Mike Tholfsen

The latest #EduOnAir sessions are here! This month, we’re diving into K-12—bringing educators and IT leaders new ways to create better learning experiences. While I recommend watching any session that catches your interest, here are a few I’m especially excited about: 📌 “What’s New with Google for Education” (on-demand): A deep dive into recent updates in Google Workspace and Chromebooks. 📌 “Enhance In-class Instruction…” (on-demand): A look at Class tools, a new set of features on managed Chromebooks that helps educators provide individualized support for students without disrupting the class. 📌 “Safer Learning with Google” (live on March 18): A session focused on how Google Workspace strengthens security for IT teams, protecting schools against growing cyber threats. Looking forward to hearing your feedback and takeaways. Let me know which ones you enjoy the most! 

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Microsoft Reading Coach empowers learners of all ages to build reading fluency in over 80 languages using a variety of content options! We just dropped a new dark mode theme pack for Reading Coach to make it appealing to older learners. Theme pack includes: 🎨Dark mode color scheme 🎭"Reo", a new coach 🔊A new coach voice 🔠Direct tone for feedback and coaching ➡️Get started with your school/university or personal account at https://lnkd.in/g6dJXz3x Bring Reading Coach to older learners with confidence this back-to-school season! #reading #literacy #AIinEducation #olderreaders Mike Tholfsen

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Educators: Ready to transform how you teach with AI? 🚀 I’m excited to share that GitHub, in partnership with the National Applied AI Consortium is hosting a free Faculty Workshop Series on AI-Assisted Teaching—and it’s specifically designed for higher education instructors looking to integrate AI tools into their curriculum. What makes this valuable: • Hands-on experience with GitHub Copilot, GitHub Spark, and GitHub Classroom • Practical strategies for teaching with AI across ANY discipline—not just computer science • Direct application to your classroom—no technical background required • Learn how to help students use AI as a learning tool, not a shortcut The Details: 📅 Four sessions: March 3, 10, 17 & 31, 2026 ⏰ 12:00 - 1:30 PM EST 💰 Completely free 🎯 Perfect for US-based faculty from any discipline 🎁 Includes GitHub Toolbox + complimentary educator access to GitHub Copilot and GitHub Classroom What You’ll Learn: → Session 1 (March 3): GitHub Fundamentals & Spark → Session 2 (March 10): Getting Started with Copilot & Spark → Session 3 (March 17): Practical Classroom Use Cases Across Disciplines → Session 4 (March 31): Beyond the Basics with Copilot, Spark & Classroom Whether you’re curious about AI in education or already experimenting with these tools, this series will give you concrete frameworks and techniques you can implement immediately. After nearly 30 years in tech and now leading AI learning strategy at GitHub, I’ve seen firsthand how these tools are reshaping education. The question isn’t whether AI will impact your classroom—it’s whether you’ll be equipped to guide your students through this transformation. Register here: https://lnkd.in/eZC2Pyjs Know a faculty member who should see this? Tag them below or share this post. Let’s help educators lead the way in responsible AI adoption.

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Earlier this year, I shared how essential learning science principles are to building our educational tools. We took a step towards this by infusing LearnLM into Gemini 2.5, making it the world’s leading model for learning. Today,  as part of our ongoing efforts to bring richer, more complex and useful capabilities to help anyone learn, we’re launching Guided Learning, a new mode in Gemini. Built in collaboration with educators, students, and learning science experts, Guided Learning aims to engage you on topics so you can actively understand information. The mode helps you delve deep on concepts, breaking them down step-by-step, instead of just providing answers. It creates a judgement-free place to ask questions and works multimodally – providing images, videos, and quizzes in responses. In Gemini, we’ve also introduced the ability to create custom flashcards and study guides. We’re just at the beginning of this work and are excited to continue hearing more on how we can improve the experience and make it more impactful for learners. So students can take full advantage of these features, we’re offering a free one-year subscription to Google’s AI Pro plan for those in the U.S., as well as Japan, Indonesia, Korea and Brazil. As AI continues to evolve, having a 21st century skillset is more essential than ever. We're investing $1 billion in funding over three years for American education, including AI literacy programs, research funding and cloud computing resources. And announcing the Google AI for Education Accelerator, an initiative to offer free AI training and Google Career Certificates to every college student in America. For more on Guided Lear​​ning, visit: https://lnkd.in/eW4nzN26 Or try it for yourself -  https://lnkd.in/eBbjZhui To learn more on our other initiatives: https://lnkd.in/eBpecgNH

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What happens when educators and designers fully embrace AI literacy in their work? In her latest blog post, Dr. Angela Gunder, Ph.D., delves into how practitioners are applying AI knowledge in real-world settings, from course and policy design to transforming learning experiences. https://ow.ly/83xC30sLJTB

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Instructional design IS and ISN’T industry specific. Our skills may be agnostic, but it certainly helps in conversations with SMEs and stakeholders if you have at least a baseline of familiarity with their jargon. For example, I work in tech at a software company and I’ve learned all about DevOps and that product development lifecycle. My employer serves the telecommunications industry, so I’ve had to learn about topics such as: eSIMs, wholesale data, roaming, IMSI, server-side skills, Oracle databases, tiered architecture, CRM GUIs, and TMForum. Was that last sentence a load of nonsense to you? It took me years to upskill on this content. If I got a job in healthcare tomorrow, I don’t kid myself that I’d be ready to build training for nurses immediately. That being said, instructional designers can apply their skills across retail, healthcare, tech, manufacturing, travel, etc. But we should stay humble and not assume we can immediately hit the ground running in any industry. Experience matters. The cool thing about being a learning professional, though, is that we are very willing to learn and grow! #InstructionalDesign #LearningAndDevelopment #TechnicalTraining Image Description: A communications tower shows antennae against a blue sky backdrop.

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