Tyler Watts
@tylerwatts.bsky.social
Coordinator of graduate program in Instructional Design | Dabbler in all things online learning, OER, alt assessment. Just here for the zipline.
Reposted by Tyler Watts
OpenAI is a social arsonist - as Dr. Chris Gilliard reminds us - and the company's attempts to capture education with its "free" version of ChatGPT for teachers should, IMO, be met with vocal resistance and refusal if we as educators are to care for our students, their communities, and our planet.
November 20, 2025 at 12:42 AM
OpenAI is a social arsonist - as Dr. Chris Gilliard reminds us - and the company's attempts to capture education with its "free" version of ChatGPT for teachers should, IMO, be met with vocal resistance and refusal if we as educators are to care for our students, their communities, and our planet.
Reposted by Tyler Watts
Oh hey, I found the war on christmas
"Agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including ICE, ERO, and CBP intend to implement a comprehensive plan to target Spanish-speaking churches across the country during the upcoming holiday season between Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, and Christmas, Dec. 25."
Exclusive: Trump DHS Plans Immigration Raids on Churches Over Holidays
The Trump Dept. of Homeland Security is briefing federal agencies on plans for immigration enforcement operations inside churches over holidays.
thisweekinworcester.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Oh hey, I found the war on christmas
Excited to dive into "Inclusive Online Teaching" by Katherine McAlvage & Nadia Jaramillo Cherrez and grateful that the authors & Oregon State made it open access! open.oregonstate.education/teachingonli...
Inclusive Teaching Online – Open Textbook
<em>Inclusive Teaching Online</em> addresses the complexities of teaching diverse and nontraditional adult students in asynchronous online environments. Centered in evidence-based approaches for creat...
open.oregonstate.education
October 28, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Excited to dive into "Inclusive Online Teaching" by Katherine McAlvage & Nadia Jaramillo Cherrez and grateful that the authors & Oregon State made it open access! open.oregonstate.education/teachingonli...
Reposted by Tyler Watts
Congrats to Drs. Rebecca M. Reese & Amy Lomellini for putting this OPEN resource out into the world! It was an honour to write the prologue for this fantastic & much needed text.
Advancing Accessibility: Practical Strategies for Instructional Designers and Educators
edtechbooks.org/accessibility
Advancing Accessibility: Practical Strategies for Instructional Designers and Educators
edtechbooks.org/accessibility
EdTech Books
edtechbooks.org
October 18, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Congrats to Drs. Rebecca M. Reese & Amy Lomellini for putting this OPEN resource out into the world! It was an honour to write the prologue for this fantastic & much needed text.
Advancing Accessibility: Practical Strategies for Instructional Designers and Educators
edtechbooks.org/accessibility
Advancing Accessibility: Practical Strategies for Instructional Designers and Educators
edtechbooks.org/accessibility
Reposted by Tyler Watts
Educators should look at AI grading of student writing in the same way collective society looked at the potential for human cloning after the arrival of Dolly the sheep, something that is an affront to our humanity and must be rejected completely. There is no rationale to support this.
October 10, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Educators should look at AI grading of student writing in the same way collective society looked at the potential for human cloning after the arrival of Dolly the sheep, something that is an affront to our humanity and must be rejected completely. There is no rationale to support this.
Reposted by Tyler Watts
Sneak Preview of “Learning Designers in Context”
Over the last few weeks, I have re-read the proofs of my forthcoming book "Learning Designers in Contexts" so many times that I honestly I feel I could recite some of the chapters. Due to some communication issues, the release date has been pushed…
Over the last few weeks, I have re-read the proofs of my forthcoming book "Learning Designers in Contexts" so many times that I honestly I feel I could recite some of the chapters. Due to some communication issues, the release date has been pushed…
Sneak Preview of “Learning Designers in Context”
Over the last few weeks, I have re-read the proofs of my forthcoming book "Learning Designers in Contexts" so many times that I honestly I feel I could recite some of the chapters. Due to some communication issues, the release date has been pushed back a bit. It is all part of the process or at least that is what I tell myself.
enildaromero.com
October 8, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Sneak Preview of “Learning Designers in Context”
Over the last few weeks, I have re-read the proofs of my forthcoming book "Learning Designers in Contexts" so many times that I honestly I feel I could recite some of the chapters. Due to some communication issues, the release date has been pushed…
Over the last few weeks, I have re-read the proofs of my forthcoming book "Learning Designers in Contexts" so many times that I honestly I feel I could recite some of the chapters. Due to some communication issues, the release date has been pushed…
Reposted by Tyler Watts
Reposted by Tyler Watts
Only one week left to apply for the Center for Grading Reform's Alternative Grading Institute! This two-day, hands-on, virtual experience offers opportunities to connect grading with your values and design an alt grading system for one of your courses. www.centerforgradingreform.org/alternative-...
Alternative Grading Institute
www.centerforgradingreform.org
October 8, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Only one week left to apply for the Center for Grading Reform's Alternative Grading Institute! This two-day, hands-on, virtual experience offers opportunities to connect grading with your values and design an alt grading system for one of your courses. www.centerforgradingreform.org/alternative-...
Reposted by Tyler Watts
A cartoonist's review of AI art - The Oatmeal
This is a comic about AI art.
theoatmeal.com
October 7, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Tyler Watts
My latest column for the Chronicle of Higher Ed is now live. It's an argument for including AI-critical voices in campus conversations and policymaking workgroups, and I'm proud to get this dissenting piece into the mainstream genAI/higher ed discourse. Please read and share if you're so inclined 🙂
Advice | Sometimes We Resist AI for Good Reasons
Why higher ed needs to listen to the contrarians in setting policies on using tools like ChatGPT in faculty work.
www.chronicle.com
September 24, 2025 at 5:47 PM
My latest column for the Chronicle of Higher Ed is now live. It's an argument for including AI-critical voices in campus conversations and policymaking workgroups, and I'm proud to get this dissenting piece into the mainstream genAI/higher ed discourse. Please read and share if you're so inclined 🙂
Reposted by Tyler Watts
Our second Growth, Not Grades winner is Sharlyn Barrett 🎉
Sharlyn writes how chasing perfection — whether pounds on a scale or letters on a page — left her ready to give up. She imagines an education that values growth and self-acceptance.
Read and share!
growbeyondgrades.org/blog/degradi...
Sharlyn writes how chasing perfection — whether pounds on a scale or letters on a page — left her ready to give up. She imagines an education that values growth and self-acceptance.
Read and share!
growbeyondgrades.org/blog/degradi...
The Degrading Scale — Grow Beyond Grades
In her essay, Sharlyn Barrett recalls how the pursuit of perfection—whether on a scale or on a report card—stripped joy from both learning and life, and how messages about perfection left her exhauste...
growbeyondgrades.org
September 19, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Our second Growth, Not Grades winner is Sharlyn Barrett 🎉
Sharlyn writes how chasing perfection — whether pounds on a scale or letters on a page — left her ready to give up. She imagines an education that values growth and self-acceptance.
Read and share!
growbeyondgrades.org/blog/degradi...
Sharlyn writes how chasing perfection — whether pounds on a scale or letters on a page — left her ready to give up. She imagines an education that values growth and self-acceptance.
Read and share!
growbeyondgrades.org/blog/degradi...
Reposted by Tyler Watts
Wtf
When news broke that a suspect had been identified in the Charlie Kirk case, an X user asked Grok to supply an image of the suspect.
Grok replied with an AI-generated photo of a young Black man.
(Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, is a white man.)
When news broke that a suspect had been identified in the Charlie Kirk case, an X user asked Grok to supply an image of the suspect.
Grok replied with an AI-generated photo of a young Black man.
(Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, is a white man.)
September 12, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Wtf
When news broke that a suspect had been identified in the Charlie Kirk case, an X user asked Grok to supply an image of the suspect.
Grok replied with an AI-generated photo of a young Black man.
(Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, is a white man.)
When news broke that a suspect had been identified in the Charlie Kirk case, an X user asked Grok to supply an image of the suspect.
Grok replied with an AI-generated photo of a young Black man.
(Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, is a white man.)
Reposted by Tyler Watts
Are you ready to align your grading practices with your values?
Join us December 17–18 for the Alternative Grading Institute (online), which will bring together faculty from across higher education for a two-day, hands-on experience in standards-based, specifications, and collaborative grading.
Join us December 17–18 for the Alternative Grading Institute (online), which will bring together faculty from across higher education for a two-day, hands-on experience in standards-based, specifications, and collaborative grading.
Alternative Grading Institute
www.centerforgradingreform.org
September 10, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Are you ready to align your grading practices with your values?
Join us December 17–18 for the Alternative Grading Institute (online), which will bring together faculty from across higher education for a two-day, hands-on experience in standards-based, specifications, and collaborative grading.
Join us December 17–18 for the Alternative Grading Institute (online), which will bring together faculty from across higher education for a two-day, hands-on experience in standards-based, specifications, and collaborative grading.
Reposted by Tyler Watts
there's a certain kind of tech high priest who also seems constantly shocked and offended that a lot of people don't buy their "we have to bring this glorious new tech into being for the greater good, which will also result in me becoming unfathomably wealthy and you losing your job" sales pitch
It's the internalised confidence of the righteous. Tech will solve everything! I must help it succeed and so must you! I am part of the special people who must interpret the needs of the Tech. We are the priests.
Fuck, as I'm writing this it is becoming very clear what this group of people are.
Fuck, as I'm writing this it is becoming very clear what this group of people are.
September 8, 2025 at 4:34 PM
there's a certain kind of tech high priest who also seems constantly shocked and offended that a lot of people don't buy their "we have to bring this glorious new tech into being for the greater good, which will also result in me becoming unfathomably wealthy and you losing your job" sales pitch
Reposted by Tyler Watts
You can now download the book on the publisher's website: press.umich.edu/Books/P/Publ... (open access of course)
September 1, 2025 at 8:46 AM
You can now download the book on the publisher's website: press.umich.edu/Books/P/Publ... (open access of course)
Reposted by Tyler Watts
In this short piece, I lean on embodied cog sci to argue that we should refuse & resist llms in education (pp. 53-58) unesdoc.unesco.org/in/documentV...
"the classroom is an environment where love, trust, empathy, care & humility are fostered & mutually cultivated through dialogical interactions"
"the classroom is an environment where love, trust, empathy, care & humility are fostered & mutually cultivated through dialogical interactions"
September 7, 2025 at 10:06 AM
In this short piece, I lean on embodied cog sci to argue that we should refuse & resist llms in education (pp. 53-58) unesdoc.unesco.org/in/documentV...
"the classroom is an environment where love, trust, empathy, care & humility are fostered & mutually cultivated through dialogical interactions"
"the classroom is an environment where love, trust, empathy, care & humility are fostered & mutually cultivated through dialogical interactions"
Reposted by Tyler Watts
TIL that Moms for America, Moms for Liberty, and Parents Defending Education have signed the White House's pledge to America's youth to invest in AI education, which further clarifies how this AI education initiative is a political project and whose vision of education is being prioritized.
September 5, 2025 at 2:46 AM
TIL that Moms for America, Moms for Liberty, and Parents Defending Education have signed the White House's pledge to America's youth to invest in AI education, which further clarifies how this AI education initiative is a political project and whose vision of education is being prioritized.
Reposted by Tyler Watts
ChatGPT is "a clear-cut moral abomination and a logical culmination of modern surveillance capitalism. It is the direct result of tech companies producing products that seek to extract attention and value from vulnerable users, and then harming them grievously."
Educators, we must refuse OpenAI.
Educators, we must refuse OpenAI.
Regarding the tragic death of Adam Raine, there are already narratives forming that blame vague "dangers of AI" or a broader moral panic.
But this is not a story about the faceless perils of superintelligence. It's about a $500 billion tech company's core software product encouraging child suicide.
But this is not a story about the faceless perils of superintelligence. It's about a $500 billion tech company's core software product encouraging child suicide.
A $500 billion tech company's core software product is encouraging child suicide
It sounds horrific. It should. Let's be clear about the material circumstances of what's happening rather than handwaving about 'the dangers of AI'
www.bloodinthemachine.com
August 29, 2025 at 12:36 AM
ChatGPT is "a clear-cut moral abomination and a logical culmination of modern surveillance capitalism. It is the direct result of tech companies producing products that seek to extract attention and value from vulnerable users, and then harming them grievously."
Educators, we must refuse OpenAI.
Educators, we must refuse OpenAI.
Reposted by Tyler Watts
Our relationships with our students are sacred. Our relationship to capitalism is not. Teaching is not efficient.
August 16, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Our relationships with our students are sacred. Our relationship to capitalism is not. Teaching is not efficient.
Reposted by Tyler Watts
You can use this tool to find out just how much funding your local district (or any district in the country) will be losing in the new federal budget:
"DES MOINES INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT will lose $8,175,391 in federal funding."
public.tableau.com/app/profile/... #EduSky #EdChat
"DES MOINES INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT will lose $8,175,391 in federal funding."
public.tableau.com/app/profile/... #EduSky #EdChat
August 6, 2025 at 8:09 PM
You can use this tool to find out just how much funding your local district (or any district in the country) will be losing in the new federal budget:
"DES MOINES INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT will lose $8,175,391 in federal funding."
public.tableau.com/app/profile/... #EduSky #EdChat
"DES MOINES INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT will lose $8,175,391 in federal funding."
public.tableau.com/app/profile/... #EduSky #EdChat
Reposted by Tyler Watts
The 2025 @aaup.org Faculty in the South Survey is live. If you are a professor in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, or Texas it's for you. Ends 8/29 at 5pm Eastern forms.gle/v7T3BH2w9LXs...
2025 AAUP Faculty in the South Survey
The Georgia conference of the American Association of University Professors [AAUP] and its partners in states across the South have been at the forefront of fighting attacks on higher education. To as...
forms.gle
August 4, 2025 at 3:02 PM
The 2025 @aaup.org Faculty in the South Survey is live. If you are a professor in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, or Texas it's for you. Ends 8/29 at 5pm Eastern forms.gle/v7T3BH2w9LXs...
Reposted by Tyler Watts
Here's a thread about a virtual conference that's actually accessible. How? Because it was designed and executed by disabled people who care about access and know what it takes to build meaningful community. Take notes. 1/11
June 24, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Here's a thread about a virtual conference that's actually accessible. How? Because it was designed and executed by disabled people who care about access and know what it takes to build meaningful community. Take notes. 1/11
Reposted by Tyler Watts
Yes. I am right. I am seeing how Chat GPT is ruining students critical thinking and writing skills in real time. It is not the future. It is a tool designed to render the populace helpless, to make people doubt their innate intelligence, and to foster overreliance on technology.
@roxanegay.bsky.social maybe you’re right.
A new study from MIT’s Media Lab (not yet peer-reviewed & small sample size): ChatGPT May Be Eroding Critical Thinking Skills. [time.com]
June 19, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Yes. I am right. I am seeing how Chat GPT is ruining students critical thinking and writing skills in real time. It is not the future. It is a tool designed to render the populace helpless, to make people doubt their innate intelligence, and to foster overreliance on technology.
Reposted by Tyler Watts
AI can try to summarise Wikipedia articles but the detailed recaps of DC Comics crossovers will defeat it like the Russian winter defeated Napoleon
June 12, 2025 at 11:39 AM
AI can try to summarise Wikipedia articles but the detailed recaps of DC Comics crossovers will defeat it like the Russian winter defeated Napoleon
Reposted by Tyler Watts
the only thing that allows teachers to spend more time focusing on individual students is smaller class sizes, but sure, let's try magic beans.
June 11, 2025 at 11:55 PM
the only thing that allows teachers to spend more time focusing on individual students is smaller class sizes, but sure, let's try magic beans.