Disqus - Latest Comments for datruss

Re: I Built a Writing Machine

datruss — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 21:05:00 -0000

I've played a bit with Notebook LM. It can write a great letter of reference based on the scholarship requirements and a 'brag sheet' I have students do. It takes a 30-40 minute job and does it in 5-10 minutes... and it really does sound like me, based on the reference letters I provided, (pseudonyms need changing and usually one to three minor tweaks).
However, when I've played with getting my blogging voice repeated it has not come close. That said, I did not provide nearly the detail you did. I can't even get it to give me good post title suggestions. Not that I'm wanting to replace my writing, like you I'm just very interested on how well AI could do writing like me. That's my experience so far.

And now to your attempt: The short staccato-style sentences were so overdone it made the post seem cliche. Take that away and it did have a blogger voice, but definitely not your voice. Still, I appreciated the detail of your prompts and I think you could coach it to be more like you. For example ask the AI to contrast what it wrote in your voice compared to a few pieces you've already written... make it critique it's own attempt. Just a thought. I'd like to see how much better you can get it.

Re: Beautify This Slide

datruss — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 16:27:51 -0000

What I'm starting to realize now is how (almost exponentially) better the AI is getting at meeting what we intend it to do. I still occasionally struggle with getting AI to create images for my blog, but I also notice a significant increase in the quality of the output, and I'm not giving sophisticated requests, asking for specific styles, or having the AI seek expert perspectives. That said the... I'll call it... 'messiness' of working on the right image to support an idea can help to develop the idea further and make it easier to express in a presentation, but I know there have been times in the past where I've spent so much time on design, I've lost my way, and it makes sense for AI to make this easy for me.
My long way of saying I agree with you, and I'm still trying to decide too.

Re: Happy 20th

datruss — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 08:14:58 -0000

You nailed the essence of early blogging with, “The value was partly to document my thinking, bookmarking new tools, sharing something useful for others and occasionally engaging in interesting conversations.”
I think the blog comment conversations that used to happen are the thing I miss the most from ‘the good ol’ days’. That said, I still find a lot of joy in blogging and I’m glad to hear that you do too! It’s interesting that I now tend to get to blogs through LinkedIn, that’s where I’ve re-become a regular reader of your and Chris Kennedy’s blogs.. and others who I used to have in my Google Reader.
I tip my hat to your 20th, happy blogiversary!

Re: Are We Ready to Learn Again?

datruss — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 15:59:12 -0000

I think there is a thirst and interest in engaging in professional learning but that it needs to be more human centered. People need to connect and lead each other and ‘own’ the Pro-D. This isn’t a time for inviting an online guest speaker. It’s a time for groups to look at the community in front of them and face their own ‘local’ challenges…. Side-by-side with their colleagues in the building. Sure you can bring in the expert, but that expert needs to give context specific support. People are worn out by Pro-D delivered to them and added to their plate. The wisdom in the room is what will move us forward now… which comes with an understanding of the local student challenges, the local student readiness to engage, and the spirit of collaboration with colleagues.

Re: Nostalgic for Twitter of the past

datruss — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 13:26:09 -0000

Two thoughts come to mind Aaron:
1. I need to re-engage with blogs again, with intention to converse as well as read.
2. I need to make Twitter work for me, rather than waxing poetically about what it once was.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Re: My Monkey Brain

datruss — Sun, 09 Aug 2020 14:26:48 -0000

That’s very Zen, Stephen. Wise advice. This has been a summer of appreciation for me, family, friends, and the amazing natural world we live in. I realize now that I need to take that into my meditation. I will come back to your comment above as a reminder.
Thanks again!

Re: My Monkey Brain

datruss — Sun, 09 Aug 2020 11:32:49 -0000

Hi Bill,
Yes, I believe emptying your mind is the ultimate goal, but impossible to get to without first understanding how to focus and concentrate on just one thing, like your breathing. I am not sure that I’ll go the route of wine unless I’m meditating late at night, but I like that idea more than writing my distractions down. I would want to keep writing rather than meditating. 🤣
I’m really surprised how hard it is for me to stay ‘present’ when meditating. I bounce between things done in the past, things I plan to do in the future, and an imagination gone wild. I don’t live in the ‘here and now’ nearly as much as I thought I did before taking up meditation. It’s a learning journey, I’m just proving to be a very slow learner... Wondering what I need to do differently to speed things up?

Re: Significantly Insignificant

datruss — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 23:24:25 -0000

I love this idea Aaron,
"So long and thanks for all the fish," also comes to mind.
Also, when you look at some of the science behind the alignment of pyramids around the world, and even the suggestion that some of these cities were powered (conjecture more than scientific fact)... There are many reasons to believe that there were advancements in understanding from over 4,000 years ago that far exceeded what humans of 2,000 years ago understood. How much knowledge has been gained and lost before our recorded histories of the last few thousand years?

Re: Uncertainty as the new norm

datruss — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 10:05:48 -0000

We had a session with him too, the BC Principal’s Association brought him in via Skype. That idea of honouring the effort is key. We have had many educators focussed on learning in a way I’ve never seen in my career before... even those that made small steps should be celebrated!

Re: Uncertainty as the new norm

datruss — Sun, 05 Jul 2020 18:39:40 -0000

Thanks Jeff,
I must admit to feeling the 'woe is me' as well sometimes. I don't think we (or any other mammal for that matter) are designed to stay in 'crisis mode' for extended periods of time. That's sort of why I think we need to just embrace uncertainty as a norm.
I've been watching the spread of the virus with a focus on North America, and have to say that I'm not convinced that the old normal is anything we will see for quite a long time.
I am very interested in how things progress for you, since you start a full month before us. I'm going to share a number of thoughts and ideas over the next while, but probably closer to August. I'm back in Toronto with my parents (who are moving), staying further away from social media than normal, and reading (listening to) books totally unrelated to education... trying to give my brain a break. Yet, I still find myself thinking about school like I did writing the post above.
Do let me know how things go, and I'm happy to bounce ideas around with you... in a couple/few weeks:)

Re: Grad day part 1

datruss — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 11:15:30 -0000

Thanks Manuel, it was indeed a special night!

Re: Data, Tales, and Tools

datruss — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 13:12:53 -0000

So true Aaron,

We often see the focus be too centred around the tool and not the purpose or intent of using the tool. The question, that I ask in the final sentence, is how do we (meaningfully) harness the tool? The step you are taking in your response is to look at how the tool transforms the message.

A lot of people know the quote: "The medium is the message," but seldom continue the quote: "...This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium - that is, of any extension of ourselves - result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology." ~Marshall McLuhan

The idea of scale is interesting. We can know the facts we need to share, we can create the narrative... the tools (medium) we use will determine the scale of consequences of our sharing. But when we focus on the tool, we often do not spend enough time on the message itself.

Re: The mass of trees

datruss — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 12:58:57 -0000

Greetings Aaron,
I found this Radio Lab podcast mind blowing: https://www.wnycstudios.org...
It shares how tress communicate with one another in a way that is reminiscent to the connection seen in the fictional movie Avatar. There is so much we still have to learn about the amazing world we live in!

Re: The mass of trees

datruss — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 11:05:44 -0000

Thank you Stephen!
Thought I was making a logical jump from one to the other, but as you point out I made an error in that leap. I’ll update the post to point to your comment.
Thanks again!

Re: Education focussed mind dump

datruss — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 08:02:57 -0000

Thanks for sharing, Don,
I don’t recall you telling me about the book before. I’ll add it to my reading list.

Re: Trying to find the Truth

datruss — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 07:46:58 -0000

Greetings Hutch (so nice of you to add to the conversation Brad!)
You have me thinking about this statement that you made, “ So, we contend that much media has a “spin” and our citIzens are trending to disbelief of science and of leadership, it causes me to be concerned.”
I completely agree about the “spin”, that’s essentially the point of my post, that it is hard to find the truth when everything has a spin. However, are ‘our citIzens... trending to disbelief of science and of leadership’? I’m not sure? For example I might read only one of the the two articles above about Hydroxychloroquine and in my interest to know the truth, and follow the science, I don’t realize that I am reading an article with a biased agenda, I think I am pursuing Truth, and following the Science. So are we trending to disbelief or are we seeing a combination of:
a) more people that did not grow up with the same empirical minded background as you being vocal; and
b) news media that is more interested in using ‘spin’ to pander to an audience than in sharing the truth.
That’s not a statement but a question. Are we trending towards disbelief of truth, or are we just living in a world where our biases, and lack of legitimate, reliable sources of information are undermined by biased news agency agendas that don’t let us get to the truth we are seeking?
I will end this right where you did, with worry that truth is being lost in the crafting of headlines and agendas that put us in a post-truth world, where the medium is undermining the integrity of the message.

Re: Coffee after class

datruss — Tue, 26 May 2020 12:28:58 -0000

Absolutely! If I had the opportunity to repeat an experience like that, I would do it as a podcast series. While I can say that the experience was amazing, I'd be lying if I said I remember more than a few moments of the conversations here and there. I'll share the pyramid and ladder metaphor at some point. Beyond that, it's a powerful learning memory I won't soon forget.

Re: Trying to find the Truth

datruss — Tue, 26 May 2020 12:24:34 -0000

That's a powerful question Bill, and one I'm not sure I have an answer to.
I wrote Ideas on a Spectrum: https://daily-ink.davidtrus...
I think this is something that we need to figure out, I'm just not sure that the appeal for our attention through anger and outrage isn't too strong a tide to allow people who are trying to do things well won't get lost in the undertow.

Re: Is it just me?

datruss — Sun, 24 May 2020 12:02:27 -0000

Thanks for sharing Aaron,
I do feel a bit of cognitive overload, it just usually comes with other feelings besides melancholy. I thought writing this would be a cathartic new reset, but I find I’m still off kilter. One thing I can do to help myself is to reduce the guilt of not getting things on my ‘if only I had more time’ To Do list done... it seems I have good reasons, as do many people around the world, to leave these things undone as we mentally cope with a pandemic.

Re: It changes everything

datruss — Thu, 21 May 2020 09:40:50 -0000

Love the Ursula Franklin quote you shared:
“ Technology is not the sum of the artefacts, of the wheels and gears, of the rails and electronic transmitters. Technology is a system. It entails far more than its individual material components. Technology involves organization, procedures, symbols, new words, equations, and, most of all, a mindset.”
I’ve never considered it a mindset, but I see value in referencing technology that way.
Thanks!

Re: Truth is stranger than fiction

datruss — Tue, 05 May 2020 09:23:25 -0000

It’s amazing that ‘the future’ in this movie was 2015. Imagine actually being told back then about this current point in time.

I didn’t properly site my title:
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.”
Mark Twain

Re: The tightrope balance of parenting

datruss — Mon, 04 May 2020 10:13:33 -0000

I think there are parents across the globe that wish they had a kid who wanted to start early, rather than avoid the work. Some problems are definitely more challenging than others! :)
One of the points we make in the presentation is that some students deserve autonomy in creating their schedule, while others need parents to provide that structure.
One other challenge that we didn't discuss is the different approaches to parenting that parents might have. These would definitely be exaggerated when the whole family is working from home!

Re: Expecting appropriate student behavior online

datruss — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 09:05:34 -0000

I love this point:
“ We need to develop the deliberate practice of students regularly sharing their work and ideas in collaborative spaces.”
One I think is often missed is that not all collaborative spaces need to be public. Sometimes having digital spaces for students that are ‘their’ spaces, allows them to more authentically collaborate without the pressure of everything having to look good for a greater audience.

Re: Transforming Exponentially

datruss — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 08:53:19 -0000

I had read, and shared with my staff, the Shareski post, but the Cormier post was new to me. Culture change is hard, slow work but it is meaningful and lasting if done well. The hardest part is that when people resist culture change, that resistance gets embedded into the new culture... so authentic collaboration is needed or the lack of buy-in undermines everyone’s efforts, not just the efforts of the resistors.

Re: Wealth, privilege, and charity

datruss — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 08:43:53 -0000

I hope that you are right Stephen, and that changes happen at the policy level, and not just in a general hike in taxes. It seems backwards to me that the richer you are, the easier it is to shelter your wealth and avoid taxes.