Sara King from Northern College – Moosonee Campus, Moose Factory, Fort Albany, Kashechewan & Attawapiskat Access Centres and Janet Oettgen from Niagara West Adult Learning Centre share how they are using using social media to effectively attract, engage, teach and stay in touch with their learners and partners.
Quick links/tips and additional resources:
ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool driven by artificial intelligence (AI) technology that allows you to have human-like conversations and much more with a chatbot. The language model can answer questions, and help you with tasks such as composing emails, essays, and code.
ChatGPT takes online writing tools such as QuillBot to the next level—or the next few levels—by leveraging the knowledge stored on the internet to respond to queries and requests.
ChatGPT is designed to simulate human-like responses to text-based communication.
It is built on an architecture that mimics the human brain called the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) model. The GPT architecture allows ChatGPT to generate natural language text that is highly coherent and contextually appropriate.
ChatGPT uses a large database of written text, such as books, articles, and websites, that it has been pre-trained on. When a user inputs a message or question, ChatGPT uses this pre-trained knowledge to generate a response that it believes best answers the question or provides a relevant response to the message.
My Digital Companion: Making Sense of ChatGPT from Contact North: a resource for students/learners to help them use this tool safely, ethically and creatively for learning.
Leveraging ChatGPT Instead of Banning from Contact North: a resource for teachers/instructors with ideas for how to use ChatGPT for learning in a college setting.
Contact North has a series of recorded webinars on the use of AI in education.
- ChatGPT: Threat or Menace?
- Content Creation Using AI: How AI Can Be Used to Build Courses and Learning Experiences
- ChatGPT, AI and The Future of Teaching and Learning: We All Need a Digital Assistant
- The Generative AI Mirror: The Five Pathologies of EdTech Discourse About New Technologies
- Navigating a World of Generative AI: Suggestions for Educators
- AI in Education: Innovate or Automate? Navigating the Pedagogical Crossroads
ChatGPT: Leveraging AI to Support Personalized Teaching and Learning in the June 2023 Adult Literacy Education Journal by Sarah Cacicio and Rachel Riggs: a a resource for teachers/instructors with ideas for how to use ChatGPT for learning in an adult literacy setting.
10 Practical Ways Faculty and Instructors Can Use AI from Contact North
AI for Learning and Work from EdTechCenter at World Education: You can find the recordings of the four Generative AI EdTech Bytes that cover the applications and implications of generative AI for education (YouTube Playlist) plus a series of blog posts about the use of ChatGPT and AI in education.
EdTechTeacher Chat GPT Tips by Tom Daccord: a resource for teachers/instructors with ideas for how to use ChatGPT for learning in a K-12 setting.
Update on the risks of AI
These Women Tried to Warn Us About AI by Lorena O’Neil at Rolling Stone Magazine (August 2023)
“Researchers — including many women of color — have been saying for years that these systems interact differently with people of color and that the societal effects could be disastrous: that they’re a fun-house-style distorted mirror magnifying biases and stripping out the context from which their information comes; that they’re tested on those without the choice to opt out; and will wipe out the jobs of some marginalized communities.”
Update on the use of AI by Canadian students
Despite popularity, six in 10 Canadian students consider generative AI tools cheating from KPMG (August 2023)
“Students primarily use generative AI for idea generation (70 per cent), research (55 per cent) and writing essays or reports (39 per cent). Fourteen per cent say they use these tools for tests or exams. Almost 70 per cent admit they always or sometimes claim AI-generated content as their own original work. And, they aren’t consistently validating the accuracy of their AI-generated content, with only 37 per cent saying they always do a fact-check.”
Update on the use of AI by Canadian students and employees
One in five Canadians using generative artificial intelligence tools from KPMG (June 2023)
“A survey of 5,140 Canadians found 1,052 (20 per cent) have used generative AI to help them do their jobs or schooling. The most common uses include research, generating ideas, writing essays and creating presentations. Respondents say the use of the technology has enhanced productivity and quality, created revenue and increased grades but, in the process, they are engaging in behaviour that could create risks for their employers.”
Updates on the use of AI by Canadian businesses
More than one third of Canadian businesses experimenting with ChatGPT from KPMG (April 2023)
“A majority of Canadian businesses are aware of the risks of having poor quality data, with more than half (54 per cent) admitting they are very concerned their organization might be making decisions based on poorly designed AI algorithms, and yet only 44 per cent regularly retaining independent third-party experts to vet or assess their AI algorithms for errors and bias.”
Automation Nation? AI Adoption in Canadian Businesses from The Dais at the Toronto Metropolitan University (September 2023)
“In all businesses with five or more employees, as of the end of 2021, only 3.7 percent of firms say they had adopted artificial intelligence in any way.”
Canada’s AI imperative – From predictions to prosperity from Deloitte (November 2018)
“Truthfully, there are still many unknowns about general AI’s potential and humanity’s ability to grasp it. But regardless of whether we ever reach the point of general AI, there’s still a clear imperative for a country and its businesses to invest in AI technologies, and to shape the economic and social conditions required to foster their uptake.”
Have you heard about AI text generator in Canva? Simply start a Doc in Canva and use + symbol to select Magic Write.
Click the link below to see the Instagram video – you do not need an account or be logged in.
A Blended Learning Toolbox by and for Ontario literacy educators
As part of the Educator Network Blended Learning program, literacy practitioners share the resources that are most helpful in creating lessons and activities that engage learners and enhance and expand learning.
This is the collection from the Winter 2022 group.
These are the blended learning resources, activities and tools that practitioners have tested and are recommending. On some pages you will see their reviews or tips.
We start with an explanation of some of the terms we used and a link to a website about curating resources.
We have included an index. Some topics have several pages. If you open the PDF in a browser, you can use the back button to return to the index.
Use the link in the sidebar to open and download the collection.
AlphaPlus creates microsites for programs.
- Are you a program administrator looking for resources to support professional learning for staff or volunteers?
- Are you a literacy instructor looking for resources to support a blended learning program?
We curate program-specific collections of resources. Here are some examples:
- Digital resources for personalized learning
- Digital technology readiness for post-secondary education
- Foundational digital tech skills lessons
- Learn to code
- Numeracy resources
- Smart Board training
If you’re interested in curating a collection for your program, please get in touch.
- AlphaPlus coaches will work with you to create an individualized plan and develop solutions for your program.
- As an Educator Network (eNet) participant, you’ll join a cohort of Ontario literacy practitioners in a reflective practice process and have access to both AlphaPlus knowledge and peer experience.
- If you get stuck while trying something new, the AlphaPlus Quick Tech Help option can help.
If you’d like a copy of any of these sites to use as a starting point to adapt and expand for use in your program, please get in touch. AlphaPlus can give you a copy and support you in learning how to use a website builder such as Google Sites or Weebly as online learning spaces for learners, staff and volunteers.
The role of resource curation is an important one and can be overwhelming and time consuming.
AlphaPlus developed this site to help literacy practitioners
- develop curation strategies
- work with learners to develop curation strategies
- adapt literacy learning starter kits
There are three sections.
- Curating Resources
- Tips on finding and choosing resources to use with learners and co-learning resources for working with learners on curation strategies.
- Curated Lists
- Lists created by literacy programs and other educators. This set of learning resources can be a starter kit for literacy practitioners curating a set of literacy learning resources.
- Places to Learn
- e-Learning lessons, activities and learning pathways that literacy learners can work on independently. The resources are organized by topic. This set of learning resources can be a starter kit for learners curating their own set of literacy learning resources.
If you’d like to learn more about curating resources, contact Tracey, sign up for an Educator Network program or sign up for one-to-one support through Coaching.
- As an Educator Network participant, you’ll join a cohort of Ontario literacy practitioners in a reflective practice process and have access to both AlphaPlus knowledge and peer experience.
- AlphaPlus coaches will work with you to create an individualized plan and develop digital learning solutions for the learners in your program.
- If you get stuck while trying something new, the AlphaPlus Quick Tech Help option can help.
If you’d like a copy of this site to use as a starting point to adapt and expand for use in your program, please get in touch. AlphaPlus can give you a copy and support you in learning how to use a website builder such as Google Sites or Weebly as online learning spaces for learners, staff and volunteers.
Today, there are 2 million applications available in the App Store. That can make it tough to find the right one for your literacy program, especially if you aren’t sure what you’re looking for. That’s why we’re giving you tips, hints, and tricks for finding apps from scratch.