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Reposted by Jacob Pleasants

Civics of Technology @civicsoftech.bsky.social · 3d

Our next Tech Talk is THIS TUESDAY (October 7)

Here's the registration link. Our apologies for not having this link live until today. We hope you can join!

oklahoma.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: October Tech Talk. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

oklahoma.zoom.us

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Reposted by Jacob Pleasants

Civics of Technology @civicsoftech.bsky.social · 3d

Today!

@charleswlogan.bsky.social shares his recent experiences on Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000! Read about it on our blog, and go check out the episode if you haven't already

www.civicsoftechnology.org/blog/learnin...

Learning and Laughter on Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 — Civics of Technology

Civics of Technology Announcements Next Tech Talk: The next Tech Talk will be held on October 7 at 8:00 Eastern Time. Register here or on our events page. Come join our community in an info...

www.civicsoftechnology.org

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Dr. Damien P. Williams Wants A Better Sociotechnical Paradigm @wolvendamien.bsky.social · 3d

Preliminary results show that the current framework of "AI" makes ppl less likely to help or seek help from other humans, or to seek to soothe conflict, and that people actively prefer that framework to any others, literally serving to make them more dependent on it.

Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence

Both the general public and academic communities have raised concerns about sycophancy, the phenomenon of artificial intelligence (AI) excessively agreeing with or flattering users. Yet, beyond isolat...

arxiv.org

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Jacob Pleasants @jbpleasa.bsky.social · 7d

Makes me think of "Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age" by Amanda Hess. It was a good read. (Here's the Fresh Air interview where I heard about the book)

www.npr.org/2025/05/08/1...

Having A Child In The Digital Age : Fresh Air

When NYT critic-at-large Amanda Hess learned her unborn child had an abnormality, she turned to the internet — but didn't find reassurance. "My relationship with technology became so much more intense...

www.npr.org

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Jacob Pleasants @jbpleasa.bsky.social · 7d

This has been around for a while, actually...

But naturally hadn't been monetized yet, so yeah

quickdraw.withgoogle.com

Quick, Draw!

Can a neural network learn to recognize doodles? See how well it does with your drawings and help teach it, just by playing.

quickdraw.withgoogle.com

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Civics of Technology @civicsoftech.bsky.social · 10d

Today for the CoT blog, Julie Smith shares a truly fascinating resource. Full of interviews and case studies that show how teachers are thinking about and wrestling with AI technologies in schools. Read the blog post to learn more!

www.civicsoftechnology.org/blog/announc...

Announcing the Release of A Guide to AI in Schools: Perspectives for the Perplexed — Civics of Technology

Civics of Technology Announcements Next Tech Talk: The next Tech Talk will be held on October 7 at 8:00 Eastern Time. Register here or on our events page. Come join our community in an info...

www.civicsoftechnology.org

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Jacob Pleasants @jbpleasa.bsky.social · 10d

Shrug indeed. When you give people the ability to say "the computer did it," they are more likely to engage in unethical behavior. Shocking, I know!

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Jacob Pleasants @jbpleasa.bsky.social · 10d

Just finished reading this and... wow. Not that I had all that much confidence in pharma to begin with, but holy hell. This book is incredibly well researched and eye opening. Go read it. Seriously.

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/647408...

No More Tears by Gardiner Harris: 9780593229866 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An explosive, deeply reported exposé of Johnson & Johnson, one of America’s oldest and most trusted pharmaceutical companies—from an award-winning...

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

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Civics of Technology @civicsoftech.bsky.social · 17d

Speaking of @neilselwyn.bsky.social, check out today's blog post with Adriana Szili sharing "New resources for teachers and student teachers: AI Dilemmas": www.civicsoftechnology.org/blog/2dp8ng2...

Materials include posters, handouts, & slides to help reflect on real-world dilemmas of AI in edu.

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Ian Linkletter @linkletter.org · 20d

Google backtracked after I tipped the Washington Post to how they were pushing AI functionality during exams. wapo.st/47OPRzL

Column | Teachers got mad about a cheat button in Chrome. Now Google’s pausing it.

Google quietly added a “homework help” button to the world’s most-used web browser. Educators say it makes cheating too easy.

wapo.st

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 20d

“Chrome’s cheating tool exemplifies Big Tech’s continuing gold rush approach to AI: launch first, consider consequences later and let society clean up the mess.”

Column | Teachers got mad about a cheat button in Chrome. Now Google’s pausing it.

Google quietly added a “homework help” button to the world’s most-used web browser. Educators say it makes cheating too easy.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 20d

Choice quote from @linkletter.org

Google is undermining academic integrity by shoving AI in students’ faces during exams,” says Ian Linkletter, a librarian at the British Columbia Institute of Technology who first flagged the issue to me. “Google is trying to make instructors give up on regulating AI in their classroom, and it might work. Google Chrome has the market share to change student behavior, and it appears this is the goal.”
Several days after I contacted Google about the issue, the company told me it had temporarily paused the homework help button — but also didn’t commit to keeping it off. “Students have told us they value tools that help them learn and understand things visually, so we’re running tests offering an easier way to access Lens while browsing,” Google spokesman Craig Ewer said in a statement.

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Jacob Pleasants @jbpleasa.bsky.social · 23d

Can you link the studies? I am interested.

Jacob Pleasants @jbpleasa.bsky.social · 24d

Hang in there! Speaking as someone who spent four straight years doing the academic job search, I know the feeling.

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Civics of Technology @civicsoftech.bsky.social · 24d

Today, @olivia.science and her colleagues speak about their efforts to resist the uncritical adoption of AI in academia. Read all about it in today's blog, and see their open letter below:

openletter.earth/open-letter-...

www.civicsoftechnology.org/blog/no-ai-g...

www.civicsoftechnology.org

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Jacob Pleasants @jbpleasa.bsky.social · 24d

This was the bit that got me. Look, grifters have always lurked around religious spaces for obvious reasons. It just floors me how brazen this is.

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Jacob Pleasants @jbpleasa.bsky.social · Sep 6

I'm teaching a course that's all about questioning EdTech hype. 100% gonna have my students listen to this.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · Sep 6

A.I. is changing classrooms. We spoke to the co-founder of Alpha Schools about how her private K-12 schools are using A.I. to generate personalized lesson plans and enabling teachers to spend their time motivating rather than teaching students. nyti.ms/4p9HRzr

A group of young children are gathered around a wooden table outside. Quote reads: "Kids don't have to sit at a classroom desk all day long, just grinding through academics." Attribution reads: MacKenzie Price, co-founder of Alpha Schools

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Jacob Pleasants @jbpleasa.bsky.social · Sep 5

This made me think about Design Justice and the perils of "co-design" with community. While it can appear like a good thing, it can easily become extractive when the expertise of a community is leveraged for the profit of the designers (which are rarely returned to the community).

Audrey Watters @audreywatters.bsky.social · Sep 5

Brood parasitism is not a perfect metaphor, by any means, for AI, for the offloading of ed-tech development onto teachers and students, for the vampiric practices of VCs ... but it's the bird I went with to head this week's news round-up...

2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/brood-parasi...

Brood Parasites

Humans have always invested great meaning in birds. No surprise, what with the feathers, the flight. Each week, when I look at all the stories that've been told about education and technology and try ...

2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com

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Tom Mullaney @tommullaney.bsky.social · Sep 2

Thank you, @bloomberg.com, for quoting @charleswlogan.bsky.social and shouting out @civicsoftech.bsky.social. Teachers should follow both for an equity-informed vision of technology in schools.

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

But none of that is inevitable. A grassroots movement is growing among those determined to resist the proliferation of AI in schools. The Civics of Technology Project, founded in 2022 by educators and researchers, wants to instead have administrators, teachers, students and parents prioritize studying “the collateral, disproportionate, and unexpected effects of technology”—including AI. One option is to imagine, and work to bring about, an alternative future in which AI doesn’t dominate. “There are ways that teachers, caregivers and students, too, can say, ‘Well, what if I don’t want to have to use this technology?’” said Charles Logan, a research fellow at Northwestern University and a board member for the Civics of Technology Project.

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Jacob Pleasants @jbpleasa.bsky.social · Sep 2

I read a really in-depth account of what goes on in these schools (see below). I went way too deep down the rabbit hole, tbh. My conclusion: this is a freaking MLM. Everything about it screams MLM, all the tactics, all the promises, everything.

substack.com/home/post/p-...

ALPHA School Brownsville Campus Review Pt. 1

“MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS”

substack.com

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Civics of Technology @civicsoftech.bsky.social · Sep 2

What's on your mind? Read anything good? Bad? Thought-provoking? Had a good conversation? A head-scratching experience?

Come to our Tech Talk today and join the community conversation. No agenda. Just humans.

oklahoma.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

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Civics of Technology @civicsoftech.bsky.social · Aug 31

Today, Nicky Agate shares a great opportunity to contribute resources to the Project on Open and Evolving Metaliteracies. Read to learn more!

Contributors can submit through September 17.

www.civicsoftechnology.org/blog/project...

Project on Open and Evolving Metaliteracies (POEM) Call for Resources — Civics of Technology

Consider submitting resources to POEM. The call is open through Sep 17, 2025!

www.civicsoftechnology.org

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Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · Aug 29

Hey Chicagoland - and beyond! - I'll be joining @chihacknight.org on Tuesday, September 16, to talk about the work of @civicsoftech.bsky.social. Details at:

Online: The Civics of Technology Project - Chi Hack Night

The Civics of Technology Project (CoT) is a grassroots education organization that conducts research, develops curriculum, and offers professional development for teachers and students to critically i...

chihacknight.org

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Jacob Pleasants @jbpleasa.bsky.social · Aug 30

This guy: "What if we're all just tired of overly dense, slow information. Books with too many pages."

Translation: I don't like reading, and so should you. YouTube is way more fun. Let's generate videos with AI. Give me all the $$$

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Jacob Pleasants @jbpleasa.bsky.social · Aug 30

Who needs to read and write when you can have *videos* explain things to you? Wow, nobody has ever thought of *that* before! Thank the lord that this guy figured out how to use AI to make *explainer videos.*

Gonna use this in my class. A perfect illustration of EdTech bullshit.

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