Welcome to π¨π° π³ππ
The choices we make about incorporating generative AI into our practice as writers, teachers, scholars, and knowledge workers will be among the most important decisions we make in our professional lives. π¨π° π³ππ offers essays about developments in AI and education to help understand whatβs happening and make better decisions.
The Log is a collection of short essays about the ways generative AI is impacting education, mostly higher education. Also, I write about language, history, and ideas because all three are critical to understanding the social contexts for how generative AI is changing education.
Why subscribe?
All the content here is free, so subscribing simply means each post goes directly to your email inbox. If email isnβt your thing, bookmark this website and come back occasionally. I will never share your email address, but if I ever depart Substack, I will use it to let you know how to find my writing.
Here is where you will find a link to my weekly log with the most recent posts at the top along with my long-form essays on the history of education and the intellectual tradition known as pragmatism, important contexts for how I approach questions about generative AI.
Why forward this to friends and colleagues?
I write in the hope that thoughtful writing grounded in dialogue will lead to better decisions. Invite others to the discussion!
Since all content is free, the best way to support what I do is to share it with friends and colleagues.
Why do you call this thing π¨π° π³ππ?
My all-time favorite joke character name is Bob Loblaw from Arrested Development and one of my all-time favorite jokes from that show is his blog, the "Bob Loblaw Law Blog." So, here is the AI Log Blog.
AI Log Blog is not a good joke. But it is inspired by one, and I need you to know that. Alsoβ¦
Itβs better than bad. Itβs GOOD!
The log is also a metaphor or a trope or something. I will post about that soon.
Who are you?
My name is Rob Nelson. For more than twenty years, I have been teaching courses in cultural and educational history that explore the way slavery, gender roles, technology, and social justice movements have shaped institutions and individuals in the United States.
My paying job is with a fully accredited university offering degrees at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels, located in southeastern Pennsylvania. There I have led university-wide projects including implementing academic information systems for course evaluation, curriculum management, graduate admissions, learning management, and student records.
My work has taught me a great deal about how faculty, students, and academic staff adopt and adapt new technologies. I also get to work with people who design and build educational technology. They are fun to work with and have taught me something about how people who build educational tools think about them.
I have degrees from some of the usual places in some of the usual subjects, but thatβs not why you should read my blog.
More at my LinkedIn profile.
Where did you get that cool logo and the other graphical elements of your blog?
Check out Phillustrations.com. Phil Scroggs, a designer and illustrator based in Seattle, created the logo, banner, and wordmark (I had to ask him what that meant) for this Substack. If you are starting out on Substack or want to level up your graphics for an existing site, I highly recommend working with Phil or another human design professional. I donβt use AI generators to create images for this blog. You can read why here.
Why Substack?
As it gets tougher to make a living as a writer, some of my favorite journalists and scholars have started publishing on Substack. Even though I donβt charge for π¨π° π³ππ, I publish here to support writers being paid for their work and in hopes that my writing finds an audience.
That said, Substack is the product of venture capitalists and investors will eventually want a return. That means it is likely that either gradually or all at once this platform becomes unpleasant. Cash flow and clicks will become more important than the experience of reading. When this happens (plan for the worst), I will depart for another platform. If someone starts a Wikipedia-like platform for writers and readers (hope for the best), I will depart for that green pasture. For now, I am happy to take advantage of the largess of Andreessen Horowitz.
