Mike Yates’ Post

Adaptive learning apps actually aren’t that great or interesting. Here’s a few hot takes that sum up why they shouldn’t ever try to replace an engaging creative human in the learning process. 1) Khan Academy has never been interesting to kids. Khanmigo won’t change that. It will be slightly reduced pain. 2) Many of these “adaptive” platforms are just digital workbooks. 3) Their UI sucks. Bubbly buttons and that scholastic slate blue or green color kill me. WHY are so many of these apps using such similar color schemes? 😂 4) Most of these apps have more content gaps than Michael Strahan. One of the things we did back in the day at Alpha to address this was use multiple apps for each grade level. We called it “Three app validation” which was just a term that really meant no one app was sufficient for teaching X academic subject. 5) They can be used to replace direct instruction but that’s because the bar is so low. For today I’m not going to go in on Teach Like a Champion. Not today. Maybe I’ll rant about that on a podcast episode or something lol. The question I have here is what generative AI will do for these platforms. Based on what I’m seeing I’m not convinced these apps improve their engagement all that much over time. But what are you seeing out there that’s interesting? Let me know in the comments. #aieducation #futurelearning #futureofeducation #generativeai

What’s up brother!!! 👆🏾

It’s Monday and I’m OOO because my job is pretty cool but kind of a grind and Sunanna Tara Chand makes me take time off when I’ve been grinding a little too hard. In the moment I’m like “she trippin I can keep going”, but then I realize she’s right and I actually did need the time off. Find a career with a real one who’ll make you take time off when you can’t even see that you need it. I’ll be back to work tomorrow and will be refreshed and ready to run hard and fast again! But today I feel like this!!!

Project Based Learning is DEAD. The reality is that PBL is better than lecture. The problem is that we, as an education community have found ways to standardize the life out of the method. One of the things I’ve seen from working closely with students to design great projects is that they can see school projects and experiences that feel like school coming from a mile away. This tells me that students are getting tired of project based learning the way it’s been served to them. Here’s my advice to anyone building projects for learning environments: Understand that every great project has 3 main components. 1) a learning target or topic of learning 2) a proxy for that learning 3) presentation Think of this as a gift that’s wrapped in a box and the plan of you devise to make the recipient feel special when the box is delivered. Here’s the example now. If I want to teach a public speaking PBL style I won’t teach public speaking directly. I’ll run a workshop or experience where students learn and perform magic tricks then explain to the audience how they pulled it off. This IS public speaking but by another name. Magic, the proxy, redirects the learner to a more interesting application of the learning target. Then for this example, to introduce the topic, I’m doing a series of magic tricks myself for the class. I then become the hook to the rest of the learning. This is immersive learning without VR. This isn’t easier than standardizing projects but I don’t know many educators who got into this becuause it was easy. Let’s bring PBL back to life. #learningexperiences #projects #pbl #futurelearning

This morning at 10 am PT at the ASU+GSV AIR Show I'll be leading a 90 minute hackathon and I'm taking bets. There's over 200 people registered right now. Let's say half of them show up. Of the 100 people that might show, how many of them are going to get this immediately? If you're at the AIR Show and you know, change your plans and come to my session called "Yes, YOU can build with AI too" This is just a little taste of the shenanigans Kwaku Aning and I about to get into and the good times we're about to have helping you learn how to build you're own personalized AI tools with Playlab AI #asugsvsummit #airshow #asugsvairshow

Tomorrow @ ASU+GSV AIR Show #asugsvairshow #asugsv

If you're coming to the ASU+GSV AIR Show come build whatever you want! #ai #aieducation

How many people do you know that are cool enough to pull off an AI poetry slam at an edtech conference? Do you know anyone from The Reinvention Lab at Teach For America? Because that’s who. Levels to this fam. #ai #aieducation

Back in 2019 there was a period of time where I’d come home everyday depressed and exhausted. I wouldn’t really speak to my family much. I would fall asleep on the couch everyday around 5pm. I had to face it. I’d hit a wall. I was miserable at work. And I felt stuck. I had the highest paying job of my career at the time, had bought a new house and had kid number 4. Say what you want about Gary Vaynerchuk but this message saved me. I heard him say this somewhere on social media. I was so miserable at work and upset with myself for missing out on my family I knew I had to do something. So I came here to LinkedIn and I grinded. I posted 3 times per day, every single day about what I was learning, dreaming, working on and hoping. Something magic happened. I met new people and my network started to grow. I started to get speaking gigs and consulting work. I built a brand. Then job offers started to FLOW in and I knew that I was no longer stuck. I met Tim S. and Taban C. and we started something awesome together. My creative confidence was booming. With my wife, my four kids, and my mortgage, I worked really hard in my current role and kept planting seeds for the next one. Videos like this aren’t just Gary yelling into the camera. I’m proof. I sometimes get annoyed with LinkedIn but with this platform, my whole life changed.

I'm not loyal to brands as much as I'm loyal to founders. If you, as a founder/leader of a product, show me that you really care for people and the mission you pursue matters then you got me on your side. Doesn't even matter in most cases if your product is more expensive or less convenient than the competitors I'm rocking with YOU as the founder. Great founders and leaders create brand loyalty. Not your marketing or your social media or your customer service. All of those are contributing factors that come from the leader's visions.