University of Washington Press
Charged: A History of Batteries and Lessons for a Clean Energy Future by James Morton Turner
Published in August 2022
For years, I’ve utilized the imperfect but useful analogy of the transition from gas to electric vehicles to think about the future of online learning.
- Gas-powered vehicles = residential learning
- Hybrid vehicles = hybrid learning
- Electricity-powered vehicles = online learning
It is with this model in mind that I read James (Jay) Morton Turner’s excellent book, Charged: A History of Batteries and Lessons for a Clean Energy Future. Turner, a history professor at Wellesley College, writes about the history of batteries through the lens of environmental studies.
Learning about the history and material makeup of batteries complicates the narrative that the transition from internal combustion engines (ICE) to battery-powered vehicles will be either straightforward or universally environmentally positive.
Scaling up the quantity of batteries necessary to replace ICE vehicles will require enormous new supplies of raw materials such as copper, nickel and cobalt. How to square a pro-mining orientation with environmentalist and social justice values occupies a significant portion of Charged.
Where do batteries intersect with the (yes, flawed) analogy connecting online learning with electric vehicles?
AI for Online Course Development = Batteries for Electric Vehicles
The future of online course/program development is becoming inextricably tied up with generative artificial intelligence. We are starting to leverage AI at every stage of the course development process, from curriculum and assignment design to assessment creation to (coming soon) digital twin media creation. In the world of online nondegree/certificate programs, the adoption of AI is moving at an exponential pace, as platform providers like Coursera roll out AI tools such as Course Builder.
Like the environmental cost of battery production at scale (all that mining), the diffusion of AI for educational content/course creation brings with it a whole set of complications, questions and pitfalls. Few would disagree that switching from fossil fuels to battery power is, on balance, a good thing from a carbon-emitting and global warming perspective.
At the same time, expanding access and opportunity to education and credentialing by driving down the costs of online course/program development aligns with the values of most educators and educational institutions. Introducing AI into course/program development while preserving the autonomy and centrality of educators is a challenge that universities are navigating in real time.
Considering AI for online course development, such as the batteries that power electric vehicles, diverges from the current discourse around AI in education and learning. Most conversations about AI in education focus on student use—or misuse—and occasionally on faculty practices.
Seldom do we discuss how AI might alter the nature of team-based course development, where a subject matter expert (typically a professor) collaborates with learning designers and media educators to create a new (usually online) course. Batteries for vehicles and AI for course development may be on a similar trajectory, with these technologies evolving rapidly enough to change the economics of transportation and education.
Charged is an exceptionally well-researched and intricately argued analysis of the opportunities and challenges of placing batteries at the center of the transition from gas-powered to electric vehicles. We need an equally evenhanded, nonideological and deeply thought-out analysis of the coming AI-powered transformation of online education.
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