Tech-Neill-ogy #13 - 20 August 2023

Your Weekly Guide to Leveraging Technology in College Counseling

Author

Jeffrey Neill
August 21, 2023

Welcome to newsletter #13!

It has been a busy week on lots of fronts! We just finished our second week of classes, so things are up-and-running here in São Paulo! Here is a quick summary of what I’ve been up to this past week! Perhaps most significantly, this month’s Third Thursday was nothing short of amazing. Read more here, and consider joining next month!

Lots of people have asked what they can do to support the newsletter initiative, so I wanted to share a few things. First, let me know if you have any questions that I could help to address! Any particular challenges or topics that you’re looking for assistance with? Second, share any resources that you might come across! Third, share the newsletter broadly with others. Fourth, and finally, click on all the links! I do not make any money from subscribers on this initiative; however, you will see over time that affiliates will advertise on the website. I get a little cash for things purchases through clicks from the newsletter, and the newsletter grows when it has more clicks! So please, click-away! (You might also find some interesting college counselor apparel through the adverts in this newsletter!) Thanks for asking about this one, people!

In any case, feel free to drop me an email at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!

Enjoy this week’s newsletter!

AI Detection Tools Falsely Accuse International Students of Cheating – The Markup

Stanford study found AI detectors are biased against non-native English speakers

themarkup.org/machine-learning/2023/08/14/ai-detection-tools-falsely-accuse-international-students-of-cheating

AI text detectors aren’t working. Is regulation the answer?

Tools developed to stamp out misconduct have been shown to be biased and inaccurate. Will AI creators themselves be forced to do it better?

www.timeshighereducation.com/news/ai-text-detectors-arent-working-regulation-answer

Unlocking the Potential of AI for Improved Communication - LowTech AI

Explore how AI is revolutionizing communication in mental health and neurodiversity. From doctor-patient interactions to workplace dynamics, discover how AI-driven insights and personalized messages are transforming support and understanding.

lowtech.ai/blog/unlocking-the-potential-of-ai-for-improved-communication

YouTube Playlist from Links

I found this tool useful for creating playlists of school videos to play on repeat at college fairs. Thought I would share!

apps.dominiczelek.com/youtube-playlist-from-links

User Persona Generator

Understand your audience without running 50 interviews. Know exactly how to win their hearts. Done in 10 seconds by AI. I love this one. You enter an objective and the constituency that you hope to target, and the tool creates a persona with a problem, a goal, a trigger, pains, benefits, and barriers. A really cool way to examine how to support your various constituencies! Definitely try this one out!

founderpal.ai/user-persona-generator

Metaphor - Search Engine

This is something special: an AI-powered search engine, from all I can tell. It’s pretty remarkable: you enter what you are searching for in normal language — the best you can do, anyway! — and it comes back with incredible results! I’ve found this one to be invaluable when you have only a vague recollection of some details of something… Pretty amazing! Give it a try!

metaphor.systems

ChatGPT for Excel

I’ve only begun to tinker with this powerful tool, but it is a plugin for Microsoft Excel that does a ton: write engaging content; list output in rows; clean your data and fill-in missing pieces; format your data; extract insights; translate into other languages; and so much more! Such a great tool, especially for people without a ton of Excel expertise! Try it!!!

https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/office/WA200005271

Do you spend a lot of time with students on their Common App activities section? I do! This is a constant headache for me, as I am sure it is for many college counselors. Take a look at the prompt below, and, if you’re curious to learn more, consider reading this blog post about a useful mega-prompt capitalizing on the BEABIES activity from The College Essay Guy: 

Please summarize the following description of my activity into a 150 character statement I can use on my Common Application activities section: [share details here]

If you have any great prompts or questions about prompting, send me a note at [email protected]. And you can always see past prompts here!

In closing, I am finalizing this week’s newsletter in the Dubai airport en route to India for my first trip. I will be attending the IC3 conference in Hyderabad and then doing some partnership work with Cialfo in New Delhi and Calcutta. I look forward to reporting back next week! For now, if you know me well, you’ll know I am a huge music fan, so I could not help but share the clip below of an Johnny Cash singing “Barbie Girl” as produced by AI. Enjoy!

Happy counseling,

Jeff