TeachLab Presents The Homework Machine

We’re about halfway through The Homework Machine min-series, and we have more episodes coming. We're taking a break this week, which gives us the opportunity to share an episode of one of our favorite education podcasts with you.Mindshift from KQED features in depth interviews and reports from classroom about education and educators. We particularly enjoy this episode about a shift to teach contemporary poets, alongside the classics.Hanif Abduraqqib. Sarah Kay. Elizabeth Acevedo. Clint Smith. Do any of these names sound familiar? How about Amanda Gorman? All of these writers are part of America’s thriving contemporary poetry scene. But you won’t find them in many text books, because high school poetry units tend to focus on dead poets, like Robert Frost, Walt Whitman and Edgar Allen Poe. North Carolina teacher Melissa Smith is working to change that. For the last seven years, she’s been diversifying the canon in her classroom, and encouraging other teachers to do the same with the hashtag #teachlivingpoets. The shift has inspired teachers across the country to get creative with how they teach students things like tone, rhythm and structure in poetry. And it’s inspired students to connect with and see reflections of themselves in the poets they study.We have more episodes of the Homework Machine coming in a little over a week. In the meantime, please take our listener survey. (We'll enter you in a drawing to win a $25 gift card).https://forms.gle/KwPGTeVYZh2mo6gF7

Students tell us that they know learning in schools is important. But sometimes, turning to ChatGPT to get their work done feels like the best option. AI might help with what they perceive as busy work, or they might be confused about what counts as a legitimate use, and what counts as cheating.And sometimes, students tell us, they know they’re crossing a line. When that happens, it’s usually because they’ve hit a wall in the learning process, and generative AI presents a quick and easy way through the blockage. For teachers, there is no single, off the shelf solution, that will ensure students make wise decisions, but understanding why students turn to AI can be a helpful starting point.This episode was produced by Andrew Meriwether Jesse Dukes. We had editing from Ruxandra Guidi and Alexandra Salomon. Reporting and research from Natasha Esteves, Holly McDede, Andrew Parsons, Marnette Federis, and Chris Bagg. Sound design and music supervision by Steven Jackson. Production help from Yebu Ji. Data analysis from Manee Ngozi Nnamani and Manasa Kudumu. Special thanks to Josh Sheldon and Eric Klopfer. Administrative support from Jessica Rondon.Featured guests include Miriam Reichenberg, Kaitleen Evangelista, as well as anonymous students. Thanks to InTandem for facilitating interviews.Thanks to Greer Murphy and Jessa Kirk, at UC Santa Cruz's Academic Integrity Office. Check out Greer Murphy's co-authored survey of academic integrity policies.Original music for this series was created by Steven Jackson, Andrew Meriwether and Jesse Dukes, as part of the music project Cue Shop. Thanks to Will Grueb, Andy Wilds, and the MIT Music Department for letting us use the MIT Harpsichord.The research and reporting you heard in this episode was supported by the Spencer Foundation, the Kapor Foundation, the Jameel World Education Lab, the Social and Ethical Responsibility of Computing initiative at MIT, and the RAISE initiative, Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education also at MIT.We had support from Google’s Academic Research Awards program.

Teachers have all sorts of opinions about AI. Some are optimistic, some are pessimistic. But the most common topic that came up in our interviews was cheating.While students have always taken shortcuts to complete their work, ChatGPT and other generative AI have a historically unique power to quickly, convincingly and comprehensively do a students’ assignment. This is proving a powerful temptation to students.So how do teachers help their students make good decisions? Teachers know that schools have historically struggled to manage discipline fairly but they also recognize that letting students get away with cheating isn’t doing them a favor. Teachers share how they’re navigating the Scylla and Charybdis of school discipline in the AI age.Listen to a bleeped version of this episode (Coming soon!).Transcript coming soon!This episode was produced by Jesse Dukes with Yebu Ji.Editing: Alexandra Salomon and Ruxandra GuidiReporting and research from Natasha Esteves, Andrew Meriwether, Holly McDede, Andrew Parsons, Marnette Federis, and Chris Bagg.Sound design and music supervision by Steven Jackson.Production assistance from Nathan Ray.Data analysis from Manee Ngozi Nnamani and Manasa Kudumu.Special thanks to Josh Sheldon, Camila Lee, Liz Hutner, and Eric Klopfer.Administrative support from Jessica Rondon.Thanks to the teachers who spoke to us including Joe O'Hara, Alec Jensen, Schuyler Hunt, Anna Rose Pandey, Ray Salazar, and Jessica Petit-Frere. And thanks to all the teachers and students who partipated in our research.Thanks to Greer Murphy and Jessa Kirk, at UC Santa Cruz's Office of Academic Integrity. Check out Greer Murphy's co-authored survey of academic integrity policies.The research and reporting you heard in this episode was supported by the Spencer Foundation, the Kapor Foundation, the Jameel World Education Lab, the Social and Ethical Responsibility of Computing initiative at MIT, and the RAISE initiative, Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education also at MIT.We had support from Google’s Academic Research Awards program.The Homework Machine is a program of the MIT Teaching Systems Lab, Justin Reich, director.

ChatGPT is the most well known of the Large Language Models (LLMs) but what is an LLM? We go deep into how this remarkable new technology is built, and why their performance is inconsistent — or jagged — across similar tasks. We dive into the techniques AI engineers use to align these tools’ behavior with our values, and explain why they don’t always work, and sometimes we get hallucinations or biased output.  This episode was produced by Steven Jackson and Jesse DukesEditing:  Alexandra Salomon and Ruxandra Guidi  Reporting and research from Holly McDede, Natasha Esteves, Andrew Parsons, Andrew Meriwether, Marnette Federis, and Chris Bagg.Sound design and music supervision by Steven Jackson. Production assistance from Yebu Ji and Nathan Ray. Data analysis from Manee Ngozi Nnamani and Manasa Kudumu. Special thanks to Josh Sheldon, Camila Lee, Liz Hutner, and Eric Klopfer. Administrative support from Jessica Rondon. The research and reporting you heard in this episode was supported by the Spencer Foundation, the Kapor Foundation, the Jameel World Education Lab, the Social and Ethical Responsibility of Computing initiative at MIT, and the RAISE initiative, Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education also at MIT. We had support from Google’s  Academic Research Awards program. The Homework Machine is a program of the MIT Teaching Systems Lab, Justin Reich, director. 

In late November of 2022, ChatGPT was released to the public as a free research preview. Students quickly realized ChatGPT was pretty good at doing their homework for them. Schools scrambled to figure out what to do:  Ban it? Embrace it? Teachers and students found themselves adapting to a new reality. Buckle Up, Here it Comes kicks off “The Homework Machine” a mini series in the Teachlab podcast. Hosts Jesse Dukes and Justin Reich share stories of teachers and students reacting to the arrival of an exciting, alarming, and strange new technology. Producer: Jesse DukesEditors: Ruxandra Guidi and Alexandra Salomon.Reporting and research: Holly McDede, Natasha Esteves, Andrew Meriwether, and Chris Bagg. Sound design and music supervision: Steven Jackson. Data analysis: Manee Ngozi Nnamani and Manasa Kudumu. Special thanks to Josh Sheldon, Camila Lee, Liz Hutner, and Eric Klopfer. Administrative support from Jessica Rondon. The research and reporting you heard in this episode was supported by the Spencer Foundation, the Kapor Foundation, the Jameel World Education Lab, the Social and Ethical Responsibility of Computing initiative at MIT, and the RAISE initiative, Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education also at MIT. Additional support from Google’s Academic Research Awards program. InTandem facilitated some of our student interviews. Full episode transcript. 

Generative AI is not like other education technologies, which schools often invite into the classroom. This one crashed the party. And then, it started re-arranging the furniture. We wanted to learn more, so in a little over a year, the Teaching Systems Lab has talked to over 90 teachers and 30 students about the impact of Generative AI. Some are excited about AI's potential to transform education for the better. Others are troubled by the temptations of a machine that can quickly and convincingly do many homework assignments. And some think AI is just a shiny object – a distraction from the much larger problems facing education.Over the next seven episodes, we'll try to answer the question: Is AI a game-changing tool, a threat to critical thinking, another ed tech fad? … or something else? Media requests can go to jpd009@mit.edu.  

School leaders, education researchers, and others often point to a study conducted by Stanford researchers that suggested the arrival of generative AI in K-12 school has not meaningfully increased the percentage of students who acknowledge some kind of academic dishonesty. Sometimes, school leaders or experts suggest it means there’s “nothing to see here” when it comes to tools like ChatGPT and worries about students bypassing learning. Researcher + Journalist Jesse Dukes joins Justin to dive into the specifics of that study, and compare it with anecdotes from interviews with students and teachers.  This episode was produced by Andrew Meriwether and Jesse Dukes. We had additional reporting from Holly McDede  and research help from Natasha Esteves and Manassa Kudumu. Thanks to the Spencer Foundation and the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing Initiative at MIT for funding our ongoing  research into the arrival of generative AI in schools. And thanks to the Kapor Foundation for funding Jesse’s work in California with KALW public radio. Thanks to all of the teachers and administrators who have talked with us.  If you want to take our survey, or learn more about our research into Generative AI and K12 education, head over to tsl.mit.edu/ai and if you want to volunteer for the sister study, in California, visit Jesse’s Linktree.

Justin Reich and researcher and producer Jesse Dukes argue that AI in requires a new theoretical framework. Generative AI, unlike many teaching technologies, is an "arrival" technology, meaning it will be present in school environments regardless of what choices school leaders make about whether to adopt it. Their new preprint Toward a New Theory of Arrival Technologies: The Case of ChatGPT and the Future of Education Technology after Adoption explores the idea of "arrival technologies"But rather than summarize it, hey, why not let the arrival technology do it? So we turn to Google's new tool, Notebook LM for a "Deep Dive Conversation" to summarize the article. Thanks to the Spencer Foundation and the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing initiative at MIT for funding our ongoing  research into the arrival of generative AI in schools. Thanks to all of the teachers and administrators who have talked with us.  This episode was produced by Jesse Dukes. We had research help from Chris Bagg, Manasa Kudumu, Natasha Esteves, and Andrew Meriwether. If you want to take our survey, or learn more about our research into Generative AI and K12 education, head over to tsl.mit.edu and if you want to volunteer for the sister study, in California, visit Jesse’s Linktree.  

Jesse Dukes reports from a two day training one school district offered its teachers, all to help them adapt to the arrival of generative AI in schools. That training proved helpful to teachers, but it’s not clear how much professional development most American teachers are getting, and it appears many are getting little or none.  Episode produced by Jesse DukesResearch by Chris Bagg, Andrew Meriwether, and Natashas Esteves. Editorial support by Natasha Esteves. Additional research from Manasa Kudumu. Thanks for the school district that let us visit (you know who are!) Thanks to all the teachers who talked with us for our ongoing research into the arrival of generative AI in school environments. Learn more at tsl.mit.edu/AI. 

We've just wrapped up a school year, so our team researching the arrival of generative AI in classrooms shares  some fun and inspiring moments of teachers adapting to the new reality. We hear from teachers who role modeled the use of as a tool or resource for students, or to generate amusing and weird curricula. This episode was produced by Andrew Meriwether and Jesse Dukes, and features research by Natasha Esteves, Chris Bagg, Andrew Meriwether, and Jesse Dukes. Original song "The AI is a Hummin'" written by Jesse Dukes with help from Bing CoPilot, and performed by Jesse Dukes. To learn more about our ongoing research, take a survey, or volunteer to be interviewed, visit https://tsl.mit.edu/AI/.  

The Arrival of AI powered tools like ChatGPT (now GPT4) in schools has generated concerns that students would use the tool to bypass cognition, or, “cheat” as we colloquially call it. And, it appears many students are doing just that. Early on in our research project about generative AI’s arrival in schools, it seems that English, ELL, and Social Studies at upper levels are particularly likely to encounter students using AI, without permission, to complete assignments. Justin talks to Jesse Dukes who shares a few examples of how teachers are managing this new challenge, and they discuss the wider implications for teaching, ethics, and student well being. This episode was produced by Jesse Dukes. We had research help from Natasha Esteves, Andrew Meriwether, and Chris Bagg. Thanks to the Spencer Foundation for funding our research, and to all the teachers and administrators who agreed to speak with us. 

Justin spoke at the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education in November of 2023. You can see his graphics and outline.tsl.mit.edu/AI/ has more generative AI related resources, including our SURVEY for educators, school leaders, students, and parents. Jesse Dukes is leading our current project about the experiences of teachers and students with generative AI this school year. 

Today we share another great episode from our friends at Upper MiddleBrow. As students, parents, and teachers happily (or wrenchingly) returned to school, Upper MiddleBrow invited TeachLab host Justin Reich to talk about stories with teachers. They identify many examples of bad teachers and bad teaching in fiction, and while film and TV often present sympathetic teacher protagonists, they wonder if the Great American Teacher novel is yet to be written. Resources and LinksCheck out Upper MiddleBrow, a podcast where hosts Jesse Dukes and Chris Bagg discuss high-craft works of popular cultureOrder Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in SchoolsSee Upper MiddleBrow’s Teacher Protagonist’s graphicWatch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different Follow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTubeFollow our host Justin Reich on Twitter

Civics 101 is a podcast refresher course on the basics of how the U.S. government works, born from the brain trust at New Hampshire Public Radio and hosted by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice. This is the second part in their series about the state of civic education in the US. In this episode, TeachLab host Justin Reich joins the Civics 101 team  to talk about how teachers choose what to teach, so-called "divisive concepts laws," and how we can approach disagreements without falling prey to "division actors."This episode features: Justin Reich, Director at MIT Teaching Systems Lab and host of the TeachLab podcastLouise Dube, Executive Director of iCivics and member of the Implementation Consortium at Educating for American DemocracyCherylAnne Amendola,  Department Chair and teacher at Montclair Kimberly Academy and host of the podcast Teaching History Her Way Resources and LinksCheck out Civics 101: A Podcast, a production of New Hampshire Public RadioOrder Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in SchoolsClick here to see a map of all the states that have passed legislation limiting what teachers can say regarding race, sex, gender, etc. Click here to see the Interactive Roadmap by Educating for American Democracy.Watch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different Transcript https://sonix.ai/share/XBF9ue1HSi1uek4spV3fHohu Follow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTubeFollow our host Justin Reich on Twitter

Civics 101 is a podcast refresher course on the basics of how the U.S. government works, born from the brain trust at New Hampshire Public Radio and hosted by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice. Today is the first part in their series about the state of civic education in the US. In this episode, the Civics 101 team gauges how we're doing civics-wise and then delve into the perpetually controversial history of history; have we ever agreed upon a narrative for our nation that we can teach students?Walking us through the past, present, and future of social studies and civic education are Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, and Adam Laats, Historian and Professor of Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership at Binghamton University.  Resources and LinksCheck out Civics 101: A Podcast, a production of New Hampshire Public RadioOrder Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in SchoolsWatch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different Follow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTubeFollow our host Justin Reich on Twitter

In our final episode in our Iterate series, we are joined by one of our favorite collaborators here at the Teaching Systems Lab: artist, creative professional and graphic recorder, Haley McDevitt. Haley is a master of listening, synthesizing, and creating visuals that support big ideas. And, Haley is the  illustrator of our host Justin Reich’s new book, Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools.Justin and Haley go behind the scenes to share the creative process for the book’s illustrations. We also hear about Haley’s own experiences with iteration and growth mindset in her creative life, and learn about the amazing resources that she created to support educators who read Iterate.  Resources and LinksOrder Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in SchoolsTake a look at our free downloadable materials for Iterate, designed by Haley McDevittCheck out Haley McDevitt’s amazing graphic recording work Watch our documentary film We Have to Do Something DifferentExplore our course Youth In Front, with illustrations by Haley McDevitt Transcript https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/iterate-haleymcdevitt/transcript CreditsHost Justin ReichProduced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley Recorded and Mixed by Garrett BeazleyFollow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTubeFollow our host Justin Reich on Twitter

This week on TeachLab, we continue our series of conversations with innovative educators with Mel Cheng, a lifelong educator and learner. Mel is the Director of Engagement at What School Could Be, and before that worked as a classroom teacher, technology facilitator and coach, and administrator at Hawaiʻi’s first public charter school for 23 years. A maker enthusiast, Mel believes that intentionally designing environments in which learners are free to tinker builds stronger communities and richer connections.We talk to Mel about her experiences with the Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning, and the idea that people who can really change the teaching and the learning in schools are the classroom teachers.“Intuitively we know that teachers are the driving force of change and administrators need to create the conditions for this to happen but rarely is that articulated, much less given a road map” Mel Ching’s review of Iterate:The Secret to Innovation in Schools Resources and LinksVisit the What School Could Be platform to find resources for educators and join the community.Order Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in SchoolsWatch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/iterate-melching/transcript  CreditsHost Justin ReichProduced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley Recorded and Mixed by Garrett BeazleyFollow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTubeFollow our host Justin Reich on Twitter

This month on TeachLab, we’re releasing a series of conversations with innovative educators to celebrate the release of our host Justin Reich’s new book, Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools.This week we’re lucky to be joined by Ronni Moore, an educator who is passionate about re-envisioning what school can be. Ronni is the director of high schools for Crystal House Indianapolis, and was part of the founding team of Purdue Polytechnic High School North, a design thinking high school in Indianapolis, Indiana. We talk to Ronni about the power of relationships, achieving big change through small steps and leading throughout the pandemic. Resources and LinksLearn more about the innovative schools from Ronni’s interview, Christel House Indianapolis & Purdue Polytechnic High SchoolOrder Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in SchoolsWatch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/iterate-ronnimoore/transcript CreditsHost Justin ReichProduced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley Recorded and Mixed by Garrett Beazley Follow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTube

This week, our host Justin Reich released his new book, Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools. To celebrate the launch and dig into the themes of the book, we’re releasing a series of conversations with innovative educators. In this episode, we’re joined by Erik Burmeister, an award-winning teacher, principal, and superintendent who worked as a highly impactful educator in California for over 20 years before launching his strategic consulting firm, Solutionary Advisors. We talk with Erik about his experiences leading change using design and innovation principles. Resources and LinksPre-Order Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in SchoolsLearn more about Erik Burmeister’s work at Solutionary AdvisorsWatch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/iterate-erikburmeister/transcript CreditsHost Justin ReichProduced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley Recorded and Mixed by Garrett BeazleyFollow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTubeFollow our host Justin Reich on Twitter

In the eighth and final episode of our series on Teacher Speech and the New Divide, we talk  with Katie Rinderle, a 10 year veteran educator from Cobb County, Georgia. Katie is the first teacher in Georgia to be terminated for violating the state's divisive concept laws. What did Katie do? She went to a school book fair, sponsored by her school, and bought the best selling picture book, My Shadow is Purple, which touches on gender identity. Her 5th grade students selected the book for a read aloud, and Katie read the book and invited her students to do a reflection poem. Then, a parent complained, and Katie was fired. Katie's case has garnered national attention as a test of what public school teachers can and can't teach in the classroom. We’re joined in our conversation with Katie by her attorney, Michael Tafalski, from Southern Poverty Law Center. Special thanks to our friends at Learning for Justice, and the Justice in Schools team at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for their collaboration on this work. Resources and LinksGeorgia Teacher Fired for Reading Children’s Book About Acceptance - SPLC ArticleKatie Rindele’s Opinion piece on MSNBCSouthern Poverty Law Center’s latest Press Release on Katie’s CaseLearn more about My Shadow Is Purple and Author Scott StuartPre-Order Justin Reich’s new book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in SchoolsWatch our documentary film We Have to Do Something Different Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/teacher-speech-e8/transcript CreditsHost Justin ReichProduced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley Recorded and Mixed by Garrett BeazleyFollow TeachLab on Twitter and YouTubeFollow our host Justin Reich on Twitter