Resources
How do we even keep up when AI technology and the thinking about AI and learning is evolving at a breakneck speed?
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The quick answer is, we don't.
Many of us are steeped in the traditional approach to research and teaching, in which the "authority" of sources we rely on gave our own work an aura of credibility. Mastery of densely written journal articles a personal triumph; a thorough literature review a sign of intellectual virtue.
When we jump into the world of AI, we need to set aside these assumptions. Understand that we are standing, not on the solid earth, but on the quick sand that keeps slipping away right under our feet. The most useful up-to-date information is disseminated through non-traditional digital venues - YouTube, Podcast, Substack, Discord, and gazillion others that we've never heard of.
Here is the list of how I try to not get overwhelmed and keep my head (sort of) above water:
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Forget the idea that I'm going to ever "keep up." There is just so much stuff out there and there's no way anyone can know about everything out there. Besides, AI technology keeps evolving rapidly, and a fact or a tip that was valid last week might become totally obsolite overnight. No one can truly "keep up" with all that.
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Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. Choose one or two very specific aspects of the AI universe and ignore everything else. My two priorities are AI literacy pedagogy and image/video generation. I try to keep an eye on any new information that are relevant to these priority areas and relentlessly skip, delete, and ignore everything else that pops up on Google search or in my email inboxes. Trust me, you are still going to have a plenty to read and watch, and because everything is interconnected, you'll still be learning about other AI-related topics. But at least, you know why you are reading them - because they are somehow relevant to what you are trying to do in your priority areas.
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Find a few go-to sources where you are most likely to to find news and information that are most helpful to you. Be totally selfish and utilitarian: you keep whatever work best for you or seems interesting to you and set aside the rest. It will take time to find the right ones for you, but it's necessary investment to keep your sanity in a long run. My current go-to's are the Discord servers of Google and OpenAI for latest tech development in image/video gen, a few subscribed channels on Substack that focus on AI literacy and technology breakdown, and a LinkedIn group on AI literacy.
If you are just getting started and don't know where to even start, click the button to the right to take a look at my list of recommended resources. Some are "outdated" in strictly technical terms, but still great at breaking down the technology under the hood for a basic understanding of AI technology.
If you are interested in integrating AI literacy in their teaching, you might find my book, AI To Learn: Evolution of an AI Literacy Curriculum, useful. It chronicles the iterative process of building an AI literacy curriculum from the ground up and provides more teaching resources.