Listen, I know this post is supposed to be strictly educational, but I had to give this AI thing a try with some outfit suggestions for the upcoming Justin Timberlake concert I plan to attend as a celebration for my 40th birthday! Whoop whoop!
Please enjoy this selection of Justin Timberlake posters that I carefully flattened, mounted on paper and laminated to hang on my wall when I was 15 years old! š
I gave Perplexity.ai a try, literally for no other reason than I like the word perplexity. š¤·š»āāļø I asked this simple little AI tool to make some recommendations for what I should wear to a Justin Timberlake concert. The results were fairly typical, not shocking and more or less unhelpful. Plus, my 13-year-old daughter was already scouring the internet for some clothing options she knew I wouldnāt hate and would probably wear. Her choices fell in line with what the perplexity bot suggested:
Then I moved onto something that might actually be helpful in education: Photosynthesis. I love, love, love science and I also love nature and plants, hence my choice!
I do like the idea of AI being able to generate information thatās gathered and geared towards a specific grade level as requested. This could be a huge time saver when looking for information tailored to a specific age group or targeting learners that may need some of the information summarized into simpler terms.
Hereās what Perplexity.ai had to say about photosynthesis for grade three students:
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I like that there was suggested videos and activities that go along with the topic that I was researching, although many of the extras available in the Pro version would end up being quite costly. 
I supposed if this was a tool you were going to use almost every day then it would be worth the investment, but otherwise $20/month or $200/year would be silly to pay!
There was a 7 day free trial option, but unless it auto-cancels, I tend to be the person to forget and get charged for it when I only intended to use the 7 day free trial!
There is also a downloadable app for Apple and Android users should you want access at your fingertips!
Keeping in line with my elementary education selection, if students were using this to generate ideas for projects, I do think it would be very helpful to aid in the creative side of learning. I think the grade level educational videos would also support learning as well.
I think there is currently a challenging climate when it comes to using AI in education especially when it comes to student produced assignments. I donāt think this challenge is going away any time soon! During our breakout room discussion during Tuesdayās class I listened to what some of the others had to say when it came to using AI because I had not gone out of my way to access any of these tools prior to our assignment. Our discussion led me to comment that somehow it feels like cheating to be using tools like this. It is so strange to me that we can draw information and resources from other peopleās work that theyāve already produced, that this AI bot has rounded up and analyzed and presented to us for our further inspection and use. This does come back to me being an old-school learner where research generally took place in a library with an open encyclopedia or other book on a specific topic!
Moving forward, this technology is going to be accessed and utilized more and more by our students and we, as educators, need to be aware of its uses and need to be able to guide our students through ethical use practices so they know what is acceptable when using these tools. As if education isnāt challenging enough as it is, letās add in the world of AI to the classroom! But, this is how we will move forward through education and learning which means I had better get acquainted with these new tools!
Hi Chantelle,
Thanks for the great post about Perplexity! You’re so lucky to be going to see JT! I hope you have fun.
I agree with your thoughts on the cheating part of AI. I’m in my early 30’s and so much importance was placed on coming up with our own ideas and putting things in our own words. With AI, I think education/society will move towards more depth of understanding. AI will contribute a lot to basic skills that we all had to learn and will soon just take for granted! The idea of AI generated lesson plans, etc, scares me, but I’m not sure it’s entirely bad. It will be interesting to see what the world of research is like in 10 years!
Hi Kelsey,
Thank you for sharing your perspective on the adaptation of AI in terms of society and education benefitting from a deeper level of understanding. I actually didnāt think about it that way, but I can definitely see where youāre coming from with that thought – and I hope youāre right!
Agreed that it will be interesting to see where weāre at with everything ten years from now! Hoping for the best for all of us involved!
Have fun at the concert! I am definitely going to allow AI to help me out when I am in an outfit dilemma! I wonder if the school would pay for the membership if you made a good case (like you did here) for it?
Cheers!!
Hi Raisa,
I think Iāll probably give AI another shot when it comes to outfit suggestions even though I was underwhelmed with the suggestions I received! Haha
My school division is fairly open to suggestions when it comes to tools and resources to support our classrooms so I think if I found something I really liked and spent some time working with it, the division would definitely consider paying for the subscription. I think this would be a great topic of discussion at a staff meeting to bounce program suggestions off of other educators in the same building.
I appreciate othersā input when it comes to new technological tools since I feel like I have some catching up to do in the technology department!
Hi Chantelle, first off, Happy early Birthday!š„³ 15 year old you would probably be freaking out knowing youāre going to see Justin! Secondly, I like that you took this chance to utilize an AI tool in such a neat way! I hadnāt heard of this AI website before, so it was interesting to see how it compared to ChatGPT which is the one I am most familiar with. Thank you for sharing and have a wonderful at the concert!
Hi Chantelle
I really enjoyed your post, especially the humour. Thank you for sharing perplexity and specifically the video suggestions. That could be super helpful rather than wading through countless YouTube videos looking for the right one. Definitely something I will have to check out!
I agree, Cheryl! It would be incredibly helpful to have a resource that includes videos and creative projects all in one. I do find that I waste a lot of time just searching for some of those resources online so maybe using an AI tool should be a more common occurrence for me!
Cheryl,
First off, happy 40th birthday! What better way to celebrate than at a Justin Timberlake concert, right? š Whoop whoop indeed! Now, diving into the world of AI for outfit suggestions sounds like an adventure. Even if the results weren’t exactly groundbreaking, it’s fun to explore, especially when your daughter’s got your back with fashion choices. Also, your points on the challenges of integrating AI into education are spot on. It’s like navigating a whole new dimension of learning, but you’re absolutely rightāwe need to equip ourselves and our students with the knowledge of ethical use. Once again, amazing blog post Cheryl. May your 40th birthday bash be as epic as a Justin Timberlake concert finale! š¤š
Emma
^ AGH *Chantelle* was reading Cheryl’s comment above and got myself off track… I AM SORRY CHANTELLE
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Thank you for the birthday wishes, Emma! Funny thing just happened when I went to type your name, I must have bumped the keyboard and it filled in the spot where I intended to type āEmmaā with āPamā, which makes no sense whatsoever, but seems relevant to this comment!
I feel like AI is like navigating uncharted waters (and Iām not a fan of water to begin with)! I also feel like itās something that has been developed with ease of use in mind so I just need to push past the idea that Iām taking on someone elseās ideas instead of using my own and I think Iāll discover some major benefits with these new technologies!
I might just have to revisit this blog after the concert just to post some videos and photos of my outfit, and of course JT himself!