Bryan Alexander

Higher education futurist. Author of _Universities on Fire_ and _Academia Next_.

Public Key

npub1vax080yryzt5j6aaqufv0m2zqw3epgdv7gxwwuhs7uwl0ys77dqsn00zm6

NIP-05 Address

bryanalexandee_at_mastodon.education@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsxwn8nhjpjp96fdw7swyk8a4pq8gus5xk0yr88wtc0w80hjg00xsgku52f4

Author Public Key

npub1vax080yryzt5j6aaqufv0m2zqw3epgdv7gxwwuhs7uwl0ys77dqsn00zm6

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Last Notes

2024-09-18 02:33:16

Down, down..
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/113/156/213/627/010/677/original/f765788c23fb8cc6.jpg

2024-09-16 13:33:18

Great update on climate crisis and positive work from the essential Bill McKibben:
https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/silent-solar

2024-08-16 20:54:56

Nice to see how MIT did after dropping Elsevier subscriptions:
https://sparcopen.org/our-work/big-deal-knowledge-base/unbundling-profiles/mit-libraries/
#open

2024-08-07 01:35:03

I admit that #Walz being a GIS nerd really makes me happy.
https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/08/06/former-geography-teacher-tim-walz-is-really-into-maps/
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/112/918/167/490/580/242/original/52a4cff3ea93890c.png

2024-07-24 18:56:08

I'm curious if anyone here uses glasses to read their phones.
I'm starting to need to, when font embiggening isn't enough or isn't available.

2024-07-09 15:09:48

How hot is it? Amtrak sent me this a few minutes ago:
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/112/757/164/397/374/212/original/b1173fa9327a1cc0.jpg

2024-06-07 02:29:36

- reply

@npub1ahr…m294 Do we want nation-states, police forces doing content moderation for legal content?

2024-06-06 17:30:55

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@npub1ahr…m294 Is spam legally permissible in the UK now?

2024-06-05 22:27:45

How did European laws giving states and digital companies more room to quash online speech turn out?
https://futurefreespeech.org/preventing-torrents-of-hate-or-stifling-free-expression-online/
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/112/566/367/801/640/508/original/93392eb7e210cc06.png

2024-05-27 20:39:42

I've been rethinking how to decarbonize my professional travel. Here's where I've ended up: solutions, problems, and options.
https://bryanalexander.org/travel/a-futurist-decarbonizes-his-professional-travel-in-2024-problems-and-options/
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/112/514/979/665/907/849/original/a3009d99c2b6c863.webp

2024-05-12 15:41:09

I am seeing more of these #AI statements:
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/112/428/872/289/458/777/original/044ac1f0b4462cbc.jpg

2024-05-12 00:10:45

I accidentally spent the day away from Masto etc.
It was all family time: doing errands, making food, going for a walk, making more food, talking.

2024-04-26 22:28:49

Any smartphone advice out there?
I have to replace my Galaxy (Android) and am not sure what's next.
I need something with excellent media capture, offline capability, and which plays well with AI.
Should I switch to the Pixel, given Google in AI?
Or prepare to spend hours and dollars jumping to iPhone?

2024-03-29 17:41:54

Which podcatcher would you recommend?
Context: I've been using Google Podcasts on my Android phone, but that app is going away next week.
I listen to a lot of podcasts.
I do not use Spotify.

2024-03-11 20:13:04

How might academics respond to a chaotic fall election?
Last week we ran a scenario exercise, giving participants the chance to think through how they'd react.
Here's the recording:
https://youtu.be/JG0_Aa3kHgg?si=MyoBF8AEjkpLn7pj
CW: political chaos
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/112/078/878/742/375/490/original/4b5276a7cb5e01a6.png

2024-03-06 14:10:59

3,000+ Harvard non-tenured and non-tenure-track faculty are organizing into a union.
How will you respond, Harvard administration and faculty?
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/03/05/nontenured-academic-workers-harvard-seek-unionize

2024-03-05 19:41:32

NASA ups the nerd level by releasing a tabletop role-playing game: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/multimedia/online-activities/the-lost-universe/

2024-02-23 22:26:47

Some thoughts on text to video AI tools like #Sora :
https://aiandacademia.substack.com/p/notes-on-sora
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/111/983/146/142/058/789/original/ed749448c45bd452.webp

2024-01-18 22:33:53

I'm seeing my Gmail throw legit email into spam more often this month.
Also the reverse, with recipients' servers thinking my Gmail-sent messages are spam more often.
Anyone else experiencing this?

2023-12-29 20:31:46

If you're in the mood for epically brutal book reviews, this one is intense:
https://jacobin.com/2023/12/walter-mignolo-politics-of-decolonial-investigations-review-decoloniality-postcolonialism-academic-jargon-universalism/

2023-10-24 19:09:43

- reply

@npub1ahr…m294 @npub18p2…6j6h
Stephen, do you mean to say that
a) AI tools are just about down wit h artists' images and are moving on, or
b) That AI will keep chewing on art, but add the visual world, so tools like Nightshade will have less impact?

2023-10-24 13:34:28

Meanwhile, what happens when website owners poison AI crawlers?
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/23/1082189/data-poisoning-artists-fight-generative-ai/

2023-10-13 21:29:37

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@npub1ahr…m294 Which commercial publication, Substack or IHE/Times?

2023-10-13 20:52:38

I appreciate this article looking into academic Substack, but am ticked that they never mention blogging:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/2023/10/13/substack-brave-new-world-academic-publishing

2023-09-30 23:55:20

What is ungrading?
On Thursday the Future Trends Forum community met with @npub1h2g…n0sq for an energetic, wide-ranging, and provocative conversation:
https://youtu.be/O87Tr3Uoi1g?si=j5gcnJqzHJej_tqU
#FTTE
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/111/156/794/032/623/687/original/21554f00d4bda81b.jpg

2023-09-17 21:07:11

Sometimes I wonder about Duolingo.
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/111/082/525/808/314/317/original/44b14cd61ec937ba.jpg

2023-09-16 19:12:53

In our local science fiction group. Surprised to see nearly everyone disliking Vonnegut.

2023-08-30 21:05:00

- reply

@npub1dn4…cue6 Please do!

2023-08-30 18:48:55

What does the open education experience tell us about connecting #AI and higher education?
Tomorrow I'm delighted to host the authors of a fine paper on the topic: Anna Mills, Lance Eaton, and Forum favorite Maha Bali.
https://shindig.com/login/event/openeducationandai
#FTTE
#OER

2023-08-29 15:19:47

The University of Michigan is *still* offline.
If that was an attack, it must have been a fierce one. I wonder about the source.

2023-08-12 02:34:53

Personal downsides of 2023, or why I’m a bit quieter than usual.
https://bryanalexander.org/personal/personal-downsides-of-2023-or-why-im-a-bit-quieter-than-usual/
(Photo of stormy skies, with traffic stoplights to left)
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/110/874/307/764/260/065/original/0271dbe8b603c3e0.jpeg

2023-06-30 19:46:56

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@npub1ahr…m294
Last I saw IHE isn't paywalled.
It requires registration after a few reads, but not payment.
Have they changed lately?

2023-06-30 15:47:56

The Supreme Court just killed Biden's #studentloanforgiveness plan.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/student-aid-policy/2023/06/30/supreme-court-blocks-bidens-debt-relief-plan

2023-06-01 17:51:35

I'm not sure if this is the kind of thing this instance would like to see. Let me know:
I run the Future Trends Forum, a weekly conversation about higher education's future.
Today we're meeting with professor Gayle Greene, author of the teaching memoir/ passionate argument for liberal education _Immeasurable Outcomes_
You can join us in 10 minutes at
https://shindig.com/login/event/gaylegreene
#FTTE
(Image is a book cover with many book pages and type gradually flying away)
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/110/470/221/947/181/194/original/7701eb08568a7339.jpg

2023-06-01 02:27:15

Google's Bard #AI now shows images in responses:
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/110/466/592/362/113/801/original/3fa3f32093f9c128.png

2023-05-30 15:29:27

- reply

@npub1ahr…m294
The paper matches my experience.
It also depresses me wrt genre, age, and class of the explorers.

2023-05-30 02:07:44

Who likes imaginary worlds?
A researc h"paper finds they "appeal more to more explorative people, people higher in Openness-to-experience, younger individuals, males, and individuals living in more affluent environments"
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35151-2

2023-05-28 22:06:18

I asked DALL-E for “AI and the future of academia” and this is one of the results.
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/110/448/579/424/887/528/original/ac0ef4ff18d8d95f.png

2023-05-27 17:44:30

Wow - State Farm insurance just announced they won't sell any new property policies *in California*.
One reason: climate change.
https://newsroom.statefarm.com/state-farm-general-insurance-company-california-new-business-update/

2023-05-23 20:11:47

I wrote about some large-scale decisions we can make about #AI in 2023.
I kept getting stuck on options as decision gates, so ended up representing them as a flowchart:
https://bryanalexander.org/automation/some-large-scale-decisions-we-can-make-about-ai-in-2023/
Image is four flowcharts, although the text is hard to discern.
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/110/419/813/251/966/813/original/f9529185c962a891.png

2023-05-21 01:23:27

A crime movie where the criminal's motivation is to pay down a massive student loan.
How many other stories have this feature?
The image is a movie poster, showing the title character, a young woman in a tank top, staring at the viewer.
https://mastodon.education/system/media_attachments/files/110/404/052/235/366/530/original/4a577c514a303324.jpg

2023-05-07 21:58:24

Here's an example of some of the stuff I track.
New Jersey's government decided to remove undergraduate degree requirements for some or many state jobs:
https://www.highereddive.com/news/new-jersey-loosens-degree-requirements-for-state-jobs/647972/
This is part of a new trend of states doing this (Utah, Penn., Maryland). It might tie into the growing American dissatisfaction with #highereducation .

2023-05-07 21:08:16

#Introduction
Professionally, I'm a senior scholar at Georgetown University, where I teach some classes on learning, design, and technology.
I write books about higher ed's future, like _Universities on Fire_ and _Academia Next_.
I also run the Future Trends Forum, a weekly video conversation about higher ed's future. #FTTE
...I'd like to share URLs, but am not sure if the culture here supports that...?

2023-05-07 20:57:59

#introduction
Greetings, all. I'm joining this server because I work in #highereducation .
Specifically, I'm a futurist who researches how colleges and universities might change in the future.
Hello! Happy to say more.