Weekly Reflection #1

During week 3, we had a guest speaker from SD63 who talked to us about the different types of tech and resources they use within their district. Within the presentation we learnt about a few different technology resources that this districts uses that I found quite interesting. For example, Minecraft Education is one resource they use which has a lesson on Pacific NW Coast Experience which I found quite interesting, this resource has the students go on quests and learn from knowledge keepers and to document their process they keep journals within the game. If this resource was available when I was in school I would’ve loved it because my sister and I loved playing Minecraft so doing lesson in school would’ve definitely had me hooked. Another resource I found quite interesting was Read+Write. I used this resource when I was in school but I found that it has way more tools than what I was using. This resource, can simplify websites to make them more accessible and it can also create vocab lists which I thought was really useful because when I used it I just used it to highlight and take notes so I’m glad I learnt more about this resource during this presentation as well. I also learnt that Bright Space is being used a parent portal within this district and that there is more parent access with Bright Space than there is with Google Classroom which is also highly used within this district. Overall, I found this presentation was quite interesting and I really hope I have the chance to work in this district so I can use these resources with my own classes.

We then had a presentation about Generative AI: The Peril + Promise by Randy another EDCI teacher this presentation went over the different types of AI as well as challenges with AI. Personally, I do not like AI and try my best not to use it so this presentation was quite eye opening for me. In this presentation I learnt that Chat GPT was released in November 2022 and that there are 3 models of AI: reactive, predictive, and generative. Generative AI creates new content after being prompted and quite a few challenges like ethical concerns, job displacement, and data privacy and security which I think are all important to think about when using Generative AI. AI “hallucination” can also occur which is when AI creates false information caused by limited training and incorrect data. Some inaccuracies are up to 76% so its important that we take what AI says with a grain of salt because AI changes how we think and act. I also learnt that Youtube Shorts is 21% slop. Overall, this presentation taught me that learning is a social process and should not rely on AI.