Adrian Cotterell

Educational Consultant | AI & Assessment Solutions | Supporting schools with their response to AI

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@paulg There are plenty of teachers who are early adopters.

If you make a good enough product, they will sell your product to their school.

[Emina McLean @EminaMcLean]

This is a great reminder that teaching nonsense words (or including reading them in daily reviews which is happening in SYSTEM WIDE initiatives in Oz) is, well, nonsense. Don’t do it. There is a very good rationale for assessing nonwords, but that doesn’t extend to teaching them.

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@dylanwiliam @emollick How was the AI’s interpretation of their work?

I gave Notebook LM my blog posts focused on AI education to create a podcast.

The ‘lens’ in which the AI interpreted my work was definitely from a “silicon valley worldview” of Edu.

In short, it added hype to my original content

[Adam Sparks @mrsparkstweets]

We use @aj_cott's fantastic Red-Yellow-Green AI-Assessment scale in our writing workshops. He's just posted an update in defense of the system that is worth your time: https://t.co/16uSXiqOsL

[Adam Sparks @mrsparkstweets]

Also check out the amazing work of @AnnaRMills @lfurze @aj_cott @SonjaBjelobaba and others that are discussed within. Their collective work offers great alternatives to AI-detection software.

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@Shawnryan96 @tsarnick Can you point to some? I’m interested,

[Dylan Wiliam @dylanwiliam]

@KrisWestcott1 The basic finding is that working memory capacity can't be increased by much, if at all. We make our students smarter by enriching what is in long-term memory, so they can do more sophisticated things in their limited working memory.

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@greg_ashman @JohnYoung18 This is where we need to defer to the domain experts Greg. I’m happy to suggest I don’t have the necessary experience to adequately answer that one. But I know people who make an excellent case.

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@JohnYoung18 @greg_ashman Amazing. Thank you for that insight. I think there would be many in education that might have similar perspectives.

It’s that specific attitude that is valuable. If you didn’t have the former, then any attempt of the latter would become less effective.

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@JohnYoung18 @greg_ashman Not that you would find personal utility based on your experience, however, I think you would still resonate with this book. https://t.co/C0CL6e75Ub

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@greg_ashman https://t.co/nsrSB5bZ5g

The authors here (who have spent decades living with the ppl in some of the communities in question) show that systematic DI programs are often unhelpful and can undermine the aims of education.

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@greg_ashman Because the West is still so bad at listening. Even today, we have people advocating for ‘solutions’ for these communities who have never spent time to truely listen.

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@greg_ashman And the process is not finished. Even today we have teachers/principals working in some of these communities who can’t speak the local languages. How can this dialogical process happen when English is the default.

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@greg_ashman Historically the West needed to be dragged into these practices though. It was people like Freire that helped make the noise for this process to start.

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@JohnYoung18 @greg_ashman John, I’m pretty sure you mean that both of those aims are in fact empowering for these communities. Freire is likely why that approach is now happening in modern remote community schools. Hence, let’s not casually chuck him out like @greg_ashman is promoting.

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@greg_ashman 2/2 Sitting and listening to the wants and needs of these communities for the sake of their own flourishing (based on their criteria) is likely the other side of the spectrum. This is how I read Freire and this is the context I think his work is still relevant today.

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@greg_ashman 1/2 Maybe. If there’s a spectrum though, the historical approach to educating some of these communities was an extension of colonialism. “Just become like us. Think, and do like us.” This approach is one side of the spectrum of paternalism.

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@greg_ashman 3/3 Subjectification in this context is using pedagogies of dialogue. It is listening to the people to see what they want for their own children. To see what aspects of their language/culture they want passed on. Rather than a colonial power coming in thinking they know better.

[Adrian Cotterell @aj_cott]

@greg_ashman 2/3 Eg. this framework is important for communities in the APY lands in central Oz. By arguing that these kids just need an explicitly taught, knowledge rich curriculum like everyone else is simplistic. That is the short path to assimilation and the death of their culture.