🗑 Ditch Summit speaker list revealed

😊 Prepare students for an AI future

The future is changing rapidly. AI is going to be a big part of it.

How do we prepare students for that future?

My book, AI for Educators, has a whole chapter about preparing students for an AI-integrated world — steps we can take now to start preparing students for their future.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Chock full of ideas, it is a great resource for educators at all levels who are curious about AI and it’s potential impact on teaching and learning. Highly recommend! — Dr. Todd Schmidt via Amazon

Get AI for Educators in paperback or Kindle ebook on Amazon.

💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

🎙 This year’s Ditch Summit speaker lineup

Back in 2016, I saw an online marketing influencer put on an online conference.

I thought, “We could do that for education! How hard would be it? Some recorded video interviews, a website, an email list. No big deal, right?”

It consumed my life that year! And I had absolutely no idea if anyone would show up.

Turns out that they did. We had more than 7,000 people register for the very first Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit.

Now it’s in its NINTH year (!) and we regularly have more than 20,000 people participate every year.

🍿 About the Ditch Summit

If you’re new to the Ditch Summit, here’s what you need to know …

• It runs from December 16, 2024 to January 10, 2025.

• It’s totally free. (No paid VIP tickets. No “free now, pay to keep access.” Just totally free.)

• You’re already registered for it. (We used to make you sign up separately for the summit, but now we just provide to everyone as part of the newsletter.)

• All video sessions are on-demand. No streaming live. It’s all pre-recorded so you can watch whenever you want.

• FREE PD credit. Get a certificate of completion for PD credit with every session you watch.

• Videos are only available until January 10, 2025. Then the summit closes, and everything’s unavailable until next year.

📺 Ditch Summit video sessions

This year, we have EIGHT new featured speaker sessions. They’re 45-60 minutes long. Highly practical. Super engaging, by top-notch speakers.

I keep my eyes open for Ditch Summit speakers all year long and only pick the best!

This year, we have …

• Trevor MacKenzie (English Teacher, Author: Inquiry Mindset)

  • Topic: Student curiosity and questioning routines

• Manny Curiel (Edpuzzle Head of Community, Former Elementary Teacher)

  • Topic: Perseverance and overcoming setbacks

• Ed Campos Jr. (Educator, Speaker, Consultant)

  • Topic: AI and teacher wellness

• Ken Shelton and Dee Lanier (Authors: The Promises and Perils of AI in Education)

  • Topic: Cautious steps toward AI implementation

• Stevie Frank (Learning Integration Specialist, Zionsville Community Schools)

  • Topic: Student voice through podcasting and more

• Jorge Valenzuela (Speaker, Author, Educator)

  • Topic: Project-based and lifelong learning

• Holly Clark (Author: The AI-Infused Classroom)

  • Topic: AI literacies for students

• Students for Innovation (Innovative, Passionate Student Leaders)

  • Topic: AI in learning and life, student perspective

In addition to this year’s new speakers, we also have …

• Spotlight Sponsor Sessions: These are 30 minute, super-practical sessions from edtech products you love.

• Previous Featured Speakers: Browse our library of 80+ former Ditch Summit sessions.

🎟 Know someone who wants to join the summit?

Remember, if you’re subscribed to this newsletter, you’re already in!

But for others?

They can head to the summit website — DitchSummit.com — to get signed up. They’ll be emailed as soon as the summit gets started.

💻 TECH TIP 💻

📚 Takeaways from Ethan Mollick’s Co-Intelligence

I’ve been following Ethan Mollick’s One Useful Thing newsletter for almost two years now.

As I try to wrap my brain around AI and its implications on education, he has been a vital source to better understand AI.

He wrote Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI and I pre-ordered it as soon as was possible.

This book has been in my backpack as I’ve traveled over the last several months. Every time I pick it up, I learn something new and important.

Here are a few takeaways …

• Want to learn what large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are capable of? Don’t take a course. Give them 10 hours. After 10 hours of experimentation, you learn a lot.

• Another principle for understanding the potential of AI: Always invite AI to the table. This is one of his four rules for co-intelligence. It’s better at some things than others. And you can always discard any of its suggestions. But you don’t get them if you don’t ask.

• Treat AI like a person … but tell it what kind of person it is. Mollick makes it clear that AI isn’t human and we shouldn’t anthropomorphize it. But in this case, it helps us frame the context of its responses. Tell it what role it should play when you ask it for something.

• AI is like an alien intelligence. It does things we don’t expect it to. It has become capable at things it wasn’t designed for.

I’m still working through the book, but it’s been eye-opening! You can get a copy of Co-Intelligence here.

👋 How we can help

There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:

1. Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.

2. Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.

3. Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!