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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.

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.

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.  

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.

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

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. 

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 

My name’s Layla Brummell! I’m a freshman here at OU majoring in health and exercise science. Now, I won’t lie, it is a little nerve-wracking having to post my work for all my classmates to see, but I will try to lean into the blog a bit. I’m not exactly sure what I want my “blogging identity” to intel yet so I will probably come back and completely change everything about my site to make it cuter as time goes on. My hope is just to write honestly and hopefully find some things everybody finds interesting and relevant to tie in. 

I named my blog “My Back Porch” in reference to my best friend, Ella. We spent countless hours on our back porch talking, giving our utmost honest opinions. I want to use the openended-ness of the back porch conversations as a framework for my blog, but not in a meaningless way. I want my blog to be this class and what we discuss from my perspective, no matter how well (or not) I understand a topic.