Thursday, April 13, 2023

Take a Deep Dive into Artificial Intelligence with #ETMOOC2

Last night was the first ZOOM session for a collective learning event involving educators and others from around the world who are interested in exploring Artificial Intelligence and tools such as ChatGPT.  

I've seen a growing number of posts on social media about artificial intelligence and ChatGPT over the past year or so, but have not spent time learning about it.  After a February 2023 reunion of educators who connected in the 2013 ETMOOC virtual learning event a few leaders decided to organize a 'mini-MOOC', to help myself an anyone else who is interested, learn more.

The first ZOOM session was held last night (April 12). The featured speaker was Alec Couros, a professor of educational technology & media and the Director for the Centre of Teaching & Learning at the University of Regina, who was also the lead organizer of the 2013 ETMOOC. 

Alec finished his presentation with an AI generated video of him offering closing remarks.  I show that in the graphic below.


Below is the Google doc that Alec created as an outline for his presentation and as a study guide for anyone wanting to dig deeper.  


I circled a line on this page, with a link to the slides that Alec shared via ZOOM. The video of the session is available now on YouTube.

Below is another slide from Alec's slide deck showing  that people who become skilled at prompting AI tools like ChatGPT to give the information they are looking for can earn salaries of $175k to $335k.


Wow.  My son and I were driving to my doctor's appointment yesterday and he was telling me how he and his girlfriend wanted to make a lot of money. Neither has a college degree and both work at a local grocery store.  He spends a ton of time on his computers, playing video games, so I told him he should investigate the role of "prompt engineer".

The Google Doc that Alec shared has a huge set of links that could be a resource for anyone wanting to explore this potential career opportunity.  I certainly hope leaders of youth tutor/mentor programs will find ways to share this with their students.  You don't need a college degree to make a huge leap out of poverty by learning to use these AI tools.

My son said, "Don't you need to know how to code?"  Maybe. Maybe not.  Here's another slide from Alec's presentation.

Alec showed how some hand written, hard to read, instructions, led to a page of html code which produced the web page shown.  Imagine what you might create if you learned how to use AI more fluently.

That's the point. This is a journey of learning. It never stops.  The ETMOOC group are fellow travelers, learning with you, and offering help and friendship.  

I provided a link to the Google doc that Alec  used. Here's the link the the #ETMOOC2 website where you can sign  up to participate and see the weekly (every Wednesday, 8pm CST) ZOOM sessions that are scheduled.   Visit the Resources page and you'll find an extensive list of learning resources.  This will grow over the next few weeks, perhaps months and years.

Below is a Tweet from Susan Spellman, one of the #ETMOOC2 organizers. 
In this she posts a graphic explaining what a cMOOC is.

Connect, learn and share.

You can follow this learning group on Twitter, just by searching for #ETMOOC2 and scrolling through the Tweets.  You can also follow on Instagram.  I recommend Twitter since that's where most people are posting.  You can also search for #ETMOOC2 on Facebook and on LinkedIn, to see posts by organizers. 

Write about it, just like I am.

During the 2013 ETMOOC participants were encouraged to share ideas via blogs and many did.  That practice continues with ETMOOC2.  This page on SMORE (which I never heard of until this week) has a list of bloggers. 


I really appreciate the work the organizers, who are shown in the slide below, and on this page.  


So, that's a wrap up from last night's first ZOOM session. You're welcome to join in and participate as much, or as little, as you want.  Or just dig into the resources and/or create your own learning circle.

Today I asked ChatGPT to write a summary of the ETMOOC2 exploration of AI. Below is the response:

As an AI language model, ChatGPT was featured in the second iteration of the Educational Technology and Media Massive Open Online Course (ETMOOC2) exploring Artificial Intelligence. The first Zoom session took place on April 12, 2023. During the session, participants discussed various topics related to AI and its implications for society, education, and communication. ChatGPT was introduced as an example of a language model that uses machine learning to generate human-like responses to text-based inputs. Participants explored the capabilities and limitations of ChatGPT and discussed the ethical considerations surrounding the use of AI in various contexts. They also discussed the potential benefits of using AI in education and the challenges of integrating AI into the classroom. Overall, the ETMOOC2 exploration of AI and ChatGPT provided a space for participants to learn about AI and its applications, and to engage in meaningful discussions about the impact of AI on society and education.

In this write up I did not point to the slides where the ethical and education questions of Artificial Intelligence were discussed, but there is a full set of articles that focus on this and the life-changing impact AI will bring.  I asked ChatGPT to describe this.  Here's the response:

During the ETMOOC2 exploration of AI and ChatGPT, participants engaged in discussions about the ethical concerns related to the use of AI in education, particularly among educators. One of the primary concerns was the potential for AI to exacerbate existing inequalities in education. For example, if AI is used to grade student assignments or to recommend courses, it may be more likely to favor students who are already performing well or who come from privileged backgrounds. Participants also discussed the ethical implications of using AI to collect and analyze student data, such as tracking student progress or behavior. There were concerns about privacy and data security, as well as the potential for biases to be introduced into the analysis of this data. Another ethical consideration was the role of educators in ensuring that AI is used in a responsible and ethical manner. Participants emphasized the need for educators to be knowledgeable about AI and its implications, and to actively engage in discussions about how AI can best be integrated into the classroom. Overall, the discussions about ethical concerns related to AI in education highlighted the importance of ensuring that AI is used in a way that benefits all students and does not perpetuate existing inequalities.


See. I'm already using it.  Take some time to browse through the links, view a couple of videos, then start testing this for yourself.  It's all there.  Dig in.  Happy learning! 

2 comments:

Dogtrax said...

"This is a journey of learning. It never stops."
Indeed. Thanks for the write up. I missed the session so I will be spending time with the video, and exploring the presentation.
Kevin

Tutor Mentor Connections said...

Thanks Kevin. I wish something like ETMOOC2 were around in the 1970s when computers and the Internet were first being introduced. The learning might have led to entirely different career paths for myself and others.