The Risks of AI in Schools Outweigh the Benefits, Report Says
This month saw results from a yearlong global study of “potential negative risks that generative AI poses to student”. The study (by the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education) also suggests how to prevent risks and maximize benefits:

After interviews, focus groups, and consultations with over 500 students, teachers, parents, education … ⌘ Read more

Great article by Ploum about chatbots/AI and education: https://ploum.net/2026-01-19-exam-with-chatbots.html

2026’s Breakthrough Technologies? MIT Technology Review Chooses Sodium-ion Batteries, Commercial Space Stations
As 2026 begins, MIT Technology Review publishes “educated guesses” on emerging technologies that will define the future, advances “we think will drive progress or incite the most change — for better or worse — in the years ahead.”

This year’s list incl … ⌘ Read more

Identity and Ideology in the School Boardroom
The abstract of a paper on NBER: School boards have statutory authority over most elementary and secondary education policies, but receive little attention compared to other actors in education systems. A fundamental challenge to understanding the importance of boards is the absence of data on the policy goals of board members – i.e., their ideologies – forcing researchers to condu … ⌘ Read more

‘The College Backlash is a Mirage’
Public opinion surveys paint a picture of Americans souring dramatically on higher education, as Pew found that the share of adults calling college “very important” dropped from 70% in 2013 to just 35% today, and NBC polling shows that 63% now believe a degree is “not worth the cost,” up from 40% over the same period. Yet enrollment data tells a different story.

Four-year institutions awarded 2 million bac … ⌘ Read more

‘Why Academics Should Do More Consulting’
A group of researchers is calling on universities to treat consulting work as a strategic priority, arguing that bureaucratic obstacles and inconsistent policies have left a massive revenue stream largely untapped even as higher education institutions face mounting financial pressures. (Consulting work refers to academics offering their advice and expertise to outside organizations – industry, … ⌘ Read more

Why Are There No Large Market Cap Companies Globally in Edtech?
Goldman Sachs, in a note this week, via India Dispatch: There are various reasons that explains this: (i) A large part of the global education spend goes towards formal education (schools, colleges and universities), which are typically either run by governments or are not-for-profit institutions;

(ii) It is difficult to replicate education quality … ⌘ Read more

Purdue University Approves New AI Requirement For All Undergrads
Nonprofit Code.org released its 2025 State of AI & Computer Science Education report this week with a state-by-state analysis of school policies complaining that “0 out of 50 states require AI+CS for graduation.”

But meanwhile, at the college level, “Purdue University will begin requiring that all of its undergraduate students demonstrate basic … ⌘ Read more

Arkansas Becoming 1st State To Sever Ties With PBS, Effective July 1
joshuark writes: Arkansas is becoming the first state to officially end its public television affiliation with PBS. The Arkansas Educational Television Commission, whose members are all appointed by the governor, voted to disaffiliate from PBS effective July 1, 2026, citing the $2.5 million annual membership dues as “not feasible. … ⌘ Read more

Alright, Advent of Code is over:

https://www.uninformativ.de/blog/postings/2025-12-12/0/POSTING-en.html

It’s been quite the time sink, especially with the DOS games on top, but it was fun. 🥳

In case you’re wondering: All puzzles (except for part 2 of day 10) were doable in Python 1 on SuSE Linux 6.4 and ran in a finite time on the Pentium 133. Puzzle 10/2 might have been doable as well if I had better education. 🤣

North Queenslanders split over new crocodile management plan
The new management plan sees the expansion of crocodile removal zones across north and far north Queensland. Some say it will not increase safety without better community education. ⌘ Read more

‘Colleges Oversold Education. Now They Must Sell Connection’
A tenured USC professor is arguing that universities need to fundamentally rethink their value proposition as AI rapidly closes the gap on human instruction and a loneliness epidemic grips the generation most likely to be sitting in their lecture halls. Eric Anicich, an associate professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business, wrote in the Los Angeles Times … ⌘ Read more

Tasmanian public schools to close amid ongoing industrial action — here’s what you should know
Most public schools in Burnie, Launceston and Hobart will close for half a day this Friday, as union members demand action on rising school violence and unfair wages. ⌘ Read more

Young people on benefits to be offered construction and hospitality work
The government says it will fund training and work experience for 350,000 not in work or education. ⌘ Read more

Young people on benefits to be offered construction and hospitality work
The government says it will fund training and work experience for 350,000 not in work or education. ⌘ Read more

‘Irresponsible and harmful’: News Corp attacked by school leaders over NAPLAN
Forty-one signatories to an open letter say they are “dismayed” and that school rankings cause “harm to our communities”. ⌘ Read more

Singapore Extends Secondary School Smartphone Ban To Cover Entire School Day
Singapore’s Ministry of Education has announced that secondary school students will be banned from using smartphones and smartwatches throughout the entire school day starting January 2026, extending current restrictions beyond regular lesson time to cover recess, co-curricular activities, and supplementary lessons. Under … ⌘ Read more

Colleges Are Preparing To Self-Lobotomize
The skills that future graduates will most need in an age of automation – creative thinking, critical analysis, the capacity to learn new things – are precisely those that a growing body of research suggests may be eroded by inserting AI into the educational process, yet universities across the United States are now racing to embed the technology into every dimension of their curricula.

O … ⌘ Read more

‘Unjust’: International students trading their rights for a bed
International students relying on education agents to study in Australia might be misled about the country’s housing situation. ⌘ Read more

Minister will not commit to childcare inquiry despite safety concerns
The early childhood education minister is refusing to say whether the federal government will establish an independent review of childcare standards. ⌘ Read more

Are There More Linux Users Than We Think?
“By my count, Linux has over 11% of the desktop market,” writes ZDNet’s Steven Vaughan-Nichols:

In StatCounter’s latest US numbers, which cover through October, Linux shows up as only 3.49%. But if you look closer, “unknown” accounts for 4.21%. Allow me to make an educated guess here: I suspect those unknown desktops are actually running Linux. What else could it be? FreeBSD? Unix? OS/2? Unl … ⌘ Read more

The internet is resembling the first few pages of The Handmaid’s Tale
The saddest aspect of all this that a generation of boys may feel compelled to suppress the ordinary the joy of celebrating another’s success. ⌘ Read more

Someone Is Trying To ‘Hack’ People Through Apple Podcasts
Apple’s Podcasts app on both iOS and Mac has been exhibiting strange behavior for months, spontaneously launching and presenting users with obscure religion, spirituality and education podcasts they never subscribed to – and at least one of these podcasts contains a link attempting a cross-site scripting attack, 404 Media reports. Joseph Cox, a journalist at t … ⌘ Read more

Education department and bus company charged over child’s access to engine coolant
Tasmania’s education department and a bus company have both appeared in court after a child with a disability was allegedly left unattended on a bus with access to a bottle of engine coolant in a plastic water bottle. ⌘ Read more

Education department charged after student severs fingers in guillotine
WorkSafe Victoria has charged the Department of Education after a Beechworth Secondary College student “severed” his fingertips in a guillotine. ⌘ Read more

Breaking: CCC releases its findings on former Townsville mayor Troy Thompson
The Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission has released its findings on former North Queensland mayor accused of misleading voters about his military, education, health and business background. ⌘ Read more

AI Could Replace 3 Million Low-Skilled Jobs in the UK By 2035, Research Warns
Up to 3 million low-skilled jobs could disappear in the UK by 2035 because of automation and AI, according to a report by a leading educational research charity. The Guardian: The jobs most at risk are those in occupations such as trades, machine operations and administrative roles, the National Foundation for Educational … ⌘ Read more

Asbestos scare school bill tipped to exceed $1.5m in SA
SA’s Minister for Education, Blair Boyer, is calling on retailers to help pay the climbing clean-up bill for removing coloured sand products linked to the asbestos scare. ⌘ Read more

NATO Taps Google For Air-Gapped Sovereign Cloud
NATO has hired Google to provide “air-gapped” sovereign cloud services and AI in “completely disconnected, highly secure environments.” From a report: The Chocolate Factory will support the military alliance’s Joint Analysis, Training, and Education Centre (JATEC) in a move designed to improve its digital infrastructure and strengthen its data governance. NATO was formed in 1949 … ⌘ Read more

Homeschooling Hits Record Numbers
An anonymous reader shares a report: “In the 2024-2025 school year, homeschooling continued to grow across the United States, increasing at an average rate of 5.4%,” Angela Watson of the Johns Hopkins University School of Education’s Homeschool Hub wrote earlier this month. “This is nearly three times the pre-pandemic homeschooling growth rate of around 2%.” She added that more than a third of the states fr … ⌘ Read more

American Kids Can’t Do Math Anymore
An anonymous reader shares a report: For the past several years, America has been using its young people as lab rats in a sweeping, if not exactly thought-out, education experiment. Schools across the country have been lowering standards and removing penalties for failure. The results are coming into focus.

Five years ago, about 30 incoming freshmen at UC San Diego arrived with math skills below high- … ⌘ Read more

In the AI Race, Chinese Talent Still Drives American Research
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: When Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, unveiled the company’s Superintelligence Lab in June, he named 11 artificial intelligence researchers who were joining his ambitious effort to build a machine more powerful than the human brain. All 11 were immigrants educated in other countries. Seven … ⌘ Read more

Brisbane campus shuts after asbestos-laced play sand found at schools, childcare centres
Queensland education authorities are combing schoolyards for a play item suspected to contain asbestos and a major childcare provider has also revealed its centres had the product. ⌘ Read more

Right-wing group founder added to Qld school curriculum board
The right-wing group founder is among three new members with skills in communication and education replacing union leaders, who were unceremoniously dumped. ⌘ Read more

Ex-boyfriend pleads guilty to murder of Molly Ticehurst
The former boyfriend of Molly Ticehurst has admitted to the domestic violence murder of the 28-year-old childcare educator. ⌘ Read more

Brisbane school shuts after finding ‘traces’ of asbestos-laced play sand
Queensland education authorities are combing schoolyards for a play item suspected to contain asbestos that could have been on campuses for up to five years. ⌘ Read more

Asbestos-laced coloured sand used in Brisbane school
Queensland education authorities are combing schoolyards for a play item suspected to contain asbestos that could have been on campuses for up to five years. ⌘ Read more

New study shows AI enhances teacher development
Research from the Manchester Institute of Education offers vital early insights into how AI tools can be responsibly and effectively embedded into teacher training. The preliminary findings from year 1 of the three-year longitudinal pioneering research project explore the integration of generative AI in primary teacher education, centered on the use of TeachMateAI (TMAI) within the University of Manchester’s Primary PGCE program. ⌘ Read more

UK Secondary Schools Pivoting From Narrowly Focused CS Curriculum To AI Literacy
Longtime Slashdot reader theodp writes: The UK Department for Education is “replacing its narrowly focused computer science GCSE with a broader, future-facing computing GCSE [General Certificate of Secondary Education] and exploring a new qualification in data science and AI for 16-18-year-olds.” The move aims to … ⌘ Read more

Lessons from Ireland inform US debates on school choice
Across the U.S., some parents have been calling for changes in the education system, including greater transparency around curriculum decisions—a topic that has received national media attention. ⌘ Read more

Voting behavior in elections strongly linked to future risk of death
Voting behavior in elections is strongly linked to the future risk of death, and is likely a stronger determinant of health than education—considered a key influence on health—suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. ⌘ Read more

Rate my AI teacher? Students’ perceptions of chatbots will influence how they learn with AI
A “transformation” is upon us. After a multi-year procession of educational technology products that once promised to shake things up, now it’s AI’s turn. ⌘ Read more

The Missing Semester of Your CS Education (2020)
Comments ⌘ Read more

Who goes to the ballet? Education and social connections matter more than income, study finds
Why do some people regularly attend the opera, visit art galleries, or go to classical music concerts—while others rarely, if ever, do? ⌘ Read more

Meet the young Americans who want a monarchy — but not ‘King Trump’
George Grylls,  Washington Reporter  -  The Times (U.K.)

Stephan: You hear nothing about this in American media, but there is a growing number of Gen Z Whites who actually have become so disaffected by what has happened to American democracy that they would choose monarchy over democracy. It is a glaring demonstration of how poorly educated about the history of civics these young people are.
… ⌘ Read more

Millions of US Families Could Soon Go Hungry Thanks to Trump-GOP Government Shutdown
Brett Wilkins,  Staff Writer  -  Common Dreams

_Stephan: As the organizational programs and agencies that have maintained the wellbeing of the United States are being dismantled by dictator Trump and his Republican Congress, funds are being cut, the healthcare system is in chaos, public education is becoming a disaster, and on and on. But now these MAGAT mo … ⌘ Read more

Five Ways the Department of Education Is Upending Public Schools
Megan O’Matz and Jennifer Smith Richards,    -  ProPublica

_Stephan: A successful democracy requires a literate, numerate, educated citizenry. Everyone, going back to the Athenians of the fifth century BCE, has recognized this. That is why I have been closely following what the Trump Republican fascist coup has been doing to public education. It is getting worse and worse, as this article describ … ⌘ Read more

Terasic Announces Starter Kit Featuring RISC-V Nios V Processor and Software Bundle
Terasic has introduced the Atum Nios V Starter Kit, a feature-rich evaluation platform designed to accelerate development with Altera’s Nios V processor. The kit is aimed at embedded engineers, system developers, and educators looking for a practical way to explore RISC-V–based designs on the Agilex 3 FPGA platform. According to Terasic’s announcement, the kit is […] ⌘ Read more

SigCore UC Industrial Control Module Prepares for Crowd Supply Launch
Crowd Supply recently featured the SigCore UC, an upcoming universal industrial I/O controller that combines rugged hardware with open-source software for engineers, researchers, and educators seeking a flexible control and data acquisition platform. Unlike typical development boards or expansion modules, SigCore UC arrives as a complete, ready-to-deploy solution. It is capable of handling real-world volt … ⌘ Read more

School pivots to teach large-scale veg production for changing climate
Home Hill State School in north Queensland is showing students across Burdekin shire how agricultural education is worth investing in, setting up an industry-scale greenhouse for horticulture training. ⌘ Read more