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This week's latest tech releases, news, and highlights:
🚀 Purpose-Built AI Proves Effective in Raising Student Performance
📊  Lesson of the Week: Emphasizes ethical AI use, stressing responsibility, transparency, and awareness of data privacy and long-term impact.
📚  Microsoft’s Windows 11’s built-in security tools for education, balancing strong protection with budget-conscious IT management.
📱  Weekly Tech Tip: iOS 26 adds Liquid Glass design, smart call tools, and exclusive AI for select iPhones.
🤖  What’s New: New navigation, visual updates to learning paths, group/class archiving, and more ways to manage learners.
📙  Book of the Week: “Co-Intelligence” by Ethan Mollick.
Get a Quick Lesson In AI Literacy
Purpose-Built AI Proves Effective in Raising Student Performance
AI designed specifically for education can significantly enhance academic outcomes, as shown in a peer-reviewed study at LAPU.
The tool, limited to course materials and engineered for ethical use, boosted student GPAs by 7.5% while preserving learning integrity.
The author stresses that for AI to benefit schools, it must prioritize pedagogical value over user growth metrics.
Lesson of the Week
This week’s lesson explores the difference between AI’s pattern recognition capabilities and the deeper human-like understanding shaped by context and experience.
Question of the Week:
What fundamental challenge does AI face in achieving true understanding versus pattern matching?
A) AI lacks the real-world context and experience that inform human understanding
B) AI processes data too slowly to match human understanding
C) AI requires too much training data to achieve understanding
D) AI can only work with numerical data, not conceptual information
See if you’re right–the answer is at the bottom!
Windows 11 Delivers Built-In Security for Higher Education and Beyond
Microsoft’s Windows 11 offers robust, built-in security features tailored for higher education, addressing rising ransomware threats without overburdening IT budgets.
Key capabilities include passwordless sign-in with Windows Hello, data protection via BitLocker, and AI-aware compliance monitoring through Microsoft Purview.
Smart App Control further strengthens defense by blocking untrusted applications, enhancing user and institutional cybersecurity.
Weekly Tech Tip
Try iOS 26’s Game-Changing Features
Apple’s iOS 26 introduces major updates, including the sleek Liquid Glass design and intelligent features like Call Screening and Hold Assist. If you own an iPhone 11 or newer, you can test the developer beta today—just be sure to archive a backup first and proceed with caution due to possible bugs.
Top highlights:
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Call Screening answers unknown calls and transcribes responses live.
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Hold Assist waits on hold for you and alerts when a person joins.
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Apple realigns versioning, jumping to iOS 26 for consistency across platforms.
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Only iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max, and upcoming iPhone 17 models support Apple Intelligence features.
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Developer beta is free to install—just enable Developer Mode via Apple’s website and settings.
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What's New
New navigation, visual updates to learning paths, group/class archiving, and more ways to manage learners.
Additional Tidbits
Nearly 90% of videogame developers use AI agents, Google study shows
Discussion forums: the key to AI-proof assessment?
Salesforce: AI’s Role For a Sustainable Future
HTC has a new pair of smart glasses called the Vive EagleÂ
Teachers Are Trying to Make AI Work for Them
U.S. Senator Hawley launches probe into Meta AI policies
Meta rolls out AI-powered translations to creators globally, starting with English and Spanish  Â
Book of the Week
“Co-Intelligence” by Ethan Mollick explores how generative AI can serve as a powerful collaborator, working alongside us as a co-worker, coach, and creative partner.
Mollick offers practical guidance and vivid examples that show how to harness AI’s potential while remaining grounded in human judgment.
This book provides both inspiration and actionable strategies for thriving in an AI-driven world.
