Tech-Neill-ogy #54 - 30 June 2024

Your Weekly Guide to Leveraging Technology in College Counseling

Author

Jeffrey Neill
July 01, 2024

Welcome to Tech-Neill-ogy #54!

I just returned from a well-spent week in New York City as a faculty member for the College Board Summer Institute for International Counselors (more here). I’ll be brief this week as I’m now turning around to head out on vacation for a week with my family! I sincerely hope all of you are able to find some time to rest and to recharge your batteries this summer!

That being said, please enjoy this week’s newsletter!

Google is bringing Gemini access to teens using their school accounts

Google announced on Monday that it's bringing its AI technology Gemini to teen students using their school accounts. (Take a look at this, and, school-based folks, talk to your IT departments!)

techcrunch.com/2024/06/24/google-is-bringing-gemini-access-to-teens-using-their-school-accounts

Why AI Must Make Us More Intelligent

Over the course of the year, I have talked about AI to everybody, from Year 5 pupils through to teachers on the verge of retirement. (An interesting read…)

medium.com/@adam_34445/why-ai-must-make-us-more-intelligent-7bd5fd654121

AI’s $600B Question

The AI bubble is reaching a tipping point. As we continue to follow the GPUs, navigating what comes next will be essential. (Some nerdy technical language, but interesting…)

www.sequoiacap.com/article/ais-600b-question

Colorado has a first-in-the-nation law for AI — but what will it do?

The new law aims to give people more insight into when, and how, artificial intelligence is being used to make key decisions. (A good thing to keep tabs on, the development of laws around AI…)

www.cpr.org/2024/06/17/colorado-artificial-intelligence-law-implementation-ramifications

The Encyclopedia Project, or How to Know in the Age of AI - Public Books

In an age when AI regurgitates the blather of meaningless content, seeking its audience in the attention marketplace, it's a small wonder that it is hard to tell what is really real anymore. (Hmmmm…)

www.publicbooks.org/the-encyclopedia-project-or-how-to-know-in-the-age-of-ai

AI Career Coach

Coach is your ultimate career development platform, designed for all - students, job seekers, and career shifters alike. (This is one not to miss! It a chatbot that asks you questions and provides career-related guidance and information whether you are a student or adult!)

app.aicareercoach.org

Flightcat: The altimate flexible flight search engine

A better way to discover cheap flexible flights from any dates, anywhere. (Love this! I’ve not tried it much to test veracity, but, if it works, this is a great one!)

flightcat.io

Course.im

Free Platform for course creation. Share your knowledge, create a course and add it to any website. (Pretty cool tool to create courses for students. Still trying to figure out how to use this one effectively.)

course.im

Pygma – Personal AI social media manager

Smart Instagram assistant – create, schedule, engage – all you need to grow on socials. (I’m considering using this for our office social media accounts…)

www.pygma.me

Thryve: Free 24/7 AI Therapy

Discover Thryve: Your free digital wellness therapist and coach. Offering personalized wellbeing, nutrition, fitness, and mindfulness strategies for a happier, healthier life. Anywhere, Anytime! (Not saying you need this, but it’s worth knowing about!)

www.thryve.chat

In the closing weeks of the school year, I worked with my team to produce our annual end-of-year report. This got me spending a lot of time thinking about how AI — specifically ChatGPT, though I also loved Vizly — could be used to enhance the work. Here’s just one example of how you can take a simple export of your student SAT and GPA data (fake sample data set here) and begin to explore the data set.

Some previous prompts are shared at this link and on my YouTube channel. However, if you have any great prompts or questions about prompting, send me a note at [email protected].

Higher Education & Adult Educators Courses | UCLA Extension

Check out the upcoming Summer Series with a fantastic line-up of guests, including Jon Boeckenstedt, Akil Bello, Peter Van Buskirk, and Phil Moreno… all free!

www.uclaextension.edu/education/higher-education-adult-educators/courses

College Board Summer Institute

Everything counselors need to support students through the college admission process, now available for free and on demand. (This is not the Summer Institute for International Counselors! Instead, this is a separate online, free program.)

counselors.collegeboard.org/professional-learning/counselor-summer-institute

The AI Conference 2024

The AI Conference 2024 is a groundbreaking vendor-neutral event brought to you by the creators of MLconf and Ben Lorica.

aiconference.com

AI and Future of Education Conference (AIFE)

The AI and The Future of Education Conference is an international event aimed at teachers and leaders in K-12 schools. The conference will focus on the rapidly evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in education and its potential impact on the future of society and education. Attendees will explore high-level concepts as well as practical takeaways, empowering educators to harness the power of AI in their classrooms and prepare their students for the future.
1 November 2024 - Pre-conference
2-3 November 2024 - Main conference
VERSO International School, Bangkok Thailand

aife.community

In closing, I wanted to share these data, which are the results of a recent CGN survey on the use of artificial intelligence. It was gathered from a relatively self-selected group of people who showed some interest in AI in counseling, so I’m not confident the results are representative of the whole field, but there are some interesting findings. I would strongly recommend that you become a member of the CGN Community of Practice for AI, if you have not already. This group is being tapped to help create, Ava, their counseling-specific AI chatbot. Take a look!

Happy counseling,

Jeff