Tech-Neill-ogy #63 - 1 September 2024

Your Weekly Guide to Leveraging Technology in College Counseling

Author

Jeffrey Neill
September 02, 2024

Welcome to Tech-Neill-ogy #63!

I hope you all are doing well and settling into the new academic year — or preparing to do so, depending on where you are. We completed week 3 here in Brazil, and it was a busy week, featuring over 110 university visitors! (Read more here!)

In other exciting news, this newsletter, which is just over 15 months old, now has reached 1,086 subscribers! The newsletter cracked the 1000-followed mark last week after/during the CGN webinar I gave on letters of recommendation (link below, if you missed it). Thank you for your support here! I appreciate the opportunity to engage with so many of you. Thanks!

Last week I asked for some audience participation in completing a very short survey to assist with an upcoming a presentation at CIS in Basel later this semester. However, I received only 25 responses. I would love to see more, so please help us out by completing this brief survey of just 6 questions on your use of AI. Thank you!

For this week’s non-tech feature, I found this article to be particularly interesting, and I look forward to reading the book at some point soon. Working at a school that has recently revised its assessment policy, a lot of points here hit close to home. I hope you enjoy it!

In any case, enjoy this week’s newsletter!

CGN: AI and Letters of Recommendation

Join us to hear expert advice on how to save time and still generate high-quality, personalized letters of recommendation for your students. You’ll get actionable tips on prompts, protecting student privacy and more.

streamyard.com/watch/AZqsD6eGvqps

Updating the AI Assessment Scale

This is a really interesting piece highlighting ways in which educators can evolve their thinking about student-use of AI on school work.

leonfurze.com/2024/08/28/updating-the-ai-assessment-scale

Post-apocalyptic education

This is Ethan Mollick’s recent piece, which is timely and relevant for all educators.

www.oneusefulthing.org/p/post-apocalyptic-education

Smart ways students are using AI

Students, parents and teachers share tips on how to use AI responsibly at every level to enhance learning and avoid potential pitfalls.  

news.microsoft.com/source/features/ai/smart-ways-students-are-using-ai

Colleges Are Using AI To Predict Student Success. These Predictions Are Often Wrong

AI models designed to predict student success frequently get it wrong when it comes to Black and Hispanic students, new research reveals.

www.techlearning.com/news/colleges-are-using-ai-to-predict-student-success-but-the-predictions-are-frequently-wrong

The Top 10 Jobs with the Lowest Risk of Being Replaced by AI | Entrepreneur

Is AI coming for your job? AI could replace or downgrade 300 million jobs by 2030. Here are some jobs that a recent Resume Genius report highlighted as AI-proof.

www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/the-top-10-jobs-with-the-lowest-risk-of-being-replaced-by-ai/479141

dabbl - Your AI-powered Personalized College Counselor

dabbL is your personalized college counselor, offering tailored and fit-based college and career recommendations based on your interests and preferences. Connect with friends, alumni and mentors on dabbL's network. Experience careers of choice and proceed on your career journey with conviction.

www.go-dabbl.ai

Genie | Screenshot to Google Calendar

Add events to your Google Calendar from a screenshot

www.calendargenie.xyz

Prismix - Your AI Social Media Manager

Prismix is a comprehensive tool that simplifies content creation and social media management. Create engaging posts, schedule them across multiple platforms, and create one month plan with ease.

www.prismix.us

Coda: Your all-in-one collaborative workspace.

Coda is an all-in-one platform that blends the flexibility of docs, structure of spreadsheets, power of applications, and intelligence of AI.

coda.io

Clockwise: AI Powered Time Management Calendar

Clockwise uses powerful AI to optimize teams' calendars to create more time in everyone’s day. It's a new way of working that gives us flexibility and focus. Get started free.

www.getclockwise.com

Here’s a simple prompt that might help some out there. I started thinking about this as we introduced our students to the concept of the Elevator Pitch and implemented it to give them additional practice trying to see how they are presenting themselves. One student, who admittedly had a more robust online presence, forgot to enter his brag sheet as the data source for his, and ChatGPT essentially kicked out a biography of him that was pretty good. 

Write a 100-word biography for the program for a conference about Jeffrey Neill, Director of College Counseling at Graded - The American School of Sao Paulo. Use web resources to populate the bio.

Here’s what ChatGPT kicked out for me: Jeffrey Neill, Ed.D., serves as the Director of College Counseling at Graded - The American School of São Paulo, bringing over 22 years of international educational experience across six schools on four continents. Known for his expertise in integrating AI into education, he has been a prominent voice on the ethical and practical implications of AI in college counseling. Dr. Neill holds degrees from Bowdoin College, Middlebury College, and Northeastern University. He regularly presents at global forums and contributes to professional development initiatives, helping shape the future of college counseling worldwide​.

Other than the fact that I’m now in year 24 (!!!), this seems pretty spot-on! Give it a try for yourself and see what’s out there about you!

If you have any great prompts or ideas, please share! Send me a note at [email protected].

Webinars & Live Events Page

Look here for upcoming webinars and other events (and recorded ones) by the College Essay Guy! New events are happening all the time…

www.collegeessayguy.com/webinars-live-events

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

I wanted to end by highlighting dabbL, which is featured above (and which I think I featured last week as well). It is an AI-based college counseling app. I’ve spent some time with Madhu Vohra, the creator, and she has a lot of really great ideas. She is also looking for some user feedback, so if you’re interested in exploring with your students, send me a message, and I’ll put you in touch with Madhu!

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Happy counseling,

Jeff