So, with AI AI-ing, what the heck should kids be studying today!?
That's my opening question to Khan Academy's Chief Learning Officer, Kristen DiCerbo, a learning and AI expert who is back for her second appearance on the show.
We discuss:
Kristen's advice for what to study today: fundamentals, AI literacy, and critical thinking
How helpful should AI be?
Why the productive struggle is critical to learning, but also why we shouldn't "fetishize" struggle
When should AI be Socratic — "and why do you think that?" — and when should it just give you the answer?
The "5% problem" — why edtech that's proven to work still barely gets used
How Khan Academy overhauled its classroom platform and evolved Khanmigo from a standalone chatbot into something woven into the whole learning experience
Personalization that actually works
How Khan Academy uses LLMs as judges to evaluate 20,000 student interactions a day
The scenario planning report that imagines deepfakes of school principals and AI going underground in schools
What parents should be asking their kids' schools about AI right now
What it looks like when a school implements AI well — and what it looks like when they don't
I’d love your feedback here… What’s working well for you? What’s are schools in your area doing that’s interesting? Hit reply to this email or email [email protected]
Chapters:
01:44 What the heck should kids be studying right now?
03:55 Teaching critical thinking in the age of AI
06:37 What successful schools are doing differently
08:37 The real risk: not that kids use AI too much, but that they don't use it at all
11:52 "Beyond the AI inflection point"
16:30 Should we just make every school a trade school?
19:41 What should parents be asking their kids' schools?
22:27 Khan Academy for classrooms gets a redesign
26:28 Personalized learning — what works and what surprisingly doesn't
32:01 "I DON'T KNOW" in all capital letters — the Socratic method's breaking point
34:26 Should an AI tutor give tough love?
37:01 Why Khanmigo is fundamentally different from ChatGPT
40:11 Yes, learning comes from struggle, but also don’t fetishize it
42:39 Khan Academy's productive struggle: how it monitors Khanmigo’s performance
45:41 What gives Kristen optimism
If you don’t already get Future Around & Find Out emails, go ahead:
Future on…
~ Dan