Ed3 Weekly Issue #54: Back on Track
Why AI cannot replace the touch of human creativity
Hello web3 and education frens,
Welcome to all my new subscribers from this past week. If you haven’t subscribed yet, click here, or use the button below to join over 100+ others learning about the intersection of web3 and education.
The purpose of this newsletter is to share curated resources about the intersection of education and web3 technologies. I write each introduction and then provide some short context for each resource I share. This is so I can share why I chose that resource and its relevance to the current education landscape.
As director of our school’s capstone program for grades K-8, the month of April is “Capstone Month” for me. I have been busy with planning and organizing this event and I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to publish this newsletter for the last two weeks. Instead of putting the newsletter on hold, I leaned into using chatGPT as a production tool.
While I did the trick, it left me wanting more in how I was introducing my content. It was lacking personalization and depth. This makes sense as it wasn’t written by me!
If you look back at my last two issues you can see that the introductions lack a voice. The article summaries function as just a surface-level synopsis. There is no analysis or insights into the “why” behind what the resources are sharing. But they did the trick.
I am sharing this because the experience reminded me of my own “why.” I created this newsletter to keep myself accountable for up-to-date information regarding web3 and education. I am able to process the information with more depth when I read each resource carefully and synthesize my thoughts into short little snippets for this newsletter.
LLMs and chatGPT in particular are amazing tools. We have barely scratched the surface of what they can and will do. For now, I am still able to gain value from doing my own writing and plan on continuing to do so. It was beneficial to be reminded of this by going through the process of trying to use it to replace my own human creativity.
On to the resources for this week! I am excited to share articles on the following:
🥽 IDEO dives into the purpose and meaning of immersive experiences
🧐 A professor shares about using AI to enhance the research process
🌐 An article on recontextualizing the metaverse in a time of AI
🔗 Solana explores how chatGPT can assist in analyzing blockchain transactions
IDEO Designers Explore VR
When IDEO talks, I listen. They are a leader in the design space and I am always learning something new when they share their insights about a particular technology. It is exciting to hear them talk about their experience with immersive learning. As a design institute, they talk a lot about empathy, intuition, and feeling. I was curious how they would communicate the ways in which an immersive learning experience resonated with them.
This article goes into detail about how immersiveness can create a feeling of connection. There are specific elements that they identified as contributing to this:
Setting the Scene
Cinematic VR
Beyond the headset
Personalized Experiences
Human Care is at the Core
#Togetherness
Not only was it interesting to learn about how IDEO experienced immersive experiences, but it was also even more interesting to hear how the experience would inform their work. They share: “While effective storytelling can leverage the latest immersive technologies, at the heart of these experiences is the ability to bring to life deep human emotions that enable people to connect with themselves and others in meaningful new ways that spark empathy, inspiration and action.”
Using ChatGPT for Your Dissertation
Image from University of Kentucky
This article summarizes how another design thinking perspective views this emerging technology. In this case, John Nash, associate professor in the UK College of Education Department of Educational Leadership Studies, speaks about how he guides students to use chatGPT when creating their dissertations.
“That’s cheating!” you may say. Before we jump to that conclusion I think it is important that we look at how our institutions of higher ed are approaching the use of LLMs to help inform the work we do in the K-12 space. As Nash explains, “It showed us how AI can complement and enhance human thought and creativity rather than replace it.” I highly recommend you read about how this thoughtful education leader is implementing this technology to support student creativity rather than suppress it.
The Metaverse and AI Interacting With Each Other
Photo credit: Midjourney
First, it was the metaverse. Then it was AI. So now what? Are these opposing forces, two separate trendy tech topics? Or are they possibly two different sides of the same innovation coin? This is what The Immersive Wire is proposing in this breakdown of the relationship between AI and the metaverse.
I agree with what the author is outlining. I have long thought that “We will see a trajectory where AI will help to create virtual worlds and spaces, generating assets to populate locations over time.” AI will play a valuable role in how the metaverse is able to build the complex interconnected worlds it demands. He also makes an interesting point that this will also be key to facilitating the metaverse’s integration into a large number of our web services.
AI Working Together with the Blockchain
Image: Shutterstock
I will be the first to admit that I have limitations when it comes to technical knowledge about the blockchain. I do understand that the blockchain is used to check wallet balances, transfer tokens, and purchase NFTs. I am not particularly qualified to explain the details from this article about how chatGPT will be able to analyze the Solana blockchain.
I know that as educators we have students who do know those details. As they grow up in a world of blockchains, chatbots, and artificial intelligence it is our job to be familiar with both the technology they are using, but also the types of jobs they will be pursuing. This article is a great example of a cutting-edge application of chatGPT that all teachers should have at least passing familiarity with.
Thank you for stopping by for another issue of my web3🤝education newsletter. If you’re on LinkedIn you can check out a version of this newsletter on my LinkedIn page and give me a follow. You can also link to all my work by checking out my blog or give me a follow on Twitter.