Teaching from the Stone Age to AI
Join Crawford Kilian as he traces humanity’s long journey of learning — from prehistoric campfires to digital classrooms and artificial intelligence. Drawing on history, anthropology, and his own decades of teaching, Crawford explores how each new medium — writing, print, film, the internet, and now AI — has transformed how we teach, learn, and think.
Presented at the BC Retired Teachers’ Association Conference, September 26, 2025.
About the Speaker
Born in New York City in 1941, Crawford Kilian grew up in Los Angeles and MexicoCity. After graduating from Columbia University in 1962, he served in the US Army.Moving with his wife to Vancouver in 1967, he began a 41-year career teaching in BC community colleges; he retired in 2008. Crawford has published over 20 books, both fiction and nonfiction. Most recent is the third edition of Go Do Some Great Thing: The Black Pioneers of British Columbia (2022). He also wrote an education column for the Vancouver Province from 1983-1994, as well as publishing articles in other newspapers and magazines. Since 2003 he has been a contributing editor of The Tyee, a Vancouver online magazine. He lives in North Vancouver with his wife Alice and their Aussie shepherd Perri.
Transcript: Teaching from the Stone Age to AI
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