A movement that started at Harvard University aims to help students wean themselves off smartphones incrementally, recommending that they delete their social media accounts one by one.
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"APPstinence forgoes popular quick fixes like screen time controls, algorithm hacking, or digital detoxes, and offers something much more radical: a five-step method (which sounds Alcohol Anonymous’ 12-step program) to free yourself once-and-for-all from the chains of technology addiction."
The latest news related to the meaningful and effective implementation of educational technology and e-learning in K-12, higher education, corporate and government sectors.
Watch this video to learn more about the fully online, accelerated, project-based Master of Education in Educational Technology at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. For more information, visit: https://www.utrgv.edu/edtech/index.htm
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
This 30-hour accelerated program designed to prepare persons in K-12, higher education, corporate, and military settings to develop the skills and knowledge necessary for the classrooms and boardrooms of tomorrow. Students in this program have the opportunity to earn one or more graduate certificates in E-Learning, Technology Leadership, and Online Instructional Design.
This is a fantastic program! Its practical, real-world based and applicable to many areas of industry where teaching and learning, training and development are used.
Instructors with fewer than two years of teaching experience were the least confident in their abilities to create accessible content.
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"Despite strong belief that accessibility improves student learning, only 11 percent of U.S. faculty say they have the right tools and training to create accessible course content"
AI has become part of modern education for teachers and students, but it’s not always the best or most efficient way to accomplish a task.
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"It may sound obvious that AI shouldn’t take the place of relationship building in education, but as the efficacy of personalized tutors increases, more of us will need to remind ourselves of this."
AI is now common in education for teachers and students, but this article argues it's not always the best solution. The author shares an experience where using AI for a slideshow failed, highlighting how creating it themselves forced deeper thinking. Experts agree that AI shouldn't replace human interaction or critical thinking, emphasizing that individuals must learn through trial and error when AI is truly productive for them.
"This is not the first time that emerging technology has impacted teaching modes and methods."
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
Faculty resistance to AI integration today mirrors the early pushback against online learning, which eventually faded as the technology became essential.
This guide is a detailed overview of AI literacy that addresses technical, ethical, critical, and societal dimensions of AI in education in our current AI-embedded world.
"Society has reached a pivotal moment in computational intelligence. AI has been evolving rapidly yet predictably for the past decade through increased automation, more innovative models and ever-larger datasets. But the next phase won't be defined by size or speed. It will be determined by context. The future of AI is about artificial intelligence, not just artificial, but intuitive—aware of environment, emotion and enterprise."
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"In its first phase, AI helped us automate routine tasks. In its next phase, it will support and enhance executive judgment."
"The modern workplace has undergone a radical transformation. No longer tethered to physical offices, employees now operate within a dynamic ecosystem of cloud-based tools, collaborative platforms and AI-powered assistants. All of this is often accessed through a single, ubiquitous interface: the browser."
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"While organizations have invested heavily in securing their networks and endpoints, the browser itself often remains a blind spot, leaving them vulnerable to a growing array of sophisticated threats."
A movement that started at Harvard University aims to help students wean themselves off smartphones incrementally, recommending that they delete their social media accounts one by one.
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"APPstinence forgoes popular quick fixes like screen time controls, algorithm hacking, or digital detoxes, and offers something much more radical: a five-step method (which sounds Alcohol Anonymous’ 12-step program) to free yourself once-and-for-all from the chains of technology addiction."
"Meta-analysis published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications evaluates ChatGPT's effect on learning performance, perception, and higher-order thinking across 51 studies."
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
The study found "a positive effect on student learning performance, with more moderate effects on student perception and higher-order thinking."
In following along on a conversation via Linked In, I saw Shana V. White ask this question: How do you define "ethically"? Later, someone asks the question that Shana may really be asking in regards to AI, "What is ethical AI?" From my perspective, the questions raise the bigger issues. It reminded me of a…
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"Ethical AI refers to artificial intelligence systems designed and operated according to principles such as fairness, transparency, and accountability, with safeguards to prevent harm and discrimination."
"To play a game is to come up against problems and work out a solution to them, and the research backs this up. 'Evidence is emerging that playing any kind of video game, regardless of whether or not it is violent, enhances children’s creative capacities'”
Artificial Intelligence both terrifies and fascinates me. I have been an educator for 39 years, and as a classroom teacher, I, like all teachers, am navigating the new world of AI. This year, I have been experimenting with AI tools to help my students and me learn more deeply. I know AI
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"Many current students will be downgraded by AI, and that future might be inevitable without a radical change in how we do school."
It’s not about replacing teaching — it’s about reimagining it. The best educators aren't afraid of AI; they’re asking, “How can this help us learn better, think deeper, and stay human in a tech-driven world?”
The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office estimated that 31.4 percent of student applications in 2024 were fraudulent, coming from bots or AI agents being used to steal financial aid money.
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"ghost students are artificially intelligent agents or bots that pose as real students in order to steal millions of dollars of financial aid"
The Region One Education Service Center is part of a state-wide system of 20 regional education service centers created in 1965 by the 59th Texas Legislature to assist school districts across the state. Located in South Texas on the United States/Mexico border, Region One ESC serves 38 school districts and 10 charter school systems in the eight county areas of Brooks County, Cameron County, Hidalgo County, Jim Hogg County, Starr County, Webb County, Willacy County, and Zapata County.
Huge thanks to Region One for hosting another outstanding Annual Technology Conference! 🎉 It’s one of our favorite events and a top venue for educators and administrators across the RGV to explore the latest trends and innovations in educational technology.
When it comes to agentic AI, there’s something timely about rethinking what we mean by intelligence in our learning systems.
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"For years now, the promise of AI in education has centered around efficiency–grading faster, recommending better content, or predicting where a student might struggle. But at a moment when learners face disconnection, systems are strained, and expectations for personalization are growing, task automation feels…insufficient."
"The use of AI tutors in online education raises questions about the future role of educators—such as instructors, facilitators, and tutors. AI tutors emulate human tutors, and soon, distinguishing between an AI and a human tutor may become challenging. This prospect presents exciting potential but also raises questions about the overlapping functions these two may have. Are the roles of AI tutors and educators mutually exclusive, or can they be complementary?"
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"As with other generative AI applications, the AI tutor holds the promise of increasing educators’ productivity. Many believe this will translate into more time for “meaningful interactions” between learners and educators"
"Faced with the meteoric rise of artificial intelligence in education, many schools and universities have decided to ban the use of telephones in class, mainly to prevent cheating linked to tools such as ChatGPT. But an unexpected phenomenon is gaining momentum: it is now the teachers themselves who are being singled out for their excessive use of AI."
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"[S]tudents are discovering that their lessons, homework and corrections are generated by artificial intelligence."
One month of web browsing data shows most respondents visited a search page with an AI-generated summary, but visits to in-depth content about AI were much rarer.
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"A small share of respondents used search engines to get information about AI. One-in-ten conducted an AI-related query on a search engine during the month. But more often, search engines were a source for material generated by AI."
"AI is rapidly becoming ubiquitous in every corner of our society, impacting individuals and industries alike. The potential of AI in the chemical industry is no exception. This is something I've seen firsthand during my time in the industry, especially within my role at Trinseo."
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"In the hands of scientists, engineers, operations leaders and innovators of all kinds, AI has the potential to fundamentally transform how we operate"
"It’s been over two years since the rise of generative AI, marked by the release of ChatGPT in November 2022. Yet, the impact of this technological shift continues to intensify rather than plateau. Just recently, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Deep Search, a tool that promises to redefine how we conduct research. Meanwhile, China’s DeepSeek, a ChatGPT competitor, entered the scene with a level of hype and controversy that signals the ever-escalating global AI race."
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
The big takeaway from this article: "If you are a teacher or educator feeling uncertain about AI’s impact on your practice, here’s the reality: AI is here to stay, and it will only get better. Your role is not to resist it but to adapt, explore its potential, and guide your students in using it wisely."
The AI Integration Framework emphasizes using AI purposefully, ethically, and in alignment with educational goals, focusing on three key components: strategic planning, curriculum alignment, and fostering deep learning through critical thinking. Strategic planning involves defining AI’s role in the classroom (e.g., tutor, collaborator, or assistant), creating a collaborative AI policy with students, and addressing ethical considerations such as plagiarism, bias, and privacy. Curriculum alignment ensures AI tools enhance learning outcomes, promote engagement, and support instructional strategies like differentiation and scaffolding while maintaining compliance with data privacy and accessibility standards. Ultimately, this framework helps educators integrate AI responsibly to enrich teaching and support meaningful student learning.
Literacy instruction has surfaced as one of the fastest-growing areas for AI applications in education.
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"Rather than simply redlining typos or grammatical errors, today’s AI-powered assistants are capable of offering personalized feedback through conversational interactions with users."
AI in writing instruction has evolved from merely identifying typos and grammar errors to offering personalized feedback through conversational interactions with users. Free tools such as Khanmigo and Quill have emerged as valuable AI resources, providing teachers with instant feedback.
"There are, allegedly, millions of people that chat with AI like they’re buddies. Platforms like Replika and Character.AI advertise themselves as virtual friends available to talk whenever you need a friend. They’re supportive, encouraging, entertaining, but these chatbots aren’t really your friends… are they?"
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"According to Mark Zuckerberg, the average American has approximately 3 friends, but a need for around 15. In an interview on the Dwarkesh Podcast, he suggested that one way to meet this demand would be through AI."
"Much of the interest on AI and work concerns its possible effects on job losses – will jobs be replaced by AI or will they be transformed? While it is not possible to predict the future – particularly as the technology is still evolving – ILO researchers first developed a methodology in 2023, and later refined it in 2025, to estimate the potential effects of generative AI on existing occupations, and then in a second step, on employment."
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"As most occupations consist of tasks that require human input, transformation of jobs is the most likely impact of GenAI."
"As AI increasingly pervades internal processes, so too do threat actors. For example, GenAI tools amplify the scale and impact of polymorphic malware that can evade existing detection systems, and phishing campaigns using AI-led personalization are extremely convincing with a high success rate."
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"[T]hreat research labs (CTRL) revealed five trends defining how bad actors will further exploit AI to advance their malicious intentions."
"The next world is AI-integrated, project-driven, future-focused, and human-inspired. Is AI bad? Is AI good? Should we recoil in fear or embrace a new technology that some believe holds the seeds of our own destruction as creative human beings? That's the divide now. And schools, more than any other institution, are destined to face the dilemma of AI."
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"PBL 2.0... offers a methodology that engages them as facilitators, co-designers, and knowledge guides in a student-driven classroom."
As key players in local workforce training, community colleges are well placed to lead the adoption of artificial intelligence tools and ensure students are prepared for the business world of tomorrow.
EDTECH@UTRGV's insight:
"Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant disruptor. It's already reshaping how we teach, learn and prepare students for tomorrow's workforce. For community colleges, the question isn't if we adopt AI — it's how we lead its adoption effectively and responsibly."
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"APPstinence forgoes popular quick fixes like screen time controls, algorithm hacking, or digital detoxes, and offers something much more radical: a five-step method (which sounds Alcohol Anonymous’ 12-step program) to free yourself once-and-for-all from the chains of technology addiction."