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Universities Experiment with Hidden Grades
2026/08/12

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As reported here, "The University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science and the Arts is trying out something new this coming term: a dual grading system in which professors give students ordinary letter grades based on the quality of their work, but what shows up on the student's transcript is either a 'pass' or 'no credit'." The argument is that this will reduce stress for first-year students, but "according to The Hill, the university will maintain final grades internally for athletic eligibility, compliance reporting, and students' eligibility for financial aid, among other purposes, (so) there is a question of just how liberated from grading some students will feel."

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Client ChallengeReluctant billionaire: The elusive Craigslist founder is ready to talk
2026/08/12

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I enjoyed this interview with Craig Newmark, the man who developed Craigslist, effectively replacing the newspaper classified advertising market. The headline says he is a billionaire, though he responds "I am not, and never have been, a billionaire." But it's close, and he may end up giving more than a billion to various charities (including, most notably, journalism education). While interesting, his self-limiting talk can be frustrating, as he frequently says things like "I will then focus my limited attention on areas where I can do something about." I mean, it's better than billionaires pretending to be experts in everything, but understating what he can do serves no one well.

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3 Ways To a Picture-Perfect Process AND Product with the Studio Habits of Mind
2026/08/12

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Just for the record, the Studio Habits of Mind (SHoM), an eight-habit framework from Harvard Project Zero: - Develop Craft: Students refine skills and techniques
- Engage & Persist: Students stay focused and work through challenges
- Envision: Students imagine possibilities and plan next steps
- Express: Students convey ideas and meaning
- Observe: Students notice details and see in new ways
- Reflect: Students evaluate their work and revise
- Stretch & Explore: Students experiment, take risks, and embrace mistakes
- Understand Art Worlds: Students connect to and understand art in the world around them 

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Humans understand what AI cannot
2026/08/12

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I wrote about understanding a few weeks ago to address arguments such as the one here. It should be clear that a hand-wave like "understanding as 'remembering in disguise'" is far from an adequate summation. I liked the use of the Helen Keller story to try to get at what we mean when by understanding, but clearly it's a special case, and does not show that 'understanding' equates to 'knowing the meaning of words'. And none of this goes to show that "understanding entails a certain level of abstraction, what cognitive scientists call schema." And all this is even further from showing that 'humans understand what AI cannot' - indeed, if understanding does reduce to meanings of words, then all an AI needs to 'understand' is a second, non-textual sensory modality. A sense of touch, say, in addition to a set of words.

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Evidence experimentation in AI evaluation in education
2026/08/12

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In this post Ben Williamson argues that the introduction of AI in schools is being accompanied with a redefinition of what counts as evidence of impact. "Specific kinds of design experiments such as AI prototype tests, implementation R&D, and evaluation measurements conducted by technology vendors themselves have been centred as authoritative evidence practices, challenging or replacing independent evaluation methodologies based on wider and multi-dimensional measures of educational impact." The sort of evidence he feels is being challenged or replaced is found in this paper (14 page PDF), published only last January, called the the Multiple EdTech Impact Index (MEII), which "includes fifteen indicators of impact... across five domains: efficacy, effectiveness, ethics, equity, and environment." I can understand the concern about what counts as evidence, but I wouldn't consider either set of indicators to be "authoritative", despite the positioning of one as such in this article.

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We publish six to eight or so short posts every weekday linking to the best, most interesting and most important pieces of content in the field. Read more about what we cover. We also list papers and articles by Stephen Downes and his presentations from around the world.

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