Insights & innovations from Cogitate Learning
Welcome to my blog and news page. Here I share my thoughts, discoveries, and reflections on education, technology, artificial intelligence, and creative, future-leaning approaches to teaching and learning. I am especially interested in practical ideas and meaningful tools that can help educators save time, engage students, and create stronger learning experiences.
What I've Been Doing
Over the past several months, I have been exploring what becomes possible when a teacher works collaboratively with artificial intelligence to design interactive learning tools. Rather than using AI to replace teaching, I have been using it as a creative partner to help imagine, build, refine, and test educational resources that are more visual, more engaging, and more responsive to student needs. Together, we have developed interactive tools in subjects such as science and personal finance that are designed to help students explore concepts actively rather than passively receiving information.
This work matters because many students learn best when they can manipulate ideas, test outcomes, visualize processes, and receive immediate feedback. Traditional worksheets and static presentations still have value, but they do not always give students the kind of dynamic learning experience that leads to deeper understanding. By using AI to help create interactive tools, I have been able to move beyond the limits of more conventional materials and explore new ways to make learning clearer, more accessible, and more meaningful.
What excites me most is that this process shows how teachers can use AI thoughtfully and creatively in service of real educational goals. A teacher brings the instructional vision, subject knowledge, and understanding of students. AI can then help accelerate the design and development process, making it more possible for educators to create customized resources that once would have required advanced technical skills or a great deal of time. In that sense, this work is not just about the tools themselves. It is about demonstrating a new model of educational design in which teachers can shape the future of learning more directly.
What I'm Reading in May
U.S. Schools Face a Crisis as the Number of Children Drops
Declining enrollment has hit many of the nation’s largest urban school districts, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, a New York Times analysis found. But smaller and suburban districts are shrinking at a similar rate.
Fewer students means less funding, which is tied to enrollment numbers. Many districts are now facing painful budget cuts — and heated conversations about whether to close schools.
Mervosh, S., Paris, F., & Miller, C. C. (2026, May 8). U.S. schools face a crisis as the number of children drops. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/upshot/public-schools-enrollment-crisis.html
‘A’ Grades Are Suddenly Everywhere Since the Arrival of ChatGPT
I am deeply interested in the role of AI in education. I believe one of the most important things we can do is teach people how to work with AI as a partner while still preserving the essential role of human judgment, creativity, and responsibility.
It is entirely possible to design engaging, challenging instruction that asks students to use AI and other tools to support discovery, deepen understanding, and synthesize new ideas. But if we cling to instructional models created for a time when AI and digital technologies were not part of everyday life, and simply try to force those models to fit the world students now inhabit, we will continue to fall short.
Education has to evolve with the world around it. Our goal should not be to compete with AI or ignore it, but to help students become thoughtful, ethical, and capable human partners in an AI-rich world.
Ellis, L. (2026, May 13). ‘A’ grades are suddenly everywhere since the arrival of ChatGPT. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/a-grades-are-suddenly-everywhere-since-the-arrival-of-chatgpt-845baae7
OPINION: Three-year degrees may become a viable option in the U.S., but questions about their value remain
Three-year bachelor’s degrees are moving from idea to reality. In Massachusetts, the board of higher education announced in February that it would begin accepting pilot proposals for these shortened degree programs.
Elsewhere in the United States, at least one college is expanding three-year degree options across all majors, and more graduate admissions leaders seem willing to consider applicants who completed 90-credit bachelor’s programs instead of the traditional 120-credit path.
As college costs continue to rise, the three-year degree has emerged as one possible way to reduce both the time and expense of earning a bachelor’s degree. For many students, this could be a meaningful benefit. However, the long-term value of these programs will depend on how they are received beyond college itself. If three-year degrees become more common in the U.S., their success will likely be measured by whether graduate schools, employers, and other selection committees treat them as equal to traditional four-year degrees.
Anderson, J. (2026, May 11). Three-year degrees may become a viable option in the U.S., but questions about their value remain. The Hechinger Report. https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-three-year-degrees/
OPINION: In the rush to adopt new AI technologies, let us not forget about the human touch
The author writes, "Artificial intelligence and evolving technologies can absolutely advance our capacity to collaborate, problem-solve and think critically — if we make it so. But we cannot ever forget that it’s ultimately the human experiences we share that are the most important part of the learning that we do."
Delizo-Osborne, J. (2026, May 7). In the rush to adopt new AI technologies, let us not forget about the human touch. The Hechinger Report. https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-in-the-rush-to-adopt-new-ai-technologies-let-us-not-forget-about-the-human-touch/
Why Sal Khan’s AI revolution hasn’t happened yet, according to Sal Khan
The article argues that Sal Khan’s original vision of AI as a transformational personal tutor for every student has not yet materialized because many students simply do not use AI tutoring tools like Khanmigo in meaningful ways. Khan and other educators interviewed acknowledge that while the chatbot can be supportive and useful in some cases, many students struggle to ask good questions, lose interest, or use AI mainly to get answers rather than deepen learning. The piece suggests that AI in education has clear limits when used as a stand-alone solution and that its greatest value may come when it is integrated into broader instructional systems led by teachers, rather than treated as a revolutionary replacement for human support.
Barnum, M. (2026, April 9). Why Sal Khan’s AI revolution hasn’t happened yet, according to Sal Khan. Chalkbeat. https://www.chalkbeat.org/2026/04/09/sal-khan-reflects-on-ai-in-schools-and-khanmigo/
As AI Pushes Students to Reconsider Majors, Universities Struggle to Adapt
This article examines how AI is beginning to reshape higher education by affecting the majors students choose and raising concerns about future careers, especially entry-level jobs. Its main focus is the growing gap between how quickly AI is changing the workforce and how slowly many colleges and universities are responding.
It's my opinion that education should be leading this moment, not lagging behind it. Students are entering a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, yet education remains slow to adapt. It is striking that companies such as Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic are offering free AI learning opportunities while many state education departments still do not appear to have clear, actionable plans to help schools prepare students for this new reality.
Cochran, L. L. (2026, April 12). As AI pushes students to reconsider majors, universities struggle to adapt. The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/education/5826091-ai-college-majors-job-market/
Education’s AI Reckoning Is Here. Who’s In Charge?
Ann Kirschner’s Forbes article, “Education’s AI Reckoning Is Here. Who’s In Charge?” argues that education has reached a turning point with artificial intelligence. The issue is no longer whether AI will transform schools and universities, but whether educational leaders will actively guide that transformation or be passively shaped by it. One of the article’s strongest arguments is that institutions should stop treating AI primarily as a cheating concern and instead recognize it as a major shift in how students learn, work, and prepare for the future. Kirschner also emphasizes that teachers remain education’s most important asset because AI cannot replace the knowledge, judgment, motivation, and human connection that strong teaching provides. Finally, the article suggests that AI may actually increase the importance of the liberal arts, humanities, and other fields that develop critical thinking, communication, ethical reasoning, and creativity. Overall, the article presents AI not simply as a threat to manage, but as an opportunity for education to rethink its purpose and better prepare students for the world ahead.
Kirschner, A. (2026, April 12). Education’s AI reckoning is here. Who’s in charge? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/annkirschner/2026/04/12/educations-ai-reckoning-is-here-whos-in-charge/