2023 RRU virtual symposium
The 2023 Royal Roads virtual symposium, delivered a wealth of academic and real world knowledge. Participation in the symposium along with offerings of recorded events, the ease and professionalism provided by the instructor is an inspiration to learn within the MALAT (Master of Arts in Learning and Technology). As Cronin (2017) has detailed with using open education resources (OEP) offers four dimensions shared by educators, where valuing social learning will be a difficult personal trait to change as my private life and professional life hardly overlap.
According to Childs et al., (2023) discussion of black box Artificial Intelligence (AI), the idea of one technology may falsely accuse a student of using another technology to complete an assignment. This is an instance where the student will need to be prepared to stand by the writing and citation to ensure authenticity of the assignment being an original in the words of the author of the assignment while gleaning the information from the cited work.
References
Childs, E., Hadley, A., LaLonde, C., Webster, K., & Wilson, D. (Hosts). (2023, April 12). MALAT 2023 virtual symposium [Video podcast transcript]. In AI and Learning Design in Education. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFrAs59sDHI
Cronin, C. (2017, April 20). 2017 Cronin MALAT symposium [Webinar]. Royal Roads University
April 25, 2023 at 3:31 pm
Nice refection, Rod. I’ve been thinking a bit about the “black box” nature of generative artificial intelligence systems. These represent a level of complexity that we have not experienced previously and their emergent and to some degree independent algorithmic development is likely to have unforeseen impact on many human systems and conventions.
I read this article recently that raises some interesting questions about technologies that literally no one – including the creators – fully understands:
Beer, D. (2023, March 31). AI will soon become impossible for humans to comprehend – the story of neural networks tells us why. The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/ai-will-soon-become-impossible-for-humans-to-comprehend-the-story-of-neural-networks-tells-us-why-199456
April 26, 2023 at 8:37 am
Thank you for the comments with regards to the blog.
While reading over the link provided from your response, opened a new understanding for how long artificial intelligence (AI) has been in the making. Reading the two scientists converse about creating a neural network from analog equipment while aided only with ideas and paper/pencil, brings credence to the will of man to overcome intellectual obstacles. As well with neural network being created with the aid of advanced AI begs the question, when will enough time and energy be spent on the advancement of AI? Taina Bucher in the article also noted a term “problematic of the unknown”. This statement has common ties to “we do not know what we do not know. With the ability to create machines that create better machines, appears to be in our future. Seeing these changes in our lifetime is exciting and problematic while witnessing the advancement of our human creation.
May 5, 2023 at 12:46 am
Thank you Rod for bringing AI forward for discussion. Your blog post enticed me to watch the Virtual Symposium session, AI and Learning Design in Education. It helped me to start thinking critically about AI in education. I had never considered implications for students possibly being falsely accused of plagiarism due to secondary software developed to detect use of AI. In my opinion, life seems to be getting much more complicated.
Russ, thanks for digging a little deeper into Rod’s comment around the ‘black box’. My mind is officially blown by the article you added to the discussion. Like Rod, I too had no idea that AI, or machine learning, was conceived of in the 1950s and I am so intrigued by the concept of neural networks. It is most definitely an example of human ingenuity, creativity and persistence. I was also shocked to hear Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella’s statement that, “we will build AI that is more in line with human beliefs and values”. I wonder who’s beliefs and values he’s referring to? I found this statement to be wide open to interpretation.
In support of your last sentence Rod, I’d love to contribute an article to the discussion. It purposefully takes a positive approach to AI and steers the conversation to uses of AI for good. It highlights companies or start ups that are leveraging the technology for greater social impact. Would love to hear what you think:
Demian, M. (2023, April 20). The Tipping Point of AI-driven Social Impact: Pioneering a Fairer, Inclusive, and Efficient Future [blog post]. https://centreforsocialimpacttech.ca/2023/04/20/the-tipping-point-of-ai-driven-social-impact-pioneering-a-fairer-inclusive-and-efficient-future/
May 5, 2023 at 11:45 am
Fascinating article, Lara. We are at such a pivotal time in the development of artificial intelligence models. The decisions we as a society make in the next few years have the potential both increase and decrease equality and social justice. That is the main reason I am so busy learning more about this topic right now – there isn’t time to just wait and see how things turn out.