Another Think Coming

Walk Through Ancient Egypt with Expeditione

Miguel Guhlin — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 09:46:00 GMT

One place that captures my interest? Egypt. I've seen so many exciting movies, read adventure stories, all of which are situated in Egypt or Ancient Egypt. As you might imagine, Ancient Egypt can lose some of its magic when K-12 students meet it through a textbook paragraph and a picture of the pyramids. The pyramids deserve better than four bullet points and a vocabulary quiz. They deserve a powerful story and a way to visually explore the background.

That is why Expeditione caught my attention. This free, browser-based 3D encyclopedia invites students to explore history instead of simply reading someone else’s summary of it.

Explore the Ancient World

Expeditione’s first journey takes students into Ancient Egypt through interactive 3D scenes. They can examine daily family life, quarry work, temples, the Nile Delta, pyramid construction, and the fierce Khamsin sandstorms. There are several scenes you can explore, and you can take snapshots along the way.

Anyone who's watched recent movie releases spanning history knows that it is not packaged as one tidy answer. When historians disagree, such as how the pyramids may have been built, Expeditione presents multiple evidence-based theories. I like that choice because it gives teachers something better than another round of fact recall: an opening for students to compare evidence, explain their reasoning, and decide which theory they find most convincing.

ACE Ancient Egypt

For fun, I added wondered might this look like through the ACE Framework. I hope Aureon doesn't mind me having fun with Expeditione in this way:

If you want to explore the ACE Connection further, it appears below the divider at the end of this blog entry.

Built for School Devices

Independent creator Aureon de Veyra researched, wrote, programmed, designed, animated, and modeled Expeditione. Each 3D scene is approximately one megabyte. The hope is that it will load quickly on standard school Chromebooks and iPads.What's more, a Performance Mode setting reduces the demands on lower-powered devices. The 3D scenes are beautifully detailed and worthy of exploring. Students can also be guided through work. The music and sounds put you in the mood for the exploration of Ancient Egypt:

These still images really don't do the simulation justice. And, other benefits for use in the classroom abound. Expeditione cuts out much of the usual classroom setup headache:

No ads
No tracking
No login
No pop-ups
No cost for students, families, or educators

Small mercy: you will not spend the first ten minutes of class helping students reset passwords.

Try It in the Classroom

The accompanying educator’s field guide suggests using one scene for a 10- to 15-minute investigation or completing the full expedition across several class periods. The included student worksheet adds challenges involving a lost copper chisel, a damaged stone barge, a Khamsin sandstorm, and a cracked pyramid block.

Start small. Put students in pairs and ask them to explore one scene. Have them record one observation, identify one piece of evidence, and write one question the scene raises. Then let them compare notes before you provide the historical explanation.

Expeditione launches on August 11, 2026 (in two days), and will be completely free to explore.

Take your students on an Ancient Egyptian expedition at Expeditione.

ACE Framework for Expeditione: Ancient Egypt

Grade band: 6–8 Time: 30–45 minutes Essential question: How did geography, belief, engineering, and daily life work together to shape Ancient Egyptian civilization?

A — Articulate It

Explore and describe what you notice.

Students explore one Expeditione scene, such as the Nile Delta, family life, quarry work, temples, pyramid construction, or a Khamsin sandstorm.

Student task:

Record three important observations.
Identify one object, practice, or challenge.
Explain the scene’s importance in your own words.

Sentence stems:

“In this scene, I noticed…”
“This mattered to Ancient Egyptians because…”
“In my own words, this shows…”

Product: A brief field note containing three observations and a one-sentence explanation.

C — Connect It

Connect evidence across scenes and ideas.

Students compare their scene with another Expeditione scene. They explain how geography, resources, beliefs, technology, or social organization influenced what they observed.

Possible connections include:

The Nile Delta and farming
Quarry work and pyramid construction
Temples and religious beliefs
Sandstorms and environmental adaptation
Family life and the larger Egyptian economy

Students can also compare the evidence-based theories presented for pyramid construction.

Sentence stems:

“This connects to ___ because…”
“The relationship between these scenes is…”
“The strongest evidence for this explanation is…”
“One theory is more convincing because…”

Product: A cause-and-effect map or short claim-evidence-reasoning response using evidence from at least two scenes.

E — Extend It

Apply the learning to a new historical problem.

Students take the role of an adviser to an Ancient Egyptian community. They must propose a response to a new challenge:

A growing settlement needs food, water, shelter, religious spaces, and protection from environmental hazards. Where should it be built, and how should its people organize it?

The proposal must include:

A recommended location
Two environmental or engineering adaptations
One connection to Egyptian beliefs or daily life
Evidence from at least three Expeditione scenes
One tradeoff or possible weakness in the plan

Sentence stems:

“The settlement should be built…”
“Evidence from the expedition suggests…”
“If the Egyptians tried ___, then…”
“A possible problem with this plan is…”
“A new question this raises is…”

Product choices: Annotated settlement map, museum display, written proposal, audio briefing, or two-minute presentation.

Quick ACE Check

ACE step	Evidence of learning
Articulate	Accurately describes important details in the student’s own words
Connect	Explains a meaningful relationship using evidence from multiple scenes
Extend	Applies historical understanding to a new problem and acknowledges a tradeoff

Closing prompt: “Ancient Egypt succeeded because its people understood how to ___, connect ___, and adapt to ___.”

What Are You Doing With What You Have?

Miguel Guhlin — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:31:00 GMT

"Why are you not moving faster?" I asked a friend in a leadership position. Her answer surprised me. In the midst of a leadership transition, she confessed her fear of making a decision that would move her team forward. Although many years have passed, I'm struck again by the power of old stories to help us gain insight in how we might move forward. Imagine that a promising employee has been given the resources to lead an important project in a time of uncertainty. You see the potential, but they also see the risk. What they do next lies at the heart of the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14–30.

The Parable, Paraphrased

In the story, a landowner leaves on a journey and entrusts three workers with different amounts of money. A “talent” was a large unit of currency, not a personal skill as the word is used today. Two workers put the money to use and produce a return. The third, afraid of losing what he received, buries it.

His choice protects the original amount, but nothing grows.

Before You Continue

Which response sounds most like your leadership practice?

I give people meaningful responsibility before they feel completely ready
I delegate work but remain involved in every decision
I hold onto important projects because mistakes could be costly
I wait until someone has more experience before expanding their role

Keep your choice in mind as you read.

Match Responsibility to Readiness

As you see in the parable, the workers do not receive equal amounts. Each receives an assignment suited to his/her ability.

Good leaders recognize the same differences on a team. One person may be ready to lead a major initiative. Another may need a smaller project with clear checkpoints. Fair leadership does not require identical assignments. It requires thoughtful opportunities to grow.

I have found that people often discover what they can do only after someone trusts them with work that matters. It can be invigorating for the right person who receives the trust, which is more valuable than whatever the "talents" are. As a person who has served in a leadership role, and a person who has been a follower, I know what the responsibilities entail.

That trust should include support. As a leader, you set expectations, provide needed resources, agree on checkpoints, and make room for questions. Then step back far enough for the person to take ownership. A friend of mine taught me this when he delegated work to me. Within the boundaries of a project, this was mine to do with as I saw fit aligned to the standards set. If I failed, I owned it. If I succeeded, I owned that as well, but my supervisor got a chunk of that success because he was wise enough to put the trust out there.

But imagine if I held onto the responsibility, never trusting that person with the "talent." Or if I had, as the person receiving the talent, done nothing with it.

Fear Can Bury Potential

The third worker acts from fear. He avoids loss, criticism, and uncertainty by doing nothing.

Leaders can make a similar choice. They may delay a new idea, avoid delegating visible work, or keep decision-making concentrated at the top. The result may look stable, but stability without growth becomes stagnation.

The same problem appears when employees fear making mistakes. People who expect punishment for every misstep learn to hide problems, avoid initiative, and return only what they were given.

Try It

A capable team member wants to lead a high-profile project but has limited experience managing deadlines.

What would you do?

Keep the project yourself
Give the person a low-risk task unrelated to the project
Let the person lead with clear milestones and regular check-ins
Delay the opportunity until formal leadership training is complete

What do you think is the best response?

Option three balances opportunity with support. The employee receives real responsibility, while milestones make progress visible and reduce unnecessary risk.

Leadership capacity develops through supported practice, not endless preparation.

Entrust Something That Matters

Think of one responsibility you, as a leader, are holding tightly. Who could take ownership of it? What support would that person need? When could you review progress without taking the work back? Leadership is measured partly by what you accomplish. It is also revealed by what grows in the people trusted to carry the work forward.

For me, there's nothing so frustrating as seeing someone paralyzed by risk. I know, I've been there myself. You have to move forward and trust others.

Choosing a School District Assessment System

Miguel Guhlin — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:28:00 GMT

Find yourself building a workaround in a spreadsheet or other convenient tool? That may be a sign that your enterprise assessment system needs a hard look. This blog offers some suggestions.

Making the Impossible Work with Vibe-Coded Solutions

Miguel Guhlin — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 22:12:00 GMT

Over the last few months, I've noticed a significant change in my writing output. Instead of writing about other people's solutions, I'm writing more and more about solutions that I've developed using vibe-coding. This has been wonderful given vibe-coding's empowering aspect to make solutions that are relevant to problems I've noticed. Those problems, obstacles are ones that, in the past, I would have had to wait around on someone who knew how to code to solve. Now, I can take those topics on myself.

One Big Obstacle Facing Organizations

One point before I get into the main part of this blog entry. That is, what a challenge slow-moving organizations face when their staff start creating with vibe-coded solutions. Their first inclination is to greet it with suspicion, to drag their feet in providing a server to host content. Think of the rich efforts vibe-coders in work settings are able to produce, then finding that they have to find any port in the storm (web server host) to put their creations. As a technology director, I never saw the point of these top-down, network command-n-control types who restrict access to any new technology out of fear or move so glacially slow (before climate change, of course, started melting everything) to implement new solutions.

It's a tough issue, and this reflection is provoked, not by my situation, but The Artificial Intelligence Show podcast episodes these past few weeks with Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput. They are sounding the alarm regarding slow-moving businesses and organizations who may wake up to find their best workers, who embraced Gen AI and are vibe-coding solutions, have innovated their way into different spaces. I've been here before with blogging, seeing people who blogged accelerate their own learning that moved them outside their current sphere into a new one. Gen AI with vibe-coding has that potential as well.

That quick reflection aside, let me share with you a growing realization about my own work.

Solving Problems: Documenting Vibe-Coded Solutions

The place where this is most visible, this idea of solved problems using vibe-coding, is the blog entries I write for my employer's blog. I find that now, when I read about a problem a non-profit organization member is having in the shared community space, I am able to design and create a solution that works. Consider this list of blog entries, from April through October, 2026 that I have either written and published, or written and scheduled for publication.

I am SO grateful to have had that support and opportunity to use Gen AI to support our organization's members. It's an organization I've been a part of since 1990s and I'm thrilled about the opportunity to take a leadership role in encouraging the use of Gen AI in schools. After all, even with all the screen time backlash, using technology to empower teaching, learning, and leading is what we're about.

And, boy, do I feel empowered.

Quick Totals

Of the 63 blog entries I've submitted for publication from April - October, 2026, thirty-nine are vibe-coded solutions of some sort, or include vibe-coded elements. Twenty-three do not rely on vibe-coded solutions at all. This is a real shift in my approach to writing, and has made my production work much more satisfying and rewarding. While my work provides Claude, I have often relied on my personal ChatGPT account to generate images, or fill in when Claude says, "No mas!" (No more due to running out of tokens).

Honestly, I can't really imagine schools and organizations failing to realize the potential of vibe-coded solutions to problems their staff and/or members face every day. Instead of saying, "Oh well, we can't afford someone or we have to find some company to do that," now, people can say, "Let me see if I can develop a solution for that using vibe-coding."

To me, this is the real benefit of Generative AI...and we miss it when we focus on the "cheating" aspect. That's not to say productive struggle isn't critical for K-16 learners, or any age learner, but the real power of this tool is empowering people like me, who can't code at all even if their life depended on it, to leverage Gen AI to make things not previously possible.

Vibe-Coded Solutions (39)

Linked blog entries have been published; the rest have not.

AI Maker Magic, Part 3: Save FunQuiz Results to Google Sheets
Become an AI-Powered Newsletter Architect
When Disaster Strikes: Cyber Edition
Vibe-Coded Solutions for Educators
Vibe-Coding an Oreo Personality Test
TCEA Responds: When Your Tech Buyback Company Ghosts You
Five Steps to a 15-Minute Family App Privacy Audit
The Augmented K-16 AI Framework: Six Tools You Can Use
Make Data Displays Without Writing Code
Turn Entry Tickets Into Smart Item Analysis
Drop the Subscriptions: Vibe-Code Your Own Library Tools
Celebrate America’s 250th Birthday with Fourth of July Digital Breakouts
Crack the Case with CLEAR, Smart Thinking (Part 1)
Science Detectives: Critical Thinking Online Breakouts (CTOBs) for Your K-2 Classroom
Three Critical Thinking Digital Breakouts for 2026-2027 (CLEAR, Part 2)
Vibe-Coding for Librarians
Five New Digital Math Tools for PreKindergarten and Kindergarten Students
Science Detectives: Critical Thinking Online Breakouts (CTOBs) for Your 3–5 Classroom
Science Detectives: Critical Thinking Online Breakouts (CTOBs) for Your 6-8 Classroom
Back to School: Get Students Lab-Ready with Free Safety Certification Activities
Back to School: Five Reasons Getting to Know You Activities Are Worth the Time (scheduled for August 7, 2026; no public link yet)
Critical Thinking Online Breakouts for K–12 Classrooms: Bible as Literature (scheduled for August 11, 2026; no public link yet)
Turn Literature Study into an Investigation with PlotPoint (scheduled for August 14, 2026; no public link yet)
Idioms and Sayings: A CTOB Suite for Multilingual Learners (scheduled for August 24, 2026; no public link yet)
Women’s Equality Day: The Vote Was a Milestone, Not the Finish Line (scheduled for August 26, 2026; no public link yet)
Build a Better Handbook in Five Steps (scheduled for August 28, 2026; no public link yet)
TCEA Responds: Binder Check Rubrics for Your Science Classroom (scheduled for August 31, 2026; no public link yet)
ACE Image Inquiry: Reading Paintings Like Historical Evidence (scheduled for September 1, 2026; no public link yet)
Instructional Rasquachismo (scheduled for September 9, 2026; no public link yet)
A11Y Digital Accessibility (scheduled for September 17, 2026; no public link yet)
Make T-TESS Observations Less Painful with Gen AI (scheduled for September 23, 2026; no public link yet)
Seven Ways to Use Bellringers in High School Science (scheduled for September 25, 2026; no public link yet)
Back to School: Step Into the Vanished Classroom and Investigate School History (scheduled for September 28, 2026; no public link yet)
How Principals Can Use Gen AI to Create Engaging Staff Meetings (scheduled for October 2, 2026; no public link yet)
Say It, Make It: Turn Clear Communication into a STEAM Challenge (scheduled for October 8, 2026; no public link yet)
Problem-Solving Teaching: PBL Units for Texas Social Studies (scheduled for October 13, 2026; no public link yet)
Build Better Online Judgment with Digital Citizenship CTOBs (scheduled for October 26, 2026; no public link yet)
Teach Digital Citizenship with CipherSplat Encryption (scheduled for October 28, 2026; no public link yet)
Gen AI Literacy Activities (scheduled for October 29, 2026; no public link yet)

Not Vibe-Coded (23)

Stop the Spam: Tips for Filtering Unwanted Phone Calls
Stop Fixing Students: Coaching for Equity Through Universal Design
TCEA Responds: Navigating Resistance, Part Two
Does Your District Have an AI Plan, or Just an AI Problem?
When AI Tutors Backfire
Digital Mapping Your School District
The 20% AI Policy Won’t Work. Here’s What May.
Four Free Tools to Cut Workflow Friction in 2026
Navigating Academic Integrity in the AI Classroom
NoPaperTest: A Multilingual Quiz Tool
Six Free Tools That Put Privacy First
Library Grants Worth Knowing About (Spring 2026 Edition)
TCEA Responds: Refurbished Chromebooks That Survive a Middle School Year
ACE It: Three Steps from Surface to Transfer Learning
TCEA Responds: Will Jigsaw Help My Third Graders on Individual Tests?
Five Browser Add-Ons Worth Installing This Week
Should Districts Block Canva? The K-12 Control Question
Build Student-Ready Study Kits: AI Prompts
Hands-On: Student Learning in the AI Era
Choosing a District Assessment System Without Starting With Vendor Demos (scheduled for August 6, 2026; no public link yet)
8 Canva Easter Eggs to Liven Up Your Presentations (scheduled for August 27, 2026; no public link yet)
Sharing 130+ Social Studies Entry and Exit Tickets for Grades 3-11 (scheduled for September 3, 2026; no public link yet)
The 60-Second PEIMS Check That Can Save Hours (scheduled for September 11, 2026; no public link yet)

Reflecting on the Journey

What a fun journey it's been so far, and it's only getting better, faster. The question going around in my head is, "What new challenges are educators facing today? And, how can I vibe-code a solution to address it?" From a professional learning perspective, that question changes a bit to, "How can I best support educators who are embracing vibe-coded solutions for their own work and effort?"

Back to School: Get Students Lab-Ready with Free Safety Activities

Miguel Guhlin — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 10:36:00 GMT

These free Lab Safety Certification activities (available in seven different languages) may give students a chance to practice those decisions before they begin laboratory work. And, as a bonus, you get five posters you can print and hang in your classroom.

Dungeon Run: Surprise is an Admin Expense #game #DungeonCrawlingC

Miguel Guhlin — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:51:00 GMT

"Are you familiar with Dungeon Crawler Carl?" asked a colleague at work. It was a Monday, and for whatever the reason, I was half-awake. Had I heard of Dungeon Crawler Carl? The answer was, "Yes, I had. A LitRPG, right?" My colleague shared about how this series was what was being avidly read in their house. Sure, I had heard of Dungeon Crawler Carl and avoided it as just so much more LitRPG.

LitRPG, short for literary role-playing game, is a literary genre combining the conventions of computer RPGs with science-fiction and fantasy novels. In LitRPG, game-like elements form an essential part of the story, and visible RPG statistics (for example strength, intelligence, damage) are a significant part of the reading experience.The main character in a LitRPG novel is consciously interacting with the game or game-like world and attempting to progress within it. (Read More)

LitRPG Overload

I had encountered so much LitRPG in online reading, that finding an old-fashioned fantasy, sci-fi story became my top priority for a while. But that frustration wasn't for the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, but rather, the fact I'd gorged myself on LitRPG for a year, reading Shirtaloon's excellent He Who Fights With Monsters series, following the adventures of Jason Asano. I also spent some time with Zogarth's The Primal Hunter, as well as many, many others.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is a LitRPG science-fantasy series by Matt Dinniman, following Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they navigate a sadistic alien game show after Earth’s apocalypse. (Learn More)

But, that's not all. There must have been dozens of stories I either read in print or listened to as an audiobook focused on LitRPG. Over time, I grew tired of the premise. The character stats kept getting in the way of the story. I could care less about all the character leveling up. I wanted good storytelling. But after my work colleague suggested Dungeon Crawler Carl, I decided to give it another go.

I'm now through most of book one, and enjoying Princess Donut's antics, as much as Carl's frustration with not having all the right articles of clothing due to apocalypse happening at an inconvenient time.

Optional caption

Inspiring a New Game

By way of thanks, I decided it might be fun to vibe-code a Dungeon-type game. My co-worker appears as one of the characters you can play as (I asked if it was OK to include my coworker), and another colleague's dog is the face of Moxie, the poodle (I mean, you can't say "No" when your coworker asks you to include their dog, then sends you an edited image to use).

I didn't want to violate copyright or anything, so the game is called "Dungeon Run." I based it on characters who work in a sawmill in the country (the most outlandish thing I could think of...think Little House on the Prairie sawmill or the sawmill in Crucial Confrontations). I don't even know if saw mills exist any longer in the manner described in the game, but if they don't, just think of it as another universe, ok?

I planned 20 levels, and I'm adding them slowly. Here are the first five levels, but the game will probably only "work" levels 1-3 right now:

I probably won't be adding new levels until the weekend. I've used up my scant credits on ChatGPT Codex at the MX Linux command line, so I'm hoarding some of my usage for other projects.

Game Play

Game play is pretty easy, and two-dimensional (2D). While I usually hate 2D games, I know a lot of folks like them. ID Software got me hooked on 3D-FPS, but there are plenty of games that are 2D oriented, so there you go.

Updates and New Levels

In the meantime, you can play Dungeon Run as one of three characters. I suppose, you should even be able to play as Moxie, but alas, I didn't think of that until too late. Not all the bugs are shaken out, crushed, or smashed, so keep that in mind.

"Become a Dungeon Runner."

New Browser Encryption Tool - CipherSplat

Miguel Guhlin — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:39:00 GMT

One of my favorite online encryption tools? Filelock.org. However, FileLock hadn't been updated since 2018. It got me wondering, "What would a vibe-coded browser-based encryption tool look like today?" Enter CipherSplat.

CipherSplat Measures Up Alongside Other Encryption Tools

In my work, I rely on several encryption tools, such as 7z, zip, and ParanoiaWorks. Of these, ParanoiaWorks Secure Space Encryptor is my favorite. Yet, I often need to recommend a browser-based, easy to use tool to colleagues who need something to use on the go for one-time use. In the past, that recommendation included FileLock. As of today, I'm switching to CipherSplat due to this assessment.

Tool	Practical rating*	Main strengths	Main weakness
ParanoiaWorks PFE/SSE	8.5/10	AES-256-CTR, Argon2id, BLAKE3 authentication, open specifications, and compatibility with browser, desktop, Android, and iOS tools	Uses a more complex custom encrypt-then-authenticate format; browser version recommends keeping files below roughly 800 MB (Paranoia Works)
CipherSplat	8/10	AES-256-GCM, Argon2id with 64 MiB and three passes, authenticated package headers, local processing, and no persistent password storage	Newer and less widely tested; no independent security audit (DrawSplat)
7z AES-256	7.5/10	Mature, open source, strong AES-256 encryption, encrypted archive headers, excellent compression, and broad desktop support	Uses an older iterative SHA-256 password-derivation design rather than a memory-hard KDF such as Argon2id (7-Zip)
ZIP AES-256	5.5/10	Broad compatibility, AES-256 encryption, and per-file authentication	Uses PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA1 with only 1,000 iterations; filenames, dates, sizes, and other archive metadata remain visible (WinZip)
FileLock.org	4.5/10	Simple browser workflow, AES-256, and local file processing with no file uploads	Does not document its AES mode, password KDF, salt, authentication method, nonce handling, or package format; its CryptoJS-based implementation and public documentation date from 2018 (File Lock)

Comparing FileLock and CipherSplat

I thought it would be worthwhile to get a comparison between FileLock and CipherSplat. While the results are a detailed table (see the end), here's the point:

CipherSplat is the stronger option based on the currently published technical information. It documents authenticated AES-256-GCM encryption, memory-hard Argon2id password derivation, nonce construction, authentication-tag length, package structure, backward compatibility, dependency versions, and known security limitations. FileLock.org provides a simpler workflow and states that encryption occurs locally in the browser. However, its public documentation does not disclose its AES mode, password-derivation process, authentication method, nonce handling, package structure, or tamper-detection behavior. Its published materials also date from 2018. Neither tool presents evidence of an independent cryptographic security audit. CipherSplat is more transparent about that limitation and provides substantially more information for evaluating its design.

How Does It Stack Up?

CipherSplat rates about 8 out of 10 among browser-based file-encryption tools. Its AES-256-GCM encryption, Argon2id password hardening, tamper detection, offline edition, strict Content Security Policy, and published source hashes place it above older or less-documented services such as FileLock.org and broadly alongside modern tools such as Hat.sh; the main reason it does not rate higher is the lack of an independent security audit. It appears reasonably safe for everyday sensitive files when used on a trusted device and browser, but I would not rely on any unaudited browser tool alone for exceptionally high-risk data. CipherSplat does not keep a copy of your password: it says passwords remain only in the active tab’s memory, are cleared after the operation, are never uploaded, and are not saved in cookies, localStorage, sessionStorage, IndexedDB, or a server database.

CipherSplat vs Traditional Tools

Another question I had was, "How does CipherSplat stand up again ParanoiaWorks Secure Space encryptor and 7z/zip AES-256 encryption?"

CipherSplat stands up well. It is roughly comparable to ParanoiaWorks’ current encryption format, stronger than conventional ZIP AES-256, and more modern in password protection than 7z encryption.

My Perspective

My perspective? This is much better than FileLock, and good enough for most encryption needs. I wish I could afford the independent testing, SOC2 process, etc., but that's not going to happen. In the meantime, I will probably use it in lieu of FileLock and recommend it to my friends and colleagues. As a vibe-coded solution, CipherSplat has probably gone as far as it can go without additional funding and a community to support it.

CipherSplat vs. FileLock.org

Assessment last checked August 1, 2026.

Area	CipherSplat v1.0.1	FileLock.org
Documented version	Version 1.0.1, using the CS4 memory-hard package format	Version 1.4, dated June 14, 2018
Primary purpose	Encrypts files, folders, and text using passwords or OpenPGP public keys. It can also verify encrypted packages without extracting them	Encrypts one or more selected files using a password
Content encryption	AES-256-GCM authenticated encryption	States that it uses AES-256, but does not identify the AES operating mode
Authentication tag	128-bit GCM authentication tag	Not documented
Tamper detection	Rejects altered ciphertext or incorrect passwords before releasing plaintext	No authenticated-encryption mode, message-authentication code, or verification process is publicly documented
Password key derivation	Argon2id v1.3 with 64 MiB memory, three passes, one lane, and a fresh 128-bit salt	Key-derivation algorithm, salt, memory requirements, and work factor are not disclosed
Password-guessing resistance	Argon2id is memory-hard, making large-scale offline password guessing more expensive	Published information is insufficient to assess resistance to password-guessing hardware
Package format	New password packages use the CS4 format. The header and record counter are authenticated as additional data	Encrypted-file structure is not publicly documented
Nonce or IV construction	Random 64-bit prefix plus a monotonic 32-bit counter, producing a 96-bit GCM IV	Not documented
Backward compatibility	Can decrypt older CS2 and CS3 packages, including earlier PBKDF2-based packages	No package-version or migration policy is documented
Folder support	Supports recursive folder selection and preserves relative paths	Supports multiple selected files, but folder encryption is not documented
Text encryption	Includes a dedicated text vault	Not documented
Public-key encryption	Supports OpenPGP recipient public keys through a locally served copy of OpenPGP.js	Not documented
Integrity verification	Includes a separate verification function that checks a package without restoring its contents	No separate verification feature is documented
Processing location	Files, passwords, text, and keys remain in browser memory. The application states that it contains no upload code	States that file names, sizes, and contents remain local and that encryption occurs in the browser
Application storage	States that it uses no cookies, localStorage, sessionStorage, IndexedDB, accounts, or server database	Its privacy policy says analytics and AddThis were removed, but it still discusses Cloudflare’s discontinued `__cfduid` cookie
Cryptographic implementation	Uses the browser Web Crypto API for AES-GCM, Argon2id for password derivation, and a pinned local copy of OpenPGP.js for public-key operations	Lists CryptoJS, FileSaver.js, Blob.js, and older browser-support components
Dependency maintenance	Publishes dependency versions and SHA-256 hashes for application files	Uses CryptoJS, whose maintainers have discontinued active development and recommend native browser cryptography for modern applications
Remote resources	States that it uses no remote scripts, fonts, or cryptographic services and applies a strict Content Security Policy	No equivalent supply-chain or Content Security Policy documentation was identified
Offline use	Offers a downloadable offline edition	No downloadable offline edition was identified
Password generator	Includes an on-device password and passphrase generator using cryptographically secure randomness	No password generator is documented
Security limitations	Identifies compromised browsers, malicious extensions, keyloggers, screen capture, operating-system malware, and unlocked-device access as outside its protection boundary	No comparable threat model was identified
Independent assurance	States that it has not received an independent security audit, SOC 2 attestation, formal certification, or paid bug bounty	No independent audit or certification was identified
Documentation quality	Publishes algorithms, parameters, package structure, compatibility details, storage behavior, dependency hashes, and known limitations	Provides basic instructions and local-processing claims but little cryptographic implementation detail
Documentation currency	Reflects the current v1.0.1 implementation and CS4 format	Public documentation dates from 2018 and includes references to Flash, TrueCrypt, and discontinued operating-system features
Ease of use	Offers more features and security information but presents users with more choices	Provides a simpler select-files, enter-password, and encrypt workflow

Sources

Hands-On: Student Learning in the AI era

Miguel Guhlin — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 10:01:00 GMT

You may have read Randi Weingarten’s retreat from blending educational technology tools into student learning earlier this year. I found the ten points she shared, summarized in the infographic below, quite interesting.

I found them interesting because, as school districts bring their retreat from educational technology, I’m left wondering, “Will evidence-based strategies fill the engagement void in classrooms? Or will we default to what feels comfortable in classrooms?”

Let’s explore

Antites Unite: Screen Time Ban Grows

Miguel Guhlin — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 10:16:00 GMT

Screen times bans are continuing to grow. Here's another data point: Richardson ISD. And, you can't blame the school district. No doubt, this is the work of antites (anti-technologists)

Richardson ISD will implement screen time limits in its schools next school year.

Students in grades 1-4 only get 20 minutes of dangerous exposure to screens. Fifth and sixth grades get 39 minutes a day. Upper grades make do with no more than 20 minutes per class via The Dallas Morning News.

Takes me 20 minutes to authenticate and login to a computer, and settle into a work groove. This is clearly the end of Ed Tech use by students in schools. Even with instant-on Chromebooks, a paper notebook and pen is faster to deploy. That's probably the point.

I wonder if schools will be able to divert their tech budgets to pay for copy machine paper and maintenance. The paperless revolution is over, long live paper worksheets, paper composition books, pens, and pencils. My copy machine allotment was never equal to the task of duplicating popular short fiction stories or chapter books for all my classes...of course, I see now the error of my ways.

Why did we spend so much money putting tech in schools only to throw it away now? When these bans are done after elections, someone else will come along and say, "Time to replace all the equipment in schools."

And that vendor may very well be contributing campaign donations to the legislators who fanned the flames of Ed Tech dissent. The rise of the AntiTEs.

What a waste of taxpayer money....

Science Detectives: Critical Thinking Online Breakouts (CTOBs) for Your 6–8 Classroom

Miguel Guhlin — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:53:00 GMT

The science CTOBs for grades 6, 7, and 8 are free, browser-based activities. Each grade includes a featured breakout, a related STEM challenge, a picture word bank, Skills and TEKS support, teacher supports, and a password-protected answer key. They also run in seven languages, with no logins and no student data collected.

AI is Bad for Learning

Miguel Guhlin — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 12:51:00 GMT

After reading this article, another data point suggests AI is Bad for learning:

New research published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research found that among 26,811 Chinese students in grades seven through 12, AI adoption increased homework scores by 18% and cut down completion time by 30%. However, within six months, monthly exam scores decreased by 20%, and college entrance examples fell by 18% to 24%—with scores reaching their worst after two years.

This particular point:

Our findings show that generative AI, which is likely to become a prevalent technology for education, has a substantial negative impact on student learning.”

Maybe districts partial bans on GenAI didn't go far enough when preventing students from accessing AI?

No doubt, we will spend some time figuring out how to reconcile this data with continued use to ensure Big Tech keeps getting their money from federal tax payers. The sad thing is all of this could have been done in a reasonable matter safeguarding K-16 education. But financial interests decided this was the quickest way to make money.

Towards an Instructional Model

Miguel Guhlin — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 19:58:00 GMT

In my previous blog entry, I wondered, "What would an instructional model look like that had the components in a classroom that couldn't rely on technology except that which had been approved by the State? More importantly, if technology wasn't the key engagement tool, or distraction depending on your point of view, what would the instructional model be?"

Building a Model

Putting together an instructional model with Gen AI isn't difficult. Ask Gen AI to analyze existing systems, then put them together with evidence-based practices. What follows below is intended to be a replicable model that Texas schools could use IF (a BIG, HUGE if) they wanted to follow the plans of the Texas Education Agency.

This would be a centralized, evidence-aligned instruction model that centralized accountability but also relied on evidence-based practices. Curious to see what that might look like? I am, too. More curious is how such a system would be implemented successfully. We've already heard that schools taken over by TEA have experienced less than desirable results, with over a thousand educators resigning from Houston ISD, Ft. Worth ISD, and less than successful experiences with smaller districts if reports on this Children At Risk podcast are accurate.

Right now, it feels like, to me at least, that finding the right instruction model is critical. If that model varies by district, then what uniform path to success is there available? If I, as someone external to schools as a consultant on instructional practices (including technology and Gen AI), don't know what the formula for success is according to the State of Texas, then how is anyone else supposed to know that?

For me, "success in K-12 schools" is a big, black box. It varies by district, by leadership, and a million other variables.

Centralized Evidence-Aligned Instruction Model

Purpose

This model places evidence-aligned instructional practices inside a centralized accountability system without reducing instruction to script compliance.

The system centralizes:

Curriculum quality
Learning expectations
Assessment schedules
Intervention requirements
Observation procedures
Data-review routines
Reporting expectations

The system protects teacher judgment in:

Selecting examples and representations
Adjusting lesson pacing when students need more time
Choosing response strategies
Providing scaffolds
Forming small groups
Reteaching misconceptions
Extending learning for students who demonstrate mastery

The governing principle is:

Centralize what must be consistent. Preserve flexibility where professional judgment improves student learning.

1. Establish the Instructional Non-Negotiables

Required instructional ingredients

Every classroom should consistently include the following evidence-aligned elements.

Instructional ingredient	Central expectation	Teacher flexibility
Grade-level curriculum	Teach adopted grade-level standards and curriculum	Adjust examples, representations, and supporting resources
Clear learning purpose	Identify what students should know or do	State or display the purpose in a format appropriate to the lesson
Explicit instruction	Model new knowledge and processes clearly	Select explanations, examples, analogies, and worked problems
Active student response	Require all students to think and respond	Use writing, discussion, whiteboards, response cards, polling, or demonstrations
Checks for understanding	Collect evidence during instruction	Choose the method and frequency based on lesson complexity
Guided practice	Practice with feedback before independent work	Adjust group size, prompts, and scaffolds
Independent application	Require students to demonstrate learning individually	Select an appropriate product, response, or task
Feedback	Provide specific information students can use	Deliver orally, in writing, through conferencing, or through digital tools
Retrieval and review	Revisit previously taught content	Select spacing, cumulative review, and retrieval formats
Reteaching and extension	Respond to evidence of learning	Determine grouping, duration, materials, and instructional approach

Prohibited substitutions

The following actions do not count as evidence of effective instruction by themselves:

Posting an objective
Following district slides
Completing every lesson component
Maintaining silence
Keeping students visibly busy
Reaching the final slide
Administering an exit ticket
Producing a high number of student responses
Entering assessment data
Completing an observation checklist

These may support instruction, but they do not demonstrate that students learned.

2. Use a Common Lesson Architecture

Standard instructional cycle

Schools may require a common lesson cycle while allowing variation in how each part is carried out.

Phase	Teacher action	Student action	Evidence collected
Prepare	Activate prior knowledge and clarify the learning purpose	Recall, predict, or connect	Responses revealing readiness and misconceptions
Model	Explain and demonstrate new learning	Observe, question, annotate, and explain	Student questions and brief checks
Practice	Guide students through examples or tasks	Respond, discuss, solve, write, or demonstrate	Errors, partial understanding, and successful strategies
Check	Gather individual evidence of learning	Complete a brief independent response	Student work tied directly to the learning target
Respond	Reteach, scaffold, extend, or continue	Revisit, practice, or apply learning	Improved performance or evidence that a different approach is needed
Review	Retrieve prior learning over time	Recall and apply earlier content	Retention and transfer across lessons

Lesson design rule

Teachers must implement every phase when it is instructionally appropriate, but they are not required to spend equal time on each phase or follow a fixed minute-by-minute script.

3. Define Fidelity Correctly

Three levels of fidelity

Fidelity level	What must remain consistent	What may vary
Curriculum fidelity	Standards, sequence, essential content, and assessment intent	Examples, supplemental resources, grouping, and pacing
Instructional fidelity	Modeling, active response, checking, feedback, and student practice	Specific strategies and classroom routines
Intervention fidelity	Target skill, frequency, duration, group size, and progress monitoring	Examples, materials, and delivery methods approved for the intervention

Acceptable adaptation protocol

Teachers may adapt district materials when they can answer four questions:

What evidence shows that an adaptation is needed?
What specific change will be made?
How will the change preserve the intended standard and cognitive demand?
What evidence will show whether the adaptation worked?

Adaptations should be documented briefly rather than requiring a lengthy approval process.

4. Build a Multiple-Measure Assessment System

Assessment layers

Assessment layer	Primary purpose	Typical frequency	Stakes
In-lesson checks	Adjust instruction immediately	Several times per lesson	None
Exit evidence	Identify who needs reteaching or extension	Daily or several times weekly	Low
Common formative assessment	Identify patterns across classrooms	Every one to three weeks	Moderate
Unit assessment	Measure cumulative learning	At the end of a unit	Moderate
Benchmark assessment	Monitor progress toward annual standards	Two to four times yearly	Higher
State assessment	Meet state accountability requirements	Annually	High

Decision rule

No major decision about a student, teacher, or school should depend on one assessment.

Decisions should combine:

Student work
Classroom assessments
Common assessments
Progress-monitoring data
Observation evidence
Attendance and opportunity-to-learn information
Teacher professional judgment

Daily assessment guardrail

A brief exit ticket may trigger further investigation or short-term reteaching. It should not, by itself:

Label a student as having mastered or failed a standard
Determine a teacher’s effectiveness
Require immediate acceleration to the next standard
Replace analysis of student explanations and work
Become a graded high-stakes event

5. Create a Standard Response-to-Evidence Cycle

The response cycle

Evidence pattern	Required response	Timeframe
Most students demonstrate understanding	Continue and include spaced review	Next lesson
A small group has a shared misconception	Provide targeted small-group instruction	Within one to two school days
Many students share a misconception	Reteach using a different representation or explanation	Before advancing
Students know procedures but cannot explain reasoning	Add discussion, comparison, explanation, and justification	During the current learning sequence
Students demonstrate secure understanding	Provide extension, application, or transfer tasks	Within the same lesson or next lesson
Students continue to struggle after reteaching	Begin or intensify intervention and progress monitoring	According to MTSS procedures

Reteaching rule

Reteaching should not mean repeating the same explanation more slowly.

A valid reteach should change at least one of the following:

Representation
Example
Group size
Level of scaffolding
Teacher explanation
Student response method
Practice sequence
Feedback method

6. Separate Coaching from Evaluation

Two observation systems

Feature	Coaching visit	Evaluation observation
Purpose	Improve instruction	Make a formal performance judgment
Frequency	Frequent	Limited and scheduled according to policy
Duration	Brief or extended	Long enough to collect representative evidence
Feedback	Immediate and focused	Formal and documented
Compensation impact	None	May contribute only as one of several measures
Personnel impact	None by itself	Governed by formal evaluation procedures
Observer	Coach, administrator, or instructional leader	Trained and calibrated evaluator
Teacher vulnerability	Encouraged	Protected through clear procedures and appeal rights

Coaching cycle

Identify one improvement goal
Observe for evidence related to that goal
Provide specific feedback
Model or rehearse the strategy
Revisit the classroom
Review changes in student evidence
Select the next goal

Evaluation safeguard

Brief walkthroughs may identify patterns and coaching needs. They should not independently determine:

Employment
Compensation
Formal effectiveness ratings
Campus sanctions
Teacher placement

High-stakes judgments should require multiple observations, more than one source of evidence, and calibrated evaluators.

7. Use an Evidence-Focused Observation Rubric

Observation domains

Domain	Evidence to collect	Avoid rating based only on
Learning purpose	Students understand what they are learning and why	Whether an objective is posted
Content quality	Tasks match the standard and maintain appropriate cognitive demand	Whether district slides are visible
Explanation and modeling	Students receive clear examples, demonstrations, and worked reasoning	Whether the teacher follows a script
Student thinking	Students explain, solve, write, compare, question, or create	Number of hands raised
Checks for understanding	The teacher gathers representative evidence from the class	Presence of an exit ticket
Instructional response	The teacher adjusts based on student evidence	Completing every planned activity
Feedback	Students receive information that improves their work	Amount of praise
Access and support	Scaffolds help students reach grade-level learning	Giving different students easier work
Learning evidence	Students demonstrate progress during the lesson	Visible compliance or quiet behavior

Observation score rule

An instructional practice should receive credit only when the observer can identify:

What the teacher did
What students did
What evidence of thinking or learning resulted
How the teacher responded

8. Create a Central Curriculum Quality Process

Curriculum review criteria

Every district-created or adopted unit should be reviewed for:

Standards accuracy
Grade-level cognitive demand
Coherent sequencing
Accurate content
Worked examples
Multiple representations
Opportunities for student explanation
Guided and independent practice
Cumulative review
Multilingual learner supports
Accessibility
Assessment alignment
Opportunities for extension and transfer

Curriculum revision process

Step	Action
Review	Teachers and content specialists inspect the unit before implementation
Pilot	Selected classrooms use the materials
Collect	Gather student work, teacher feedback, pacing evidence, and assessment results
Revise	Correct content, improve scaffolds, and remove unnecessary requirements
Publish	Release the revised version with clear change notes
Reassess	Review the unit annually or when standards change

District curriculum should be treated as a maintained instructional product, not a finished document.

9. Establish a Centralized MTSS Structure

Tier expectations

Tier	Students served	Core features
Tier 1	All students	Grade-level curriculum, explicit instruction, differentiation, checks for understanding, and responsive teaching
Tier 2	Students needing targeted support	Small-group intervention focused on specific skills, delivered in addition to Tier 1
Tier 3	Students needing intensive support	More frequent, explicit, individualized intervention with close progress monitoring

MTSS non-negotiables

Tier 2 and Tier 3 must supplement rather than replace grade-level instruction
Intervention must target a diagnosed skill need
Group size, frequency, and duration must be specified
Progress must be monitored regularly
Students must move between tiers based on evidence
Intervention time must not permanently remove students from science, social studies, the arts, physical education, or other required learning
Special education referral must not be delayed when a disability is suspected

10. Build Central Data Routines Without Creating Data Theater

Required meeting structure

Data meetings should answer five questions:

What were students expected to learn?
What evidence shows what they understood?
What misconceptions or unfinished learning appear?
What instructional response will occur?
When will the team check whether the response worked?

Required outputs

Each meeting should produce:

One or two priority learning needs
Named student groups
A specific instructional response
An assigned staff member
A follow-up date
The evidence that will be reviewed

Practices to avoid

Reading scores aloud without planning a response
Ranking teachers publicly
Creating color-coded spreadsheets with no instructional action
Treating one assessment as definitive
Requiring teachers to defend every low score
Spending more time entering data than analyzing student work
Using data meetings primarily to enforce pacing

11. Use a Balanced Accountability Scorecard

School-level scorecard

Domain	Suggested weight	Evidence
Student growth and achievement	30%	Multiple assessments, disaggregated by student group
Quality of classroom instruction	20%	Calibrated observations and student work
Curriculum implementation	15%	Standards alignment and use of required instructional ingredients
Intervention effectiveness	15%	Progress-monitoring results and movement between tiers
Student opportunity and engagement	10%	Attendance, course access, discipline, and student surveys
Professional learning and improvement	10%	Coaching participation, implementation progress, and improvement cycles

Teacher-level scorecard

Domain	Suggested weight	Evidence
Instructional practice	35%	Multiple formal observations by trained evaluators
Student learning evidence	25%	Multiple classroom measures and growth evidence
Professional growth	20%	Coaching goals, implementation, and reflection
Contribution to team practice	10%	Planning, collaboration, and shared problem solving
Professional responsibilities	10%	Required duties, communication, and ethical practice

No single test, walkthrough, or metric should account for more than one-third of a formal rating.

12. Define Central and Local Decision Rights

Decision-rights matrix

Decision	Central office	School leadership	Teacher or team
Standards and adopted curriculum	Leads	Implements	Advises
Essential unit sequence	Leads	Monitors	Implements
Common assessment windows	Leads	Schedules	Administers and analyzes
Daily lesson pacing	Sets general range	Supports	Adjusts based on evidence
Instructional examples	Provides options	Supports	Selects or develops
Student grouping	Provides guidelines	Monitors equity	Decides
Reteaching method	Provides approved resources	Supports	Decides
Intervention entry criteria	Defines	Applies	Recommends
Coaching focus	Defines broad priorities	Coordinates	Co-selects individual goal
Formal evaluation	Defines system	Conducts	Provides evidence and response
Curriculum revision	Maintains process	Submits feedback	Provides evidence and recommendations

13. Establish an Earned-Flexibility System

Flexibility levels

Level	Conditions	School flexibility
Directed support	Weak outcomes, poor implementation, or serious inequities	Required curriculum, frequent coaching, structured intervention plans, and close monitoring
Supported implementation	Mixed results or inconsistent practices	Required curriculum and assessments with moderate local adaptation
Demonstrated reliability	Strong outcomes across student groups and sound implementation	Greater flexibility in pacing, materials, intervention design, and professional learning
Innovation status	Sustained results and documented capacity	Permission to pilot alternatives with an approved evaluation plan

Equity safeguard

Schools should not earn autonomy solely from overall test scores. Decisions must consider:

Outcomes for student groups
Access to grade-level instruction
Special education compliance
Multilingual learner progress
Disciplinary disparities
Attendance
Student mobility
Evidence that strong results are not produced by exclusion or narrowing opportunity

14. Create a Compliance Safeguard Review

Quarterly review questions

District leaders should examine whether the accountability system is producing unwanted behavior.

Warning sign	Possible system problem	Corrective response
Teachers rush through lessons	Pacing is valued over understanding	Permit documented pacing adjustments
Objectives are posted but students cannot explain them	Visible compliance has replaced meaning	Observe student understanding rather than wall displays
Every classroom looks identical	Fidelity has become scripting	Define required principles and adaptation boundaries
Students take excessive quizzes	Assessment volume is being mistaken for formative practice	Reduce testing and improve use of evidence
Teachers hide problems during observations	Coaching feels punitive	Separate coaching records from evaluation
Intervention replaces core subjects	Accountability pressure is narrowing opportunity	Protect a broad instructional program
Data meetings focus on blame	Accountability has displaced improvement	Require action planning and follow-up evidence
Staff turnover increases	The model is producing unsustainable working conditions	Review workload, observation frequency, and leadership practice
Scores rise while student explanations remain weak	Procedural performance may be masking shallow learning	Add explanation, writing, reasoning, and transfer measures

15. Implementation Sequence

Phase One: Define

Duration: Four to eight weeks

Identify the instructional non-negotiables
Define central and local decision rights
Select or review the core curriculum
Establish assessment purposes
Create coaching and evaluation protocols
Publish adaptation rules
Train observers and school leaders

Phase Two: Pilot

Duration: One semester

Select representative schools
Train teachers in the common instructional cycle
Conduct low-stakes coaching visits
Pilot common assessments
Test data-meeting routines
Collect workload and implementation feedback
Revise tools before expansion

Phase Three: Implement

Duration: One school year

Expand the model across schools
Provide content-specific coaching
Monitor curriculum quality
Use the balanced accountability scorecard
Publish school-level implementation reports
Provide additional support to schools with persistent needs

Phase Four: Evaluate

Duration: Annual

Evaluate:

Student achievement and growth
Retention and transfer
Student work quality
Teacher turnover
Student engagement
Opportunity gaps
Intervention effectiveness
Observation reliability
Staff perceptions
Unintended consequences

Phase Five: Revise

Use evaluation findings to:

Remove low-value compliance tasks
Improve curriculum
Adjust pacing expectations
Strengthen observer calibration
Modify accountability weights
Expand or reduce local flexibility
Replace ineffective interventions
Protect teacher and student workload

16. Required System Artifacts

A school system implementing this model should maintain:

Instructional non-negotiables guide
Curriculum quality rubric
Common lesson architecture
Assessment map
Assessment decision rules
Reteaching and extension protocol
MTSS handbook
Coaching rubric
Formal evaluation rubric
Observer calibration process
Data-meeting template
Adaptation documentation form
Balanced accountability scorecard
Decision-rights matrix
Earned-flexibility criteria
Quarterly compliance safeguard report
Annual public evaluation report

17. Model Evaluation Questions

The district should answer these questions each year:

Student learning

Are students learning more?
Are gains sustained over time?
Can students explain, apply, and transfer what they learned?
Are gains shared across student groups?

Instruction

Are teachers using evidence-aligned practices?
Are teachers responding to student evidence?
Is curriculum quality improving?
Are interventions producing measurable progress?

Accountability

Are ratings based on multiple reliable measures?
Are observations calibrated?
Are schools improving rather than merely appearing compliant?
Are low-value compliance tasks being removed?

Workforce

Do teachers understand the model?
Do they receive useful coaching?
Can they exercise professional judgment within clear boundaries?
Is the workload sustainable?
Is turnover increasing or decreasing?

Student experience

Do students receive grade-level instruction?
Do students have opportunities to discuss, explain, write, inquire, and solve problems?
Are students experiencing excessive testing?
Are electives and enrichment protected?
Do students perceive the classroom as orderly, challenging, and supportive?

18. Final Design Principles

Centralize curriculum quality, standards, assessments, and intervention expectations
Require evidence-aligned instructional ingredients rather than one rigid teaching script
Judge instruction through student thinking and learning evidence
Separate developmental coaching from high-stakes evaluation
Use multiple measures for consequential decisions
Permit documented adaptations based on student evidence
Require a different instructional approach when reteaching
Protect grade-level instruction and a broad curriculum
Use accountability to identify support needs, not merely rank schools
Monitor the system for compliance theater and unintended consequences
Expand flexibility when schools demonstrate reliable and equitable results
Evaluate the full model independently rather than assuming that each component works because some ingredients are research-aligned

Blocking Gen AI - Katy ISD

Miguel Guhlin — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 18:04:00 GMT

If you're following the train wreck that is Gen AI in K-16 schools and higher education, you no doubt caught the recent news about Katy ISD:

Katy ISD students in sixth grade and younger will be prohibited from using generative AI under new district rules that phase in classroom use by grade level beginning in the 2026-27 school year.

To summarize, here's what's NOT allowed:

Kinder through sixth grade using Generative AI

Unrestricted use in seventh grade; instead, students only use Gen AI when directed by a teacher
Unapproved use of AI tools in eighth grade; instead, students use teacher-approved AI tools with permission

Gen AI Use Must Be Transparent

What's more, "Students must disclose and cite their use of AI, verify the information it produces and use only tools vetted by the district" says Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Sanée Bell (as cited in the Houston Chronicle piece).

I can't blame Katy ISD for being responsive to its parents. If there are parents out there who think productive struggle is NOT desirable and conducive to learning for their kids, then they might need to speak up. However, the whole point of school IS to ensure productive struggle, learning, long-term information retention, happens. If a new technology short-circuits that process, preventing it from happening, then all schools can do it try to find a way to stop it. The real issue is that these technologies were pushed into K-16 in a rush, presumably so Big Tech could get "more training data" to improve the models, as well as make new generations dependent on using Gen AI tools in lieu of yesterday's approach to getting things done.

While that approach makes a lot of business sense (it's all about the almighty dollar, isn't it?), it makes less sense for children in K-12, and apparently, college students engaged in university studies.

Do You Agree with This Action?

Whether you agree with this or not, the question going around in my head is, "Isn't that cat already out of the bag?" If everyone is using Gen AI, won't students already have unrestricted use via their parents? And, if there are parents blocking usage by their students, are those students at a disadvantage to those students whose parents give them access?

This will, of course, have to go hand-in-hand with a smartphone ban.

The Texas Smartphone Ban (HB 1481)

Texas House Bill 1481 amended Texas Education Code §37.082. It requires public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to prohibit students from using personal communication devices on school property during the school day.

The ban is broader than a classroom-only or instructional-time ban. This means that students without device access (and presumably, Gen AI access) would be unable to access AI tools not under school control. This makes the parent push to curtail screentime even MORE concerning with school district computing devices.

School type	HB 1481 applies?	Explanation
Traditional public school districts	Yes	Every district must maintain the required student-device policy
Open-enrollment charter schools	Yes	The law expressly names their governing bodies
District-operated charter campuses	Yes	They remain part of a covered public school district
Private and parochial schools	No	HB 1481 does not place the statewide mandate on private schools
Certain charter adult-education programs	No	The statute contains a specific exemption

So, if you teach in private/parochial schools, you definitely have some latitude in allowing students to use smartphones in class. Will private/parochial schools follow in the footsteps of public schools, simply because they are doing it?

Professional Development

It also raises the question, "Should school districts be spending any money on professional learning or training on how to best use technology with students?" If you are a private/parochial school, then, "Yes, you should learn how to use smartphones students walk in the door with." But it may be easier to simply focus on traditional instructional practices.

Another question is, "How will that funding be re-directed to cover learning how to teach with evidence-based, high-effect size instructional strategies?"

Increased Accountability, More Evidence-Aligned Instructional Ingredients

For me, this is where we need to be spending our time. But what instructional strategies, instructional methods, now in vogue, are we spending our time and effort on? Should ALL Texas schools now be adopting evidence-aligned instructional ingredients placed inside a highly centralized, compliance-oriented accountability system?

The next blog entry takes a stab at capturing what this type of "model" might look like.

July Update for Gen AI

Miguel Guhlin — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 20:00:00 GMT

AI Product and Education Update

Coverage: July 3–24, 2026

Bottom Line

Gen AI products are moving beyond chat responses toward systems that complete projects, operate tools, create publishable materials, and preserve reusable workflows.

For schools, colleges, and universities, the immediate priorities are:

Create separate rules for conversational chatbots and agentic tools
Require independent verification of Gen AI output
Use assessments that capture process, reasoning, and live understanding
Review connectors, permissions, publishing controls, and data access
Provide formal educator training before broad deployment
Distinguish individual educator access from institutional approval

OpenAI and ChatGPT

GPT-5.6 Released

OpenAI released the GPT-5.6 model family on July 9:

GPT-5.6 Sol: Designed for complex knowledge work, coding, science, and cybersecurity
GPT-5.6 Terra: Balances capability, speed, and cost
GPT-5.6 Luna: Designed for faster, high-volume work at a lower cost

Availability varies by product and subscription.

Read the GPT-5.6 announcement

Education implications: GPT-5.6 may improve curriculum development, coding support, research synthesis, and document analysis. Stronger performance does not remove the need to verify facts, sources, calculations, and instructional alignment.

ChatGPT Work Added Multi-Step Agents

ChatGPT Work launched July 9 for longer assignments that require multiple steps. It can work with connected files and applications, conduct research, and produce documents, spreadsheets, presentations, reports, and websites.

Users can monitor its progress, answer questions, redirect the work, and approve consequential actions. Scheduled Tasks can run once, recur, or watch for changes.

Read the ChatGPT release notes

Education implications: ChatGPT Work can act across files and systems rather than simply answering prompts. Institutions should review:

Which connectors may be enabled
Whether local or cloud files may be accessed
Who can approve consequential actions
What activity records are retained
Whether staff understand the difference between Chat and Work

ChatGPT Sites Entered Public Beta

ChatGPT Sites can create, preview, publish, and share interactive websites and lightweight applications from Work or Codex.

It is available through supported paid plans, subject to regional and workspace restrictions. Enterprise administrators can control site creation and publishing. Public publishing is disabled by default for Enterprise workspaces.

Learn about ChatGPT Sites

Education implications: Educators could use Sites to create class resources, simulations, resource hubs, and interactive demonstrations. Each site should be checked for accessibility, factual accuracy, copyright concerns, student-data exposure, and inappropriate public publishing.

ChatGPT Voice Expanded

OpenAI introduced GPT-Live-1 for paid consumer users and GPT-Live-1 mini for Free users. The models support more natural interruption and conversational turn-taking.

Voice also began rolling out to Enterprise and Edu workspaces in two forms:

Voice conversations inside Chat
Voice control of Work and Codex in the desktop application

Workspace administrators may need to enable Advanced Voice capabilities and Early Model Access.

Read the ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu release notes

Education implications: Voice may help educators brainstorm, work hands-free, and supervise longer agent tasks. Institutions should consider conversations occurring around students, microphone access, recordings, and the tools an agent may operate.

Desktop, Search, and Custom Instructions Improved

OpenAI also added:

A unified desktop application for Chat, Work, and Codex
Projects in the desktop application
Work conversations synchronized across devices
Improved search across chats, projects, documents, and images
Custom-instruction limits of up to 5,000 characters for supported paid and institutional plans

Review the ChatGPT release notes

Health in ChatGPT Expanded

Eligible U.S. users who are at least 18 years old can connect supported medical records and Apple Health information through Health in ChatGPT.

OpenAI states that connected health data and related conversations are not used to train its foundation models or target advertising.

Read about Health in ChatGPT

Education caution: This consumer health feature should not be treated as authorization to upload school nursing records, disability documentation, counseling notes, or other protected student information.

Claude and Anthropic

Claude for Teachers Launched

Anthropic launched Claude for Teachers on July 14. Verified U.S. K–12 educators receive:

Free premium Claude access
A library of teaching skills
Connections to evidence-based curriculum resources
Academic standards from all 50 states
One year of access for educators who register by June 30, 2027

Anthropic is also releasing teaching skills as open-source resources and planning an evaluation with Detroit Public Schools Community District.

Read the Claude for Teachers announcement

Education implications: This is currently an individual educator offering. It does not automatically provide district approval, a district license, or permission to enter identifiable student information.

Google Gemini

Gemini Can Create Complete Google Slides Presentations

Gemini can generate full, editable presentations in Google Slides.

It can:

Use multiple Google Drive files as source material
Suggest relevant emails, chats, and files
Match the visual style of an existing presentation
Present an outline for approval
Produce editable, native Google Slides

The feature is initially available in English through supported Workspace, consumer, and education plans, including Google AI Pro for Education.

Read the Google Workspace announcement

Education implications: Gemini can turn curriculum documents, reports, and workshop materials into presentation drafts. Educators still need to check citations, accessibility, reading level, copyright, slide density, and instructional alignment.

Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite Reached General Availability

Google released stable production versions of two Gemini models:

Gemini 3.6 Flash: Improved token efficiency, coding, and agent planning
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite: Designed for lower-cost, low-latency, high-volume work

Both support multimodal input and large context windows.

Read the Gemini API changelog

Review Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite

Education implications: Lower-cost models may make large-scale document classification, extraction, and repetitive support tasks more practical. Institutions should strengthen data-governance rules before expanding automated processing.

Google Vids Added Prompt-Based Video Editing

Google added Gemini-based tools to Google Vids for generating higher-quality video clips and editing video through typed instructions.

Read the Google Vids announcement

Education implications: These tools may shorten the production of instructional videos. Educators still need accurate visuals, captions, transcripts, accessible design, and copyright-safe media.

BoodleBox

BoodleBox Announced a $5 Million Seed Expansion

BoodleBox founder France Hoang announced a $5 million seed expansion round on July 9.

The company’s stated focus is collaborative Gen AI use built around shared context, problem framing, human validation, and access to multiple models.

Read the BoodleBox funding memorandum

BoodleBox Published a Higher-Education Teacher Preparation Case Study

A July 13 case study describes 35 future teachers from eight European universities building Gen AI agents through an Erasmus+ program focused on AI pedagogy and well-being.

Read the University of Jyväskylä case study

Education implications: The program used BoodleBox as an environment where future educators designed and evaluated agents rather than only consuming chatbot responses.

BoodleBox Updated Its Security and Privacy Information

BoodleBox states that it does not use customer data to train models and that it connects to third-party models through commercial APIs.

Review BoodleBox security and privacy information

Institutions should still review contracts, retention periods, subprocessors, administrative controls, and data-processing agreements.

Education Watch

Brown University Exam Results Renewed the Assessment Debate

A Brown University economics professor suspected widespread Gen AI use after a take-home midterm produced an average score of 96, compared with the course’s usual range of approximately 65 to 80.

The professor changed the final to an in-person exam, where the average fell to 48.6. The allegations remain disputed, and Brown indicated that more information would be needed for formal action.

Read the Inside Higher Ed report

Brown also released a campus Gen AI report on July 7. An audit found that more than half of reviewed syllabi lacked a Gen AI policy, while surveys showed frequent intentional use among students.

Read Brown University’s Gen AI report

Practical takeaway: Detection alone is not enough. Courses need explicit permitted-use rules and assessments that reveal student thinking through oral explanations, drafts, demonstrations, process records, or live defense.

Educator Training Continues to Lag

An Instructure survey of 1,125 educators, higher-education students, and K–12 parents reported that 90 percent of surveyed students use AI, while fewer than half of educators had received formal Gen AI training.

Because this was an industry-sponsored survey, the findings should be treated as a useful signal rather than a definitive national measurement.

Read the Instructure research announcement

The broader pattern is clear: new capabilities are arriving faster than many institutions can establish professional development, assessment practices, privacy rules, and purchasing standards.

Tools to Work Smarter, Not Harder

Miguel Guhlin — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Reading my email this morning, I stumbled across this message from the National Scholarship Providers Association (NSPA). What nice things they had to say:

My favorite part?

Led by technology expert Miguel Guhlin, this series gives you the tools to work smarter, not harder.

Ok, that aside, you can BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY with NSPA using this link.

Upcoming Conference

This October, at the NSPA 2026 Continuity Conference, you can catch me in San Antonio, Texas presenting on a session focused on the following:

As generative AI becomes an everyday tool for students, scholarship providers face a double-sided challenge: how to responsibly use AI to streamline heavy application review workflows while simultaneously evaluating whether applicants' responses are authentically their own. This interactive, 90-minute workshop delivers the core prompting and evaluation frameworks needed to manage both sides of the coin. Attendees will learn the fundamental mechanics of setting up structured AI evaluation models securely and exploring the realistic limits of AI detection.

Session Agenda Breakdown:

**Part 1: The Basics of Structured AI Prompting (~25 Minutes)

-   _The Focus:_ Core prompting frameworks to prevent AI "hallucinations" and bias.
-   _The Walkthrough:_ Universal mechanics on how to write clear, bounded rules for an AI model so it actually listens and analyzes text based _only_ on the parameters provided.

Part 2: Safe AI Integration in Application Review (~35 Minutes)

-   _The Focus:_ Speeding up administrative review without compromising data privacy.
-   _The Walkthrough:_ A live, step-by-step demo showing how to plug anonymous applicant essays into a prompt alongside a specific rubric to let the AI score or sort them. Crucially, this covers the hard boundary on what info is safe to use and what needs to be scrubbed.

Part 3: Dealing with Applicant AI Use & Detection (~30 Minutes)

-   _The Focus:_ Managing student AI usage and setting realistic expectations.
-   _The Walkthrough:_ A transparent look at the limits and false-positive risks of current AI writing detectors. We'll give them a canvas to help their teams decide on a policy stance and spot highly standardized, non-authentic submissions.

TCDLA 2026 - AI in Law

Miguel Guhlin — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Welcome to the session materials for my session, AI in Law: Tools, Tactics, Ethical Traps & Practical Prompting.

Handy Short Links To Bookmark

Here are the links you need to keep track of for this presentation and access resources:

This Page - https://go.mgpd.org/tcdla26
Resources - https://mglearn.github.io/legalai
Glossary - https://mglearn.github.io/legalai/handouts/glossary.html

One Thing

Draft with the tool, and decide as the lawyer. Generative AI can produce a great deal of text quickly. Your value is knowing which of it is true, which serves this client, and which to cut. If you keep only one habit from the session, make it this one:

Open the source and verify the citation, every single time.

Share Your Questions - Padlet

Access the Padlet to Share Your Questions/Insights

Resources for You

Access the Session Walkthrough

This resource provides an overview of the day with links to all activities. It's a great place to start to see the outline of the day.

View Session Walkthrough

AI Fluency Assessment

Five quick questions that place your practice on a four-level ladder. A good gut check.

Complete the AI Fluency Assessment
Plan to discuss your results with someone across the room and respond to the reflection question(s)

Slide decks

The presentations. Four short, self-contained slide decks you can reopen any time: an overview, Ethical Foundations, Risk-Reducing Practices, and Guardrails and Takeaways. Each one carries its own speaker notes, so they read cleanly even without a presenter.

Website and Handouts

Website with all resources
TCDLAi Prompt Design Guide
Ethical Guardrail Checklist - Run this before any AI-assisted work leaves your desk.
- CARE Framework for Gen AI - Want to explore more about ethics and Gen AI? Read this blog entry and consider the CARE Framework.
- Legal Ethics Scenario Randomizer - Explore a variety of legal ethics scenarios.
PBL Scenario Lab - This is where you work a fictional fact pattern from a weak prompt to a strong, source-grounded one and watch the risk drop at each step.
Scenario Bank - Fifty more fictional Texas fact patterns, each with a ready to run prompt and a link to the actual statute. A place to keep practicing after today.
Legal Prompt Library - This library is sorted by task, every prompt written to push you toward verification.

Inspired by Session(s)

Storytelling for the Defense - This resource was inspired by Monique Spark's presentation on Storytelling. I thought it might be fun to see what Gen AI could do with extending those ideas.

Bots and Custom GPTs

These are ready-made, defense-focused assistants with the framework and the guardrails built in. Prefer to build your own copy in Claude, ChatGPT, or another tool? Download the bot files as a single zip from the resources page and upload the pieces. Remember that if you're using the free version of an AI chatbot, you have no assurance of confidentiality.

BoodleBox Bot - Legal AI - Use free code provided to get free access (requires sign-up with a credit card) to a Pro level bot.
OpenAI ChatGPT Custom GPT - Legal AI

AI could free 266 million hours annually for U.S. lawyers, translating to $100,000 in billable time per lawyer (Thomson Reuters Legal).

Miscellaneous Resources

JobsGPT (direct link to ChatGPT. To use it, you must be logged into ChatGPT with a free or plus account). This is Marketing AI Institute Founder and CEO Paul Roetzer’s custom GPT that breaks down how AI might affect your job and forecasts new roles emerging in your field. Learn more about it.

View Presentation #1: AI in Law - Tools, Tactics, Ethical Traps
Explore how to ethically leverage AI tools to boost productivity and avoid critical errors in your legal practice. Through practical examples and cautionary stories, you’ll learn to integrate AI effectively for research, drafting, and presentations, all while navigating essential ethical responsibilities. The TCDLAi Prompt Design Guide is shared.
Watch video of Presentation #1

Practice Safely

Every scenario on the site is fictional, and it is fictional for a reason. Never put confidential, privileged, or client-identifying facts into a consumer chatbot. Strip the identifiers, or use a stand-in, and save real client material for tools with proper data terms. When AI hands you a case, treat it as a lead to verify, not an authority to cite. Courts across the country have sanctioned lawyers who filed briefs built on citations the machine invented. That habit, opening the source yourself, would have saved every one of them.

Choosing the Right Tool

Any of these free chatbots will carry you through everything on the site: Claude, ChatGPT, Z.ai, or Mistral. If you have none set up, the BoodleBox bot above is the fastest way to start. Remember to get the code from the facilitator.

IMPORTANT: Even paid tools like Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Microsoft CoPilot, OpenAI's ChatGPT will use your data for training purposes. You should use a chatbot that you have an enterprise level agreement with to ensure your data is protected. BoodleBox, at $20 a month, has enterprise agreements in place and safeguards your data, making it the best secure option. Again, remember to de-identify your data before putting it in any chatbot.

Multi-lingual Resources

The resources page reads in several languages, so it is easy to share across your office. The non-English translations are AI-assisted and pending review, and the underlying materials are in English. If a paralegal, an investigator, or a newer attorney wants a low-stakes way to try structured, verifiable AI, the Scenario Bank and the fluency self-check are a friendly place to begin.

Take it with you

Bookmark mglearn.github.io/legalai, run the checklist before anything leaves your desk, and keep exploring the Scenario Bank when you have ten minutes. Use the tools well, keep the judgment yours, and stay accountable.

These materials are for education and are not legal advice. Rule and statute references are illustrative; confirm the current text before you rely on them.

Gen AI Tools Specific to Law (no endorsement implied)

Explore the Legal Gen AI Market Atlas - A current, evidence-weighted guide to credible legal generative-AI products: where they fit, what they cost, what users report, and where human verification still matters.
AI Tools for Email, Legal, Chat, and Project Management - A curated list of AI tools for note-taking, legal, email, project management, and more. This is changing constantly.
AI-Powered Audio/Video Transcription for Free - Whisper is a free, open-source application that leverages OpenAI’s Whisper model for offline transcription. It supports GPU acceleration and can transcribe audio and video files or live audio from a microphone.

Some additional items for your consideration:

Bloomberg Law Brief Analyzer
Briefpoint (Contact for pricing)
Casetext CoCounsel (~$400/month)
Grata
Harvey (Contact for beta program pricing)
LexisNexis Precision (Enterprise pricing)
Luminance
Paxton AI (Contact for pricing)

Infographic - TCDLAi Prompt Design Guide

Science Detectives: Critical Thinking Online Breakouts (CTOBs) for Your 3–5 Classroom

Miguel Guhlin — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 20:50:00 GMT

The science CTOBs for grades 3, 4, and 5 are free, browser-based activities. Each grade includes a featured breakout, a related STEM challenge, a picture word bank, Skills and TEKS support, teacher supports, and a password-protected answer key. The grade pages also note that the activities run in the browser and include seven languages. You may have seen the CTOBs for grades kindergarten, first, and second.

Ready for the next set of Science Detectives? Let’s take a look.

Texas Universities Face Mandatory Three Percent Cut

Miguel Guhlin — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 09:59:00 GMT

Texas’ top elected leaders have told state agencies, appellate courts, and universities to cut their proposed budgets by 3%.

The cuts would apply to the next two-year budget cycle. Gov. Greg Abbott, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick say the goal is to limit spending and make room for priorities such as property tax relief.

K-12 public education is exempt. The new private school voucher program is also exempt. Required social programs, pension costs, and employee benefits are protected as well.

Via Texas agencies must cut spending by 3% under new order from Abbott, Patrick and Burrows - source

School District State-Mandated Text Will Impact District Costs

Miguel Guhlin — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 08:03:00 GMT

If you missed this piece by Isaac Yu, Texas' new history curriculum could give the state unprecedented control over textbooks (07/13/26), you will definitely want to check it out.

A Few Takeaways

Some of the facts reported include:

5.5 million public school students are affected by the Texas' SBOE expectation that they learn about history and literature with Christianity and biblical readings blended into the standards
TEA will be spending, or has spent, $67 million on Florida-based company MGT Solutions to develop Bluebonnet materials for reading and social studies aligned to the new standards, as well as other subjects
TEA has already spent at least $100 million to develop the curriculum
The total cost of the history rewrite alone is estimated to be about $800 million and $1.7 billion over the next five years.
The costs of textbooks, lesson plans, and teacher training are covered in that amount.

Perhaps, the worst part of this news:

Public school districts will have get the over 170 mandated works on literary lists. This includes everything from novels to picture books
Districts will have to redesign their entire curriculum
Districts will have access to $1 billion dollar pool to get it done, but that's not been set yet
Indirect costs include retraining or reassigning teachers, especially those who may not be certified to teach social studies

Instead of blowing all this money revamping the curriculum, Texas legislators, governor, and TEA commissioner might have spent it on supporting public schools current needs. Right now, they are mostly broke and federal funding is lacking.

Add decreasing enrollment to the picture, property taxes being cut in the future, this really looks like an unfunded mandate...that is, the companies making the curriculum materials get richer (and probably those coming up with standardized testing assessments) while public schools lose staff and funding.

Disappointing.

Embracing ZettelNotes and SyncThing for Synchronized Notes

Miguel Guhlin — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:49:00 GMT

In my never-ending quest to rid myself of ongoing subscriptions, I took a hard look at my Joplin Notes subscription and asked myself, "Do I really need Joplin Cloud and Joplin Notes?" In the past, I've raved about having Joplin Notes, and it's an amazing solution. I highly recommend it. But since I'm cutting subscriptions, I decided to take a closer look at an app I'd picked up while browsing through F-Droid. I realized that if I combined it with another solution, it would do exactly what I needed.

Blending Solutions

The two solutions? The first app is Zettel Notes. You might want to donate to Dr. Rohit. The second is SyncThing; make a donation. Zettel Notes allows me to organize my notes in markdown, including end to end encryption (other encryption methods are available), for notes that need to be secured. Syncthing ensures that my notes flow from my phone to the computers I work on seamlessly.

No more worrying about whether I have the right version on my USB flash drive, or having to depend on cloud storage. All the storage is within my control. Let's take a quick look at each of the solutions.

Why Choose Zettel Notes ? 🚀

This part is straight from the Zettel Notes website. It has lots of features, obviously, but these are some of the key ideas:

Store your notes as separate markdown files, ensuring no vendor lock-in like other apps
Easily import your existing notes by adding the repository/folder through the Repositories option in the menu
Free of cost, without ads, and no hidden permissions
No collection of user data
Offline, synchronization is optional.

Notes are stored as separate text files. Application starts with an introductary note. After installing, add folder / repository containing your existing notes from the repositories option in menu.

The only question I still have?

Can Zettel Notes encrypt image files that fall into a repository or are attached to a note?

That's a question going around in my head. In the meantime, I'll probably encrypt images (pictures of medical cards, ID cards, receipts, prescriptions) using Secure Space Encryptor (SSE).

Why Choose Syncthing?

Syncthing is a continuous file synchronization program. It synchronizes files between two or more computers in real time, safely protected from prying eyes. Your data is your data alone and you deserve to choose where it is stored, whether it is shared with some third party, and how it’s transmitted over the internet.

From their website, a description of Syncthing's features:

Private. None of your data is ever stored anywhere else other than on your computers. There is no central server that might be compromised, legally or illegally.
Encrypted. All communication is secured using TLS. The encryption used includes perfect forward secrecy to prevent any eavesdropper from ever gaining access to your data.
Authenticated. Every device is identified by a strong cryptographic certificate. Only devices you have explicitly allowed can connect to your other devices.

Be sure to read the Getting Started Guide. I didn't read it, of course. So it took me a bit to see how everything worked. But it works flawlessly, so give it a go.

How I Set It Up

On my mobile phone, I set up a single folder to house all my stuff. Then, I exported all my Joplin Notes in markdown format on my computer. I set up Syncthing on my phone, and set up synchronization so that the mobile phone MyStuff folder would get reflected on my computer. I copied the export of my markdown notes, after I arranged them into folders, into the MyStuff folder on my computer. It was automatically shared with my phone.

Then, I set up repositories using Zettel Notes to point to the folders. I had some notes folders that were just information I was tracking or keeping copies of. One folder, however, had confidential data. For that folder, which I also set up as its own repository, I turned on encryption. Now, that information is encrypted. Since I mostly access it on my phone, the copy that is placed on my computer is a backup that I don't need to open.

Once set up, it's pretty straightforward. I even have my github folders synchronizing, and that has made it so easy to stay up to date across various machines (e.g. home and work).

Seven Questions Your Nonprofit Should Be Afraid to Ask This Summer, Part 7

Miguel Guhlin — Sun, 19 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT

7. What Will You Stop Doing?

“We can change hearts and minds to change schools.”
— Paul Fleming, Learning Forward

New initiatives often pile onto existing work because ending a program, publication, meeting, or tradition feels more dangerous than adding another responsibility.

That approach eventually creates an organization where staff maintain dozens of low-impact obligations while promising ideas wait for capacity that never arrives. The human cost matters, too. The 2025 State of Nonprofits report found nonprofit leaders continuing to report serious concerns about staffing, financial uncertainty, and employee burnout.

I have watched organizations preserve weak programs because someone worked hard to create them. Respecting that history does not require funding the program forever.

One Thing to Do

Require every department to recommend one program, process, meeting, report, or technology expense for elimination before proposing new work. Redirect the recovered time and money toward the organization’s highest-priority service redesign.

Subtraction should become part of strategy, not an emergency response after the budget tightens.

Create a Stop, Simplify, Automate, Invest decision grid:

Decision	Use It When
Stop	The work produces little measurable value
Simplify	The outcome matters, but the process is bloated
Automate	The work is repetitive and predictable
Invest	Evidence shows the service solves a current member problem

WebDeck Maker Instructions: Make Your Own Slide Deck with AI

Miguel Guhlin — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 19:26:00 GMT

In a Facebook group, someone asked, "What's the best free AI tool to use to create PowerPoints for Secondary Science? Of course, they were really asking for a tool like Gamma, which makes designing slide decks child's play. But what if you don't have access to a paid service like Gamma or a pro version of a chatbot?

Solving Someone Else's Problem While I worked on One of My Own

As I was preparing for a face to face workshop, I decided to dump designing a Canva-based, LibreOffice-based, or PowerPoint-based (ugh) preesentation. That would take too much time, and I really wanted something I could drop on the web easily using existing content I had curated and/or put together myself. There were a lot of moving pieces, so I decided to ask Gen AI for help.

After getting an amazing presentation, see example of something above with pop-out speaker's windows and notes, I decided to also create generic webdeck creation instructions anyone could use...hopefully, with any chatbot. The one I used to make the example below was Z.ai, using a free account:

What You Need

A copy of the webdeck instructions - direct link. These are posted on GitHub with a Readme and everything but all you need is the direct link above.
A chatbot like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Z.ai, Mistral that will allow you to copy-n-paste the webdeck instructions into the chat window along with any content or link you want to create a slide deck from
Whatever information you want the chatbot to process and put into slide deck (a.k.a. webdeck) format. It can be a link to an article or a paste of your notes/outline/whatever

Before you begin

So, nothing is perfect. You may encounter issues or difficulties depending on which chatbot you choose and how much the "free" account will let you paste in. Give it a try anyways. And, if you have a $20 account with any of them, you can easily copy-n-paste the instructions into the chatbot window or upload the markdown file itself by attaching it to the chat.

Step #1: Open Your Chatbot of Choice

Open the chatbot of choice.

Step #2: Get a copy of the WebDeck Instructions

Use the link to webdeck_instructions.md file provided above to save a copy of the instructions (a text file) to your device

Step #3: Copy the Webdeck Instructions

Use a text editor to open the webdeck instructions file (webdeck_instructions.md), Select ALL, then copy.

Step #4: Paste the instructions into the chatbot window

Paste (Ctrl-V) the instructions into the chatbot window.

Step #5: Paste in the information or link with your information

This information is what you want the slide deck content to be about. The chatbot will process your information along with the webdeck instructions to make the slide deck. If you have speaker's notes, you could include them in your outline, or add them in a back-n-forth with the chatbot. Again, if using a free chatbot, you may not have that many interactions available

Step #6: Save or Copy the HTML code the Chatbot Generates of the Presentation

Once the chatbot has generated the code, copy-n-paste it into a text editor, or if the option is available, save it to your device.

Step #7: Display the slide deck

You can now open the slide deck in a web browser to see what it looks like. Note the toolbar in the top right allows you to "pop-out" the speaker's notes, if any. You can put the speaker's note on one monitor, and the other tab with the presentation full-screen on the digital projector screen.

Check your work

Once that's done, you are all set!

Troubleshooting

Some possible issues:

Your chatbot can't process the long prompt and dies. Sorry, that's beyond my control. A $20 account with Claude or ChatGPT will fix that. Or, get BoodleBox and give it a try using MGFREE123 code. You get 1-2 months free, and it's a terrific tool (see Resources-> AI for more info). I don't get anything out of you using that code, by the way.
You decide you don't like the color or styling. Chat with the chatbot and tell it what colors you want. Adjust to preference.
That's pretty much all I can think of at the end of the day. :-)

Seven Questions Your Nonprofit Should Be Afraid to Ask This Summer, Part 6

Miguel Guhlin — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT

6. Is Your Change Process Protecting the Status Quo?

“Be willing to try, learn from failure, and fail forward.”
— Steven Priest, education innovation leader

Committees, listening sessions, pilots, and phased rollouts can support responsible decisions. They can also delay action until the original opportunity disappears.

A pilot without authority, funding, deadlines, or success measures is not much of an experiment. It is a way to look busy without placing existing programs at risk.

Education organizations already know that change is accelerating. CoSN’s 2025 Driving K–12 Innovation report identified Gen AI, AI literacy, and organizational readiness as central issues requiring experimentation, collaboration, and new approaches to leadership.

The answer is not reckless change. It is shorter cycles between evidence, decisions, and action.

One Thing to Do

Replace one standing committee with a 90-day decision team. Give it a specific problem, a modest budget, access to the necessary data, and authority to test one solution.

At the end of 90 days, leadership must scale it, revise it once, or stop it. “Continue piloting” should not be an available fourth choice.

Seven Questions Your Nonprofit Should Be Afraid to Ask This Summer, Part 5

Miguel Guhlin — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT

5. Is One Big Event Carrying Too Much Weight?

“A catalyst for the transformation our sector is ready to create.”
— Umer Rupani, Independent Sector

A major event can create community, visibility, sponsorship revenue, and genuine learning. The problem begins when one week is expected to finance 12 months of operations.

That model becomes especially fragile for organizations serving educators. An AACTE analysis of federal data found that annual bachelor’s degrees in education fell from 109,622 in 2003–04 to 90,710 in 2022–23. Education master’s degrees declined from 162,632 to 143,669 during the same period.

The potential audience may continue shrinking. NCES projects that public prekindergarten through grade 12 enrollment will decline five percent, from 49.6 million to 46.9 million students, between fall 2022 and fall 2030.

Fewer students can eventually mean fewer schools, educators, professional-development dollars, members, conference registrations, and exhibitors. Improving the event may soften the impact, but it cannot reverse the demographic trend.

One Thing to Do

Set a three-year target for reducing dependence on event revenue. Build one recurring offer, such as subscription coaching, organizational partnerships, premium digital libraries, certification pathways, consulting packages, or Gen AI-supported member services.

Give it an owner, revenue target, launch date, and cancellation threshold.

Five New Digital Math Tools for PreKinder and Kinder

Miguel Guhlin — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In today’s classroom, digital math tools can make first contact with mathematical concepts a supported first step for learners. In this blog, I share some math resources for PreKinder and Kinder that you may not be familiar with.

Another Think Coming

Walk Through Ancient Egypt with Expeditione

Explore the Ancient World

ACE Ancient Egypt

Built for School Devices

Try It in the Classroom

Take your students on an Ancient Egyptian expedition at Expeditione.

ACE Framework for Expeditione: Ancient Egypt

A — Articulate It

C — Connect It

E — Extend It

Quick ACE Check

What Are You Doing With What You Have?

The Parable, Paraphrased

Before You Continue

Match Responsibility to Readiness

Fear Can Bury Potential

Try It

Entrust Something That Matters

Choosing a School District Assessment System

Read more

Making the Impossible Work with Vibe-Coded Solutions

One Big Obstacle Facing Organizations

Solving Problems: Documenting Vibe-Coded Solutions

Quick Totals

Vibe-Coded Solutions (39)

Not Vibe-Coded (23)

Reflecting on the Journey

Back to School: Get Students Lab-Ready with Free Safety Activities

Read more

Dungeon Run: Surprise is an Admin Expense #game #DungeonCrawlingC

LitRPG Overload

Inspiring a New Game

Game Play

Updates and New Levels

"Become a Dungeon Runner."

New Browser Encryption Tool - CipherSplat

CipherSplat Measures Up Alongside Other Encryption Tools

Comparing FileLock and CipherSplat

How Does It Stack Up?

CipherSplat vs Traditional Tools

My Perspective

CipherSplat vs. FileLock.org

Sources

Hands-On: Student Learning in the AI era

Let’s explore

Antites Unite: Screen Time Ban Grows

Science Detectives: Critical Thinking Online Breakouts (CTOBs) for Your 6–8 Classroom

Read more

AI is Bad for Learning

Towards an Instructional Model

Building a Model

Centralized Evidence-Aligned Instruction Model

Purpose

1. Establish the Instructional Non-Negotiables

Required instructional ingredients

Prohibited substitutions

2. Use a Common Lesson Architecture

Standard instructional cycle

Lesson design rule

3. Define Fidelity Correctly

Three levels of fidelity

Acceptable adaptation protocol

4. Build a Multiple-Measure Assessment System

Assessment layers

Decision rule

Daily assessment guardrail

5. Create a Standard Response-to-Evidence Cycle

The response cycle

Reteaching rule

6. Separate Coaching from Evaluation

Two observation systems

Coaching cycle

Evaluation safeguard

7. Use an Evidence-Focused Observation Rubric

Observation domains

Observation score rule

8. Create a Central Curriculum Quality Process

Curriculum review criteria

Curriculum revision process