Efrat Furst

I think we should reduce text on slides from other reasons. As for AI - full lesson transcripts can be used, so not sure the slides are the barrier

What can we really learn from the case of Calculators in mathematics to the case of GenAI in education?
sites.google.com/view/efratfu...

I think some findings are more surprising, or at least not trivial in the way they translate into practice - e.g. the importance of deliberate practice, and the short-term long-term dissociation of feelings about learning and actual learning.

Genenerally speaking - yes. But there are new ideas/representations (and hence true encoding). Rsearchers are looking for the 'engram' and they were actually able to prove it exists and relates to a specific idea.

Theoretically It's the difference between encoding and retrieval. Practically it's never such a clear cut.

In my world it comes from neuroscience. The specific neural activity that happens/represents behaviour. It was coined before we knew much about consolidation so it probably meant more back then, than it does now.

I agree with both. Regarding encoding I think that it's at the most "experience-related activation" and cannot be a substitute for learning. Though learning too is interpreted in many ways.

YouTube video by IATEFL IATEFL International Conference 2025 plenary 2: Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel

The recording of my #IATEFL2025 plenary is now online. If you missed it, you can watch it now. If you have attended my plenary last Wednesday, this is an opportunity for spaced practice. 😄 Either way: Enjoy!
#edusky #academicsky
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNGh...

Absolutely. I just wonder to what extent people are willing to make PCK- based decisions. 'the audience' of instructors are far more responsive to innovative AI tricks than to yet another workshop on course design and/or formative assessment 🙃 (even if it has AI in it)

One thing that I think becomes very clear from analyses of actual AI use for educational purposes is that subject matter, pedagogical, & PCK* expertise are indispensable; if we don't have a clear, concise, detailed idea of what we want to achieve, we'll likely achieve something else.

EfratFurst - GenAI Mastery HigherED Generative AI has been around for over two years. We've had the chance to play with it, use it in our own work, and experiment with integrating it into teaching and learning in higher education. Frank...

Everybody talks about innovating assessment in #higherEd in the era of GenAI,
It's been (positive) messy so far, but how should we proceed?
Once again, cognitive science principles can support our thinking:
sites.google.com/view/efratfu...

Should we predict the future to prepare our children for the world of tomorrow?💭
Technology adoption rate is only dictated by human rate of adoption.
We should (and can) prepare them for what it takes to succeed today. If we do it well, they will bridge the gap themselves.
Just as we did.

Two reasons NOT to change your course assessment and learning outcomes:
1 GenAI can do it with little human effort
2 Your Ss will use GenAI to do it, in the future.

If you believe it is an essential fundamental skill, then it probably is, and your students need to master it before offloading to AI💭

By the idea that's it's a thing? By formalizing something they normally do? Or rather formalizing things they now work but they also don't do (enough?) e.g. retrieval practice is better than restudy?

I often hear (from professionals in education) that cognitive science principles are often trivial and surprising at the same time.
What is your best explanation? 💭

EfratFurst - Embedded Processes WM Model We explore Nelson Cowan's Embedded Processes model, which offers an alternative to the classical "stores" model of memory, and suggests a different way to interpret its function, specifically Working ...

The Embedded processes model thread - all in one place:
sites.google.com/view/efratfu...

Sehr guter Thread zur Frage des Arbeitsgedächtnisses, v.a. mit Blick darauf, inwiefern es mit dem Langzeitgedächtnis zusammenspielt. 👇
#Lernen #Gedächtnis #Arbeitsgedächtnis

EfratFurst - Learning and Memory Cycle 'Neuroplasticity' is everywhere, but what do we really mean when we talk about the ever-changing brain? Let's dive deeper than the buzzword and explore the evidence with a model.

Learning and Memory as a cycle
(correct link)
sites.google.com/view/efratfu...

EfratFurst - Embedded Processes WM Model We explore Nelson Cowan's Embedded Processes model, which offers an alternative to the classical "stores" model of memory, and suggests a different way to interpret its function, specifically Working ...

The Embedded processes model thread - all in one place:
sites.google.com/view/efratfu...

https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-psych-040723-012736

Here is the original image of the Embedded Processes model from: Cowan et al. "The relation between attention and memory." Annual Review of Psychology 75.1 (2024): 183-214.

10/ As for using it for educational purposes, it centers around the interaction among guiding attention, activating prior knowledge (in aLTM) and the binding process (in Foa), which are the essential elements of learning (rather than focusing on the cognitive load experience).

9/ The Embedded Processes model requires more knowledge and integration to grasp. Yet it is parsimonious and dynamic: we can follow one thread, from initial representation through binding and deactivation.

8/Further more:
-The “WM limitations” stem from the limited attention capacity (3-5 items), and time of LTM activation (<1min).

- Information can enter aLTM without attention (e.g. priming effects), or consciously either top-down (executive function) or bottom-up (prediction error) processes

7/ As attention fades or shifts, the new construct remains briefly in the activated (but unattended) LTM, before becoming inactive. Manipulation and the time in aLTM influence later consolidation and storage chances.

6/ Cowan Identifies an activated subset of LTM (aLTM), a small part of which is in the focus of attention (FoA).
Information is selected for and may be binded, and combined with activated representations while in the FoA.

🧠Memory is working without a "Working Memory

5/ The Embedded Processes model (Cowan, 2019, 2024) offers a more dynamic and integrated view of WM: not a separate store, but a function arising from attention and LTM interaction. Let's look into it using the network model (which is my interpretation, not part of the original) ➡️

4/ The model can explain “cognitive load” - when input exceeds WM capacity. But it doesn't address the Attention-WM or the WM-LTM interactions: How do “items” move from temporary storage to LTM representation?

3/ This simple model highlights three cognitive functions as three “Stores”: attention, Working memory, and long-term memory (LTM) operating like a “conveyor belt”: selecting, processing and then storing information.

2/ In a previous thread bsky.app/profile/efra... I talked about memory using a model of a dynamic neuronal network, shifting between encoding, consolidation, storage and reactivation states.

But how does working memory (WM) fit? Where do our understandings of WM and long-term memory intersect?

1/ Working Memory - a function or a store?
Many of us seem to see WM as a function, while most common models depict it as a store, but not all... Let's explore - a thread: