While generative AI opens many exciting new possibilities, it was thought-provoking to spend a day reflecting on what might go wrong and how. Great to do so with so many informed and inspiring people. sites.google.com/view/genai-…

Additional related interviews including @bjfr @MinervaUni @SusanRSinger @whynotyet @RothmanCS @MarikoSilver @UofNE_President @LouisSoares appear at medium.com/decade-ahead.

A short opinion on building on what we learned in the pandemic appears today in the @hechingerreport hechingerreport.org/opinion-… featuring quotes from earlier interviews that @MaximizeEDU and I did with @JoycePJacobsen @minna25351 @llf_jay4, and examples from @EdEquityLab @ASU @UTEP.

We all learned resilience, empathy and new ways to work and connect through the pandemic. While we all missed seeing each other face to face, we can also appreciate what we gained and look forward to creating a better future ahead.

The pandemic interviews have widespread optimism and commitment to a better future. Jawanza Corbin used the opportunity to find his path. Raynard Kington saw everyone exercise more agency. Lauren Gordon learned to meet her students every day. Heather Cooper created new art forms.

The most obvious impact has been remote learning. Digital technology made it possible for higher education to survive the pandemic and carry on. This worked well enough that use of technology will continue, with dramatic long-term consequences.

My intellectual response has been to study the pandemic and ask how it is changing us. In 2021, I interviewed 20+ people about higher education and the pandemic, including students across the US, college presidents, teachers, and scholars of education. medium.com/decade-ahead

I gave my last graduation comments as CS department chair this June. While some opportunities have been lost through the pandemic, many graduates have learned from the challenges they had to overcome, becoming stronger, more determined, and more focused on what is most important.