Tag: Education

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How Teachers Can Leverage AI Tools Like Google’s NotebookLM to Make Complex Issues Easier for Students

With the integration of technology into education, tools such as Google’s NotebookLM offer new ways to simplify complex topics for students. This AI-powered tool helps teachers break down dense information, making it easier for students to grasp challenging subjects, particularly when engaging with current events or multifaceted issues.

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Philosophers Debate: Navigating the Intersection of AI and Education

This image features a conceptual debate with eight philosophers, engaged in an intense discussion around a round wooden table in a sophisticated library setting. Each philosopher displays distinct styles, reflecting a blend of traditional and modern attire appropriate to their philosophical eras. The room is adorned with bookshelves, globes, and ancient scrolls, symbolizing a mix of historical and contemporary thought. The philosophers are actively conversing and gesturing, highlighting their engagement in the intellectual exchange. The atmosphere is charged with a pursuit of knowledge and understanding, set under a domed ceiling that casts a warm, inviting light over the scene.

Welcome to an experiment using my new “Peter’s Visionary Debaters” Custom GPT, available at https://chatgpt.com/g/g-j7VppiEeO-peter-s-visionary-debaters.

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Please help me promote the new #OntEd K-8 Coding Email List

To read the announcement about this new email list, click here.

To join the list, click here.

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OTF Rejects Request from Ontario to Let Retired Teachers Work More

Key Takeaway

Ontario’s teachers unions have rejected a request from the Ministry of Education to extend the working period for retired teachers, emphasizing the need for the government to address staffing shortages more effectively.

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What does Spring Arrive? (According to ChatGPT)

A vivid landscape depicting the transition from winter to spring in Canada. The left side of the image shows a snowy environment with lingering snowflakes and the Rocky Mountains, representing winter. The right side bursts with the colors of spring, featuring blooming flowers, budding trees, and Niagara Falls, under a clear, sunny sky. At the center, the Earth is symbolically positioned relative to the Sun to indicate the vernal equinox, illustrating the astronomical perspective of spring's arrival. This composition harmoniously integrates meteorological, astronomical, and geographical perspectives on the onset of spring in Canada.

I love ChatGPT. I pretty much use it all the time now instead of Google. So when I turned to it to ask the simple question “When does spring arrive?”, I was met with this overly complex response:

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My Custom GPTs

This is a highly detailed and stylized digital artwork featuring a workspace scene. The scene is dominated by a central, large monitor displaying a complex and intricate design, which includes various gears, circuits, and a prominent letter 'A' in a futuristic style. Surrounding the monitor are floating objects that seem to defy gravity, including a light bulb emitting a soft glow, sheets of paper, electronic components, and household objects like a magnifying glass and a pair of glasses. The desk below is cluttered with an open book directly in front of the screen, a wizard's hat with stars and a moon pattern to the left, and stacks of hardcover books to the right. Various items like pencils, a notebook, a coffee cup, and other office supplies are scattered across the desk. The background features a bookshelf filled with books and a wall-mounted clock, adding to the ambiance of an intellectual and creative space. The lighting is warm and comes from the left, casting soft shadows and giving depth to the objects. The overall impression is one of magical innovation and intellectual pursuit, as if the space belongs to a wizard in the modern age of technology.

For those of you with a ChatGPT Plus account, here are the public custom GPTs I have created. Some were created primarily for my own personal productivity, while others were designed to benefit educators.

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Tech Ed AQ and ABQ Courses – Fall 2023

Course: Communications Technology Grades 9/10 (Queen’s)
URL: https://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/learning/pd-calendar/events/communications-technology-grades-910-abq-queens-fall-online/

Course: Honour Specialist Technological Education (Queen’s)
URL: https://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/learning/pd-calendar/events/honour-specialist-technological-education-aq-queens-fall-online/

Course: Technological Design Grades 9/10 (Queen’s)
URL: https://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/learning/pd-calendar/events/technological-design-grades-9-10-abq-queens-fall-online/

Course: ABQ Communications Technology, Grades 11 and 12 (Windsor)
URL: https://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/learning/pd-calendar/events/abq-communications-technology-grades-11-and-12-windsor-fall-online/

Course: ABQ Communications Technology, Grades 9 and 10 (Windsor)
URL: https://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/learning/pd-calendar/events/abq-communications-technology-grades-9-and-10-windsor-fall-online/

Course: ABQ Green Industries, Grades 11 and 12 (Windsor)
URL: https://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/learning/pd-calendar/events/abq-green-industries-grades-11-and-12-windsor-fall-online/

Course: ABQ Green Industries, Grades 9 and 10 (Windsor)
URL: https://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/learning/pd-calendar/events/abq-green-industries-grades-9-and-10-windsor-fall-online/

Am I missing any? If so, please let me know in the comments below or at the site formerly know as Twitter at @pbeens or Mastodon at mstdn.ca/@pbeens. Thanks!

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Why AI Won’t Be Replacing Teachers Anytime Soon

Read the original article here.

While AI has made significant progress in recent years, it is unlikely to replace teachers anytime soon. One reason for this is that AI lacks the ability to understand human emotions and social cues, which are essential for effective teaching. Additionally, AI is not capable of providing the same level of personalized attention that human teachers can provide.

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Ethics and Learning Technology

It’s great to hear from Dr. Chuck Severance again. I took many of his Python courses on Coursera and find him to be an excellent instructor.

In this short video he addresses privacy and LMSes and how schools pay little attention to privacy issues regarding their LMSes. He mentions how the vendors control all the data, and we have been pushing the priority of ethics and privacy concerns back.

I admit that in my classroom I didn’t know how private my students’ personal data truly was. I just trusted in the companies that hosted the LMSes (D2L, Google) that they would not abuse the information nor use it in unethical ways.

Did your school board address student privacy when it considered which LMS to use? Is its privacy policy or privacy study public? Please share!

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OTIP Teaching Awards 2020: Nominations are open

OTIP Teaching AwardsFor many years, these awards have recognized the excellence of our teachers in publicly funded education. There are three categories of awards: elementary school teacher, secondary school teacher and beginning teacher in the first five years of teaching. A teacher may be nominated by anyone – professional colleagues, students, parents, or the general public.

Nominations are now open for the 2020 awards. The deadline for receipt of nominations is March 31, 2020. Further information is provided on the attached PDF and is also available at www.teachingawards.ca. If you have any questions, please contact Jason Healey at OTF: Jason.healey@otffeo.on.ca.

It would be appreciated if you would highlight and promote these awards within your organization. We are proud of the excellence of teachers throughout the province. These awards allow us to recognize and celebrate outstanding contributions that our members make to their students’ education, to their schools, and within their communities.

Thank you for your cooperation and assistance in promoting the OTIP Teaching Awards program!