On Episode 598, I welcome Jeff Young, host and creator of the Learning Curve podcast and freelance reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education and other national publications, to Teaching in Higher Ed. We reflect on the early days of generative AI’s arrival and the changes it has brought to education and journalism. Jeff Young shares sound bites from students and educators wrestling with AI’s possibilities and pitfalls, including how students are leveraging tools like ChatGPT for learning, organizing, and navigating busy lives.

Resources from the episode:

• Learning Curve Podcast
• Paul LeBlanc
• Maha Bali
• Students ‘will spend 25 years on their mobiles’ in The Times, by Mark Sellman
• Google NotebookLM
• Supporting Student Learning and Metacognition
• Shell Game Podcast
• Phonograph Podcast

Episode topics:

• Early Days of Generative AI in Education
• Student Perspectives: Using AI to Facilitate Learning
• Flipped Classrooms and AI-Powered Instruction
• Personalized Learning: Metaphors and Misnomers
• The Dopamine Effect: Instant Gratification from AI
• Journalism and the Existential Questions of AI
• Loneliness, Connection, and AI’s Human Limits

Discussion questions:

1. Jeff Young recalls early exposure to conversations about AI in education during a conference in Beijing, mentioning both excitement and caution. How have educator perceptions about AI changed since those initial conversations in late 2022?
2. The Duke University student describes using ChatGPT as a tool for understanding difficult material when other resources aren’t available. What are the benefits and limitations of relying on AI as a learning assistant, especially when human help isn’t accessible?
3. Paul LeBlanc envisions classroom time as a space for active application and deeper learning, once routine knowledge acquisition is supplemented by tools like AI tutors. How might this “flipped classroom” model alter the faculty-student dynamic?
4. Maha Bali shares a story of a friend who turns to ChatGPT for support and affirmation, leading to immediate—but perhaps superficial—gratification. What are the social and emotional implications of students forming relationships or habits around AI rather than human connections?
5. The episode ends with the idea that humans are “the cure for loneliness,” despite the speed and efficiency of AI-powered interactions. What strategies could higher education institutions implement to make sure technology is enhancing, not replacing, authentic human connection and belonging?

Recommended

I spent the last six weeks going through Harold Jarche’s Personal Knowledge Mastery (PKM) workshop. While not required, I decided to blog my way through it and wound up writing the equivalent of half a book, without realizing it.

Index: 18 PKM posts with associated themes and quotes

Other posts that are representative of new things I learned or was otherwise challenged by:

• Can You Keep a Secret? - McLuhan’s Media Tetrad
• Network Weaving as an Antidote to Imposter Syndrome - Network weaving
• No Frogs Were Harmed in Describing Systems Thinking - Revisited Senge’s The Fifth Discipline (not new, but well worth looking back on)
• The Gap - Also not new, but enjoyed taking another look at the animated video: THE GAP

Quotable Words

Harold Jarche writes of a need for a new social contract:

While the industrial economy was based on finite resources, a creative economy is not. There is no limit to human creativity. We have to make a new social contract — not based on jobs — but rather enabling a learner’s mindset for life.

Next Week’s Episode

On the upcoming episode of Teaching in Higher Ed, David Gooblar returns to Teaching in Higher Ed. This time, he shares about: One Classroom at a Time: How Better Teaching Can Make College More Equitable.

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Disclosures

Affiliate income disclosure: Books that are recommended on the podcast link to the Teaching in Higher Ed bookstore on Bookshop.org. All affiliate income gets donated to the LibroMobile Arts Cooperative (LMAC), established in 2016 by Sara Rafael Garcia.”

Notice: Portions of these weekly updates are produced using CastMagic.io, which uses AI to produce a draft of the transcript, identify key quotes, highlight themes, etc.