Supervised Learning Merlyn Mind

This episode of Supervised Learning is for our Merlyn teachers out there. Whether you are getting a Merlyn unit for the first time, or you've had one and need some support and community, this episode has you covered. Jess and Wendy from Merlyn Mind sit down with Ms. Dana McJunkin-Smith and Mr. Brian Fish, classroom teachers in Val Verde, California to learn all their tips, secrets, and stories for integrating Merlyn into their classroom. Their main key to success? Engage your students in your Merlyn learning journey from day one. They will be your greatest supporters and you will give them 21st-century skills, leadership, and genuine inquiry opportunities. Sound daunting? Listen to the episode for practical steps on how they were able to maximize Merlyn and student potential. Dana and Brian will tell you: You'll know you're a Merlyn teacher when you are finally able to be a guide on the side with your students, rather than tethered to your computer as the sage on the stage.

Phil Harding was the first technologist to bring the internet to the schools in Val Verde, California in 1992. Ever since, he's been on a quest to put the latest technology into the hands of his teachers and students: email, file fetching, Google classroom, iPads, and today, the AI digital assistant for teachers. He went to Google and Alexa at first, but ran into roadblocks along the way. He almost gave up, until he met Merlyn Mind. Harding sits down with host, Levi Belnap and two other district and state California administrators, David Culberhouse and Geoff Belleau to talk about the considerations, challenges, and broader economic impacts of setting up an AI assistant for the classroom.

In a rural North Carolina school district, two instructional technologists felt like they were building the plane as they flew it through the pandemic. Then, they were approached with piloting Merlyn, the first-of-its-kind AI assistant for teachers. They were hesitant: “I didn’t want to be the pilot for it [Merlyn], because we were already building a plane and now you guys just landed another heavy piece of equipment.”
Today, they report even their most skeptical teachers can’t teach without it: “She said, ‘You are not leaving this room until you get this fixed.’” From keeping students on task to organizing Google Drives, teachers have found Merlyn to be a true teaching support, rather than another app with bells and whistles.
How did their relationship with Merlyn and innovation change from “kicking and screaming” to believing? And what can other instructional technologists learn? Listen to our host, Levi Belnap, unpack their journey.

Teachers are amazing, but they're not superhuman ... Michael B. Horn is a speaker and the author of several books, including the award-winning "Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns." "We've spent the last century-plus adding new responsibilities to a teacher's job," he says. "Every few years, we identify a new social ill ... and we say, 'Schoolteacher, that's now your job.' That's hard for a teacher. Turns out teachers are not super-human. They're people. Asking them to do all these things is a struggle. It can lead to burnout. That's a source of seeking to do things in different ways. To make their lives simpler and manageable." Listen as Michael and host Levi Belnap discuss innovation in education.

Dr. Peppler and Dr. Schindler from the University California, Irvine discuss the surprising findings that after just seven weeks of using Merlyn, an AI digital assistant in the classroom, there is a significant impact on decreasing stress, saving time, and improving instruction in the classroom.

How can we translate the thrilling advances at the forefront of the science of artificial intelligence into solutions that can make the world better today? In this episode, we explore the past, present, and future of AI and how translating AI into solutions to help people be more productive as they do work that is uniquely human is the future. Satya shares childhood stories about his obsession with science fiction and technology and how that led to his passion and career as a technologist. We get a front-row view to the exciting times at IBM as Watson beat Jeopardy! and the world saw the potential of AI. We also learn from the failures and difficult lessons learned in Satya's career that led to the foundational insights and inspiration for starting Merlyn Mind and building a digital assistant to help teachers.