Class with Doctor Fryer

Why should we regulate artificial intelligence? This was the question we tackled at the Thursday evening discussion group at Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community in Manhattan, Kansas, on March 20, 2025. This presentation and conversation was shared by Wes Fryer of Charlotte, North Carolina, a 1988 graduate of Manhattan High School and current middle school and high school computer science teacher. We explored government regulation more broadly, considering the different kinds of things we generally acknowledge government should regulate, and acknowledged the widespread hostile sentiments in the United States today against regulation overall. After sharing a couple book recommendations, we explored the definition of "artificial general intelligence," who some of the primary players are in the AI competition today, and finally why many people believe it is important to try and regulate AI with different kinds of guardrails. Slides for this presentation are available and also linked on ai.wesfryer.com.

Reflections on the ways in which we each have “multidimensional personalities,” and my experience using the generative AI platform “Notebook LM” this past week to create an introductory deep dive podcast about myself.More on my blog post:https://www.speedofcreativity.org/2025/01/22/notebooklm-introduces-me/More ways to learn and connect with me are on:https://wesfryer.com/after/

Today in this podcast (which is also a blog post and video) I discuss a podcast episode titled, “The Fall of the Aztecs: The Adventure Begins (Part 1)” on “The Rest is History,” by historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. I'm excited to share about this podcast and topics it references for several reasons. First, I'm a real history geek, particularly fascinated by the history of the “encounter of cultures” in the Americas in the 1500s, the “Age of Exploration,” the “conquest of the Americas,” or whatever terms you choose to use to describe the dramatic and destructive introduction of the values of European colonialism into the Western hemisphere of our planet. These topics are also relevant as humanity ponders the idea of becoming a multi-planetary species in the coming decade, and the ways we will behave as we "colonize" another new world.

Middle school students in my media, literacy and robotics classes in early January 2023 shared some answers to the following two “End of Semester Reflection Questions.” 1. What were the best parts of this class? 2. How could this class be even better?

Some reflections on ways I want to change the design of my middle school robotics course and classes. Resources related to this podcast episode are available on lessons.wesfryer.com/robotics. Links to my social media channels to continue learning and connecting with me are on wesfryer.com/after. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Tonight I attended my first amateur radio, or HAM, radio club meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. I learned a lot, and certainly realized how little I do know about amateur radio, the electromagnetic spectrum, and so much more. But I'm on this learning journey now, and I'd love for you to join me. You can check out all the referenced links mentioned in this episode by visiting my blog post about tonight, at http://wfryer.me/ham1

This week I am attending a 4 1/2 day robotics workshop at Carnegie Mellon University, learning how to teach middle school robotics with the “Lego Spike Prime” robot platform. This is based on the Scratch programming language from MIT, which I love and have been using for over 10 years. In this reflection I share some of the things I have learned from the first two days of the workshop, as well as some of the amazing DARPA robotic projects, prototypes, and other robotics projects housed in the National Robotics Engineering Center, at CMU, where this workshop is being held. Check out the shownotes on my website speedofcreativity.org for links to my Google Doc of notes and other related resources! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This is a presentation by Dr. Wesley Fryer for 12th graders at Casady School enrolled in Mrs. Finley‘s Creative Writing Class. This was an orientation to the website bookcreator.com, which students use to create children's picture books. Access the slides from this the presentation and more resources on: https://studentauthors.casady.org/creating-ebooks --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This is an audio recording of our Sunday School class lesson, "Responding to 'There Can’t Be Just One True Religion'" from March 14, 2021. A video version is also available on YouTube, and linked from our class recordings and resources webpage.) We started a new book study today using Timothy Keller's 2008 (revised in 2018) book, "The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism," and today highlighted Chapter 1. Our focus Bible verses for today were John 10:1-10, from both the NIV and MSG versions. Our class is taught by Dr. Wesley Fryer. Slides for today's lesson are available. This recording, these slides, and additional class recordings as well as resources are available on: followjesus.wesfryer.com/classes. Learn more about the Christian theology and background of our class teacher and presenter, Dr. Wesley Fryer, on: www.wesfryer.com/theology/. Follow Dr. Wesley Fryer's Christian Twitter channel on: twitter.com/pocketshare. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This is a recording of the Ash Wednesday sermon (or meditation) shared by me (Dr. Wesley Fryer) at First Presbyterian Church of Edmond, Oklahoma. At that time, I was serving as an elder in our church, and our pastor, Mateen Elass, gave me the opportunity to share the message at this special, mid-week service. The Bible verses I used for this meditation were Isaiah 58:1-12, and this audio was originally shared on my Christian blog. Additional information about my Christian beliefs, theology, and the only spaces where I share Bible Verses as well as other ideas related to following Jesus Christ is available on wesfryer.com/theology.

This is a recording of our Sunday School class lesson, ““Faith and Questioning: The Bethlehem Star” (part 2 of 2) from December 27, 2020. Our class is taught by Dr. Wesley Fryer. Slides for today's lesson are available. This recording, these slides, and additional class recordings as well as resources are available on: followjesus.wesfryer.com/classes Learn more about the Christian theology and background of our class teacher and presenter, Dr. Wesley Fryer, on: www.wesfryer.com/theology Follow Dr. Wesley Fryer's Christian Twitter channel on: twitter.com/pocketshare --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

An impromptu podcast reflection I recorded tonight walking around our neighborhood with our puppy, Moose. Thinking about the new classes I am teaching, the students we have a face-to-face and at home in “flex learning,” and the challenges and opportunities of teaching a second language in formal classes for the first time.

This is a recording of a lesson shared by Dr. Wes Fryer at Friday Morning Men's Group at First Presbyterian Church of Edmond, Oklahoma, on July 10, 2020. The topic was Chapter 3:“The Origins of the Universe," from "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief" by Francis Collins. The lesson focused on Genesis 1:1-5 and discussions about "Free Will & Quantum Mechanics." Slides from the lesson are available. These slides and additional resources for Wes' Sunday School class, "Curiosity and Questions: Jesus and Science" are available on: https://followjesus.wesfryer.com Follow Wes Fryer on Twitter: @pocketshare and @wfryer. Check out Wes' book, "Pocket Share Jesus: Be a Digital Witness for Christ" on pocketshare.pressbooks.com. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

A recording of a lesson on "Genetic Editing and BioEthics" shared by Dr. Wesley Fryer at the July 3, 2020, 'virtual' gathering of the Friday Morning Men's Group at First Presbyterian Church of Edmond, Oklahoma. An updated version of a lesson shared on August 25, 2019, for the adult Sunday School Class, "Curiosity and Questions: Jesus and Science." Linked slides from this session are available. More class resources (including related and recommended books, videos, articles and more) are available on: followjesus.wesfryer.com Contact Wes Fryer via this electronic contact form or via Twitter @wfryer or @pocketshare. More ways to learn with Dr. Wes Fryer are available on: wesfryer.com/after. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

A recording of our Sunday School class from May 31, 2020, focusing on Chapter 11 of Dr. Richard Swenson's book, "More Than Meets The Eye: Fascinating Glimpses of God's Power and Design." The chapter is titled, "Time, Space and Light." This lesson was taught by Dr. Wesley Fryer. Lesson slides are available via Google Slides. A recorded video version is also available on YouTube. Learn more about this class and access additional resources on followjesus.wesfryer.com.

This is a recording of a virtual webinar shared by Dr. Wes Fryer for Sunday School and small group leaders at First Presbyterian Church of Edmond, Oklahoma. Slides shared during this presentation are available, along with the recorded video version of this workshop shared on YouTube. In addition to these links be sure to check out: Zoom "how to" video tutorials Meeting and Webinar Best Practices from Zoom Managing Breakout Rooms View a comprehensive list of presentations by Wes Fryer since 2010, including links to audio and video recordings, on wiki.wesfryer.com. Find more ways to learn with Wes on www.wesfryer.com/after.

This is a recording of Dr. Wesley Fryer's Sunday School lesson on April 5, 2020, for our class, "Curiosity and Questions: Jesus and Science." We are continuing our study of Dr. Richard Swenson's book, "More Than Meets The Eye: Fascinating Glimpses of God's Power and Design," and this week highlighted Chapter 5 which is titled, "Cell, Genes, and DNA." The slides for this presentation are available along with a video version of this recorded presentation on followjesus.wesfryer.com/media. The video we watched in class has been removed from the recorded video and this audio-only recording. Check it out on YouTube: "Your Body's Molecular Machines" (6 min, 20 sec) by Derek Muller (@veritasium). We were not able to get to the neo-coronavirus slides and video in this presentation, so those were postponed until our next class on April 12th.

This podcast features a recorded virtual keynote shared by Dr. Wesley Fryer during a day of "remote learning" professional development at Casady School. Access the slides and other resources related to this presentation on either support.casady.org/genius-bar or www.designcreateshare.com/webinars.

This episode of Class with Doctor Fryer features a recording of an interactive workshop and webinar shared with teachers at Casady School on March 31, 2020. We focused on understanding similarities and differences between Seesaw and Google Classroom, and specifically dove into creating assignments in Google Classroom. Slides shared / used in the first portion of this presentation are available. Access more instructional resources for teachers (specific to "Remote Learning") about: Using Google Classroom Using Seesaw Contact Dr. Wes Fryer on Twitter @wfryer or via the electronic contact form on wesfryer.com/contact.

This is a recording of the lesson portion of our adult Sunday School class on March 29, 2020. The title of today's lesson was, "More Than Meets the Eye:'The Brain and Nervous System - Part 2." Our focus Bible verse today was Romans 8:8-11. We are continuing to read and study Dr. Richard Swenson's 2000 book, "More Than Meets The Eye: Fascinating Glimpses of God's Power and Design" in our Sunday School class, "Curiosity and Questions: Faith and Science" at First Presbyterian Church of Edmond, Oklahoma. Slides for today's lesson are available. These and other resources related to our class are shared publicly on: followjesus.wesfryer.com

This is a recording of a webinar shared by Dr. Wesley Fryer on March 26, 2020. Description: As we live more of our lives online via Internet-powered websites and apps, unfortunately cybercrime and malicious software programs continue to proliferate. In this 60 minute, interactive webinar, Dr. Wes Fryer will share a variety of tools and strategies to protect yourself and your family online. These will include the use of a password manager, multi-factor authentication, password auditing programs to identify compromised and weak passwords, and more. If you're doing anything online today, and have any usernames and passwords, you need to follow the 'best practices' we'll highlight in this webinar. Access the video version of this webinar, and other archived webinars by Dr. Fryer, on www.designcreateshare.com. Follow Wesley Fryer on Twitter @wfryer. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This podcast features a recording of a webinar from March 19, 2020, shared by Dr. Wesley Fryer titled, "Family Oral History Projects." The official description was, "As parents, children, and teachers are staying at home practicing "social distancing," it's a perfect time to create family oral history projects! In this 60 minute, interactive webinar, Dr. Wes Fryer will share a variety of tools and strategies to conduct oral history interviews and create oral history digital stories which can be shared with your family and the world. Attendee Limit: 150. Register FREE for GoToMeeting connection details." --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This is a recording of our online Sunday School class "Curiosity and Questions - Jesus and Science" on March 15, 2020. We discussed and highlighted Chapter 4 of Dr. Richard Swenson's book, "More Than Meets The Eye: Fascinating Glimpses of God's Power and Design." Slides for our lesson are available. Our "big question" for today was, "How can more scientific insights into our human brains inform our faith?" We read Psalm 105 as our focus Bible verses of the day. The two videos we watched together and discussed were: Brain 101 by National Geographic Jason Silva on Sleep from the National Geographic series, "Brain Games" All resources for our Sunday School class, "Curiosity and Questions: Jesus and Science" are available on: https://followjesus.wesfryer.com Contact Dr. Wesley Fryer on Twitter (@wfryer) or his electronic contact form. The video version of this class recording is also available on YouTube.

A culminating reflection on our Leadership for School Innovation (LSI) Graduate Certificate Design Sprint in Longmont, Colorado Oct 14-15, 2019. Educators in this podcast (in reverse order of speaking) include Scott McLeod (@mcleod), Zac Chase (@mrchase), Megan Parry (@parrymm), Allison Persad (@apersad), Dana Watts (@teachwatts), Tim Lauer (@timlauer) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer). Follow these innovative educational thinkers on Twitter individually or via this list: https://twitter.com/wfryer/lists/school-innovation/members

This is an edited audio recording of Dr. Wesley Fryer's Sunday School lesson on October 6, 2019 at First Presbyterian Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, in the adult class "Curiosity and Questions: Jesus and Science." In this class, we discussed and analyzed Chapter 3 of Francis Collins' book, "The Language of God," which is titled, "The Origins of the Universe." Our focus verse for the day was Genesis 1:1-5, read from the King James Version and The Message. A video version of this recording which includes synchronized presentation slides, along with additional information and resources from this class, is available on: followjesus.wesfryer.com Follow Wes Fryer on Twitter: @pocketshare and @wfryer.

Inspired by episode 313 of the “Clockwise Podcast,” I decided to answer the question “What social networks do you use the most now, or another way to say this is, in what social networks do you hang out the most?” I also address different websites and apps I use each week to find about out about news, especially technology news. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This is a summative podcast we recorded with Anchor following our day of learning together in Oklahoma City about podcasting. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Brian Turnbaugh and I discuss our landscape of weaponized social media and disinformation, some places to learn more and prospects for optimistic living amidst these challenging times... recorded at the 2019 summer institute on digital literacy in Providence, Rhode Island. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

I’ve been listening to the book “Deep Work” and thinking more about how social media tends to encourage shallower thinking and idea sharing. “Relatively older” Web 2.0 technologies like blogging can encourage both deeper thinking and sharing on topics that are important to us. These are some thoughts I’m carrying into the Summer Institute on Media Literacy in Rhode Island, this week. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

A reflection by Dr. Wes Fryer on the 2018-19 academic year, thanks to Sherri Pankhurst for the encouragement to share this! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Welcome to a new podcast channel from Dr. Wesley Fryer (@wfryer). This is an online space where I share reflections, resources, assignments and ideas related to workshops and classes I'm teaching or will be teaching in upcoming months. Whether or not you're a participant or student in my classes, you're welcome to join in the learning here. You can follow my primary professional blog, "Moving at the Speed of Creativity," on speedofcreativity.org. Also check out the weekly webshow and podcast I co-host with Jason Neiffer, "The EdTech Situation Room," on edtechSR.com (@edtechSR). As soon as various podcast index websites register this channel, hopefully you'll be able to listen to the latest episode by asking your smart assistant, "Play the latest episode of Class with Dr. Fryer!" --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app