Welcome to Decisions and Revisions

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Welcome! I started a Substack to help people keep track of the work I’m doing with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in teaching and learning, technology, learning and performance, and the host of other areas I work and play in.

I decided to name my Substack from one of my favorite T. S. Elliot lines from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock:

"In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse."

If you leave aside all of the literary criticism of Prufrock (please) “Decisions and Revisions” captures the essence of what I’m trying to do here, I think. I will tell you what I know, what I think, and what I think I know, or the “decisions” part. But there will be revisions. Why? I think of it like scientific theory: we use all the available data we have to explain what we think is going on. But when we get clearer definitions, new data, or better understanding, we revise the theory. And given how fast AI and tech in general are moving, we will all be revising what we think and know. A lot. Also, it rhymes and is kind of catchy, don’t you think?

When you create a Substack account, Substack helpfully suggests a set of questions to get you started. One of the first questions is, “Why Substack?” And a grand question it is. My first response was, “Because I can’t find my Blogger login?” But that seemed too snarky for a first post, and while there are people of a certain age who may get that joke, it may fall flat. But for those of you who remember Blogger, you’re welcome.

Who I am and Why I’m Doing This

I’m an academic (don’t hate) with a long history of academic publishing that not many people outside of my area read. My area is Learning Design and Technology (though my degree says Instructional Technology). I work in learning and performance. What is that? More questions, but here’s an answer:

Did you ever have a teacher who really knew their stuff but couldn’t get their point across? We help people get their point across.

We help experts break down complex expert knowledge into component pieces. Then we put the pieces back together in learning and support materials (there’s a difference, trust me) that are effective, efficient and engaging. Why? Experts often know what they know so well that they find it difficult to back out of what they know and explain it to beginners. You likely have had that experience in a classroom or during some on the job training at some point in your life. If you haven’t, consider yourself unique!

Oh! Also, we mediate the materials, meaning we create some product like a video, podcast, interactive materials, or website (or Substack) so we can share that expert’s knowledge widely and not make the expert get on a thousand airplanes to do a thousand workshops in a thousand places. See? Thanks to us, experts can enjoy better work-life balance! Although, admittedly, they do lose out on a lot of frequent flyer miles.

Public Scholarship

I’ve published a lot in my career because I had something to say. Also because my career required it. I’m proud of the work that I’ve done and that my field has done. And I want to share that knowledge with a wider audience than those who might read our academic publications. (Emphasis on “might read our academic publications”) Making research available to a wider audience is often called public scholarship, or sharing complicated research findings, theories, and ideas with the public in a way that is accessible. Accessible here means that the language is easy to understand and a lot of people can find it easily. And that is why Substack, though admittedly, I took a long time to say that. I’ll get better.

So follow this space for possibly regular, though likely sporadic, updates. How will you know to read them if they are sporadic? Just click on subscribe! You’ll get notified! It will come right to your email! But, updates on what? Another grand question.

I’m currently the Singleton Professor of Education at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC, USA. This is an endowed professorship that I will hold for five years. It provides me with resources to study some specific things. And I’m studying AI in teaching and learning and the local and global impact of AI with an expressed and purposeful intention the goal of doing more public scholarship. I will be writing about AI and the work I am doing and the work others are doing. I’ll also be sharing this work on my YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@marshallgjones). Feel free to follow along there as well. And I will try to explain things in ways that are accessible to a wide audience. This means I’ll be oversimplifying things. A lot. (If you want to argue about my oversimplification, don’t click on subscribe.)

I Think I’m Going To Kathmandu. No. Really.

But there’s a more pressing issue. I’m an advisor to the GEIST International Foundation (https://geistfoundation.org/) an education non profit and Non Government Organization (NGO) headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh. They are holding The Global Summit on Education in Kathmandu, Nepal in December 2025. Additionally, they will be holding meetings on climate action and AI in other places in Nepal and India. I’ll be traveling to work with them in Nepal and India in December 2024 - January 2025, and I wanted a space to provide updates. So the first of my posts are going to focus on that travel, that work, and those meetings. I’ll be sharing what I learn, hopefully interviews with scholars, researchers, students, and others I meet. Also, pictures. Lots of pictures. When I get back, I’ll do more updates on AI and teaching and learning.

If you’re interested, great! Click subscribe! If you’re not interested, how do you know? I haven’t posted anything except this yet! Click subscribe and then decide!

Thanks for making it to the end.

Namaste.