The Peak of Mount Stupid, and Fun with AI

On Tuesday’s class, we ranked ourselves on a scale of 1-5 based on how much experience we have with AI. I gave myself a confident 3, because I have been using ChatGPT professionally for a few years to help with newsletters, phone scripts and even critical incident communications. To reference the Dunning-Kruger effect, I was at the “Peak of Mt. Stupid”.  The more I read this week, the more I realize I have yet to learn.

I was intrigued by the idea of using AI to generate images — and my curiosity took me down a hilarious path. As a strong visual learner, I’ve always had a problem:  I often have a very specific image in mind to accompany my writing (newsletters, blog posts, social media posts, even assignment clipart), but I can never find exactly what I want online — and I am very picky.  It is not uncommon for me to spend 15-30 minutes looking for an image that matches what I have in my head. I had high hopes after our class failed effort to recognize AI facial renditions that Generative AI would be my knight in shining armor to solve my hours of fruitless image searchers.

A blog post was forming in my head about the overwhelming responsibilities of teachers to not only teach the curriculum, but also to teach values, morals, social emotional skills, digital citizenship, and whatever flavour of the week is promoted by educational leaders. I had an image of a teacher with many arms, balancing responsibilities. I thought I would give Generative AI a try — and I wasn’t disappointed.

Site: https://myninja.ai/

Prompt: Generate a picture of a teacher with many arms, balancing educational responsibilities

Result:

It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but there were suggestions to improve my prompt. Looking at the endless possibilities, I chose:

New Prompt: Generate a picture of a teachers, with many arms, balancing educational responsibilities in a busy classroom

Result:

Now I was thoroughly enjoying myself, and so I went down the rabbit hole of suggested prompts and results including:

Prompt: How can a teacher with many arms manage stress and reduce workload in a busy classroom.

Result:

1. **Multitasking Mastery**: With multiple arms, the teacher could simultaneously engage in various tasks, such as writing on the board, grading papers, and assisting students, thereby increasing productivity and efficiency.
2. **Task Delegation**: The teacher could assign specific tasks to each arm, allowing them to focus on a particular activity without feeling overwhelmed. For example, one arm could be dedicated to lesson planning, while another arm handles classroom management.
3. **Prioritization**: With multiple arms, the teacher could prioritize tasks more effectively, allocating specific arms to high-priority tasks and delegating less critical tasks to other arms.
4. **Time Management**: The teacher could use their multiple arms to manage time more efficiently, allocating specific arms to specific tasks during designated time slots, ensuring a smooth workflow and minimizing downtime.
5. **Student Engagement**: The teacher could use their multiple arms to engage with multiple students simultaneously, providing individualized attention and support, which could lead to improved student outcomes and reduced stress.
6. **Classroom Organization**: The teacher could use their arms to maintain a well-organized classroom, ensuring that materials and resources are easily accessible, reducing clutter, and promoting a sense of calm.
7. **Self-Care**: With multiple arms, the teacher could take breaks and engage in self-care activities, such as stretching, meditation, or even playing a musical instrument, to reduce stress and maintain their well-being.
8. **Collaboration**: The teacher could use their multiple arms to collaborate with colleagues, sharing resources, expertise, and workload, fostering a sense of community and reducing feelings of isolation.
9. **Technology Integration**: The teacher could utilize their multiple arms to effectively integrate technology into their teaching practices, streamlining tasks, and enhancing student engagement.
10. **Adaptability**: With multiple arms, the teacher could adapt to changing circumstances, such as unexpected disruptions or student needs, with greater ease, reducing stress and promoting a sense of control.

Practical! Having multiple arms certainly sounds like a good solution to an overwhelming teacher workload. However, it appears that there might be some risks:

Prompt: What are some stress-reduction techniques that a teacher with many arms can use to maintain their physical and mental well-being in a high-pressure teaching environment?

Result: 

1. **Arm Stretching and Exercise**: Regularly stretch and exercise each arm to prevent fatigue, improve flexibility, and maintain dexterity. This can include arm circles, shoulder rolls, and finger bends. 
2. **Ergonomic Workspace**: Ensure the classroom workspace is ergonomically designed to accommodate multiple arms, reducing strain and discomfort.
3. **Arm Massage**: Treat each arm to a massage or self-massage techniques to release tension and promote relaxation. 

 

So at the end of the day, my endeavour was not successful — but it was entertaining. I look forward to learning new tips and tricks to prompt AI more successfully and someday solving my problem through generated images. I heard an interesting quote this week that gives me hope: AI right now is the worst it will ever be. It is exciting, and scary, to think about what our future holds.

Tell me about your experience with AI. What tools have you used successfully?

I am going to leave you with a short bite-sized PD from our friends on TikTok. This one is really interesting as it discusses reinforcement learning and its comment section is full of ideas to prompt AI for more clarity:

@askcatgpt

The new ChatGPT is changing so fast i can hardly keep up #ai #chatgpt

♬ original sound – CatGPT