Grabe blog addressing education, instructional technology, and other stuff.
Category: Layering
A technique involving the use of a service to add elements of information to web pages or online videos without modifying the source such that both the source and the added comments appear as a composite to the user.
Social annotation is a digital and collaborative practice in which multiple users interact with text or video through comments, highlights, and discussions directly linked to specific parts of the source. This practice extends the traditional act of reading and watching into a participatory activity, allowing individuals to engage with both the text and each other in educational ways.
For learners functioning within a formal educational setting or an informal setting, social annotation can benefit learners in multiple ways. It can transform reading from a solitary to a communal act, encouraging students to engage more deeply with texts. Students can pose questions, share interpretations, and challenge each other’s views directly on the digital document. This interaction not only enhances comprehension and critical thinking but also builds a sense of community among learners. Potentially, educators can also participate guiding discussions or reacting to student comments.
Beyond the classroom, social annotation is used in research and professional fields to streamline collaborations. Researchers and professionals use annotation tools to review literature, draft reports, and provide feedback. This collaborative approach can accelerate project timelines and improve the quality of work by incorporating multiple expertises and viewpoints efficiently.
I have written previously about social annotation as a subcategory of my interest in technology tools that allow layering and even earlier in the description of specific annotation tools such as Hypothesis. As now seems the case with many digital topics, social annotation eventually was expanded to incorporate AI. This post updates my description of the capabilities of the AI capabilities of Glasp. Glasp is a free tool used to annotate web pages, link comments to videos, and import annotations from Kindle books. It functions as a browser extension when layering comments and highlights on web pages and videos. The accumulated body of additions is available through a website which is where the AI capability is applied as a mechanism for interacting with the collected content and for connecting with other Glasp users.
The following content is divided into two sections. The first section focuses on the AI capabilities applied to personally collected content and the content collected by others. The second section explains how to locate the content of others who have used Glasp to collect content designated as public. This second section describes capabilities I have personally found very useful. As a retired individual, I no longer have access to colleagues I might interact with frequently. Collaborative tools are only useful when collaborators are available and developing connections can be a challenge.
Interacting with stored annotations using AI
The following image displays the personal browser view from the Glasp site. The middle column consists of thumbnails representing multiple web pages that have been annotated and the right-hand column the highlighted material (no notes were added to the source I used for this example) from the selected source. The red box was added to this image to bring your attention to the “Ask digital clone” button. This image is what you would see when connecting to my site to interact with my content. The button would read “Ask your clone” if I was connecting to my own account to interact with my content. Here is a link you can use to interact with my content. After you have read just a bit further, return and use this link to duplicate my example and then try a few requests of your own.
The next image displays what happens when the “Ask digital clone” button is selected. You should see a familiar AI interface with a text box at the bottom (red box) for initiating an interaction. I know the type of content I have read so I have generated a prompt I know should be relevant to the content I have annotated.
The prompt will generate a response if relevant information is available. However, here is what I find most useful. The response will be associated with a way to identify sources (see red box). Typically, I am most interested in reviewing original material from which I can then write something myself.
The link to relevant highlights should produce something that looks like the following.
Locating content saved by others
Glasp offers a capability that addresses the issue I identified earlier. How do you locate others to follow?
The drop-down menu under your image in the upper right-hand corner of the browser display should contain an option “Find like-minded people”. This option will attempt to identify others with some overlap in interests based on the type of content you have annotated. So, you must start by building at least a preliminary collection of annotated sites yourself. If you have no content, there is nothing available to use as the basis for a match.
Glasp should then generate something like the following. You can click on someone from this display to query their existing public material. If you then want to follow that individual, their site should contain a “Follow” button.
Summary
I hope this is enough to get you started. You can use the link to my account to explore. It seems unlikely to me that Glasp will always be free. They must have development and infrastructure costs. For now, the company has offered an interesting approach that has grown in capability during the time I have used it.
This post allows me to integrate my interest in studying, layering, questions, and using AI as a tutor. I propose a specific use of EdPuzzle, a tool for adding (layering) questions and notes to videos, be used as a study tool. EdPuzzle has a new AI feature that allows for the generation and insertion of open-ended and multiple-choice questions. So an educator interested in preparing videos students might watch to prepare for class could prepare a 15 minute mini-lecture and then use EdPuzzle to layer questions on this video and assign the combination of video and questions to students to be viewed before class. Great idea.
The AI capability was added to make the development and inclusion of questions less effortful. Or, the capability could be used to add some questions that educators could embellish with questions of their own. I propose a related, but different approach I think has unique value.
How about instead of preparing questions for students, allow students to use the AI generation tool to add and answer themselves or with peers.
Here is where some of my other interests come into play. When you can interact with AI that can be focused on assigned content you are to learn, you are using AI as a tutor. Questions are a part of the tutoring process.
What about studying? Questions have multiple benefits in encouraging productive cognitive behaviors. There is such a thing as a prequestioning effect. Attempting to answer questions before you encounter related material is a way to activate existing knowledge. What do you already know? Maybe you cannot answer many of the questions, but just trying makes you think of what you already know and this activated knowledge improves understanding as you then process assigned material. Postquestions are a great check on understanding (improving metacognition and directing additional study) and attempting to answer questions involves retrieval practice sometimes called the testing effect. For most learners, searching your memory for information has been proven to improve memory and understanding beyond what just studying external information (e.g., your notes) accomplishes.
I have described EdPuzzle previously, here are some additional comments about the use of the generative question tool.
After you have uploaded a video to EdPuzzle. You should encounter the opportunity to edit. You use edit to crop the video and to add notes and questions. The spots to initiate editing and adding questions are shown in the following images. When using AI to add questions, you use Teacher Assist – Add Questions.
After selecting Add Questions, you will be given the option of adding Open ended or Multiple Choice questions. My experience has been that unless your video includes a good deal of narration, the AI will generate more Open Ended than Multiple Choice questions. If you want to emphasize MC questions, you always have the option of adding questions manually.
Responding to a question will look like what you see in the following image. Playing the video will take the student to the point in the video where a question has been inserted and then stop to wait for a response.
When an incorrect response is generated to a MC question, the error will be identified.
EdPuzzle allows layered videos to be assigned to classes/students.
Anyone can explore EdPuzzle and create a few video lessons at no cost. The pricing structure for other categories of use can be found at the EdPuzzle site.
One side note: I used a video I created fitting the potential scenario I described of an educator preparing content for student use. However, I had loaded this video to YouTube. I found it difficult to download this video and finally resorted to the use of ClipGrab. I am unclear why I had this problem and I understand that “taking” video from some sources can be regarded as a violation of copyright. I know this does not apply in this case, but I did not want to mention this issue.
References:
Pan, S. C., & Sana, F. (2021). Pretesting versus posttesting: Comparing the pedagogical benefits of errorful generation and retrieval practice. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 27(2), 237–257.
Yang, C., Luo, L., Vadillo, M. A., Yu, R., & Shanks, D. R. (2021). Testing (quizzing) boosts classroom learning: A systematic and meta-analytic review. _Psychological Bulletin_, _147_(4), 399-435.
My explorations of AI use to this point have resulted in a focus on two applications – AI as tutor and AI as tool for note exploration. Both uses are based on the ability to focus on information sources I designate rather than allowing the AI service to rely on its own body of information. I see the use of AI to interact with the body of notes I have created as a way to inform my writing. My interest in AI tutoring is more related to imagining how AI could be useful to individual students as they study assigned content.
I have found that I must use different AI services for these different interests. The reason for this differentiation is that two of the most popular services (NotebookLM and OpenAI’s Custom GPTs) limit the number of inputs that can be accessed. I had hoped that I could point these services at a folder of notes (e.g., Obsidian files) and then interact with this body of content. However, both services presently allow only a small number of individual files (10 and perhaps 20) can be designed as source material. This is not about the amount of content as the focus of this post involves using these two services to interact with a single file of 27,000 words. I assume in a year the number of files will be less of an issue.
So, this post will explore the use of AI as a tutor applied to assigned content as a secondary or higher ed student might want to do. In practice, what I describe here would require that a student would have access to a digital version of assigned content not protected in some way. For my explorations, I am using the manuscript of a Kindle book I wrote before the material was converted to a Kindle book. I wanted to work with a multi-chapter source of a length students might be assigned.
NotebookLM is a newly released AI service from Google. The AI prompts can be focused on content that is available in Google drive or uploaded to the service. This service is available at no cost, but it should be understood that this is likely to change when Google is ready to offer a more mature service. Investing time in this service rather than others allows the development of skills and the exploration of potential, but in the long run some costs will be involved.
Once a user opens NotebookLM and creates a notebook (see red box surrounding new notebook), external content to be the focus of user prompts can be added (second image). I linked Notebook to the file I used in preparation for creating a Kindle book. Educators could create a notebook on unprotected content they wanted students to study.
The following image summarizes many essential features used when using NotebookLM. Starting with the right-hand column, the textbox near the bottom (enclosed in a red box) is where prompts are entered. The area above (another red box) provides access to content used by the service in generating the response to a prompt. The large area on the left-hand side displays the context associated with one of the areas referenced with the specific content used highlighted.
Access to a notebook can be shared and this would be the way an educator would provide students access to a notebook prepared for their use. In the image below, you will note the icon (at the top) used to share content, and when this icon is selected, a textbox for entering emails for individuals (or for a class if already prepared) appears.
Once you have subscribed to the monthly payment plan for ChatGPT – 4, accessing the service will bring up a page with the display shown below. The page allows access to ChatGPT and to any custom GPTs you have created. To create a Custom GPT you select Explore and then select Create a GPT. Describing the process of creating a GPT would require more space than I want to use in this post, but the process might best be described as conversational. You basically interact by describing what you are trying to create and you upload external resources if you want prompts to be focused on specific content. Book Mentor is the custom GPT I created for this demonstration.
Once created, a GPT is used very much in the same way a NotebookLM notebook is used. You use the prompt box to interact with the content associated with that GPT.
What follows are some samples of my interactions with the content. You should be able to see the prompt (Why is the word layering used to describe what the designer does to add value to an information source?)
Prompts can generate all kinds of ways of interaction (see a section below that describes what some of these interactions might be). One type I think has value in using AI as a tutor is to have the service ask you a question. An example of this approach is what is displayed in the following two images. The first image describes a request for the service to generate a multiple-choice question about generative activity which I then respond (correctly) and receive feedback. The second image shows the flexibility of the AI. When responding to the question, I thought a couple of the responses could be correct. After I answered the question and received feedback, I then asked about an answer I did not select wondering why this option could not also be considered correct. As you see in the AI reply, the system understands my issue and acknowledges how it might be correct. This seems very impressive to me and demonstrates that the interaction with the AI system allows opportunities that go beyond self-questioning.
Using AI as tutor
I have written previously about the potential of AI services to interact with learners to mimic some of the ways a tutor might work with a learner. I make no claims of equivalence here. I am proposing only that tutors are often not available and an AI system can challenge a learner in many ways that are similar to what a human tutor would do.
This post describes two systems now available that allow learners to work with assigned content that mimics how a tutor might work with a student. Both systems would allow a designer to create a tool focused on specific content that can be shared. ChatGPT custom GPTs require that those using a shared GPT have an active $20 per month account which probably means this approach would not presently be feasible for common application. Google’s Notebooks can be created at no cost to the designer or user, but this will likely change when Google decides the service is beyond the experimental stage. Perhaps the capability will be included in present services designed for educational situations.
While I recognize that cost is a significant issue, my intent here is to propose services that can be explored as proof of concept and those educators interested in AI opportunities might explore future productive classroom applications of AI.
I have written multiple posts explaining generative activities and how such external activities encourage productive cognitive behaviors. Some of these posts describe specific classroom applications of individual generative tasks. In this post, I intend to describe how educators can apply some of these generative activities when they assign web content (pages or videos).
In many cases, online content assigned in K12 classrooms was not prepared as instructional content. For example, an article from Scientific American might offer information relevant to a specific standard addressed in sophomore biology. What activities might an instructor add to help learners understand, remember, and possibly apply concepts within this article. For example, a textbook would likely have activities inserted at the end of a chapter, added as boxes within content, or recommended in a teacher’s manual. Instructors often make additions as class assignments. What I am supporting here is similar to what educational researchers have described as adjunct questions. These were originally questions added within instructional texts or attached at the end of such texts. Embedded activities play different roles than even the same activities might play when delayed and isolated from the informative content. At the time of initial exposure, my argument is that there is a difference between information and instructional content and the connection of generative learning activities is a way to make this transition.
A couple of years ago I became interested in a group of online services that were developed to improve the educational value of online content (web pages and videos). I developed my own way of describing what these services were developed to accomplish. Layering seemed a reasonable description because these services could not actually modify the content originally shared by content creators for ethical and legal reasons. What a layering service could do was take the feed from the creator’s service and add elements on top of that content. Elements were additions that could encourage important cognitive behaviors in a learner.
With a layering service, the content a learner encounters is a combination of the content from the content creator and additions layered on this content. Two sources and servers are involved. From the perspective of a designer, a layering service works by accepting the URL for a web page or video from the designer and then allows the designer to add elements that appear within or on top of the content from the designated source. The layering service sends this combination to the learner and this does not change the original document and still downloads the original from the server each time the combination of original and layered content is requested by a user. Ads still appear and the content server still records the download to give the creator credit. The layering service generates a link provided to learners and recreates the composite of content and designer additions each time a learner uses that link.
Questions are my favorite example of an external activity that can be added to encourage a variety of important thinking (internal) behaviors. For example, if you want a learner to link a new concept to everyday experiences the concept is useful in understanding, you might ask the learner to provide examples that show the application of the concept. Many learners may do this without the question, but the question increases the likelihood more learners will work to identify such connections with their existing experiences. Those who think about instruction in this way may describe what they are doing as designing instruction. I offer an extended description of generative activity in a previous post.
Depending on the specific service, the elements that layering services I am aware of include annotations, highlighting, questions, and discussion prompts. Annotations could include additional material such as examples, translations, or instructions. Questions could be open-ended or multiple-choice. A few of these elements could also be added by the learner (highlights and annotations) so elements provided to the designer could be used to encourage specific use of the elements available to students.
My personal interest in promoting layering services is intended to encourage the use of services that allow educators, educational content designers, and learners to work with this content to provide more effective learning resources and more generative learning experiences. In addition, content creators have a right to assume the server used by the content creator will be contacted each time content is requested and inclusions such as ads are included. The expectations of the content creator are not ignored when using a layering service.
I have identified several services that meet my definition of a layering service. Here, I will describe one service focused on web pages and one that focused on video. Other examples can be explored from the page linked above and I assume others exist that I have not identified. Services are constantly being updated, but I have just worked with the two examples I describe here and this information should be current as of the uploading of this post.
Insert Learning
Insert Learning is my best example of the services promoted here. I say this because it offers the most generative options and the generative options are part of an environment allowing an educator to both create multiple lessons, assign these lessons to members of multiple classes, and record data on student completion of some of the types of activity involved in individual lessons.
The following image should give you some idea how this works. Down the left border of the image, you see a menu of icons allowing the designer to select highlight, note, question, and discussion. Highlight and note work as one probably expects. When the icon is selected text can be highlighted by the designer or learner. The note icon adds what appear as Postit notes allowing the inclusion of text, links, images, video, and whatever else works as an embed. The question icon adds questions either multiple choice as appears in the image or open-ended. The discussion icon appears very much like an open-ended question but accumulates and displays responses from multiple learners to a prompt.
As I said, Insert Learning differentiates itself from many of the other services because the layering component is part of a system that allows the assignment of lessons to individual students organized as classes and also collects responses to questions by lesson and student. The following image shows a couple of responses to an open-ended question. I used Insert Learning in a graduate course I taught in Instructional Design. I made use of several of the tools I presented to students even when the most common use would be in K-12. This image shows how responses to questions would appear in the Grade Book. I could assign a score to a response and this score would then be visible to the student submitting a given response.
It has been a few years since I used Insert Learning. When I did, I paid $8 a month. I see the price has now increased to $20 a month or $100 for the year.
EdPuzzle
EdPuzzle is a service for adding questions and notes to videos. It includes a system for adding these elements, assigning these videos to students, and saving student responses to questions. The following images are small to allow them to be inserted in this post. In the following image, the red box on the right allows the selection of the element to be added – MC question, open-ended question, and note. The timeline underneath the video (middle) is also enclosed in a red box. As the designer watches the video, clicking one of these buttons stops the video and allows the selected addition to be included. A dot appears below the timeline to indicate where an element has been added. A learner can either play the video which will stop for a response when one of these inclusions is reached or select one of the dots to respond. The second image shows the dialog box used to add an open-ended question.
In the video I used in this example, I created a demonstration using Python to run LOGO commands and saved the video to YouTube. Again, this was a demonstration used in a graduate edtech course. Early in the video, I showed and explained the LOGO code. The video then showed the result of running this program.
When using EdPuzzle with this video, I inserted a note asking students to take a pencil and sheet of paper to draw what the LOGO program would create. Near the end of the video, I inserted an open-ended question asking that students explain how Papert’s notion of computational understanding would provide a different way of thinking about the traditional definition of circle (i.e., a plane closed figure with points equidistant from a point).
I used the free version of EdPuzzle because I only assigned students to a few examples to experience what the service provided. You can do a lot with this service at no cost. The pro-level price is $13.50 per month. EdPuzzle Pricing
Summary– these two examples demonstrate the use of layering services to add generative activities to a web page and a web video. There are similar services available from other companies that generate similar student experiences. The value in such services is the opportunity to design learning experiences containing activities likely to improve understanding and retention.
You can make cognition as simple or complex as you want, but for me, learning boils down to thinking about experiences and being an effective educator boils down to encouraging and perhaps directing this thinking in students.
Research conducted by educational and cognitive psychologists provides some ideas about how this directing and encouraging might be accomplished. I always emphasize the “might” in my writing. Simply put, learning must be accomplished by the learner and another person or an external task can only work when a learner engages with that person or that task.
I find the research cognitive psychologists conduct incredibly useful in understanding what it takes to accomplish learning and based on this understanding how educators and learners might then proceed to be more successful. Just as every gardener does not have to study botany and chemistry to achieve a great harvest of tomatoes, not every researcher must immerse herself or himself in the details and depth of research to be a successful educational practitioner. Some practitioners may be fascinated with how understanding and retention are accomplished and others just may want to know what tasks to assign that are usually productive. As an academic retiree, I spend some time as a translator between these two types of individuals. I would also propose that the interaction of these two groups is important because ideas flow in both directions. For science-based approaches to change and improve both groups should be willing to share their perspectives and be thoughtful in interpreting the ideas presented to them.
A couple of years ago I became interested in a group of online services that were developed to improve the educational value of online content (web pages and videos). I developed my own way of describing what these services were developed to accomplish. It seemed that these services were designed to transform informational content into learning experiences and this was accomplished by layering different elements or tasks on the original content. Layering seemed the correct description because these services could not actually modify the content originally shared by content creators for ethical and legal reasons, but what the service could do was take the feed from the creator’s service and add elements on top. Elements were additions that could encourage important cognitive behaviors in a learner. I typically describe these elements as external tasks that encourage cognitive or mental behaviors. This description is similar to what others call generative activities (to be accurate generative activities are sometimes described as requiring the creation of a product, but the idea of an external task to influence cognitive behavior is the same). Questions are my favorite example of an external activity that can be added to encourage a variety of important thinking (internal) behaviors. For example, if you want a learner to link a new concept to everyday experiences the concept is useful in understanding, you might ask the learner to provide examples that show the application of the concept. Many learners may do this without the question, but the question increases the likelihood more learners will work to identify such connections with their existing experiences. Those who think about instruction in this way may describe what they are doing as designing instruction. What are the cognitive tasks that are important in learning a certain thing and what external activities might be added to the exposure to the input of demonstrations and other inputs to increase the probability these cognitive behaviors occur?
For example, what external tasks would increase the likelihood of:
Knowledge activation – what do I already know that is relevant
Elaboration – how does this input fit with what I know and what might it imply
Comprehension monitoring – do I understand, does this apply as I think it does
Retrieval practice – what makes this easier to retrieve when it is appropriate
Depending on the specific service, the elements that layering services provided included annotations, highlighting, questions, and discussion prompts. Annotations could include additional material such as examples, translations, or instructions. Questions could be open-ended or multiple-choice. A few of these elements could also be added by the learner (highlights and annotations) so elements provided to the designer could be used to encourage specific use of the elements available to students.
The application of this approach to AI-assisted study behavior
My interests seem to occur in waves. There was the layering wave and I, like so many others, have launched into an AI in education wave. AI has rapidly taken over most of the online discussions I follow. AI can be applied in many ways, but I think at this time one of the most productive is study behavior. One of my core interests has always been study behavior. I define study behavior broadly as everything that follows the initial exposure to new experiences. Note-taking in class occurs after the initial exposure. The questions a teacher asks or the discussions that are encouraged with peers during class occur after the initial exposure. Then, there are all of the activities, required and voluntary, students engage in on their own. For those of us outside of a formal educational setting, we may engage in such activities as taking notes or highlighting what we read to enhance the benefit of pure exposure to new material.
My new interest is in how AI tools can be applied as a tutor or skilled peer to improve the study experience. There is a good deal of overlap between the approach I have been taking with promoting layering services and now with AI tutoring. Tutoring is possibly the best way to assist a learner, but tutoring is expensive and access is not always available. If we consider what a tutor does for a learner and also take the approach I describe as identify productive external tasks that promote learning, we may find similar opportunities when treating some AI services as a tutor.
What I am proposing here is not that novel and efforts to create smart tutors have generated commercial and research interest for years and presently by organizations with connections to education (Google, Khan Academy). What I think I can add are some ideas about using an available AI tool (ChatPDF) right now to explore this capacity.
ChatPDF as the name implies allows an AI-assisted interaction with a PDF that you upload. Focusing AI on a specifically designated resource has both advantages and disadvantages. With studying, you are often studying something specific – a specific resource. The information you are encountering might be available from many other sources, but if you are a student, your responsibility can be defined in terms of specific sources. The advantage I have found with using a specific resource rather than “general knowledge” with present AI applications is that my interaction seems more accurate with a target source. I have less challenges with an AI chat service wandering off and offering content that is identifiably erroneous. This will likely change as improvements continue, but for now there are problems. The disadvantage of targeting a specific source is that aspects of studying involve going beyond the information provided to speculate about examples and applications not presented in the target material. When you constrain the interaction to a source, I have found AI struggles with this type of expectation. AI tools now available can do many impressive things, but you do need to have a sense of what is reasonable to expect and what problems might occur.
I recognize that many resources a student encounters are not provided as pdfs (e.g., a textbook). I have no immediate workaround for this challenge so I offer this post as a recommendation for exploration. I predict this is what is coming and that there are opportunities available now in specific situations. For my own exploration, I have been using the content I wrote. I want to make certain I understand the content I am applying AI to investigate at a deep level so I can evaluate what the AI offers me as a learner. I have authored a couple of textbooks and I was able to take the word processing file of a chapter, save it as a pdf, and then upload it to ChatPDF (here is the chapter if you want to submit it yourself and mimic my prompts).
As I explored ChatPDF and thinking about arguing the service could act as a tutor, I decided that that comparison to a professional tutor might be a bit much. Perhaps, more accurately, the AI service could be described as acting like a capable peer. A talented peer would be helpful and accurate most of the time, but you might also expect that sometimes you would find things your peer did not quite get as well as you did and still find it helpful to continue to study with this individual.
What follows are some of my interactions with the chapter I uploaded using ChatPDF. I label the material in the following may – Comment, Prompt, and AI – so you can interpret the various examples I provide. Remember that if the AI presents a question and the learner responds, the question is the AI presenting and the answer is the learner returning a Prompt. Prompts are what the learner submits and AI is always what the service replies in the material that follows. The idea with these examples is to offer some insights into how this tool could be used by a learner to assist them in improving their understanding and retention of content. Unlike a human tutor, a learner must prompt the AI system to create the interaction. However, the system is quite versatile and it is worth the time to just explore and see what it will do. As you will see, the system allows a conversation to continue through several interactions so there may be multiple prompts and responses that continue on the same initial theme. This would be the way a student and tutor interact.
ChatPDF Examples
[Comment] Gagne’s 9 events, a very popular model of instructional design, suggests a learning experience begin with an event intended to capture learner attention. To me, using ChatPDF after reading assigned content is a study experience that would not typically include this element, but just to offer an example of how an AI service might generate such an event see the following.
[Prompt] Identifying something from this chapter that will likely surprise me.
[AI] Something surprising and interesting idea from this chapter is the concept of “personal theories,” which are individual beliefs or mental models that people develop based on their experiences and observations. These personal theories can sometimes be flawed or inaccurate, and may lead to inert knowledge if they are not challenged or corrected by more formal, accurate theories learned in an educational setting. This highlights the importance of not just teaching information, but also helping students to develop critical thinking skills and the ability to evaluate their own beliefs and assumptions.
[Comment] Activate existing knowledge. Events two and three in Gagne’s model are to identify goals and activate relevant existing knowledge. Again, I am focusing here on how a tutor might guide study, but again I will show a use of the AI tutor that accomplish such goals and with this example I will show how a learner could followup as one might with a human tutor.
[Prompt] What are the most important ideas I should learn from this chapter?
[AI] This chapter covers several key ideas related to the nature of learning and the thinking processes necessary to produce learning. Some of the most important ideas include understanding how students learn, what skills and knowledge they should acquire, and how to design effective learning tasks that promote meaningful learning. Additionally, we discuss the cognitive system at both a detailed and conceptual level, identifying core functions that contribute to student learning. Finally, we emphasize the importance of considering the limitations of the cognitive system when designing instruction.
[Prompt] What are questions I should be able to answer to show I have learned these important ideas?
[AI] To demonstrate your understanding of the important ideas covered in this chapter, you might be able to answer questions such as:
What are some key factors that influence how students learn?
How can you design learning tasks that promote meaningful learning?
What are some core functions of the cognitive system that contribute to student learning?
Why is it important to consider the limitations of the cognitive system when designing instruction?
How can you use your understanding of how students learn and what skills and knowledge they should acquire to inform your teaching practice?
[Prompt] Let me pick one of these questions to see if I understand.
[AI] Sure, feel free to pick any of the questions I provided earlier and I’ll do my best to help you answer it!
[Prompt] What are some limitations of the cognitive system that educators should consider when designing instruction?
Learners can easily become overloaded when learning something new. Their existing knowledge may also not provide necessary background knowledge and they need time to process new ideas. If more and more information is added before students have time to think, they will miss things when they become overloaded.
[AI] You did a good job summarizing the idea that learners can become overloaded when presented with too much information at once. It is important for educators to consider the limitations of the cognitive system when designing instruction, such as the limited capacity of working memory and the importance of providing sufficient time for learners to process new information. By taking these limitations into account, educators can design instruction that is more effective and helps learners avoid becoming overloaded.
[Comments] One of the easiest uses of AI is to use it to ask and respond to questions. You can test your understanding of a claim you make or ask the service to present you with questions. The wording of the prompts is important in getting the service to interact with you in the way you want. Read the way I ask the service to present me with a series of multiple-choice questions carefully.
[Prompt] Is the limit of short term memory what I can remember the next day
[AI] According to page 3 of this PDF, there is a limit to how long information will be maintained in working memory without continued attention. This means that the limit of short-term memory is not necessarily what you can remember the next day, but rather how much information you can hold in your mind at any one time without actively rehearsing or attending to it.
[Prompt] If I am a teacher, how can I provide a form of metacognition for a student when that student cannot provide it for himself?
[AI] As a teacher, you can provide metacognitive support to students who may not be able to provide it for themselves. One way to do this is by modeling metacognitive strategies and explicitly teaching students how to use them. For example, you might demonstrate how to monitor comprehension while reading by thinking aloud and sharing your thought process with the class. You could also provide prompts or questions that encourage students to reflect on their own learning, such as “What did you learn from this activity?” or “What strategies did you use to solve this problem?” Additionally, you could encourage peer-to-peer discussions where students can share their own insights and perspectives on the learning process. By providing these types of supports, you can help students develop their metacognitive skills and become more effective learners.
[Prompt] Ask me a short essay question based on the content of this chapter.
[AI] How can teachers help students to develop critical thinking skills and avoid the phenomenon of “inert knowledge”? Provide specific examples of instructional strategies that can be used in the classroom to promote active learning and meaningful application of new information.
[Prompt] Remind students they learned information relevant to a novel problem in class as part of challenging them with a new problem to solve.
[AI] This statement aligns with the concept of “transfer” discussed in the chapter on “Inert Knowledge.” Transfer refers to the ability to apply knowledge and skills learned in one context to new situations or problems. One way that teachers can promote transfer is by explicitly connecting new problems or tasks to previously learned information or skills. By reminding students of what they have already learned and how it relates to the current problem, teachers can help students make connections and apply their knowledge in a more meaningful way. This can also help to avoid the phenomenon of inert knowledge, where students may have acquired information but are unable to use it effectively in new situations.
[Comment] A limitation is revealed in the following interaction. The tutor asks a question requesting an example and the example given is not something the tutor understands to be a part of the chapter.
[Prompt] Ask me a short essay question based on this chapter
[AI]] How can the concept of “inert knowledge” impact student learning, and what strategies can teachers use to help students avoid this phenomenon? Provide specific examples to support your answer.
[Prompt] A parent knows that young children may commit some bad behaviors to get his parents attention, but typically parents respond to such misbehaviors anyway.
[AI] I’m sorry, but I’m not sure how this statement relates to the chapter on “Inert Knowledge” and learning strategies. Is there a specific question or topic you would like me to address?
[Prompt] Generate 10 multiple choice questions for this document. Number the questions and allow me to provide an answer for each number. Do not provide answers I can see.
[AI] Sure, here are 10 multiple choice questions based on the document:
What is metacognition?
a) The capacity to direct and control our own cognitive behavior
b) The ability to memorize information quickly
c) The process of learning through repetition
d) The use of external tasks to support weak cognition
What is the common challenge when working with a group of learners?
a) Meeting individual needs when working with a group
b) Encouraging students to work independently
c) Providing enough resources for all students
d) Ensuring that all students have the same level of knowledge
What is an example of metacognitive control?
a) Monitoring your own understanding of the material
b) Memorizing information without understanding it
c) Repeating information until it is learned
d) Using external tasks to support cognition
What is metacognitive knowledge?
a) Personal insights regarding the self and tasks and potential strategy options
b) Memorized information about a subject area
c) The ability to repeat information quickly and accurately
d) The use of external tasks to support cognition
How can teachers provide metacognitive support to students?
a) By modeling metacognitive strategies and explicitly teaching students how to use them
b) By providing lectures without any interaction from students
c) By assigning homework without any guidance or feedback
d) By providing multiple-choice tests only
What is an example of an external task that may support weak metacognition?
a) Study questions
b) Group discussions
c) Peer-to-peer feedback
d) Individual reflection
What does effective tool use require?
a) Recognizing task demands, personal strengths and weaknesses, and insight necessary to recognize and respond when a plan does not achieve expected results.
b) Memorizing information quickly without understanding it.
c ) Repeating information until it is learned.
d) Using external tasks to support cognition.
What is the capacity to direct and control our own cognitive behavior?
a) Metacognition
b) External tasks
c) Cognitive processing
d) Learning strategies
What is the importance of understanding how students learn?
a) It helps teachers design effective learning experiences for students
b) It helps teachers memorize information quickly
c) It helps teachers assign homework without any guidance or feedback
d) It helps teachers provide multiple-choice tests only
[Prompt] 1 a
[AI] Correct! Metacognition is the capacity to direct and control our own cognitive behavior.
[Prompt] 2 a
[AI] Correct! The common challenge when working with a group of learners is meeting individual needs when working with a group.
etc.
[Comment] Here is a sequence generated when I asked for help understanding, but was unclear about whether the AI bot “understands” a concept in the same way I use the concept. For example, I understand that inert has to do with what context triggers the use of knowledge. Hence, a student who understands the meaning of a word on a test or when asked in class would not necessarily access the same knowledge when in a different context (at home reading a book) that does not trigger “school content”. This seems how I used the term when writing the cognitive chapter. I ended up trying to negotiate an interpretation by interacting with AI as tutor which while not generating a simple clarification I might have wanted was fairly sophisticated. I found myself arguing with the AI service about the meaning of something I had written, but this interaction was interesting.
[Prompt] Help me understand inert learning. What does the term mean and provide an example.
[AI] Inert learning refers to the phenomenon where students may learn information but are unable to apply it in new or unfamiliar contexts. In other words, they may be able to repeat information but are not able to use it in a meaningful way. An example of inert learning might be a student who memorizes a list of vocabulary words for a test but is unable to use those words in conversation or writing outside of the test context. This can happen when students are taught information in isolation, without opportunities to practice applying it in different contexts or with different types of problems. To avoid inert learning, it is important for teachers to provide opportunities for students to practice using new information in different ways and contexts.
[Prompt] What do you mean by test context? What do you mean by a meaningful way?
[AI] By “test context,” I mean the specific situation in which the student is asked to demonstrate their knowledge, such as on a quiz or exam. In this context, the student may be able to recall information that they have memorized, but they may not be able to apply it in a more complex or unfamiliar situation.
By “meaningful way,” I mean using the information in a way that is relevant and useful to the student’s life or goals. For example, if a student is learning about fractions, being able to use that knowledge to solve real-world problems involving measurements or cooking would be a meaningful application of that knowledge.
[Prompt] Would the concept of inert knowledge predict a student might be able to provide a correct meaning for a word from the test if a teacher asked for a definition, but not when the student encountered the word while reading at home?
[AI] Yes, that is a possible example of inert knowledge. If a student is able to provide a correct definition of a word on a test or quiz, but is unable to recognize or use the word in context when reading at home, it suggests that the student has not fully internalized the meaning of the word and is not able to apply it in new or unfamiliar situations. This could be due to a lack of practice using the word in different contexts or because the student has only learned the definition in isolation without connecting it to other knowledge or experiences.
[Comment] The AI tutor is versatile and you can get it to interact with you in different ways. In the content that follows, I ask the service to generate question prompts and then an outline of ideas from the chapter as might be included in a PowerPoint presentation. I then interact with the tutor based on these prompts and parts of the PowerPoint outline.
[Prompt] Write three discussion prompts based on this chapter.
[AI] Sure, here are three discussion prompts based on the chapter:
1. What are some examples of boundaries that exist in your own experiences, and how have you crossed them?
2. How might crossing boundaries between different grade levels or schools impact your learning and personal growth?
3. In what ways can using primary sources enhance your understanding of a topic compared to using a textbook?
[Prompt] Write a response to each of these discussion prompts.
[AI] 1. Personally, I found the ideas presented in this chapter to be very relatable to my own experiences with learning. I think that the concept of crossing boundaries between different experiences is particularly relevant, as it highlights the importance of being open to new perspectives and ideas. In my own learning, have found that being willing to explore new topics and engage with different viewpoints has been key to my growth and development.
2. In terms of encouraging students to engage in meaningful learning, I think that it is important for teachers to create a supportive and inclusive classroom environment. This can involve providing opportunities for students to collaborate and share their ideas, as well as offering personalized feedback and guidance. Additionally, I think that it is important for teachers to be flexible and adaptable in their teaching methods, in order to meet the diverse needs and interests of their students.
3. One example of how the thinking processes discussed in this chapter have helped me in my own learning is through my experiences with critical thinking. By learning to question assumptions and evaluate evidence, I have been able to develop a more nuanced and informed perspective on a variety of topics. Additionally, I have found that being able to think critically has helped me to communicate my ideas more effectively, both in writing and in conversation.
[Prompt] What is wrong with reading a textbook from a tablet or computer
[AI] Research has shown that reading from a screen can result in overconfidence and poorer comprehension compared to reading from a paper source. While there are multiple hypotheses as to why this difference exists, some evidence points to metacognition. It is presently unclear why this happens, but external performance and more practice reading long form content from a screen may help compensate for the lack of insight into comprehension. However, it is important to note that this research is not suggesting that reading from a tablet or computer is inherently bad, but rather that it may require more effort and attention to ensure comprehension and avoid overconfidence.
[Prompt] I know that I should try to read from my phone while I am driving. Is this an example of working memory overload that may result in an accident?
[AI] Reading from a device while driving is not recommended as it can lead to distractions and accidents. Research has shown that reading from a screen can result in overconfidence and poorer comprehension compared to reading from a paper source. It is presently unclear why this happens, but external performance and more practice reading long form content from a screen may help compensate for the lack of insight into comprehension. Metacognition, or thinking about thinking, is important for effective tool use and the skilled learner can plan to avoid difficulties or compensate for problems. However, it is important to prioritize safety while driving and avoid any distractions, including reading from a device.
[Prompt] Create the text that would appear on PowerPoint slides used to explain the memory stores and processes and cognitive process that make up the model of cognition used in this chapter.
[AI] Slide 1: Introduction to the Cognitive Perspective
– Describes learning and thinking activities in terms of multiple memory stores
– Processes or mental actions used in thinking and learning
– Executive mechanisms used to evaluate and control processes
Slide 2: Memory Stores
– Three memory stores: sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory
– Sensory memory holds information briefly
– Working memory maintains information for a short period of time
-Long-term memory stores information for a longer period of time
Slide 3: Mental Tools
– Learners have mental tools to accomplish thinking and learning tasks
– Four mental tools: Attend, Link, Elaborate, and Retrieve
– Attend maintains ideas in working memory
– Link establishes connections between information units – Elaborate adds meaning to information
– Retrieve accesses information from long-term memory
Slide 4: Evaluation and Control
– Learners use executive mechanisms to evaluate and control processes
– Determine whether processes have accomplished intended goals
– Prioritize certain learning activities based on cognitive constructs
[Prompt] When the slide says the mental tool of attend keeps information in short term memory, I think this means that when we think about something we keep what we are thinking about in our consciousness longer. Is this correct?
[AI] Yes, that’s correct. The mental tool of attend is used to maintain certain ideas in consciousness, which is also known as working memory. This helps to keep the information in our consciousness for a longer period of time, allowing us to think about it more deeply and process it more effectively.
[Prompt] When the slide says sensory memory holds information briefly, just how much time is that? I think it a couple of seconds at most. Is that correct?
[AI] Yes, that’s correct. Sensory memory holds information for a very brief period of time, usually just a few seconds at most. After that, the information either fades away or is transferred to short-term memory.
Summary comment: I hope these examples offer insight into the flexibility of ChatPDF as tutor. Learning how the AI services work takes some experimentation and most services offer the opportunity to experiment without cost. One issue I must acknowledge is that much of what I write about assumes a motivated learner. Thinking is work and work requires interest, resolve, and incentives. None of us is probably motivated to learn some of what others expect us to know. Accepting this reality, I tend to like what Sal Kahn said in defending mastery approaches to learning. Approaches that improve the success of learning address at least an important aspect of the motivational component of education. We are more interested in learning when our efforts result in success than when these efforts are frustrating and often unsuccessful. [my interpretation]
The addition of elements to the content offered by another content creator without actually changing that content as accessed from its original location.
Why should educators and instructional designers be aware of layering services?
There seems an increasing interest in moving beyond commercial materials (e.g., Ditch the Textbook) to meet educational goals and in some situations control costs. It can also be argued that most of us once out of formal school settings continue learning from sources not typically prepared as educational resources. Layering services allow those focused on education to use the content available online and improve this material to make it more productive for learning.
What elements can be added by layering?
The elements that can be added vary with the service. The total list I am aware of from my review of multiple services includes highlights, annotations or notes, questions, and discussion prompts. I use notes broadly to include the addition of multiple elements such as text, video, images, and links. Services differ in whether all participants can add all of the elements that a service makes available or whether some elements are limited to the educator/designer.
What makes the idea of layering distinct from activities such as highlighting a pdf or some other document I have downloaded?
Layering offers a way to respect content creator copyrights (see following segment), deliver learning experiences via the Internet, and transform informative online content into learning resources. The principles that make layering helpful to learners can certainly be applied to content a teacher or learner can access without the Internet.
Why should I worry about changing a document I have downloaded and want to share the new creation with students?
It depends on the situation. When a content creator places a video or multimedia content online, that content creator is not necessarily giving you permission to make that content your own or make changes to it and share it with others. However, this is often what an educator would really prefer to do for practical reasons such as changing the content to make it more useful as a learning resource and to provide the resource in the changed form to students. Such actions ignore the copyright expectations of the content creator which may intend the content to be offered complete with ads or even to generate download data financially benefitting the content creator.
How does this situation change with layering?
With a layering service, the content a learner encounters is a combination of the content from the content creator and additions layered on this content. The service sends this combination to the learner and this does not change the original document and still downloads the original from the server each time the combination of original and layered content is requested by a user. Ads still appear and the content server still records the download to give the creator credit.
My personal interest in promoting layering services is intended to encourage the use of services that meet the expectations of content creators and allow educators, educational content designers, and learners to work with this content to provide more effective learning resources and more generative learning experiences.
The services I categorize as layering services vary along several dimensions. They differ in the elements that can be added and they differ in whether they are limited to adding layered elements to the composite served to learners or include other capabilities such as the management of assignments and the collection of learner performance data. Some services are free and some are provided to teachers and schools as subscription services.
A few years ago I generated some simple videos that offer examples of layering services suited to modifying online video and web content. These videos are available at no cost. I have also written an inexpensive Kindle book that provides an explanation of the value of the most common layered elements and takes users through adding these elements with several of the most popular layering services. I encourage you to at least take a look at the videos if what I have written here piques your interest. Layering services are also identified as a separate category on the blog and this content can be viewed by selecting the layering category option from drop-down category menu in the side column.
InsertLearning is one of my most frequent recommendations for K12 classrooms. It is one of the examples I highlight in my Kindle Primer – Designing Instruction Using Layering Services. The InsertLearning environment allows a teacher to add elements to existing online web pages and then assign this combination to students. It is a great tool for teachers wanting to “ditch the textbook” or who want to emphasize OER. The elements include comments and highlights (which are not common additions among tools of this type), but also questions and discussion prompts. I call InsertLearning an environment because it also includes a management system allowing educators to assign resources prepared in this fashion and to view individual student responses to questions. The original service was a bargain at $8 a month, but I see the new price has been increased to $100 a year. For what this service can do, this is still a reasonable price.
What had confused me about the service was that when I attempted to review the service for updates all of the content my searches seemed to surface ended a few years ago. I finally contacted one of the founders and he explained that the service had been purchased by fan.school. This company has made educational services originating in Minnesota a target of acquisition and provides a more stable for continuation of several smaller companies. InsertLearning works as a source to learn about the program and fan.school provides an access point specific to this product.
As far as I can tell, my videos describing InsertLearning still offer an adequate overview of the service. My price quote is no longer accurate.
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