I have not written a new post since May! That is the longest I’ve gone without reflecting or sharing something. I’ve been going non-stop since May, especially since we did not get out for summer until the first of July, and I just haven’t had the urge to stop and write about any of it.
July and August, between taking a bunch of online workshops for Math and AI, plus running our WEA AI in the Classroom two-day workshop series, which is normally a five-night workshop series, and spending time with my wife, daughter, and her fiancée (they got engaged this summer), I didn’t have a moment’s time to devote to reflecting or sharing on this blog. Luckily, I was able to do some hiking with my wife because I re-injured my knee on the very first Saturday of summer break and I haven’t been able to run since then! Maybe not being able to run has left me unable or un-motivated to write.
I have been keeping track of a few things I wanted to write about in July, so I plan on back-tracking and reflecting/sharing those as soon as I get the writing bug again. In the past four months, I have sat down a few times to write but nothing came so I didn’t force it. The nice thing about writing my own personal reflection blog is that I don’t have to stress about not writing because this blog is not about making money or generating views or anything business-like.
So why am I writing today? Google.
I have been enjoying working with the folks of some of the most popular AI resources that are available to schools because they are actively working with and talking to teachers. I have to say that I’ve been spoiled because in all the years we’ve been a Google school, I have not met or talked to a human being even when I’ve had issues. Maybe that’s on me but watching as Google pushed out all sorts of AI tools and updates in July while most of us were out of school just didn’t seem right. Plus, I never got an email and I’m an admin for our Google Workspace! It seems inconsiderate to expect schools to hear about something this major by having to read Google’s blog instead of hearing directly from a human rep.
Note: we are also a Microsoft school so when I read on a Microsoft blog post that they were providing Copilot to all Washington state schools AND partnering with WEA I was again shocked that I did not get any mention of that as a member of my district’s tech committee or as a member of the WEA team responsible for offering training to Washington state teachers on AI. Where’s the personal/human touch?
Yesterday, I read the following article, “His students suddenly started getting A’s. Did a Google AI tool go too far?” A teacher was shocked to see what students were doing with Google Lens and its AI integration. So I gave it a looksie and I am not happy with the results:
It would have been nice to have gotten a heads up about this. I feel bad for kids who stumble on this and have to choose between making their life easier or asking adults in their life if they should get Google Lens to “help” them do their schoolwork. Then if they get caught they might feel ashamed for taking the easy road. This clearly goes against our Classroom AI Policy where we all agreed to use AI in ways that augment us and make us smarter instead of doing the heavy lifting for us and make us dumber.
Am I off base here? What do you think?
