Velda Elliott
@veldaelliott.bsky.social
370 followers 350 following 290 posts
Associate Prof English and Literacy Education
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Reposted by Velda Elliott
mgearsolidarity.bsky.social
I saw every political party leader in the UK on the news talking about the attack on the Jewish community in Manchester except the one political party leader who is Jewish and from Manchester.

Maybe I missed something?
Reposted by Velda Elliott
adambienkov.bsky.social
The Greens requested an interview on the Laura Kuenssberg Show with Zack Polanski when he was elected leader, but were denied, with a promise to interview him during Green conference instead.

This was then scrapped citing the Manchester synagogue attack. Polanski is both Jewish and from Manchester
BBC Laura Kuenssberg Show Accused of Anti-Green Bias After Cancelling Zack Polanski Interview
The new Green Party leader was the only major party leader not to have been granted a conference interview on the flagship BBC show
bylinetimes.com
Reposted by Velda Elliott
steb77.bsky.social
The mistake most make about the climate crisis, is in thinking that anthropogenic climate change, is the crisis. No, the climate crisis is that the science clearly describes the danger of ACC, but our whole system, acts as if this danger is not real. That is the crisis.
3/9
Reposted by Velda Elliott
Reposted by Velda Elliott
goodlawproject.org
One of the unexpected things I've learned from my advocacy for trans people is how malignant parts of the State can be, how it can misuse data for positively evil purposes. It's taught me people can't be safe with a digital ID card and so I've signed this. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...
Petition: Do not introduce Digital ID cards
We demand that the UK Government immediately commits to not introducing a digital ID cards. There are reports that this is being looked at.
petition.parliament.uk
Reposted by Velda Elliott
measuredandslow.bsky.social
Hey a thing I really don’t want to get lost here is that while Tylenol doesn’t cause autism, IT’S FINE TO BE AUTISTIC. Let’s not grant them the premise that autism should be eradicated in our way to correct the science, okay? Okay.
Reposted by Velda Elliott
michae.lv
Will Oxford disclose how much it paid (or did not pay) for this?

Surely a sweetheart deal (has research money thrown in!) so OpenAI can plaster Oxford over its marketing and raid other unis’ fees, library budgets to throw into the sector’s massive inference funding chasm.
ox.ac.uk
NEW: Oxford will be the first UK university to give all staff and students free ChatGPT Edu access, from this academic year.

ChatGPT Edu is built for education, with enhanced privacy and security.
Graphic from the University of Oxford, featuring an image of a glowing, digital brain with the text: 'Generative AI at Oxford'. Highlights that ChatGPT Edu is now available to all staff and students. Includes a link for more information: ox.ac.uk/gen-ai
Reposted by Velda Elliott
ernestopriego.com
Simply astonishing. Maybe Lecturer A should not have to mark over 100 essays in a two-week window in the first place? Invest in qualified staff and reduce impossible workloads FFS www.kcl.ac.uk/about/strate...
Screenshot. King's College London page. Examples of effective practice

The following scenarios follow the above guidelines and offer insights into ways that academic staff can use AI transparently and in an assistive capacity, always ensuring human oversight and judgment remain central.
Scenario A – Scaling feedback while maintaining quality

Lecturer A is responsible for marking over 100 essays within a two-week window.

Conscious of the limitations this workload places on the depth of individual feedback, they adopt a hybrid approach using their university’s approved or supported LLM tool, Copilot.

Without ever uploading student work directly, Lecturer A composes an anonymised summary for each student, noting which marking criteria were met and the approximate percentage achieved for each. They input this summary alongside the official rubric into Copilot, prompting it to generate supportive, criterion-referenced feedback. This feedback is then carefully reviewed, adapted, and personalised before being uploaded to the marking platform.

Students are made aware of this process in advance and shown a demonstration, reinforcing transparency and trust.
Reposted by Velda Elliott
zaranosaur.bsky.social
‘when the METR team looked at the employees’ actual work output, they found that the developers had completed tasks 20 percent slower when using AI than when working without it. “No one expected that outcome…We didn’t even really consider a slowdown as a possibility.”’

Lololol
jbhall56.bsky.social
If there is any field in which the rise of AI is already said to be rendering humans obsolete—in which the dawn of superintelligence is already upon us—it is coding. This makes the results of a recent study genuinely astonishing. www.theatlantic.com/economy/arch...
Just How Bad Would an AI Bubble Be?
The entire U.S. economy is being propped up by the promise of productivity gains that seem very far from materializing.
www.theatlantic.com
veldaelliott.bsky.social
Child number 1, about to be 8. Loves humor, graphic novels, is reading things like What If? by Randall Monroe and FAQ About the Universe by Jorge Cham. Looking for similar type things, pretty much any topic. Any suggestions?
veldaelliott.bsky.social
Awesome! Love a banshee!
Reposted by Velda Elliott
rincewind.run
Micah @rincewind.run · Jul 11
we are not going to burn down the entire knowledge economy because we developed AGI

we are going to burn down the entire knowledge economy because the dipshits in charge think they invented AGI and they’re going to replace real knowledge with hallucinations

stupid cyberpunk wins again
paleofuture.bsky.social
What do you think is more likely, that Musk’s Nazi robot has made new discoveries in materials science or that Musk can’t tell when he’s being told scientific-sounding gibberish?
Elon Musk: That was how I felt when asking Grok 4 questions about materials science that are not in any books or on the Internet

Tim Sweeney: Grok 4 feels like Artificial General Intelligence to me.
It is clearly not just constructing statistically likely connections, but is drawing fairly deep insights on problems it hasn't seen before, in ways I haven't seen elsewhere. Here's an example: grok.com/share/bG...
Reposted by Velda Elliott
goodlawproject.org
Incontrovertible evidence, now, of *police* investigating families supporting their kids with gender affirming healthcare in the UK. For trying to do the best for your child, following best practice in most of the world, here you get a visit from the police.

Thank you, Wes Streeting.
Reposted by Velda Elliott
meoutloud.bsky.social
There is no "ethical AI" but people in education are unwilling to admit this (that I've found). You cannot "ethically" use a tool that 1) exists only bc of staggering amts of theft & consent violations, & 2) has people talking about reopening nuclear power plants SOLELY for its use. #EduSky
veldaelliott.bsky.social
Fab roundtable- lots of food for thought!
Reposted by Velda Elliott
nickharkaway.com
Curious that he mentions the City of London (population ~8500) but not Torridge in Devon (population ~68000) where the figure for his chosen stat is 6.3%.
veldaelliott.bsky.social
She is *absolutely fantastic* as a narrator for those books. Love her reading.
veldaelliott.bsky.social
Oh there's loads in Oxford. There's a bunch living in Radley Big Wood and has been for years so I assume more in Bagley Wood.
Reposted by Velda Elliott
suecowley.bsky.social
Really excellent thread from @apf102.bsky.social via @damsoned.bsky.social. This not only emphasises the issues with use of AI but also how the learning = memory narrative has warped education into an exercise in recall. Where is the *critical thinking*? #EduSky
apf102.bsky.social
So Oak's new AI lesson planner has really got me thinking. Who exactly is it aimed at? My guess is that the most likely people to use it are new teachers and those with limited subject knowledge on a topic. So how well does it do the job if that's you? I thought I'd try it out...
veldaelliott.bsky.social
I can't find egs in the OED I'm afraid.
Reposted by Velda Elliott
phonicssquirrel.bsky.social
Currently working with a school on their Clean Air campaign to reduce air pollution around school. Before I write a story, are there any books out there (KS1/KS2) that cover this topic in a not terrifying, not judging way? #kidlituk #cleanairday2025