I can't help but remember my Dad in the digital story I composed while attending Joe Lambert's Digital Storytelling workshop in 2007, 18 years ago. Joe guided me through construction of a video, building on a piece ("Garbed in Silver") I'd written when I was 18 or 19 years old long before my Dad passed in 2006. There was only one story to tell at that time, and for a long while, I was unable to do anything else so profound was the shock of his passing.

Got a lead on job posting in technology fields in Texas? Please share.

Let's address the elephant in the classroom: AI isn't here to replace teachers. It's here to give you superpowers you didn't know you needed. When TCEA designed our AI Tools for Educators course, we didn't start with the technology. We started with you, the educator juggling 30+ students, differentiated instruction, endless grading, and somehow trying to inspire young minds while drowning in administrative tasks.

Love this image as an example of what NOT to do. Where is the conversation? The collaborative problem-solving? Artificial intelligence isn't just changing education—it's empowering teachers to do what they do best: inspire and connect with students. TCEA's new "AI Tools for Educators" course demystifies AI and puts powerful tools directly in educators' hands. Through five comprehensive modules, teachers discover practical applications that address real classroom challenges.

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Your AI pilot was a success, but now what? Learn how TCEA’s 5-stage AI-Amplified Educator provides a roadmap from isolated wins to sustainable, district-wide transformation.

The AI revolution in education isn't coming—it's here. Students are already using ChatGPT for homework. Teachers are experimenting with lesson planning tools. Districts are piloting various platforms. But without a roadmap, we're all just wandering in the dark. TCEA's AI-Amplified Educator provides that essential roadmap through five critical stages: Discover, Plan, Learn, Activate, and Sustain. This isn't about jumping on the latest tech trend; it's about thoughtful, strategic implementation that aligns with educational values and goals.

> 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.

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.

This quote is hitting home for lots of folks now...whether you're a non-profit organization, a school district or a business (or government!): Transparency has become the order of the day. People want the opportunity to shape a company's products and services. Steve Borsch principal, Marketing Directions Inc Here's one story from a colleague that caught my attention: At a contentious, bond committee meeting recently, the need for crafting a communications plan came up.

A few days ago, an email arrived from Ollama announcing Ollama Cloud. It wasn't until a free moment that I had the chance to try it out. I had a collection of audio transcripts from a Section, 7 hour webinar event to process for quick reading. Section's free AI:ROI event was phenomenal, but alas, I had some big projects to work on myself, so I only caught the opener and part of two others at lunch and day's end.

Over the last few weeks, I've been struggling to manage the influx of daily overwhelm, that firehose of content about Generative AI. Everything from book recommendations to articles, podcasts, ethics of Gen AI (don't start!), and so much more. Every morning, I get a new book's worth of emails with tool recommendations, must-know information that I should know because I'm presenting on Gen AI in education and many other fields.

My favorite approach to writing? It’s pretty easy to follow. When I walked into the bookstore–which was attached to the conference building I was presenting–in Dallas, I had no idea what book I’d find that would have a lasting influence on my writing. The 1990’s book, The Handbook of Magazine Article Writing (get**%C2%A0(get) a copy), contained useful advice for a novice.

Writing the Ed-Tech List Article The two top questions writers hear often include, “Where do you get your ideas for articles?” and “How do you have time to write?” For example, at a recent gathering of technology directors, someone walked up to me and asked, “How did you take notes and format them so quickly on the web?” These simple questions are the foundations of new articles that allow me list the qualities of a wiki.

Note: When I walked into the bookstore–which was attached to the conference building I was presenting–in Dallas, I had no idea what book I’d find that would have a lasting influence on my writing. The 1990’s book, The Handbook of Magazine Article Writing (get a copy), contained useful advice for a novice. The article below is my version of the piece that had such a profound influence on my writing for publication…over 100 in print, what a surprise.

Writing the Ed-Tech List Article Note: When I walked into the bookstore–which was attached to the conference building I was presenting–in Dallas, I had no idea what book I’d find that would have a lasting influence on my writing. The book–The Handbook of Magazine Article Writing–contained lots of useful advice…most of which I have ignored with the exception of one of the final chapters all the way in the back.

At the Sun City Ed Tech Conference in September, 2025, I had the opportunity to chat with two folks from Southwest University. The person who spoke the most was Ruby Ramirez , Admissions Advisor. It was an enlightening chat especially for those thinking of getting a Bachelor's, Master's, or certifications needed in a variety of fields. Below, you'll find a link to the audio, and an AI-processed transcript appears below.

Like everyone else using LinkedIn today, when I logged in I encountered an update to the terms of service. I figured that it boiled down to them being able to use anything I put in for Gen AI training. This analysis from Sune Selsbaek-Reitz confirmed it: The answer is, "Do we even have a choice anymore?" It's safe to assume that everything we post online is subject to being consumed by one or more Gen AI models for training.

Dr. Michelle Kassorla shared this tidbit (LinkedIn) this morning: 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒(and faculty can get them too--they just require an .edu account--although, I think this is US only). Here are the free offers for students/faculty: 𝐆𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬/𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐲: Free for 1 year. Get unlimited chats, image uploads, and quiz generations with more access to our 2.5 Pro model, Deep Research, and Audio Overviews, plus 2 TB of storage.

AIinEducation #InstructionalCoaching #EvidenceBasedTeaching #EdTech #K12Leadership #TCEA

Are you a Texas public school librarian with questions about the new laws? You're not alone. This past week at the Sun City Ed Tech Conference in El Paso, Texas, I shared a new custom GPT I put together for a colleague's workshop. Since my contribution took place right before lunch, my colleague jokingly suggested that I would answer any questions during my lunch time.

Love this… Struggle, friction and mental effortare crucial to the cognitive work of learning, remembering and strengthening connections in the brain…. You don’t get mastery and you can’t chunk information efficiently for higher-level processing without first putting in the cognitive effort and strain. That’s a great quote. I also liked this one: the temptation of using default-mode AI to avoid hard work will continue to be a more fundamental and classic problem of teaching, course design and motivating students to avoid shortcuts that undermine their cognitive workout.

This study looks interesting… …educators need to prompt AI carefully and use their own professional judgement when deciding if AI outputs match their students’ needs. “The great advantage of the current technologies is that it is relatively easy to use, so anyone can access ,” Kochmar said. “It’s just at this point, I would not trust the models out of the box to mimic students’ actual ability to solve tasks at a specific level.” Study via EdWeek

What we are seeing now with data privacy policy changes is a bait-n-switch. First, we're promised out data is safe. Then, after we use the tool and find it indispensable, the policy is changed without consultation and can be consumed by Big Tech. Think about how many teachers and professors are using consumer versions of Gen AI tools at work, processing, as one superintendent put it in a conversation, budget information, staff and student schedules with names left in.

When I see arguments like this one, it's so easy to think, "This is an old problem garbed in a fresh set of clothes." That is, the problem of becoming critical thinkers and learners vs people to whom learning is done for them. Or put more simply, how to avoid a domesticating education. Those who cannot claim computers as their own tool for exploring the world never grasp the power of technology… They are controlled by technology as adults–just …controlled them as students.