Tech-Neill-ogy #26 - 19 November 2023

Your Weekly Guide to Leveraging Technology in College Counseling

Author

Jeffrey Neill
November 20, 2023

Welcome to Tech-Neill-ogy #26!

It went from all the nasty things we call October to “No School November” here, it seems. With a host of days off and long weekends, November is quite fractured and yet seems to be speeding along. Lots going on, though a little quieter this week (see LinkedIn post).

Most of the big news this week is around the introduction of custom GPTs by OpenAI. This proved so popular that they had to pause new registrations for their pay version due to overuse. In any case, I hope, if you have the pay version of ChatGPT, that you will take a look and try out my custom GPT for letter writing. See below in the Extracurriculars section for the link, but also see in the Course Catalog for some guidance on how to build your own. It is not perfect, but it is super helpful. Now I find myself contemplating what other tools I could create…

Thanks, as always, to those of you who share resources with me. I appreciate all of it! In any case, feel free to drop me an email at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!

Enjoy the newsletter!

Artificial Intelligence Speaker Series

UCLA is offering a series of workshops on artificial intelligence, including a 2-part series I will run. The first will be a how-to, while the second will be a talk with Rick Clark from Georgia Tech! Consider registering for these as well as the other FREE sessions!

www.uclaextension.edu/artificial-intelligence-speaker-series

Why You Should Rethink Your Resistance to ChatGPT

This article offers insights into the evolving landscape of AI in education, crucial for preparing students for future academic and career environments. It highlights the importance of understanding and integrating AI tools like ChatGPT, balancing ethical concerns with practical benefits, which is vital for guiding students in their educational journeys. The article also emphasizes developing policies and teaching strategies around AI use, aiding counselors in advising students on navigating new technological demands in higher education.

www.chronicle.com/article/why-you-should-rethink-your-resistance-to-chatgpt

6 Types of AI Conversations

When interacting with generative-AI bots, users engage in six types of conversations, depending on their skill levels and their information needs. Interfaces for UI bots should support and accommodate this diversity of conversation styles.

www.nngroup.com/articles/AI-conversation-types

ChatGPT has entered the classroom: how LLMs could transform education

Researchers, educators and companies are experimenting with ways to turn flawed but famous large language models into trustworthy, accurate ‘thought partners’ for learning.

www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03507-3

Using AI to Help Students Prepare for the SAT

Creating college entrance exam prep materials can take a lot of time, but artificial intelligence tools make the process easier.

www.edutopia.org/article/using-ai-sat-prep-lessons

Teaching Responsible Use of AI

Rather than forbid students to use artificial intelligence, an English teacher shows them how they can use it in ways that support their learning.

www.edutopia.org/article/teaching-students-use-ai-responsibly

Principles of Visual Hierarchy

This is an interesting piece that applies to all of our favorite topic: presentations! Learn some design principles that can make yours better!

www.beautiful.ai/blog/what-are-the-principles-of-visual-hierarchy-and-how-do-they-apply-to-presentations

Getting started with building GPTs

This is possibly the start of a new app store moment. GPTs like chatbot experiences might become a norm and you should try building them now.

bensbites.beehiiv.com/p/getting-started-building-gpts

For those of you interested in learning more about AI basics, here is a simple list of courses you can take for free:

Counselor LOR Drafter

For those of you with the pay version of ChatGPT, you’ll have been made aware of custom GPTs. I’ve begun working on this one, which drafts counselor letters. It allows you to enter previous letters to assess your writing style and to enter a host of information about the individual student. TIP: If it drafts a letter before you’ve entered all your information, don’t worry and just keep adding your additional documents!

chat.openai.com/g/g-Vsk3ziHVF-counselor-letter-of-recommendation

Gobble Bot - All your content digested into one text file

You have a website, PDF or a Youtube link and want to train a custom ChatGPT chatbot. Simply use Gobble Bot to turn it all into one text file, ready for training.

gobble.bot

PeopleAI | Apps | ChatBotKi

Boost your personal brand with your very own digital twin. Engage with your audience like never before through personalized conversations. Enhance your online presence and create an unforgettable experience for your followers with the power of DigitalTwin technology.

peopleai.app

Julius AI | Your AI Data Analyst

Julius is a powerful AI data analyst that helps you analyze and visualize your data. Chat with your data, create graphs, build forecasting models, and more.

julius.ai

Supertools | Best AI Tools Guide

Best AI tools to increase productivity. An organized database that categorizes the top AI tools for you to achieve superhuman abilities. All the latest AI news, trends, and tools.

supertools.therundown.ai

I have recently made reference to this approach to using ChatGPT, in particular, as a “thought partner” in analyzing different school documents. Now I’m sure that there is more that your creative minds out there could think to do here, but this is a start. (Keep in mind that the ability to upload documents, such as a PDF as I do here, is limited to the paid version of ChatGPT.) 

(+) This is my school's school profile. Please analyze it and provide a 5-sentence summary.

......

How could we make this profile stronger?

I have considered loading 4-5 profiles from other schools that I admire first before asking it some questions. I think the sky is the limit here.

As always, if you’d like to explore some of the other hacks, tips, and prompts I’ve shared here and elsewhere, check out this link. If you have any great prompts or questions about prompting, send me a note at [email protected].

To circle back about my rant last week about SRARs, I heard lots of you sharing similar laments. Seems I am not alone! Hopefully some good will come of all of this!

I am off to Portugal this week to visit universities over the Thanksgiving holiday. That said, I hope all of you enjoy the week and the holiday, if you celebrate it.

Happy counseling,

Jeff