I don’t think I blogged often enough at all. I would’ve gotten a lot more out of the experience if I had kept up with it, but after spring break, they kind of left my mind. I enjoyed the ones I wrote, and it’s something I would consider doing on my own. But with everything else that was going on this semester, I felt that keeping up with them myself was getting harder. I think students would benefit from the due dates being every Friday, as they were initially, because it held me a lot more accountable, being able to see it on my Canvas. Overall, I think that blogging helped me develop a voice within my writing and gave me a brief relief from writing about strict topics. I could just let my mind flow, and it was a nice brain exercise.
Packing for College
As I pack to move back home for the summer, I realize how many things I brought to college that I haven’t touched, versus the things my roommates and I have needed throughout the year. When I moved to my dorm, I moved completely out of my parents’ house, as my plan was originally not to move back in with them over the summer, so I know exactly what not to bring because I have it all.
Being frugal is key for a college freshman living in a dorm-sized space. I got rid of about half of my clothes before I moved in August, and then, as I packed to go home again, I got rid of another half of my clothes, so about 75% of the total. You can take them to Plato’s or Uptown Cheapskate for an extra few bucks, then those places donate whatever they don’t buy from you. Your style will evolve a lot in your freshman year, you’ll learn and like different things you see others wearing, so give yourself room to evolve and get new things you enjoy wearing more. I told myself that anything I hadn’t worn in 6 months needed to go, or if I hadn’t touched a piece since I moved to Norman, then I didn’t need it. I have not missed anything, I’ve gotten rid of or felt like I don’t have anything to wear. It just becomes unnecessary clutter when it sits in a drawer.
I’m not sure if anyone else has this issue, but I often find myself compiling makeup, lotions, perfumes, etc. from gifts, refills, or wants over time. Get rid of it all!! Well, not get rid of, don’t be wasteful, but if you bring half a bottle of lotion, I can almost guarantee that you will either not touch it or lose it and not see it by the end of the first semester. Again, just unnecessary clutter, so I got rid of anything I hadn’t used over the semester that was less than a quarter of the way full and gave a lot of the makeup and things I didn’t use anymore to my sister.
Get rid of the vines…If you know what I’m talking about, then you know there was a point where you had to say goodbye to them, too.
Some things that you should have are a steamer or an iron, and safety pins. Every single weekend, one of my roommates or I need these, and I don’t know how we got through these 9 months without them. Your life will be much easier with these items on standby, trust me. I think every week for the last 9 months, my roommate, Hadley, has looked me in the face and asked me if I have a steamer, and I tell her no every time. Also, sharp kitchen knives and good scissors. I was the fool who brought the only pair of scissors, and I have not seen them in months because someone is constantly using them.
Some of the items I have used the most, though unnecessary, are a heated blanket and an electric kettle. Cross Village is what I like to call Antarctica. My dorm room in the mornings is 58º, so a heated blanket has come in handy. And having an electric kettle makes it easy to make food and hot drinks in my dorm.
Changing my major and how it came to be
I initially entered college as a health and exercise science major, and while I enjoyed my short-lived time studying it, I knew it wasn’t right for me in the long run. It is not because it wasn’t a subject I enjoyed, and in no way do I intend to bash any of OU’s majors or programs, but I felt as though my major wasn’t being taken seriously by previous professors and advisors. I have always been a student who won’t take certain classes because I think they are too difficult for me, which has probably hindered my true academic abilities, and I wanted to start leaning away from that and taking classes that truly interest me. Though they were harder, I found that classes that piqued my interest more actually came more easily to me.
I began to realize this last semester. I took a biology class, as well as a few HES classes that were tailored to my major. I found myself easily bored in my HES classes because they all seemed to have the same structure. An online homework or two due by the end of the week, professors going through slides word for word and later posting them on Canvas anyways, the occasional worksheet, TAs handling grading, etc. But it was the same for every one of my health and exercise science classes. While in my biology class, the content was a heavier load, but we were doing interactive questions during class, professors articulated information more fluently and could elaborate on questions, there were study nights for exams, and more. It felt as though the biology program was better taken care of.
My interest in changing my major was solidified when I began taking psychology this semester, while in the same boat with yet another HES class. I met with a different advisor than I had last time and expressed my concerns. She got out a whiteboard and drew out what I would need to take next semester for each major, and let me know that if I were to switch to biology now, it wouldn’t take much for me to catch up, and I may even be ahead in credits. Since officially changing my major to biology, I have been way more confident about the classes I am taking and where I could go with my career in the future. My word of advice would be that if every time someone is asking you what you want to do with your degree, and you cannot confidently say something you’re particularly interested in, then look into some other programs that could give you more options. There is no shame in finding another path to go down, and changing majors is such an easier process than you would think. If you are thinking about it, look into it before continuing classes in something you don’t love.
RP Blog 3: Final Proposal
The quick advancement and increasing availability of generative AI technology have brought about both advantageous opportunities and significant educational obstacles. The focus of the issue lies in understanding how to grapple with AI productively in fields like education while simultaneously mitigating potential harms. This conversation has risen between educators, researchers, parents, and more. Some believe that AI could benefit personalized learning, pushing creativity, and efficiency in administrative departments, while others have concerns over academic integrity, necessary human interaction, biases within the algorithms, and ethical issues. The overreaching question is: How could AI carefully and ethically mesh with education while still addressing and navigating its inherent limitations?
The sources are used to provide various voices that are essential in addressing the central question. For example, “background” can be found in the articles by the Illinois College of Education’s “AI in Schools: Pros and Cons” and the University of Iowa’s “The Role of AI in Modern Education,” which give context to the emergence of generative AI technologies, prevalence in education, and a brief history of its development. My main “theory” source will be Markkula Center’s article on “Artificial Intelligence, Decision-Making, and Moral Deskilling” which examines this topic through a crucial theoretical lens, giving the discussion more ethical depth. My “exhibit” sources like Harvard Graduate School of Education’s “The Impact of AI on Children’s Development” and Assistant Professor Ying Xu’s research on children’s interactions with AI give more information on the implementation of AI and how it affects students. For “argument,” I looked at the opposing views of Kerry McDonald’s “Artificial Intelligence Can Transform Education For the Better” and Megan Erickson’s analysis in “Rise of the AI Schoolteacher.” Motive is pulled from all sources, as they all have shaped my view on this conversation, but mostly Megan Erickson’s piece as well.
RP Blog 4: Final Annotated Bibliography
Ai in schools: Pros and cons. College of Education. (n.d.). https://education.illinois.edu/about/news-events/news/article/2024/10/24/ai-in-schools–pros-and-cons
Erickson, Megan. “Rise of the AI Schoolteacher.” Jacobin, no. 52, Winter 2024, pp.3-4, 117-120.
(can be found in the AI and Education Folder in starter readings)
The article by Megan Erickson analyzes the trend toward AI implementation in education, which receives strong support from technology moguls like Bill Gates. She states that AI systems fall short of meeting the essential teaching and learning needs of humans, regardless of their promise to boost equality and involvement. Erickson examines the unsuccessful outcomes of previous technology-driven educational reforms, including Gates’ teacher assessment program and the unequal results of pandemic online learning, to demonstrate how prioritizing operational efficiency threatens valuable teaching practices. She underscores that human connection remains essential for developing students’ critical thinking abilities and emotional resilience, according to educational theorists like Piaget.
McDonald, K. (2024, January 9). Artificial Intelligence Can Transform Education for the better. Catalyst. https://catalyst.independent.org/2024/01/09/artificial-intelligence-transform-education/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwy46_BhDOARIsAIvmcwPz7XQenlfGXDAl5RqqH5EgvFVRJCClTrv1pDphktwqKtTYo4cokIUaAqyREALw_wcB
The Impact of AI on Children’s Development. Harvard Graduate School of Education. (n.d.). https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/edcast/24/10/impact-ai-childrens-development
Assistant Professor Ying Xu at the Harvard Graduate School of Education talks about how AI’s prevalence in education and the lives of children is increasing rapidly. She says that it is possible for children to effectively learn concepts from AI, however, AI cannot replicate the deeper engagement and intricate relationships of humans, which are essential to development. Concerns related to AI and children include things like teaching and encouraging politeness, children being observed making demands or insulting AI because it is not real, or the worry that children will become attached to AI personalities like Amazon’s “Alexa,” and more.
The University of Iowa. (2024, August 27). The role of AI in modern education. University of Iowa. https://onlineprograms.education.uiowa.edu/blog/role-of-ai-in-modern-education
Tamayo, J., Doumi, L., Goel, S., Kovács-Ondrejkovic, O., & Sadun, R. (2023, September 1). Reskilling in the age of ai. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2023/09/reskilling-in-the-age-of-ai
University, S. C. (n.d.). Artificial Intelligence, decision-making, and moral deskilling. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/technology-ethics/resources/artificial-intelligence-decision-making-and-moral-deskilling/
Brian Patrick Green, the director of Technology Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, talks about the loss of ability to make moral decisions due to real-world inexperience, or moral deskilling, as we become more reliant on AI technology to complete tasks and communicate. He argues that morality and decision making shouldn’t be put on “autopilot” as a real pilot would not use autopilot to land a plane. He says that while AI can be helpful, using it for more and more tasks can cause us to lose essential complex understanding and moral decision-making skills. He emphasizes the trend throughout history of advancements meant to make our lives easier tend to cause people to lose basic skills needed in case of a systematic breakdown.
Wong, Lawrence P. W. “Artificial Intelligence and Job Automation: Challenges for Secondary
Students’ Career Development and Life Planning.” Merits, vol. 4, 2024, pp. 370–399, https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8104/4/4/27
Lawrence Wong explores the impact of AI on job transformation and its implications for high school students deciding their career paths. Artificial Intelligence systems are increasingly performing repetitive tasks in professions such as accounting and legal work, yet creative professions like teaching and the arts remain less vulnerable. The author draws from reports by major institutions such as the World Economic Forum to demonstrate that technologically advanced countries like the U.S. and Europe face more significant job losses from AI than developing regions
Midterm Season and Eternal Longing for Spring Break
I know I am not alone in drowning in stress and schoolwork during this particular time of the year. To add to that, my lovely friends decided to book a trip on the first weekend of spring break instead of the second, adding some more pressure to get things done to be able to enjoy my trip. I know that in the end, I will somehow get it all done and have everything submitted because I always do, but as of now, I shudder in fear at the sight of my canvas page, not even knowing where to start. I need spring break as a hard reset, academically, socially, and personally, and I cannot wait. This is where the turnaround happens every year, where I clutch up and have my academic comeback, and I am ancy with anticipation and excitement. This is the point in the year where it starts to fly by, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (summer). It sounds dumb to just kind of assume I will do better after break, but with the cold weather on top of material that needs to get done before that deadline, I know I will feel so refreshed to have a break and come out of it ready to complete another school year.
RP Blog 2: Working Bibliography
Erickson, Megan. “Rise of the AI Schoolteacher.” Jacobin, no. 52, Winter 2024, pp.3-4, 117-120. (can be found in AI and Education Folder in starter readings)
The article by Megan Erickson analyzes the trend toward AI implementation in education which receives strong support from technology moguls like Bill Gates. She states that AI systems fall short of meeting the essential teaching and learning needs of humans regardless of their promise to boost equality and involvement. Erickson examines the unsuccessful outcomes of previous technology-driven educational reforms including Gates’ teacher assessment program and the unequal results of pandemic online learning to demonstrate how prioritizing operational efficiency threatens valuable teaching practices. She underscores that human connection remains essential for developing students’ critical thinking abilities and emotional resilience according to educational theorists like Piaget.
Wong, Lawrence P. W. “Artificial Intelligence and Job Automation: Challenges for Secondary Students’ Career Development and Life Planning.” Merits, vol. 4, 2024, pp. 370–399, https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8104/4/4/27
Lawrence Wong explores the impact of AI on job transformation and its implications for high school students deciding their career paths. Artificial Intelligence systems are increasingly performing repetitive tasks in professions such as accounting and legal work yet creative professions like teaching and arts remain less vulnerable. The author draws from reports by major institutions such as the World Economic Forum to demonstrate that technologically advanced countries like the U.S. and Europe face greater job losses from AI than developing regions.
Chiu, Thomas K. F., et al. “Systematic Literature Review on Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Research Recommendations of Artificial Intelligence in Education.” Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, vol. 4, 2023, Article 100118. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666920X2200073X.
Bearman, Margaret, et al. “Discourses of Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: A Critical Literature Review.” Higher Education, vol.86, 2023, pp. 369-385, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-022-00937-2
75 Hard
For those of you who do know what 75 Hard is, you must be thinking, “Gosh, you can do something difficult without talking about it.” But no, in fact, I cannot. For those of you who do not, these are the rules:
- Two 45-minute workouts: One of them must be outdoors.
- Follow a diet of your choice,
- Drink a gallon of water.
- Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book.
- Take a progress photo every day.
- Every day for 75 days.
Now, I did this for the 75 days leading up to my high school graduation. It’s in the name; it was pretty hard, but it was such a rewarding experience. So I plan on going through each rule and what specifically about it was difficult, as well as how I coped or altered my lifestyle to accommodate this challenge.
First is the two 45-minute workouts a day, one being outside. I was already going to the gym for two+ hours a day. I had really gotten into lifting, so the amount of time was not particularly challenging, but finding the time to split it up and be outside for one portion was. I was still in high school, so 8am-2pm(luckily I had my last class period as an off hour) I was not free, then dance from 6ish to around 8:30pm, which didn’t include time to it took to work, complete homework or projects, showering, eating, etc. What I usually did was run in the morning before school, then went straight to the gym after school during my off hour before dance class to lift. Then, I would have my evenings after dance free to relax and finish school work most days. Key word: “most days.” I did my fair share of late night runs or lifting to make up for what I had missed on those extra hard days where getting up at 5am was less than ideal. This was probably the most challenging thing to do. I hated the such early mornings but by the time I was showered and got to school in the morning, I always felt so awake. I did take any chance to sleep in or nap on the weekends, though because it definitely would start to catch up to me throughout the week.
The diet rule is probably the rule I took the most loosely. When I did my research on this, the gist I got was that consistency was most important and not exactly what diet you’re following. My main concern was getting hungry and keeping energy up throughout the day, because I quickly found that this was exhausting. You’re awake for more hours, doing more exercise, more daily tasks, etc., everything takes more energy. I would start with a protein shake every morning and carried a lot of Cliff Bars around with me. I ate mostly the same thing every day which was some form of chicken and rice, but I also committed to no fast food and only water during this time. This wasn’t too challenging as no fast food meant more money for me! But what was also very helpful for this aspect was that my best friend was doing this with me. We meal prepped together on the weekends with Hello Fresh meals and ate those throughout the week during our off campus lunch and I took care of dinner at home. I opted out of counting and tracking my calories/macros and whatnot because 1. it’s hard, 2. I had tried it before and it honestly made eating harder.
Next was the gallon of water a day! This was probably my favorite part. Drinking that much water a day was a little hard to get used to at first, and I was peeing every 20 minutes the first week(seriously..). But after that, it was the easiest part and I didn’t even have to track my water intake because the amount I craved just from executing my daily activities was well over a gallon. It also made my skin so clear. 10/10 do recommend this part. Taking a progress photo everyday was also easy, obviously, so I’ll add it here. Not much to that besides remembering to do it.
The book I decided to read was The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell. The book combines cognitive research, cultural critique, and witty humor to examine how the abundance of information in the digital age contributes to irrational thought processes. According to Montell, individuals are turning more and more to “magical thinking”—cognitive biases and mental shortcuts—to deal with complexity in the face of information overload. While it was interesting, I didn’t end up finishing the book when the challenge was over and I felt as though the challenge made this part feel like a chore. It was hard to slow down to read when I actually had no time to because I was so focused on completing the other aspects.
Overall, this was very transformative, and I would do it again. I felt so much healthier and productive while doing this, and I recommend it to anyone who may be considering it. But remember to always do what is best for your own body!!
RP Blog #1-Initial Proposal
The question I have geared towards is, “How does AI both encourage creativity and de-skill students, and how do we see this opposition playing out in our future academic careers?” We have been provided with many sources that give us context and background; I have used Megan Erickson’s “Rise of the AI Schoolteacher.” Her opening story is relatable, and I think that aids a lot in understanding her perspective. Before I read her piece, I was honestly leaning more towards the “creativity” argument, but afterwards, along with some context from other classes, I found more interest in the opposing point of view. This article also acted as my “Motive” source. I felt as though the information was easy to digest and presented me with a conversation to jump into. For “Exhibit” and “Argument,” I want to go through the article by Wong in my bibliography. Since my topic has jumped around a bit, I will have to find better sources to pick apart and analyze. This article features a table that I liked as I am a visual learner, which compares 15-year-olds’ occupational expectations and the level of exposure to AI in their Departments of Education, which I think could be useful and intriguing to include.
Coping with College
While having the opportunity to be in college is one of the biggest blessings I have received, it has also been accompanied by the biggest changes I have endured. It is a lot to get used to changing cities, friends, schools, etc. This transition from high school to college can cause some dissociation in a sense. I have woken up at 6am, gone to school from 8am to 3pm, then to dance classes from 4pm to 7:30pm, then had dinner, did my homework, and went to sleep in my childhood bedroom everyday for 12 years. Until now!!! At first I often asked, “why did I do all of that just to move away and restart?” When in reality, everything I had done up to this point was the building blocks for what I was going to do now.
I write about this not because I think it is some crazy revelation, but because when I went through this feeling of dissociation, it felt as though I was the only one who was. I was seeing everyone around me seemingly find their groups, rushing into Greek life, and loving their roommates while I quite literally had the exact opposite experience. I was so excited leading up to coming here but was met with a lot of disappointment when the dust had settled. It was an exciting day moving in and setting up with my mom and brother then going to eat at The Mont. But when it came time for my family to head home and me head back to my dorm, I was met with the eerie silence of my dark, mostly empty, freezing dorm.
Within the first month of school, 2/4 of my roommates had moved out due to the third girl, so it was just her and I for a while. I had a really crappy restaurant job that my ex boyfriend also worked at and came home everyday to a disgusting dorm. In October, I had enough and ended up quitting that job and emailed the housing office about my situation, getting the problem roommate removed. Since then I have gotten all new roommates and a much better job and it has felt like everything is finally falling into place. I no longer feel like I’m the only person at OU going through these things and all it took was a little time.
Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.
John Wooden
The point I wanted to touch on is that it’s okay to feel out of place for a bit while you’re trying to figure these things out and you aren’t the only person here going through it. A lot of your peers will fail to admit when these things happen but it does not mean it isn’t happening to them as well. Figuring out what you want to do with the rest of your life at this age is not an easy task and it is okay to flip your life around to better suit who you have become instead of who you were.