Shayan Doroudi

Assistant Professor @UCIEducation
Interested in [foundations/history/philosophy/equity] of ed tech, ed data science, and learning sciences

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

I'm sure @geoffreyhinton knows you don't need AI to "draw all the curves for you" and have students "try changing the coefficients [of polynomials] and see how how the curves changes." @Desmos does that. @ddmeyer, maybe you should offer Hinton a tour?

[Carl Hendrick @C_Hendrick]

Good analysis of @Alphaschool here from @geoffreyhinton

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

@auyonymous On how well-versed Polson is on the Qur'an, you may have missed his 2026 book (he has quite a few!) "Essays in Grace, Beauty and Self" that talks about the story of Yusuf in the Qur'an, alongside 8 other stories.
https://t.co/IOeN5Qz6wt

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

@auyonymous Wow, this is timely! I was just telling my 4-year old with this verse means the other day. I wasn't sure how to explain an ignorant person's speech, but I used the example of someone speaking nonsense. Not sure what Polson meant here, but AI slop seems like a good contender!

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

Sure there's some commentary sprinkled alongside the evidence, but I think a lot of critiques about his writing are focused on his personal commentary at the end (and some focused on his data collection methods). But why can't we have a conversation about the data itself?

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

By the way, Ben usefully separates the evidence he's gathered from his own personal commentary. Regardless of what you think of his commentary—you don't even have to read it—I think the evidence is worth paying attention to.

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

Alpha School defenders have stated that good criticisms of Alpha School are welcome, but @benjaminjriley is not serious and shouldn't be trusted. I'm curious what they think of this critique. Should it be taken seriously or is it just Ben continuing to try to stop edu innovation?

[Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley]

I’ve just published another report on Alpha School’s Survival Challenge.

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

@1800MiltonFacts @ulrichlehner @jessica_priest @UTAustin Yes!

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

@ThankUBayesGod @jessica_priest @UTAustin It’s not all trash, but Said would be a good addition!

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

he may have a wonderful memory for figures and only a mediocre memory for localities, poetry or human faces: school children may reason admirably in science and be below the average in grammar: those very good in drawing may be very poor in dancing."

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

Can you guess which educational psychologist said this?
"Common observation should teach that mental capacities are highly specialized. A man may be a tip-top musician but in other respects an imbecile: he may be a gifted poet, but an ignoramus in music: [cont.]

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

Wow, unexpected career milestone reached! Piotr Wozniak (@SuperMemoWoz) quote tweeted me—to quote Seymour Papert's view on something at that!

(I'd actually completely forgotten about this quote. Nice reminder.)

[Piotr "Woz" Wozniak @SuperMemoWoz]

@THSchoolFactory just by chance I see Papert agreed with you, however, I think it only applies to directed learning, as kids naturally balance frustration:

https://t.co/I3AmaVmO6O

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

@NielsHoven @adamboxer1 And if they are really into great literature, why is it not being emphasized in their education models (e.g., as several reports on Alpha School have suggested)?

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

@NielsHoven @adamboxer1 I agree that not recognizing AI slop is a problem, and techbros might be in a better position to recognize it. But I would also guess the view "why does it matter if it's AI if it's a good read" is more common among techbros.

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

@NielsHoven @adamboxer1 I actually don't see the relation between these two things. What do education techbros' views have to do with an AI-generated book winning awards?

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

@mpershan @ben_m_somers @jal_mehta Ah, interesting. Cohen heavily builds on Cuban's work, but his usage of these terms in 1988 predates Tyack and Cuban's! They possibly influenced each other.

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

@mpershan @ben_m_somers I think this is what David Cohen referred to as the margins vs. core of schools. Ed reforms can always happen in the margins, but they can't really penetrate the core. (@jal_mehta and Sarah Fine also have some nice work on this.)

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

@mpershan Hmm, but parents wouldn't all agree on what random activities they want their kids to engage in, so you could make a bunch of versions of the school that speak to different parents' idiosyncratic preferences.

[Shayan Doroudi @EdTechMuser]

@mpershan But you can't have kids on the computer all day, so maybe you'd limit it to a few hours (say 2 hours, but do more if you can get away with it) and let students do random activities the rest of the day where they're not learning anything that interferes with the data.