Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves
Production support from Joel Mann and from College of the Atlantic
Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording.

Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities

This month:
How did the group working on AI in the MDI School System get formed—what are its goals? What have been the takeaways so far? Surprises?

Talk a bit about public perception of AI in school. ChatGPT generated essays, plagiarism concerns, etc. How does that match up with the reality in Maine classrooms?

What is the Maine Learning Technology Initiative? The state government implemented a pause on use of generative AI two years ago, to clarify policies and best practices. Some countries, states and cities have bans on the use of AI in schools. Could you talk a bit about where Maine falls on that spectrum and what has been learned since 2023?

What did you learn when you taught a class on AI-assisted writing. What has struck or surprised you in that process?

What do you think we can learn from human experience with other technology and scientific advancement as we ride the wave of AI?

Where can listeners learn more… do you have any favorite writers or sources?

Guest/s:
Kate Meyer, English and Design Thinking teacher, MDI High School and 2020 Hancock County Teacher of the Year
Nicole Davis, AI & Emerging Technology Specialist, Maine Dept of Education
Gray Cox, professor of philosophy, College of the Atlantic, author of Smarter Planet or Wiser Earth: dialogue and collaboration in the era of artificial intelligence, published by Quaker Institute for the Future, 2023

FMI:
www.oneusefulthing.org/
(“One Useful Thing | Ethan Mollick | Substack,” March 30, 2025. A series of useful blog posts that keep track of many key new features of AI. Also see Mollick, Ethan: Intelligence: Living and Working with AI. New York: Portfolio, 2024. An accessible, short book length introduction to the basics of AI and its uses by a Wharton Business School professor

www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/will-the-humanities-survive-artificial-intelligence
(Burnett, D. Graham. “Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence?” The New Yorker, April 26, 2025. . A very stimulating, cutting edge interpretation of how Generative AI is transforming the current practice and future of liberal arts education)

www.smarterplanetorwiserearth.com
(Smarter Planet or Wiser Earth? Dialogue and Collaboration in the Era of Artificial Intelligence, by Gray Cox. A very in-depth approach to the issues Generative AI raises from a systematic human ecological point of view.)

About the hosts:

Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals.

Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download