Today’s lecture had Jesse Miller as the guest speaker, where he talked about integrating AI into classrooms, appropriate relationships with students, and appropriate use of social media and your digital footprint as a teacher.
I really enjoyed learning more about what is expected, relationship wise, as a teacher, as before this we were taught a little bit, but it is always nice to refine your knowledge.
I also liked the talk about digital footprints, I think it is really important for everyone to be aware of how everything you post stays on the internet forever. I have seen on social media how quickly someones career can end due to them posting inappropriate things on their public social media, and I think more people should understand how it could happen to them, even if they weren’t the ones posting. It is super important to watch out for how you are being portrayed on social media, because one wrong post can get you blacklisted from jobs, even if it was a joke from a friend.
One thing I didn’t enjoy as much from the lecture was hearing so much about the positives of AI without the negatives. Jesse Miller had a lot of good things to say about AI, and AI generated photos (which we could all tell were AI) but he didn’t talk much about the environmental impact of AI. One quick google search can tell you that a request through AI uses 10 times the amount of energy as a google search, and a conversation with AI uses around a 500 ml bottles worth of water, and the waste the data centres produce often contains hazardous substances such as lead and mercury. Here is one article I found, but there are countless more. It was frustrating to hear only positives about AI, and although I know it isn’t going anywhere soon, I don’t think that’s an excuse to ignore all the negatives.
Overall it was a very informative lecture, and I learned a lot of helpful knowledge. I am glad Jesse was able to talk to us about internet use, and classroom relationships, and I hope he updates the AI section of his slides soon.