By Any Other Nerd

Estimated Reading Time: 16 minutes So I recently had the pleasure of getting to do a Keynote Panel with my students around generative AI at Massachusetts Colleges Online--an organization that I am quite a fan of and have presented at over the years.  The Keynote was structured so that I would talk for 20 minutes and then, we would do a panel with the students.  They were amazing and I will additional opportunities to hear from them in the future.  Still, the talk that I gave, I thought was valuable and important for folks to hear as it provides a bit of the context, insights, and advice that I have learned over the last 7 months.   Below is the text of my talk and you are also welcome to watch this recording I also made in case you want to hear me instead of read me.  The video is just under 20 minutes .   Ready or Not, Here AI Come: Exploring the Role of Generative AI in Higher Education Keynote Talk by Lance Eaton Hi folks, So my students and I were recently invited to give the Keyno

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes Once again, I've gotten another piece published in the Providence Journal (I had this one published in February ).  I don't know if that's a reflection of my ability to write or lower journalistic standards these days and newspapers lacking a lot of folks doing this kind of thing.  A little bit of both, mayhaps.  This one came to me in a flurry last week--that's not entirely true.  I've been writing this piece in my head for over a year--ever since I first encountered it last year and continued to mull about the elements that colluded to make something like this possible.  On Tuesday, June 6, I was cycling along Narragansett Parkway in Cranston, and sure enough, the chairs were back.  As I continued on my bike ride, the urge to write consumed me and as soon as I was at my desk, the words flew.  So, here you have it.   They titled it " Parade delivers another lesson on colonizing " but I preferred my title below. After shar

Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes Bear the Cat Is Not Ready for AI The last few months have given me the opportunity to talk at a few different places about generative AI and some of the concerns, challenges, and opportunities.  Many of these I've given and while some were recorded, they were recorded for the organizations I was giving them to.  As is my open practice, I like to make these available to a larger group.  I often share the slides and resources with Creative Commons licenses.  What I've been doing lately is actually re-recording the videos and posting them on my YouTube channel.  I decided to pull these together here and share them with folks in case you're interested in learning more.   I'll lean in further with the descriptions for each, but what I appreciate here is watching the slide decks and arc evolve as I've gone along in this work.  Yes, of course, my pets largely stay in all my slides (I am a professional after all--hahahha), but I feel like e

Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes This is the 4th installment in a series that reflects my time in January & February 2023 serving on a grand jury in Rhode Island.  You can read about  part 1 ,  part 2 , and part 3   if you need to catch up. Photo by Andrea Lightfoot on Unsplash The six weeks serving on grand jury duty gave me opportunities to observe (and experience) how human conformity is ever-present and can play an integral role in making the duty more a formality than a process.  While I can’t say for certain this is intentionally part of the overall structure, I can say that it was certainly capitalized upon by the district attorneys that were presenting cases before us.  That is, there were many habits of the jurors and practices by the DAs that facilitated or communicated the conformity of the group. So what did that conformity look like?  The jurors themselves are a good place to start. Each day, the jurors (including myself) sat in the same seats as if we were in class,