Category: Resources, News and Updates

AI, Resources, News and Updates

AI & Education Now

Julie Darling

Job-Stealing Agentic AI, Meta AI Glasses and Why I’m Boycotting Duolingo

Image above generated using Adobe Firefly.

Since my last newsletter a lot has happened. AI companies are in a dead-heat to create viable agentic AI, and it’s raising concerns about reductions in the workforce, especially for entry-level positions for recent college graduates. AI video creation took a huge leap forward with the recent release of Veo 3, which is exciting…and also terrifying. On a personal note, when considering my prescription glasses options, it occurred to me that I might be able to use my vision insurance to purchase Meta AI glasses. Turns out I could and I did! They just arrived today. I’ll get to testing them and let you know in my next newsletter (in August) how they worked out.

Wayfarer was the only style available, which is actually great since I tend to overthink it when I have too many choices. Next year I’m hoping to get prescription Android AI/XR glasses (not yet released). I’m intrigued by the additional extended reality. 

In other news, you may have noticed that the name of this newsletter changed to “AI & Education Now” to reflect what I’ve been writing about lately. Thank you to all of you who have stuck around as my newsletters have changed and evolved over the past two years. I hope it’s helpful and you love the direction it’s going. I’m always open to feedback. Drop me a line if you have ideas, suggestions or thoughts about the next one! But for now, let’s get into it.

Job Stealing Agentic AI

Gemini (Google’s LLM) and Claude (Anthropic’s LLM) have been using Pokémon games to test how well their agents are doing. Anthropic’s newly released model – Claude 4 Opus (a paid version) – seems to have taken some substantial leaps this past week. Specifics were covered in this Wired article. 

This is one of the biggest takeaways:

“It was able to work agentically on Pokémon for 24 hours,” says Anthropic’s chief product officer Mike Krieger in an interview with WIRED. Previously, the longest the model could play was just 45 minutes, a company spokesperson added.

Although on the surface this may seem charming, whimsical even, the ramifications are much more nefarious. In the first segment of the most recent edition of Hard Fork titled “The AI Jobpocalypse”, hosts Kevin Roose (tech columnist for the New York Times) and Casey Newton (Platformer) discuss the potential impacts of these improvements in agentic AI on entry-level white collar jobs. Spoiler alert – a significant number of them are likely going away. 

Why I’m Boycotting Duolingo

The CEO of Duolingo recently announced that he believes that AI is a better teacher than humans, but that schools won’t go away because you still need childcare. When I heard this, I was aghast. Not only is this shockingly disrespectful to educators, it’s just entirely misguided. Perhaps this is why Duolingo isn’t a very effective tool for learning languages, the leadership doesn’t appear to understand anything about the research behind teaching and learning.…I could go on. Instead, I’d rather add some levity through a bit from one of my favorite comedians, Josh Johnson, although lengthy this is absolutely worth a watch – “A.I. Teachers and Duolingo’s New Plan — What Could Go Wrong?”. It’s also a love letter to teachers. 

Besides, I can now use my Meta AI glasses to translate conversations in real time. Although I’d love to be bilingual, the AI, ironically, appears to be rendering a need for services like Duolingo obsolete. Besides that, my local community college offers excellent language learning classes…with a real, live teacher. Based upon my learning preferences, and the language learning research, I know definitively that a real teacher will get me significantly closer to fluent.

Resources, News and Updates

Harnessing AI Tools for Educators: Insights from MACUL 2025

Julie Darling

Michigan in early spring is magic….and rife with contrast. Frozen next to flowing water, sprouting plants next to dormant, wild temperature swings. It always feels like the beginning of something exciting – potential, possibility. I’ve started going on long outdoor walks, again. Walking has always been my best thinking time. I’ve solved plot issues, and outlined novels over the span of a walk. Lately, I find myself thinking about AI. I was fortunate to attend the MACUL conference this year where the majority of the sessions were focused on AI.

There were two points in particular, made by Dr. Sabba Quidwai at the keynote, that I can’t stop thinking about. The first, although many schools are writing policies that disallow AI, many businesses won’t hire workers unless they’re well-versed in the use of AI. This disconnect poses a significant problem that we need to figure out soon, in both K-12 and Higher Ed. The second, employees, now and going forward, will need to know how to supervise AI agents, or possibly a combined team of AI agents and human employees.

I get that this may feel overwhelming and scary, so I wanted to offer my advice – just pick one AI tool, experiment with that tool every day for a week, 5-10 minutes a day should suffice. Then, next week, pick a different one…and keep going. Maybe start with one of the resources in the last section?

Upcoming Event

On Saturday, April 12th at 11 a.m., I’ll give a STEM Storytime at the Ypsilanti District Library. Come make a Caesar Shift cipher decoder to take home, stick around to use LEGO spike and Ozobots for coding activities. Hope to see you there!

MACUL Conference Tools & Resources

Although certainly not an exhaustive list, these are some of the new to me, or most discussed tools and resources from the 2025 Annual MACUL conference.

Just about every session at MACUL at least mentioned Google’s NotebookLM, a truly powerful Google Workplace Labs project.  NotebookLM allows you to upload content such as documents, YouTube videos and web pages. You can then use NotebookLM to generate a summary, timeline, FAQs, or study guide. You can even have it develop the uploaded content into a podcast.

PadletTA is Padlet’s new AI-powered teaching assistant designed to help with lesson planning, developing quizzes, presentations, text leveling, rubrics and more. You can use links, text, YouTube videos or documents saved in your Google Drive to start.

Gamma is an AI tool that allows you to create presentations, documents and websites without requiring design or coding skills. You can generate the content from a prompt or import a file/URL to kick it off.

LTX Studio creates AI powered storyboards which include character images, short clips of movement within the storyboard, and even a movie poster.

Google Read Along listens to kids read aloud and helps them when they get stuck.

Vurbo.ai turns voice conversations into multilingual translations in real time, currently able to translate 90+ languages.

I’d love to hear about your favorites tools, prompts you’re using that are working well, ways in which you’re teaching AI to others, or anything else you’d like to share! Tell me in the comments below?

Julie Darling and Rebecca Lowe standing in front of the sign describing their AI Summit talk.
Resources, News and Updates

February News

Julie Darling
Julie Darling and Rebecca Lowe standing in front of the sign describing their AI Summit talk.

The 2nd Annual Michigan Virtual AI Summit was a whirlwind! If you’re interested, you can find many of the presenter slides posted. To find these, follow the link, scroll down, and click the + next to the meeting room assignment.

It was lovely presenting with Chad Williams and Rebecca Lowe (pictured right) about policy, practice and the power of the school librarian…and how that all relates to A.I. I briefly met keynote speaker Ethan Mollick. His book Co-Intelligence is fascinating and should be the next A.I. book you read.

I’m currently at work on a secret project (send me all your productivity and motivational tips!) and so the newsletter and events will slow down a bit. You’ll likely hear from me every other month for 2025 – unless there’s something urgent that I simply can’t wait to share.

Save the Date!

On Saturday, April 12th I’ll give a live STEM storytime at the Ypsilanti District Library.

MEDIA

I had a feature article in the December edition of Computers in Libraries magazine. Tips for Helping Little Computer Scientists and Little Hackers appeared in the print edition.

What I’m Reading Right Now

The American Library Association Youth Media Awards were just announced!

I’m particularly excited about the Newbery award winner The First State of Being which was also a National Book Award finalist. Caldecott honor and Coretta Scott King award winning My Daddy is a Cowboy is also delightful. Kwame Crashes the Underworld, a John Steptoe winner and Coretta Scott King honor is a really fun read and finally the Caldecott award winner Chooch Helped has really gorgeous illustrations. So many wonderful books on this list!

I’ve also been reading Unmasking A.I. and Infinite Education, two very different, but both timely and relevant books on A.I.

Resources, News and Updates

November News & Media

Julie Darling
Book Launch! Photo Credit: Jan Gray

Thank you for those who made it to the book launch. I was so honored by those who made it that night and those who wanted to come but couldn’t make it. Thank you so much for your support!

Media Recap

We were on the radio!
Darren Cools (the illustrator for the books) and I were interviewed by April Baer on Stateside, Michigan Public/NPR. If you missed it, it’s not too late to listen, here’s the link. Our interview starts at around the 22 minute mark.
I also spoke to Ann Arbor Public Schools and the Ann Arbor Public Schools, Library Service Department about librarianship, teaching, writing and how I’ve wanted to be an author since elementary school.  SCBWI also interviewed Darren and I for our “book birthday”, a feature posted on the day the books released. They asked about our inspiration and creative process. If you’re interested, you can read that interview here.

Upcoming Events

I’ll be at the YpsiWrites 5th Birthday Celebration this Saturday 10/26 at the Ypsilanti District Library, Whittaker Branch. The event will be 1-4 p.m. I’m scheduled to read at 2:55. Ill be in the vendor area at Ann Arbor Community Bookfest selling and signing books on Sunday, November 3rd. This year, this event will be hosted at the Downtown branch of the Ann Arbor District Library from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Don’t miss my STEM Storytime at Schuler Books on Saturday November 16th, at 11 a.m. I’ll be reading Little Computer Scientists and Little Hackers, guiding participants through making a Caesar Shift cipher decoder (and selling and signing books).

Resources, News and Updates

Book Launch! Invitation & Media

Julie Darling
Book Launch Event! Thursday October 3rd, 6-9 p.m.

Book Launch Party!

The book launch party will take place on Thursday, October 3rd from 6-9 p.m. at Corner Brewery. You can find more details here.

Our new book set releases on 9/30/24!

September 30th, 2024 is the official release date for our new 3-book series! Check out the books page for links, more details and extras.

We’re going to be on the radio!

D. J. and I did an interview for Stateside!

It airs on our release date, 9/30 at 3:20 p.m. and again at 8:20 p.m. EST.

You can listen to Michigan Public live here, just click the play button at the top of the screen.

Do you want to know more about writing or illustrating children’s books?

If you’d like to learn more about writing or illustrating children’s books, SCBWI is one of the best organizations around…for wherever you are in your publishing journey.

One of the perks they have are ‘book birthday’ features to celebrate publications for their members. Ours will be posted here on 9/30.

A picture of the sunrise on a river and me sitting in the distance on a stand up paddle board.
Giveaways, Resources, News and Updates

September News | Book Launch!

Julie Darling

Photo Credit: Anna Cools

Pictured above is me, attempting to soak up the last dregs of Summer. It’s been in the 90s here in Michigan, which makes it impossible to believe that Fall is almost upon us. Despite clinging to these final hot and sunny days, I couldn’t be more excited for it to be September. This is the month the books will release!!! I can’t wait to finally hold them in my hands. I can’t wait for you all to have access to them. They’re available for pre-order on Amazon now. You can also pre-order them here on the Routledge website starting on September 9th.

I’ve also received word from my publisher that I have fifteen sets to give away across book launch events. Like and reshare any of my book launch social media posts throughout September, including this blog post, to be entered into the drawing.

Lastly, a request. The #1 way authors get discovered is through Amazon reviews. Once you see the books, if you have a moment to give an honest review on Amazon, I’d be eternally grateful.

AI Tool I’ve been experimenting with.

Over the summer I gave three presentations about AI in Education. The first was as a spotlight speaker at the Longwood University Summer Literacy Institute, the second was on a panel for the Michigan Education Association, this talk will be turned into a course soon, accessible to MEA members and the final presentation was to the librarians at Ann Arbor Public Schools.

After each of these talks, participants messaged me about the songs they’d created using the music creation AI tool, Suno. If you’d like to listen to the songs I shared at the presentations, you can listen here. Suno is fabulous for creating catchy music with lyrics that reflect your prompt. My favorite is ‘Library Beats’.

I’d love to hear your Suno creations too! If you want to, you can share with me over social media or send the link to my email: AuthorJulieDarling@gmail.com

Image of dramatic clouds over the ocean off the coast of South Carolina.
Giveaways, Resources, News and Updates

August News – Giveaways | Official Launch Date!

Julie Darling

Last week I was in South Carolina with a friend where these big, dramatic skies made me think of opportunities…possibilities…stories yearning to be told. I’ve been working on another writing project. A novel this time. It’s been in the works for years, actually.

I’d mostly set it aside this past year because I was completing a Google Project Management Certificate (which I finished in June!) and putting the final touches on my forthcoming book series which now has an official launch date!

Setting aside those two big projects has given me a little more headspace to come back to the novel, and now that I’ve told you all about it, I have to finish it, right?!

I hope this late Summer inspires you to come back to those projects that still have your heart.

September 30th, 2024 is the release date!

September 30th, 2024 is the official launch date for our new 3-book series! These can be purchased as a set or individually.

They’re available now for pre-order on Amazon.

Book Giveaway!

I’m celebrating the official release date with a giveaway of my first book! Between now and July 31st like/reshare the giveaway announcement here, on Facebook, Instagram or X, then complete this 4-question form. The randomly selected winner will be notified on August 1st.

Want a second entry? Sign up for my newsletter by July 30th for the link to a second chance to win. Good luck!

Book I’m Reading.

While waiting in the Charleston airport, with a delayed flight, I decided I didn’t want to read any of the three hardcover books I’d dragged along with me and instead went to the airport bookstore, where I found HBR’s The Year in Tech 2024 on the paperback, bestsellers shelf.

It covers a huge swath of the tech world including essays on neurotech, Web3, AI, XR and the Metaverse. Of particular interest to those of you who attended ISTE may be an essay on ChatGPT written by keynote speaker Ethan Mollick. His new book Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI is currently on my to-be-read pile.

That’s it for now! See you back here next month for book launch details!

Image States that I'm Presenting at ISTELive24
Resources, News and Updates

Read | Write | Tech – June 2024

Julie Darling

This June I’m gearing up for two big events!

I’ll be presenting at the 2024 ISTE conference and Ann Arbor SummerFest in the same week! I’ll also be giving away signed copies of my first book, Social-Emotional Learning Using Makerspaces and Passion Projects at both. I’d love to see you there!

June also means Summer reading! Scroll down for details about programs and websites for kids and adults, alike.

There will not be a July newsletter, while we concentrate on book launch and book tour event planning. Sign up for the emailed newsletter here for this content, plus special book launch giveaways and discounts delivered directly to your inbox!

If you missed my National Children’s Book Week: CS For Young Readers panel presentation last month, the recording is now available here.

June Presentations – More Details

On Monday, June 24th from 3-4 p.m. I’ll be presenting Teaching CSTA K-2 Standards Using Books, Games and Songs at the 2024 ISTE conference in Denver, CO. This session will be in-person, live-streamed and recorded, for ISTE conference participants. You’ll need to register for the in-person and/or virtual conference to attend.

On Friday, June 28th from 5-8 p.m. you’ll find me with illustrator D. J. Cools and Booksweet in the KidZone tent at A2SF, giving a sneak preview reading from our forthcoming titles, Little Hackers and Little Computer Scientists, singing the Debugging and Silly Password songs from the Guidebook and teaching kids about binary, ciphers and cybersecurity vocabulary. Enter the in-person drawing for a signed copy of Social-Emotional Learning Using Makerspaces and Passion Projects and a basket of makerspace supplies. Free event.

Summer Reading Resources

AI powered Sona gives you recommendation based on book descriptions that you type in.

Literature Map asks you to enter the name of an author you like and then creates a map of other authors you may also enjoy.

Which Book gives you curated recommendations which can be selected by region of the world, mood, character, plot and bestsellers.

The American Library Association puts together recommended Summer reading lists compiled for Pre-K through 8th grade. You can access the lists here.

Barnes & Noble has a Summer Reading program for kids in grades 1st-6th as well as suggested Summer reading lists for all ages.

If you’re feeling nostalgic, Pizza Hut does in fact still have their read books for free pizza program for Pre-K-6th graders. It’s called BookIt. You can find more details and enroll here.

Don’t forget about independent bookstores and your local public library! They also have fantastic Summer reading contests, prizes and incentives (and everything is free)!

If you’re looking for additional reading ideas, the Library of Congress has great reading lists from every state, you can peruse the 2024 compilation here. Consider taking a walk in your area and exploring some of the Little Free Libraries! You can locate many of them on this Little Free Library World Map.

Happy Reading! – Julie

Resources, News and Updates

Read | Write | Tech Blog – May 2024

Julie Darling

In K-12 schools, May is the time of year where we feel like we’re speeding to the end, but there’s still SO much to accomplish. It’s Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI) and the penultimate and last full month of the school year. Everyone seems antsy and, depending on your air conditioning situation (none?), perhaps a bit testy too. Hopefully some of these resources can help. I’’m excited this month to share with you the official covers for our forthcoming books, some fabulous resources to celebrate AAPI heritage month, three of my upcoming events and some fun, free digital music tools to pull out of your hat when everyone gets squirmy.

Official Cover Reveals!

These cover images are now live on Amazon for our forthcoming (Fall 2024) titles and it’s starting to feel real! Illustrator D. J. Cools did such amazing work. I’m delighted to see that there weren’t major changes made from the original design.

Upcoming Events

On May 2nd at 7 p.m. EST, I’ll be participating on a virtual panel presentation with Claudia Walker for National Children’s Book Week: CS For Young Readers. I’ll be speaking about my books and suggesting other resources for teaching computer science to kids. If you’d like to join us, sign up here. Tickets are $30 for non-members.

On Monday, June 24th from 3-4 p.m. I’ll be presenting Teaching CSTA K-2 Standards Using Books, Games and Songs at the 2024 ISTE conference in Denver, CO. This session will be in-person, live-streamed, and recorded for ISTE conference participants. Must register for the in-person and/or virtual conference to attend.

A2SF KidZone

Photo Credit: Nate Hatt

On Friday, June 28th from 5-8 p.m. you’ll find me and illustrator D. J. Cools with Booksweet in the KidZone tent at A2SF (formerly known as Top of the Park), giving a sneak preview reading from our forthcoming titles, Little Hackers and Little Computer Scientists, singing the Debugging and Silly Password songs from the Guidebook and teaching kids about binary, ciphers and cybersecurity vocabulary. Enter the in-person drawing for a signed copy of Social-Emotional Learning Using Makerspaces and Passion Projects and a basket of makerspace supplies. Free, In-Person Event.

AAPI Heritage Month

‘Ohana Means Family is a great read aloud with repeated phrases. Consider adding movement to this one for even more engagement. For example, we pretend to reach “…into the mud to pick the taro…”.

Bilal Cooks Daal is a delightfully illustrated story that won an Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Honor, and it even contains a daal recipe at the end!

Measuring Up is a highly engaging, heartwarming, award-winning graphic novel. Perfect for your middle grade readers.

Ashima Shiraishi is one of the youngest and most skilled climbers in the world. How to Solve a Problem is an inspiring story that pairs well with her TedxTeen talk, “Just Climb Through It”.

Digital Music Tools

As the weeks speed toward Summer break and your students start getting squirmy, consider adding some digital music tools to your repertoire.

A.I. Duet is one of my favorites, it’s a fun experiment that allows you to play a duet along with A.I. Consider playing the video “How It Works”, first as it provides a good, basic explanation about how A.I. works, in general. Although the experiment shows the participants playing on a piano keyboard, note that you can just use the keyboard on your computer, or click on the notes with your mouse if you only want to play one note at a time.

Body Synth is a delight to watch. In order to make it work, you’ll need to enable your camera. The voice commands necessitate enabling the microphone too. You can then control the music with the movement of your arms, head, torso and voice.

Chrome Music Lab encompasses a variety of music experiments. My favorites are Kandinsky and Shared Piano, although Voice Spinner is guaranteed to get some laughs.

Hope you enjoyed those! I’d love to hear what you’re using to engage students for AAPI month, with digital music or A.I., in general. Consider leaving a comment below with your suggestions!

Resources, News and Updates

Read | Write | Tech Blog – April 2024

Julie Darling

This April is Poetry, a Solar Eclipse and A.I. (oh my)!

Cover from the book A Few Beautiful Minutes: Experiencing a Solar Eclipse
Image of phases of total eclipse
Path of total eclipse across North America

One week from today, on Monday April 8th there will be a total solar eclipse in North America! Check out this NASA site for a 3D visualization of the path of totality. To add a bit of whimsy, also consider this eclipse playlist (scroll down and preview before sharing with kids) compiled by NASA interns for the 2017 eclipse.

A Few Beautiful Minutes by Kate Allen Fox (with gorgeous illustrations from Khoa Le) is a great read to use to explain how solar eclipses work and build anticipation for this event.

MACUL name and logo

The MACUL Conference was fantastic as usual. A few of my new favorite A.I. resources were GoblinTools, a site that helps you break down tasks into manageable steps, just describe your task in the “add new item” box and click the magic wand on the right-hand side and Pi AI, an A.I. personal assistant (who doesn’t need one of those?!) I’m also intrigued by EduaideAI, a robust lesson planning (and more) tool.

April is National Poetry Month and it’s my birthday too!

Speaking of A.I., Verse by Verse is an intriguing tool that helps you compose poetry inspired by classic American poets. Click on “let’s write a poem”, choose up to three famous poets, choose your preferred poem structure. I wrote one just now about the solar eclipse, here’s how it turned out:

If you’re someone who buys me birthday gifts, in lieu of a gift this year consider leaving a review of my first book (assuming you read or skimmed it).