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Prompt: ChatGPT, Create My Course, Please!
Robert O. Davis, Yong Jik Lee, Education Sciences, 2023/12/26

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"This study aims to contribute to this growing body of research by developing an entire course curriculum and lesson plans exclusively using ChatGPT." The conclusion is, to my mind, expected. According to this article, you can develop an entire course using chatGPT. "From the student perspective, satisfaction with the course content was high, and the course was considered well-organized. The only issue expressed was not the content itself but rather the use of beautiful.ai, which created more dynamic slides than conventional PowerPoint presentations." But also unsurprisingly, there are limitations. "t AI lacks the ability to understand how to strategically connect information that is previously used or will be used in course content. Although capable of organizing topics and subtopics, it cannot integrate the previous or upcoming course materials as a human educator might." Context, the final frontier.

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I'll never stop blogging: it's an itch I have to scratch – and I don't care if it's an outdated format
Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 2023/12/26

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"Even if nobody reads them," writes Simon Reynolds, "I'll always be drawn to the freedom blogs offer. I can ramble about any subject I choose." That's how I feel as well. I have various blogs for different types of writing, some popular, some deliciously obscure. And there's no such thing as an outdated format.  I write about what I like to write about. It's something I recommend - not blogging specifically, but finding some creative outlet. Art, music, dance, repairing old cars, raising kids - it doesn't matter. These are the things that make us human. Everything else is just to get us into that position

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Science: What it is, how it works, and why it matters
Melanie Trecek-King, Thinking Is Power, 2023/12/26

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Perhaps I was lucky in school, but most of this was covered in my high school classes (and then rounded out a lot in my philosophy of science classes at university). But perhaps not everyone is so lucky: "too many science classes focus on what science knows instead of how it knows, leaving too many unable to spot claims that seem scientific…but aren't. Science literacy is more than memorizing facts – it's understanding how the process of science works." This is what puts me at odds with the 'content knowledge' people, who stress learning (putative) facts. The facts are rarely the most important part of any course or program. People who have studied science know this. Via Miguel Guhlin, who was on a roll in Mastodon this morning.

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How do I cite generative AI in MLA style? | MLA Style Center
MLA Style Center, 2023/12/26

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I remember when it was novel and interesting when we were learning how to cite online sources in MLA style. It never seemed useful to me to add a second 'retrieved' date for static documents, though of course for sources like Wikipedia it was vital. Now we have references to generative AI content. The recommendations mostly make sense, with one exception: stating the prompt. In many cases, the prompt may be paragraphs long. It doesn't make sense to include all this in the reference. A short paraphrase should do. Via Miguel Guhlin.

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We publish six to eight or so short posts every weekday linking to the best, most interesting and most important pieces of content in the field. Read more about what we cover. We also list papers and articles by Stephen Downes and his presentations from around the world.

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