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More summer news from your friends at Merlyn Mind: One of our co-founders contributed to a Department of Education guide on AI in education, our team got inspired at ISTE, we joined the EDSAFE AI Alliance, and our CEO discussed student-centered learning with podcaster Michael Horn.
We're grateful our co-founder Sharad C Sundararajan had the opportunity to contribute to the U.S. Department of Education's new guide, "Designing for Education with Artificial Intelligence."
"Engaging with such dedicated and insightful stakeholders was a truly enriching experience," says Sharad. "This guide underscores the importance of responsible AI deployment in education, offering actionable insights to make a positive difference for all learners and educators. It addresses critical aspects such as risks, governance, and most importantly, provides essential questions to ask when integrating AI into educational environments. Let's harness AI's potential to create a brighter future in education together."
The guide was developed with Digital Promise, with contributions from Merlyn Mind, Khan Academy, GoGuardian, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, EDSAFE AI Alliance, Carnegie Learning, TeachFX, and Alchemie.
Read and download “Designing for Education with Artificial Intelligence.”
Hundreds and hundreds of administrators and educators stopped by our booth at ISTELive in Denver in June to meet Merlyn, the AI assistant for teachers.
We were so inspired by all the teachers and leaders who are thoughtfully incorporating AI into their educational communities. We talked compliant vs. authentic engagement, how to save time in the classroom, how voice AI can enhance teaching and learning, and how to streamline everyday workflows.
The response to Merlyn was overwhelmingly two thumbs way up.
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“Right now, I’m stuck at the front of the room,” said one elementary school teacher. “I like the voice control to be able to switch tabs or open something or to send files to Google Classroom. There’s all kinds of tricks that I think will be valuable in the classroom to make my time more efficient with the students and make sure instructional time is used to its fullest.”
A teacher-turned-administrator summed up her sentiments in a single sentence: “It’s about enough to make me go back in the classroom!”
At the ISTE Solutions Summit, Merlyn Mind Senior Vice President of AI Product Growth & Strategic Initiatives Latha Ramanan shared some of our core principles of responsible AI use.
"Safety, privacy, transparency, fairness, reliability. All of these are super-critical. Have the systems been tested by third parties? Has red-teaming been done? Have we made sure there are no hallucinations? Are we co-designing with teachers to make sure that the AI is solving real problems? These are the things we have been working with at Merlyn Mind to make sure we are giving a private, safe AI solution to teachers."
ISTELive is a favorite event of ours here at Merlyn, and we’re already looking forward to San Antonio.
Merlyn Mind has joined as one of the founding companies of the EDSAFE AI Alliance Industry Council.
Made up of more than 50 leading education and technology companies, the council is committed to ensuring AI is used responsibly and effectively in classrooms around the world. Together, we'll advocate for the SAFE framework (safe, accountable, fair, and effective) and the SIIA AI principles, promoting the ethical development and use of AI in education.
"Education companies are united in their commitment to expanding opportunity, learning, and innovation to all students and teachers in ways that are safe and accessible for all," said Karl Rectanus, chair of the EDSAFE Industry Council. "This growing collection of leading companies brings expertise, investment, and thoughtful collaboration as we all navigate towards a more equitable world in the AI era."
This is a significant step toward building trust and ensuring a brighter future where AI empowers, not replaces, educators.
Thanks to Michael Horn, who teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is a co-founder the nonprofit Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, for recently hosting Merlyn Mind co-founder Dr. Satya Nitta on The Future of Education podcast.
Here’s what Michael had to say about Merlyn:
“One adverse side effect of edtech: it can tether teachers to their computers or make them feel sidelined. That’s a problem because student-centered learning works best when teachers are free to move around the classroom, actively guiding students’ on their personal learning journeys. But that’s hard to do when they need to be at their computer, toggling between various apps across their numerous tasks.
“That’s why Merlyn Mind, an education AI company, built an AI tool that allows teachers to control their various digital tools with their voices. I spoke recently with its co-founder and CEO, Satya Nitta. I was fascinated to learn about the new possibilities opened up in classrooms by automating and voice-activating the once time- and energy-consuming juggling act of teaching in the digital age.”
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Schedule a free personalized demo to see our purpose-built solutions in action, and hear how innovative schools are leveraging the power of Merlyn in their classrooms.
Schedule a free personalized demo to see our purpose-built solutions in action, and hear how innovative schools are leveraging the power of Merlyn in their classrooms.
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