UPDATE 1/11/2021: Here is a list of great Alexa skills for kids from Commonsense Media!
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I want to share a few things I learned at ISTE 2020 last week. One of the sessions I “attended” virtually was about Artificial Intelligence, presented by Hall Davidson. Among the great resources he shared, Davidson mentioned that you can customize some of the Amazon Alexa responses using “Skill Blueprints.” I know that many classrooms can’t have an Alexa due to district and privacy issues, but if you do have one – or have one at home – this site should definitely be of interest to you. Using the Alexa Blueprints, you can customize stories, games, celebrations, and even taking turns. In addition, there are 5 different “Learning and Knowledge” templates. Davidson mentioned that he had worked with schools where the students had filled out the templates, giving them a bit of education on some of the uses of Artificial Intelligence.
For some other AI resources, don’t forget this new site from Code.org, which includes a video on the ethics of AI. (And, a friendly reminder that it’s Hour of Code week right now!) My post on “Machine Learning for Kids” also has some great links, and some fun Scratch projects for this topic.
