10/18/2024
I have been asked by many colleagues about my dissertation, and it's hard for me to sum it up quickly.
Imagine my happiness when I learned about NotebookLM, a free web-based AI service (from Google, so it uses Gemini -- https://notebooklm.google/) that helps you draw insights from documents (and links & recordings) that you upload. The insights it draws come ONLY from these sources.
One of the coolest tools it offers is the creation of a customized audio summary, in the form a podcast between two interlocutors, that sound pretty dang human. So for those who would like to listen to a short podcast that introduces the concepts in my dissertation, here you go:
https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/b0d75909-77bd-4b19-9728-f8a3f03b7ec2/audio
10/17/2024
Did you know that humans process speech and song differently? Did you know that singing is a universal human trait? Curious to know why humans across cultures sing? Read or listen to this podcast -- but if you listen you will get some special musical treats.https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/does-singing-have-an-evolutionary-purpose/
08/28/2024
I totally agree with the need to integrate A.I. generative chat bots (LLMs) into writing instruction. As a student I lived through the math pedagogy revolution and its embracing of calculators and PCs, so as an instructor, I can live through this next revolution in composition pedagogy.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/ai-and-the-case-for-project-based-teaching
08/12/2024
Sketchplanations offers good advice for using for visual design. Humans have always been focused on visual cues, and in our current "fast media" era, it is important to design course materials that lean on visual cues for conveying meaning quickly. https://sketchplanations.com/gestalt-principles
07/26/2024
Deep thinking takes effort ... and that is okay. I know I experienced the pain of this recently.
I spent two weeks thinking, and reading, and thinking, and reading, and thinking about a topic I thought I understood. In the end, my explanation pretty much matched the investigated one I first wrote, but now I know I know it. Sometimes this process makes "putting in the work" does not matter, but it does because now I can not only paddle on the surface of my knowledge, but I can also explain to others what in down in the depths and why and why not they would want to take a deep dive into it or not.
https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/a-respect-for-intellectual-messiness
07/24/2024
A short article that helps explain why the term "professional" can have racist undertones. Another voice for the importance of teaching college writing using a linguistic justice stance. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_bias_of_professionalism_standards #
07/18/2024
Random cartoon that made me chuckle. It's good to get in at least a few chuckles every day. https://www.gocomics.com/theargylesweater/2019/01/11
07/12/2024
If only I could believe you Claude.
06/25/2024
Soon I'll be giving a presentation including background on Activity Theory, and I did not know how to pronounce Leont’ev in Russian, and ended up finding this helpful YouTube collection of names in a number of languages recorded by native speakers that gave me the information I need.
Instructors looking at class rosters with names they are sue how to pronounce, might find this playlist useful (it is limited but it is a start).
https://www.youtube.com//playlists
06/20/2024
I have been using Translinguo from Anju Gupta and enjoying it. Here is a list of other GTP "apps" to try: https://wondertools.substack.com/p/surprisingly-useful-chatgpt-apps
05/31/2024
"Convergence" - the merging of humans and machines in our current era is rapidly evolving. Some predictions say that by 2040 the convergence of humans and A.I. will happen. This Pew Research Center report from 2018 gives details. (BTW, think how much your interaction with A.I. in the form of chatbots, AR, and VR has changed since 2018!)
(Note: if you are wearing glasses or contacts while reading this, you are already experiencing convergence, granted a convergence that took root in the 1800s -- think about it).
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humans
Experts say the rise of artificial intelligence will make most people better off over the next decade, but many have concerns about how advances in AI will affect what it means to be human, to be productive and to exercise free will.
05/17/2024
A quick read that clearly explains linguistic justice, why AI is not linguistically just, and why humans still need to generate their own texts. The last part is a good argument for writing to understand and give voice to one own, unique ideas.
This is from the University of Michigan's Sweetland Center for Writing. It is one page in their current site on teaching writing & GenAI (https://lsa.umich.edu/sweetland/instructors/guides-to-teaching-writing.html)
Linguistic Justice and GenAI | U-M LSA Sweetland Center for Writing
Linguistic justice is an anti-racist approach to language and communication (Baker-Bell, 2020; CCCC, 2020). Over the last several years, scholars whose work focuses on linguistic justice, raciolinguistics, and translingualism in literacy education have called for increased attention to how the acade...
05/17/2024
Not sure if generative AIs are linguistically biased, using linguistic stereotypes? Check out the two responses to a query about the importance of incorporating linguistic justice into college writing classes. (Logo image generated by GPT4o included to show how poorly the DALL-E image generator handles text).
https://1drv.ms/w/s!Anmr1OkjNWurgdV2H9i0IY1BSfC4ww?e=koRpPE
05/15/2024
Feynman was a great thinker and instructor -- he inspired Bill Gates, who preserved his lectures. Even in this age of "augmented learning" with the hep of A.I., Feynman's advice to "write to learn" still applies if YOU want to truly learn something. I think the real "proof of the pudding" is the last step -- being able to simply AND add analogies to your explanation.
Sketchplanations - A weekly explanation in a sketch
Richard Feynman was one of the great scientists of the 20th century, making significant contributions to physics and other related fields. Part of what made him stand out was his gift for teaching. He had a remarkable knack for explaining some of the most complex things in ways anyone could understa...
05/02/2024
I think I'm on my third logo here now ...
05/02/2024
Your students are probably using these ... or will soon, so it is time for you to learn about them. We are in a moment in higher education -- we either learn to drive the horseless carriages or we go out to pasture with our horses.
Meet your new AI editor ✍️
3 new tools to help polish your prose
04/21/2024
Using what you have and designing with durability and thrift at the forefront -- the vernacular principle in architecture can serve curriculum designers as well.
The durability part is hard to insure, but if you think of it in terms of critical analysis skills, perhaps it's not so hard. Use the tools and materials you have in front of you to build useful and lasting critical thinking -- so that means learning how to use LLMs to foster and expand human critical thinking.
Like the Cape Cod whaling house, we in higher education don't have to abandon need a practical construct first designed hundreds of years ago, but rather bring it into the context of our current lives and resources.
Some Vernacular Design Principles (& their application today)
The Spectacular Vernacular
03/28/2024
Google is working on new AI tools. Dabble with a clear and critical mind, and always look for ways that these tools can AUGMENT your thinking and doing, not replace your thinking and doing.
Try Google's 3 free new AI tools 🌈
Wonder Tools 🎵 Generate music, images and text