Erik Ofgang

Erik Ofgang

Erik Ofgang is Tech & Learning contributor. A journalist, author and educator, his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Smithsonian, Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Forbes.com. He currently teaches at Western Connecticut State University’s MFA program. While a staff writer at Connecticut Magazine he won a Society of Professional Journalism Award for his education reporting. He is interested in how humans learn and how technology can make that more effective.

Latest articles by Erik Ofgang

arc ai

Arc Review: A Sleek AI-Powered Alternative To Google Search

By Erik Ofgang published

The Arc AI search tool is an impressive alternative to traditional search engines, with lots of potential for educators.

Scite.AI

Scite Review: A Helpful AI-Powered Academic Search Tool

By Erik Ofgang published

Scite is an AI-powered research assistant tool designed to help make academic research more efficient -- and largely succeeds at that goal.

Classroom Tools
chatgpt and ai cheating

I Asked ChatGPT How To Stop AI Cheating. Here’s What It Said

By Erik Ofgang published

ChatGPT’s advice on limiting AI-generated student submissions was surprisingly sound overall.

A budding plant

Teaching STEM and AI Through Farming

By Erik Ofgang published

The CEO of a farming education nonprofit explains how teachers can use farming education for STEM education

A giant sandcastle with a blue sky overhead.

4 Summer Teaching Goals I’ll Actually Meet

By Erik Ofgang published

Over the last few years, I’ve learned that by setting fewer less ambitious teaching goals, I actually accomplish more over the summer.

An illustration of a computer brain.

GPT-4.5 Has Passed The Turing Test. What Does That Mean For Teachers?

By Erik Ofgang published

In the most rigorous version of the Turing test conducted to date, participants couldn’t distinguish between real humans and certain AI models.

An illustration of a light bulb with a crack in it and smoke coming out.

Recognizing When Not To Use AI

By Erik Ofgang published

AI has become part of modern education for teachers and students, but it’s not always the best or most efficient way to accomplish a task.

A cell phone on a table.

Implementing School Cell Phone Bans

By Erik Ofgang published

More and more districts, schools, and states are implementing cell phone bans. Here’s advice for doing that effectively.

ai executive order

AI In Education Executive Order: What You Need To Know

By Erik Ofgang published

The President’s executive order calls for AI literacy, a national AI challenge, and more.

Claude AI

4 Reasons To Use Claude AI to Teach

By Erik Ofgang published

Features that make Claude AI appealing to educators include a focus on privacy and conversational style.

Classroom Tools
Bright sparks fly from a welding device

Using Technology To Teach CTE To Incarcerated Students

By Erik Ofgang published

The Placer School for Adults is using technology to let students train and gain certificates in various CTE fields.

A 3D printer

Using 3D Printing and Student Input to Aid Accessibility

By Erik Ofgang published

3D printing has provided young adults at one nonprofit an opportunity to design and build their own assistive technology.

A futuristic artest rendering of quantum spaces.

Quantum Computing In Education: 5 Things To Know

By Erik Ofgang published

The AI revolution in schools may soon be supercharged by the power of quantum computing

Classroom Tools
student tutors

Cross-Age Tutoring: Student Tutors Teach Others And Themselves

By Erik Ofgang published

A new study found that cross-age tutoring leads to improvements in both tutees and tutors.

A sign with the words "dream job" on it

Getting A Teaching Job: Cutting Through Digital Clutter By Telling Your Story

By Erik Ofgang published

By talking about myself in the right way, I've found new opportunities in education and beyond.

The cover of David Sobel's book: "Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators."

Design Principles for Outdoor Teaching

By Erik Ofgang published

A new edition of a classic book on outdoor learning guides educators on creating lessons that harness students’ natural love of nature.

An illustration of a blank notebook.

Do Students Learn More Writing or Typing?

By Erik Ofgang published

The answer of writing or typing is complicated, says a cognitive scientist, and has been oversimplified in the past.

An illustration of the author teaching an imaginary college class after giving OpenAI his headshot.

OpenAI’s New Viral Art-Generating Tool and Its Potential for Teaching

By Erik Ofgang published

OpenAI’s new and improved art-generating capabilities have led to a Studio Ghibli-style viral trend and millions of users. What does it mean for the classroom?

A lock on a keyboard.

Student-Led Security Operation Centers

By Erik Ofgang published

A growing number of universities are employing students at their Security Operations Center. Here’s what that looks like in practice.

chatgpt

ChatGPT Talks Now. What Does That Mean For Teaching?

By Erik Ofgang published

OpenAI’s Advanced Voice Mode ChatGPT assistant is light years ahead of more common voice assistants, and can sometimes be so lifelike, it’s spooky.

A child works with an educaitonal toy.

Competency-Based Learning and Microcredentials

By Erik Ofgang published

Competency-based learning is an important teaching strategy for students and teacher professional development. The strategy also connects naturally with microcredentials.

An illustration of a computer with the letters AI written.

Explaining Your School’s AI Approach To Parents

By Erik Ofgang published

As more and more schools are using AI, an award-winning educator shares tips for making sure parents are on board with it.

An image of a Google logo.

Gemini: Teaching With Google’s AI Chatbot

By Erik Ofgang published

Gemini, Google’s flagship generative AI model, can help educators with lesson planning and more, though it's not as effective as platforms specifically designed for education

Binary code on a computer

Ransomware 2.0: Recent Hacking Trends and How To Guard Against Them

By Erik Ofgang published

Ransomware methods and strategies are evolving but there are still low-cast interventions to counter these attacks.

A screenshot of OpenAI's logo

GPT-4.5: What Educators Need To Know About The New ChatGPT Model

By Erik Ofgang published

I tested OpenAI's latest and greatest large language model, GPT-4.5. Here's what I learned.

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