Justin Goes Back to School
Our host reckons with AI as he returns to the classroom after a one year break.
We’re halfway through “The Homework Machine” series, and as our production team works to finish the final episodes, we check in with Teaching Systems Lab director Justin Reich, who is returning to the classroom at MIT after a full year of sabbatical. Justin has been nervous, since some of the assignments he’s relied on in the past are not “AI-proof”. He tells us how he plans to adapt,
We want to share A Guide to AI in Schools: Perspectives for the Perplexed , the guidebook authored by TSL, based on the interviews we conducted for “The Homework Machine”.
Justin is a fan of these protocols for evaluating student work:
https://pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/LAST%2Bprotocol_New.pdf
https://www.antioch.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Atlas-Protocol_Looking-at-Student-Work.pdf
This episode was produced by Steven Jackson and Jesse Dukes.
The ongoing project, The Homework Machine is edited by Ruxandra Guidi and Alexandra Salomon. Reporting and research from Natasha Esteves, Holly McDede, Andrew Parsons, Marnette Federis, and Chris Bagg. Sound design and music supervision by Steven Jackson. Production help from Yebu Ji. Data analysis from Manee Ngozi Nnamani and Manasa Kudumu. Special thanks to Josh Sheldon and Eric Klopfer. Administrative support from Jessica Rondon.
Original music for this series was created by Steven Jackson, Andrew Meriwether and Jesse Dukes, as part of the music project Cue Shop. Thanks to Will Grueb, Andy Wilds, and the MIT Music Department for letting us use the MIT Harpsichord.
The research and reporting you heard in this episode was supported by the Spencer Foundation, the Kapor Foundation, the Jameel World Education Lab, the Social and Ethical Responsibility of Computing initiative at MIT, and the RAISE initiative, Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education also at MIT.
We had support from Google’s Academic Research Awards program.
