Ixchell (00:00): How can teachers keep growing without giving up their summer? Stick with us for practical PD ideas that are light and flexible.

Brent (00:10): Welcome to the DIESOL podcast, where we focus on developing innovation in English as a second or other language. I’m Brent Warner, Professor of ESL at Irvine Valley College, and I’m here with the wonderful Ixchell Reyes, award-winning educator in innovation and professional development, specializing in teacher training with an EdTech focus.

Ixchell: (00:32): How’s it going mid-summer? Is it mid-summer?

Brent (00:38): Not like the movie, though.

Ixchell (00:40): Kind of! (laughter)

Brent (00:42): Yeah, I just came back from a little vacation, little time off, and I did my best not to be online much of that time, or especially not to be doing like, you know, posting about all sorts of ideas, whatever. I just wanted to kind of check out. And I know you kind of did the same thing, right?

Ixchell (01:02): Me too. Yeah, I was on vacation, no phone, no Wi-Fi, as much as I could possibly muster.

Brent (01:10): Way to live! Who knew that we could handle that, which is amazing.

Ixchell (01:15): Yeah, it’s great.

Brent (01:17): Please, please, please. So I think we should start off by saying, hey, please disconnect. And then we’re going to finish by saying, here’s all the ways you should reach us.

Ixchell (01:28): We did promise light and flexible. So, yeah.

Brent (01:31): Yeah. So basically, the idea here today is we’re going to keep it simple. We just want to share some things that, you know, a lot of us feel like we kind of fall behind during the summer and or, you know, or, on the other hand, as I look on like LinkedIn, I’m like, everybody is spending way too much time over-exploring, and it’s like, take your time off too, you know. So I think part of what we’re trying to say is, hey, here are a few things. You should explore these a little bit, but don’t go too heavy, like for one or two.

Ixchell (02:05): Yeah, try one or two. Keep it light.

Brent (02:08): You know, find out what’s working for you, and we’ll just share a few things. So Ixchell, are you ready to jump in?

Ixchell (02:16): Dive in.

Brent (02:17): Dive in. Here we go.

Brent (02:19): So first thing we wanted to talk about is some tools. So I think the recommendation here is one, we have not fully explored these ones, as we often do this, we kind of say, hey, like, these are some things that might be worth exploring, and we’re just looking at them, because they have some interesting possibilities. So we’ll share a few of the ideas, and I’m going to start with Padlet and the Padlet updates. Have you been looking at all of this, Ixchell?

Ixchell (02:48): Um, not recently. So maybe about a year ago I got whatever was coming back at ISTE ’24.

Brent (02:55): Yeah. Well, there’s been a lot of new stuff for them. So briefly, one of the things actually, I am kind of interested, so we’ll combine two of these parts together so now they have something that’s more it’s like the video discussions, which is really trying to replace Flipgrid, Flip and, yeah, Flip, sorry. I never called. I never got it in my—

Ixchell (03:18): I know flip, so flip. Let’s just never—that’s why they went out of business, because they chose the wrong name.

Brent (03:26): But anyways, it really is meant to replace that. So they’ve got this kind of video discussions thing. I haven’t done a deep dive into it, but that is the idea is like posting and responding in video format, and then connected to that, which is really great for language learners is they have a caption editing option inside of there now. And so I like the idea that maybe students would make a video for themselves. It would auto caption it, but then they could click on it and then go in and see, like, Hey, hold on a second. I need to change some of these things and recognize when they’re editing the captioning to also, you know, hopefully improve some of their English, or improve, like, their understanding of, Oh, I thought I said this, but the AI heard me say this. This is an activity I’ve been working with for quite a while, but I like that it would be built into your own conversations or your own presentations.

Ixchell (04:20): Very cool.

Brent (04:21): Yeah, and a couple other things inside of there too. Sorry. Just, I don’t know if you’ve seen these, but one table format, so they’ve got this whole interactive basically, it’s like a Google Sheets or Excel thing. And then they also have a tool which is more kind of like the general wraparound services, but it might be useful, which is Padlet TA so it’s like, Hey, make a worksheet. Or, you know, help me generate a lesson plan. Or, you know, some of those things that are just kind of, you know, I’m not sure that that’s what almost all the AI things are using, is just wrapping it around to make something, make more worksheets. But it might be, there might be some good stuff in there.

Ixchell (05:02): Yeah, I’m actually gonna stick up for Padlet TA, because with my teacher trainees, especially those who’ve never made their own lesson plan, it helped them figure out the format. So for them to see to take a topic and then see it generate and then tailor that to what we are, what they’re required in my class. That actually was a really good way to help them keep their sources and also go back and look at it. So love it.

Brent (05:28): Well, the next tool is Google Gemini, and Google is really amping up what they’re adding into Gemini.

Ixchell (05:35): Yeah, big time.

Brent (05:36): Some of the, some of the an article I saw was like, it’s the, what did they call it, the Magic School AI or, what is it School AI killer, because now they’ve got all of these options available for educators. And I haven’t had a chance to play around with it, but I did see, like, the layout of all the tools and it’s really cool that we can have that built into Google, or have Gemini do all of those things. Have you had a chance to try it out?

Ixchell (06:05): A tiny bit. So at ISTE, they were all there talking about all of these kind of crazy things that they’re doing. When we did the book launch and the little launch party, Sarah Davila shared some really, really cool things around, like the interactive elements, because basically, it’s not just a chat bot. It’s like, now you can build the kind of these interactive apps right into it, and then have students interact and play with them. So she was doing these cool things around like, Hey, here’s an old PDF I had that was, like, a bunch of, like, flash cards you would traditionally cut and paste, cut print on paper, cut out, and then give to students, right? But now it’s like, it turns it into digital flashcards, and like, you know, just kind of say, like telling it to do that. And so there’s all these really cool things that I would like to explore with Gemini, for sure.

Brent (06:56): And speaking of Google, I will also mention Notebook LM. I think all of these are things that would deserve a full episode each, right? And so we have talked about notebook, I think we’ve mentioned Notebook LM a bit in the past. It’s been around kind of, you know, for at least a year, if not more. But Notebook LM allows you to upload a bunch of resources, and then it kind of turns that into the base of information for the language model. So instead of like, ChatGPT, or, you know, Gemini or whatever, where it’s like, kind of the world, the whole world of information, Notebook LM is like, whatever you have uploaded, or whatever you’ve connected to it, that’s the only place where it’s pulling from. So it’s a little bit more trustworthy, I think, for students, if you’re sharing it with them, to say, like, Hey, we’re working on this one idea, and this one content area, and we don’t want it to go outside of that area. And so it will only pull based on the information that you’ve provided, which is pretty nice, and then can create little podcasts. It can create mind maps, all sorts of interesting things.

Ixchell (08:02): That is really cool. And you told me about this. I hadn’t played with it. I still haven’t, but you showed me and it looks fascinating. So I’m actually going to try that out this week and see what I can do.

Brent (08:13): Yeah, another AI related tool. Are the agents ChatGPT agents new release. Some interesting, some concerning. I actually haven’t played with very many of them related to the classroom. But are there some that you sort of want—

Ixchell (08:27): That this is the one. I mean, it’s brand new, right? And so what, this idea is like is essentially, it’s the idea of, like, you can link in ChatGPT to do work for you, and, like, log into your accounts and then go into whatever it is that you’re sharing, and it will do pieces of work for you. So it’s like, Hey, I have to do step one, step two, step three. And they’re all these different places. And so these agents are now meant to kind of help do these things. Now, of course, the big problem that’s coming up with this is students can say, hey, I want it to log into my LMS. I want it to go find my upcoming assignments and complete those assignments and submit it for me, right? And so now there’s like, a new crisis of like, how do we deal with this? If we’re doing all this online education stuff when you know, online education really helps certain groups of students, but then it turns into these problems in other ways, right? And so again, potentially really interesting, potentially really valuable, and also potentially really damaging and problematic as a lot of these conversations go. So we’re going to have to keep an eye on that one and maybe do a little bit of a deeper dive as we get a little more information going forward.

Brent (09:38): Alright, if you haven’t left us any reviews, I think our reviews are pretty old. Now, if you’re listening, you guys. You guys, come on, help us out here. Give us a review.

Ixchell (09:50): I know you’re listening because I saw some of you at the book launch. So if you’re listening and you can spare a couple minutes to write it out, just update whatever you thought about the show, or whatever you think about the show, or just leave out the five stars. We’ll take the five stars.

Brent (10:05): I don’t know how to get people to leave reviews. I mean, I’ve tried dragging people onto the street and saying you’re going to do it, and they’re like, nope, nope, nope. So anyways, if you’re willing, if you like the show that you know, like all the podcasts say it really, really helps. And it’s like, yeah, but nobody’s doing it. So that’d be a great present for us, our summer present, if you’re willing to leave a review. All right, so we also—

Ixchell (10:30): We’re stepping on top of you. Go—

Brent (10:32): I was going to say that we also compiled a list of podcasts to listen to again, just different topics. And I’ve listened to some of them. I want to check out some of them. And the first one I want to mention is The Generative Age, which is AI and education podcast with Alana Winnick. Alana Winnick does a lot of presentations, and she has, I don’t know how many books she has out, but she’s amazing. And I learned about this podcast at ISTE. She’s easy to listen to. The episodes are a bit on the longer side, but they’re good for a commute, so about an hour long. And again, it’s related to education, which is why I think it’s a good summer listen.

Ixchell (11:10): Cool. Anything else you’ve been listening to? I’ve got a couple.

Brent (11:14): I got good share one of yours, yeah.

Ixchell (11:16): Well, this one, I know that you’ve listened to it, and as well, AI and Education with Dan Bowen and Ray Fleming. I don’t listen to it every time but, but I like that they kind of keep on top of things and keep it fairly, you know, brief. I think it’s like 20-ish minutes or something like that. I’ve seen some episodes that are like 15 minutes and they’re just like, hey, here’s what some of the research is saying, Here’s what some of the tools are out there. And I found that to be a very non-overwhelming way to just listen and kind of go, okay, that’s a good idea or that’s something worth knowing about for future conversations.

Brent (11:52): Mm, hmm. So there’s also The Edge, which is the ISTE community leader podcast. This one doesn’t publish or doesn’t produce episodes as often. But what I do like, is that because they interview or they have chats with the community leaders, you can get to learn about other tools or other things from the episodes. So that might be like the gate to something else, and that’s how I find out about a lot of things, and they’re about 30 minutes. But again, there’s not as many, so you can check them out over the summer.

Ixchell (12:22): Yeah, and pick and choose the ones that you like. Alright, so my last one here is just an episode. I haven’t really, I can’t really speak to the whole podcast, but I did like the episode. So the podcast is called, Designed for Learning. The episode is called, AI Cheating and Trusting Students to Be Human. And it’s an interview with Tricia Bertram Gallant and David Reddinger, who wrote this book called The Opposite of Cheating. But anyways, it’s kind of gets into the basic ideas of like this book. We’ll talk about that a minute too, but essentially, it’s like, what are we talking about when we are talking about the AI and cheating conversation, and how are we kind of guiding the conversation forward? So if you’re kind of interested in that, in the start of that topic, I think this is a really good episode, and a lot of people have really responded positively to it.

Brent (13:16): And then last on my list of podcasts for the really nerdy people, or if you really want to do a very general tech dive, is Last Week in AI podcast. I’ve actually been listening to it for several months. I don’t listen to every episode because it literally is everything that happened related to AI from the previous week. So you get to know the drama, who quit, who, what’s coming, who’s fighting legislation. So it’s a very, very broad dive into AI, which I think sometimes, and it’s the hosts are pretty funny, so it’s a good again, even though they’re pretty long episodes. I never listened to the whole thing, but it’s interesting, because then you start to think, you start to connect what you’re seeing in the news, especially with legislation, and what to look for and what the implications might be. So in that sense, it’s pretty useful.

Ixchell (14:10): Nice, nice. Okay, so now we’re going to shift over to books. So a couple books or ideas for books that you might want to read. I’ll do my two first Ixchell, because mine are kind of tech related, and yours are kind of non-tech related. And so the first one, going right back to the podcast that I recommended, is the actual book, The Opposite of Cheating. So again, I don’t know if I mentioned this when I went to the AI show in San Diego. I had just bought the book, and then I saw them speaking, and they just happened to be there speaking right after I bought the book, I was like, Oh, cool. So they just have such a really good approach. It’s a really human way to understand, like, how students are dealing with things and how to have conversations with them. Not, you know, not this, like, Hey, we’ve got the perfect solution to everything. But, like, we can make changes, small nudges in different directions to help support learning and, you know, reduce cheating, and kind of really understand what all of that means. So that’s one that I do think is worth reading. And the second one, this one, came out last year. I just hadn’t gotten around to reading it, but I started reading it on the plane on my recent trip. And it’s Sabba Quidwai’s Designing Schools, How Design Thinking Makes You Irreplaceable in the Age of AI. And sorry, Sabba, I apologize. It took me so long to kind of actually get to reading it. But it is really cool. It’s this whole idea of, like, trying to understand the humanity of teaching and the parts that cannot just be replaced by AI stuff. And so she’s got this whole, you know, kind of helping you understand what that means and what that looks like, and then using design thinking and processes for students to, you know, to engage them better with their work and kind of reduce the dependency on AI, even though she, you know, she’s also a big advocate for AI, and says, Hey, there’s a lot of really positive ways to understand and look at this stuff. So I’m about halfway through with that right now, and it’s been, you know, quite strong so far.

Brent (16:02): Okay, so the one I threw in here is not a newer book. It’s a 2021, published book, but I think is quite relevant. It’s called Generation Alpha, Understanding Our Children and Helping Them Thrive, by Mark McCrindle and Ashley Fell and I’m pretty sure I mentioned this when I first found it. But again, every time I get a new group of students, I realize how the generation alpha is going to rapidly be in my classroom in a few years. And again, with technology growing so fast and us not being able to catch up with what our children are, how they’re learning and how their brains are being formed nowadays, I think it’s a must read. I think it will prepare you, and of course, if you have children, then it’s a must, must, must, must read another non-tech book. But equally important is called Practicing Liberation, Reflections on Burnout, Trauma and Building Communities of Care and Social Justice Work and as language teachers or teachers in any community, we do a form of social work there. This is by Tessa Hicks Peterson and Holla Corey. You can probably find a lot of information about the book, and then conversations with different contributors to the book. But I think it’s especially, especially recently, it’s useful to know how to practice, how to monitor self, you know, mental health and how to keep our community of teachers and students thriving in situations that are really what? What’s the word? I can’t find the right word, traumatizing.

Ixchell (17:30): Yeah, traumatizing. They’re rough. And also, because we don’t want to burn out, it’s really easy to see the headlines. And also, once they’re connected to our students, it’s very hard to step out of that dark hole. So it’s very important for us, for the longevity of the people who nurture our students and for ourselves, right, to have a backup plan. So read it.

Brent (17:54): Yeah, that is going on my list for sure. Cool. So those are some, you know, again, don’t do all of these things, please. Something, pick and choose, something that’s useful to you, you know, one book, one podcast, maybe one tool, or maybe only one out of all of the things we’ve mentioned, that’s totally fine, too. Like, you know, do what suits you and do what works for you. But, you know, these are at least a few ideas that can kind of point you in the right direction.

Ixchell (18:22): All right, it is time for our fun finds and in the spirit of trying not to be interrupted by ads and all sorts of, you know, social media and distractions. I’ve recently, you know, I recently moved to DuckDuckGo as a browser, but they have a built in feature in there where you can watch YouTube videos, and it’ll take out the ads.

Brent (18:44): Nice.

Ixchell (18:45): So that DuckDuckGo YouTube video player is my fun find.

Brent (18:50): Very good. Mine is, well, this is hard to call it exactly a find, because I’ve had this. So when I was 16 years old, I bought myself my first Swiss Army knife, and then and I got, you know, I was quite happy with it. I found the right one, and then I probably, about 15 years later, I had to replace it. It either lost or broken or something. And now another 15 years later, here I am. I just bought myself a new one, and it’s been, it’s the exact same one as the one that I had before, but it’s called the Victorinox Mini Champ. Is the name of it. This has been, this is, like my one thing that I carry with me every single day, and I use it every single day. So it’s a surprisingly useful little tool. I mean, I, like I said, I’ve been 30 years with this thing now, but I had to buy my new one because this particular one has a little light built into it too. And anyways, at some points, it falls and chips and breaks apart. And even though it lasts quite a long time, I got my newer version, which is the exact same as my older version. And so anyways, I love this little knife, the Victorinox Mini Champ.

Ixchell (19:58): All right, for the show notes and other episodes, check out DIESOL.org/123, for episode 123, you can find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, at DIESOL pod.

Brent (20:12): All right, you can find me on the socials or some of the socials at Brent G Warner.

Ixchell (20:18): And you can find me on most socials. I think I don’t know these days, Ixy underscore Pixy, that’s I-X-Y, underscore P-I-X-Y. Thank you for listening. Take care.