Tech-Neill-ogy #112 - 5 October 2025

Your Weekly Guide to Leveraging Technology in College Counseling

Author

Jeffrey Neill
October 07, 2025

Welcome to Tech-Neill-ogy #112!

Welcome to Sucktober! Nothing more today.

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter!

Reimagining School In The Age Of AI | NOEMA

With thoughtful design, AI systems could move American classrooms beyond rigid curricula toward adaptive programs that respond to individual learners.

www.noemamag.com/reimagining-school-in-the-age-of-ai

Using AI for the Master Schedule Can Meet Student Needs — and Save Money

Rieber and Gilmore-Madkins: AI helped us build schedules that rebalanced class sizes and workloads as it resulted in significant savings.

www.the74million.org/article/using-ai-for-the-master-schedule-can-meet-student-needs-and-save-money

From Yale to MIT to UCLA: The AI policies of the nation's biggest colleges

From official partnerships to general usage policies, universities around the country are figuring out how to embrace AI.

mashable.com/article/university-ai-policies-what-to-know

No Simple Answers for Kids and Screens

The instinct to regulate children’s digital consumption is admirable. But what if tech isn’t the bogeyman we think it is?

www.educationnext.org/no-simple-answers-for-kids-and-screens-book-review-twenge-10-rules-for-raising-kids-in-a-high-tech-world

Sans Safeguards, AI in Education Risks Deepening Inequality

A new UNESCO report cautions that artificial intelligence has the potential to threaten students’ access to quality education. The organization calls for a focus on people, to ensure digital tools enhance education.

www.govtech.com/education/k-12/sans-safeguards-ai-in-education-risks-deepening-inequality

BeeDone: AI Daily Planner Game

Maximize your productivity with BeeDone – the gamified app inspired by the best in self-help literature. Our AI-driven platform turns your goals into achievements through a fun, engaging experience. Join a community of achievers.

beedone.co

AndThen - Play The Conversation

Human-crafted audio experiences you control with your voice

andthen.chat

AnswerThis

Get AI-powered comprehensive answers with direct citations from 250M+ verified research sources in minutes.

answerthis.io

Learn Your Way

Learn Your Way transforms content into a dynamic and engaging learning experience tailored for you.

learnyourway.withgoogle.com

Free Google Slides themes and Powerpoint templates | Slidesgo

Discover the best Google Slides themes and PowerPoint templates you can use in your presentations - 100% Free for any use.

slidesgo.com

https://www.edficacy.co/ - Tell them Jeff sent you!

While battling with a student while trying to assist them with cutting their Common App essay down to the required 650 words, we got stuck on a particular sentence that he was really convinced needed to remain in the essay while I offered that it did not add any value. To tap into the indifferent, third party of ChatGPT, I put this prompt to use: 

You are an expert copy editor. Read the following essay. It is over the maximum word count for this assignment. Put in rank order the list of the top five sentences that add the lowest amount of value to the overall essay, the removal of which would minimize the impact on the central concept of the essay.

[Enter Essay Here]

Guess who was right!

Please, if you have any great prompts or ideas, please share! Send me a note at [email protected].

Webinars & Live Events Page

Look here for upcoming webinars and other events (and recorded ones) by the College Essay Guy! New events are happening all the time…

www.collegeessayguy.com/webinars-live-events

TBD

I really loved this non-tech article this week. Are schools missing the mark by focusing on “skills” at the expense of actual knowledge? This provocative piece exposes how “critical thinking” and trendy buzzwords don’t add up:

Schools Are All About Imparting ‘Skills’ — But What About Actual Knowledge?

Steiner: Cricket fans understand 'googly' & 'silly mid-off.' Most U.S. readers, even strong ones, don't. No amount of 'critical thinking' can fix that

www.the74million.org/article/schools-are-all-about-imparting-skills-but-what-about-actual-knowledge

In particular, this passage stood out to me:

Research and insights from cognitive and educational psychology, sociology and curriculum studies converge on the foundational idea that knowledge acquisition is the essential foundation for complex thought, including thinking critically about a topic. Those who advocate for schools to teach metacognition should also demand that students first learn about the world and the human condition.

David Steiner

Anyway, best wishes for a great week! Happy counseling!

Jeff