerns: skills21.org/ai/screenshift
Read From Panic to Proof: A Data-Driven Approach to Screen Time (ASCD Educational Leadership): https://tinyurl.com/4pwdu68

Sponsor
The National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing: Bridging Education and Industry to Build Tomorrow’s Technical Workforce - https://www.nextgenmfg.org
Registration Link: https://forms.gle/LeVh9FubGVY6BNuJ6. To learn more about the NCNGM, visit www.nextgenmfg.org

In this ChatEDU Check-In: Students take up to 88 standardized tests before high school, but more testing doesn't improve learning, Liz explores how high-volume standardized testing impacts educational outcomes and school operations. Federal mandates have driven school districts to restructure daily schedules and reallocate instructional time toward tested subjects like math and reading. However, this increased focus on assessment has not translated into improved academic performance.
Key Takeaways:
Federal testing mandates led 44 percent of school districts to cut time from non-tested subjects like the arts.
Increased testing volume fails to produce measurable achievement gains in core academic subjects.
High-stakes test pressure decreases teacher job satisfaction and contributes to educator attrition.
Liz’s Two Cents: Over-testing creates an environment where evaluation overshadows actual instruction, forcing districts to narrow their curriculum at the expense of well-rounded learning. School leaders must carefully weigh the administrative and operational burdens of excessive assessment against the lack of tangible academic gains.
Article:
Students take up to 88 standardized tests before high school, but more testing doesn't improve learning
https://tinyurl.com/4n3ab88t

Sponsored by: Playground IEP AI for special education. Take advantage of our special offer: Free Account atapp.playgroundiep.com/podcast.

In this ChatEDU Check-In: From academia to Hollywood: Blazing a trail for computer-animated hair, Liz explores how a new mathematical framework helps animate realistic coiled hair textures. Traditional animation tools have historically struggled with non-straight hair patterns, but recent research from Yale University changes how studios handle complex hair physics.

Key Takeaways:
Animation software has historically lacked the foundational tools required to render tightly coiled textures, leaving non-straight hair patterns underserved in major films.
Simulating realistic strand movement depends on solving the underlying physics of material resistance, specifically bending and torsion forces.
Academic research transitioned unusually fast into commercial filmmaking because open publications solve persistent algorithmic bottlenecks for studio industries.

Liz’s Two Cents: This breakthrough highlights how foundational math and physics research can directly solve long-standing creative bottlenecks in media production, offering schools a great example of interdisciplinary learning in action.

Article:
From academia to Hollywood: Blazing a trail for computer-animated hair
https://tinyurl.com/3usvdhrb

Sponsored by: Playground IEP AI for special education. Take advantage of our special offer: Free Account at app.playgroundiep.com/podcast.

A school district gave staff their own AI agents, living inside Google Chat. Its CIO on the guardrails, and why he made none of it mandatory. 

First Up
Matt pitches Meta's Muse using a WIRED piece about a reporter’s NSFW chat with the agent without policy violations, but Liz isn't convinced. Gemini Pro also got another redesign.
Meta Says That's Totally Fine: https://tinyurl.com/yhetjccj 
Gemini pro redesign: Scheduled Actions and Tasks, formerly Spark:https://tinyurl.com/yk9nzwtp  

The Rundown
Listener Mailbag
Listener call-in: Rabbi Tzvi Pittinsky on the "blip" (voice memo) 
Ebb and the Riptide Beach, Rob Wilson's cybersecurity escape room (Goodwin University): https://tinyurl.com/2assvftk 
Prompt Craft
Andrej Karpathy's New suggestion - Ask AI output in ASD-STE100 format and not in Text format: https://tinyurl.com/bddm4bcz 
Live Voice Chat: the mic button in the Gemini Notebook app: https://tinyurl.com/2hh4x7ku 
Audio recorder: the record button in the Gemini Notebook app: https://tinyurl.com/bdhx5huu 
Google releases a new local-first Granola competitor: https://tinyurl.com/59naxfxc 
School Rules
Fairfax Co. rolls out Google AI blocker on school-issued laptops: https://tinyurl.com/5798dvrf 
ChatEDU Ep. 132, on Common Sense Media's unacceptable risk ratings: https://tinyurl.com/53he8xpn 
Attorney General Brenna Bird Announces Lawsuit against OpenAI for Deceiving Iowa Parents and Iowans: https://tinyurl.com/8e5s9x2x 
Work and Words
4 seats AI can occupy at the negotiating table: https://tinyurl.com/yc8kks7z 
Book Publishers Are Quietly Using More AI. Staff Are Revolting: https://tinyurl.com/m52pv5vu
Setting Ed Tech and AI Policy for Young Children: https://tinyurl.com/4dy929d3 
Oklahoma AI Family Guide for K-2 Parents: https://tinyurl.com/ykbuphj8 

Miami Dade
Miami Dade College Pairs AI Students With Companies: https://tinyurl.com/2p9um3ep 

Creator's Corner
Peninsula School District CIO Kris Hagel highlights AWS-powered, zero-retention Google Chat AI agents. With role-based data protections and artifact publishing via "Atrium," 240 staff voluntarily adopted them in a month, streamlining budget reporting and creating tools like chemistry mahjong.
Peninsula School District AI resources: https://tinyurl.com/yvsjj2sx  
Bridging Innovation & Implementation (Kris Hagel): https://tinyurl.com/yc5fw975
Kris Hagel LinkedIn: https://tinyurl.com/4t9th69c  

Bright Byte
Researchers validated EpiScreen, an AI analyzing clinical notes to distinguish epilepsy from psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. 
AI Helps Neurologists Distinguish Epilepsy From Functional Seizures: https://tinyurl.com/324pn77n 

Announcements
Register for our Winter Microcredential and upcoming AI events: https://tinyurl.com/43jwkwyp
Purchase Learning They'll Love - Dr. Elizabeth Radday on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/22t9hz77
Check out our middle / high school Student AI Literacy course: www.skills21.org/ai/learnai
Explore Skills21’s FREE social media literacy curriculum: https://www.skills21.org/social
Address Screen Time concerns: skills21.org/ai/screenshift
Read From Panic to Proof: A Data-Driven Approach to Screen Time (ASCD Educational Leadership): https://tinyurl.com/4pwdu68

Sponsor
The National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing: Bridging Education and Industry to Build Tomorrow’s Technical Workforce - https://www.nextgenmfg.org
Registration Link: https://forms.gle/LeVh9FubGVY6BNuJ6. To learn more about the NCNGM, visit www.nextgenmfg.org

In this ChatEDU Check-In: Data Center = Teacher Bonus?, Matt explores how hyperscalers and tech companies are offering financial concessions to local communities to secure approval for new data centers. As computing expansion faces political and public resistance, tech firms are funding local initiatives and infrastructure to build goodwill. These investments range from workforce training programs to direct cash payouts and local school support.

Key Takeaways:
Tech companies face growing opposition over the energy, water, and cost footprints of expanding data centers.

Firms like Amazon are pledging commitments including transparent resource reporting and over $1 billion for free community college, trades training, and energy efficiency upgrades.

Local communities are leveraging their approval power to extract payouts, including teacher bonuses in Louisiana funded by Meta and direct household cash proposals.

Matt’s Two Cents: Since creativity thrives under constraints, limits on data center construction will force tech companies to innovate toward efficiency in chip design, energy, and water usage, while school districts and communities can leverage their positioning to secure strategic investments.

Article:
Amazon launches new data center commitments
https://tinyurl.com/bde22fbx

Sponsored by: Playground IEP AI for Special Education designed to help educators write IEP goals, manage case loads, and track progress. Take advantage of our special offer: Free for individual educators at https://tinyurl.com/4f3ekn9k.