🙋‍♂️ AI created podcasts, math, and screentime – Of bits and bytes for September 30, 2024
Internet Travels
Of bits and bytes is my weekly round up of interesting links and ideas I discovered on the internet. It is published on Mondays for the previous week
I haven’t done much with Google’s NotebookLM, but these examples of podcasts created by it are pretty amazing. NotebookLM was able to take the content fed to it and create what can be described as a two person podcast of that content. The results are pretty natural sounding, although there is definitely room for improvement in certain areas. After awhile the content starts to come across with a sort of sameness, but I’m sure it will only get better.
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Apps
Google’s “Be Internet Awesome World” on Roblox is an interactive game that teaches kids online safety skills through fun, immersive experiences. Players explore a virtual world while learning to identify scams, create strong passwords, and practice online kindness. Each game within the platform focuses on specific online risks, providing real-time feedback to reinforce learning.
Pedagogy
In his quiz-style article, Ben Orlin humorously explores different mathematical personalities through a series of quirky questions. From choosing how to represent the square root of two to preferences for number systems, the quiz pokes fun at the diverse ways people approach math. The quiz goes along with his book Math for English Majors, where he looks at how math and language arts, are more alike than one would think. He likens math concepts to parts of speech—numbers as nouns, operations as verbs—encouraging readers to see math as a language.
- How AI Detection Software Turns Professors into Cops, Tech as Systems of World-Making, and More – The Markup
- Plagiarism, Cheating, Gen AI…It’s Complex!
Technology
California is dialing down the distractions by passing the Phone-Free School Act. By July 1st, 2026, all school districts will need to set up policies to limit student cellphone use, with exceptions for emergencies or special permissions.
YouTube creator named “ChromaLock” has showcased a modification to the TI-84 graphing calculator, allowing it to connect to the Internet and use ChatGPT, effectively turning it into a high-tech cheating device. By installing a tiny custom-made Wi-Fi-enabled circuit, users can input questions and receive AI-driven responses directly on the calculator. Although the process involves a good bit of technical know-how, the implications for testing environments are significant. The modifications do not alter the case of the calculator, making it look stock.
Schools have embraced a digital-first approach with tablets and laptops, yet recent findings show these “educational” screens might not be the champions we hoped for. Though phones cause the most distractions, screens in general are linked to declining student performance in math, reading, and science. However, the big caveat with this research is whether the teachers have changed how they teach. Are they still using the same techniques they used with pencil, paper, and books, or have they embraced other ways to engage the students?
- Can Math Help AI Chatbots Stop Making Stuff Up? – The New York Times
- AI Hallucinations Invade OpenAI Latest GPT Model o1 In Quite Surprising Places
- OpenAI’s o1 “Strawberry” ChatGPT model can reason — and comes with risks | Vox
Tips
Pop Culture
Potpourri
- 20240827 | Rotman
- Taken for granted | Seth's Blog
- Companies Are Quickly Firing Gen Z Employees – Newsweek
Extra Credit
Here are extra links that I found interesting that may or may not be education related or interesting to you and I didn’t want to lose them.
Thank you!
Major props if you’ve made it this far, you are a rockstar! Feel free to contact me with questions, ideas, concerns, or your thoughts on the next Marvel movie. In fact, I love to discuss about any topic and then wonder how it intersects with education, so fire away!
“Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, but Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” – Oogway, Kung Fu Panda
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