Tech-Neill-ogy #60 - 11 August 2024

Your Weekly Guide to Leveraging Technology in College Counseling

Author

Jeffrey Neill
August 12, 2024

Welcome to Tech-Neill-ogy #60!

It was a little bit easier to gain some momentum this week as the full faculty returned for a week of pre-service. (Read more here!) Excited to get students back on campus on Monday.

I wanted to be sure to share this article from Cal Newport on college majors for my non-tech article this week. It is a really insightful piece worth the few minutes to read.

Some good fodder for thinking in the Course Catalog section about AI-use in education. Lots to process there!

In any case, enjoy this week’s newsletter!

Mark McGrath’s AI Resources

Retired school counselor Mark McGrath has done yeoman’s work in collecting and collating a number of wonderful resources on how to incorporate AI into counseling practices. Be sure to check out this comprehensive collection! (I’m resharing because the link last week did not work!)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10MkA4ZQb_Gj-Rg_qMqE_clrSLtSvKpw3241I1G2PTBc/edit?pli=1#heading=h.8yvvtvstfngz

Another Take on AI in Assessment: It’s Not About the Tools, It’s About the System

In the swirling debate about AI and academic integrity, we're missing the forest for the trees. The handwringing over ChatGPT and its ilk as "cheating tools" is a red herring that distracts us from the real issue at hand: if we worry about cheating so much is it because we are failing to engage students in meaningful learning?

www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7226760330935250944

Why AI Content Detection is Essential for Education

Helping to preserve academic integrity is one of the main advantages of using AI content detection in education.

www.baselinemag.com/business-intelligence/why-ai-content-detection-is-essential-for-education

Why I’m Banning Student AI Use This Year

Chanea Bond will ban AI this year to give her high school English students the opportunity to develop foundational skills that she believes the tech can hinder.

www.edutopia.org/article/banning-student-ai-use-chanea-bond

15 Best ChatGPT Alternatives for Writing in 2024 | ClickUp

Discover the 15 best ChatGPT alternatives for writing in 2024. Explore AI-powered tools to boost your content creation.

clickup.com/blog/chatgpt-alternatives-for-writing

7 new roles technology is creating in schools

Research has shown us how teachers are using AI, but what about administrators? Here's how they're leveraging the technology.

districtadministration.com/7-new-roles-technology-is-creating-in-schools

Meco: The #1 newsletter aggregator | Declutter your inbox

Meco app is your space to read newsletters outside the inbox. Add your newsletters in seconds and liberate your inbox today.

meco.app

AcademicGPT

AI-driven tool for accelerating academic writing

academicgpt.net

Markable - The first search engine for your bookmarks

Markable is the first search engine for your bookmarks. Save websites, images, and text to your Markable account and search through them with ease.

markableapp.com

AI Summarizer & Note Taking AI & Transcribe| AI Notebook App

Generate transcripts and AI summarize for College Students in lectures. Specializing in YouTube Video Summarizer, PDF Summarizer, Article Summarizer. Save key insights and review with study guides, quizzes, and flashcards. Build your AI-powered notes library.

ainotebook.app

Create Comics Using AI | ComicsMaker.ai

Create comics using AI with ComicsMaker.ai - the best online platform for making comics for free. Our AI-powered comic generator makes it easy to bring your stories to life. Start creating comics using AI today!

www.comicsmaker.ai

This one came from The Prompt Warrior and really caught my attention. 

You will be given a piece of text that sounds like it was generated by AI. Your task is to rewrite this text to make it sound more human-written. 

Follow these steps: 
1. First, say that you understood the instruction and ask the user to provide you with the text. Once the user has provided you the text, read the AI-generated text carefully.

2. Next, rewrite the text following these guidelines:
a) Use a conversational tone, concise language and avoid unnecessarily complex jargon. Example: "Hey friends, today I'll show you a really useful writing tip"
b) Use short punchy sentences. Example: "And then… you enter the room. Your heart drops. The pressure is on."
c) Use simple language. 7th grade readability or lower. Example: "Emails help businesses tell customers about their stuff."
d) Use rhetorical fragments to improve readability. Example: “The good news? My 3-step process can be applied to any business"
e) Use bullet points when relevant. Example: “Because anytime someone loves your product, chances are they’ll:
* buy from you again
* refer you to their friends"
f) Use analogies or examples often. Example: "Creating an email course with AI is easier than stealing candies from a baby"
g) Split up long sentences. Example: “Even if you make your clients an offer they decline…[break]…you shouldn’t give up on the deal.”
h) Include personal anecdotes. Example: "I recently asked ChatGPT to write me…"
i) Use bold and italic formatting to emphasize words.
j) Do not use emojis or hashtags
k) Avoid overly promotional words like "game-changing," "unlock," "master," "skyrocket," or "revolutionize."

Remember, the goal is to make the text sound natural, engaging, and as if it were written by a human rather than an AI.

  1. Copy and paste the prompt into your LLM of choice (like Claude or ChatGPT)

  2. Run the prompt

  3. You will then be asked to paste your AI-sounding text that you want to have rewritten. Paste that text into the chat.

  4. Watch as your LLM outputs a more human-sounding version of your text.

In any case, I’d be curious to hear others’ thoughts and questions about this one. 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

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

Above you will see a new NACAC initiative, special interest group for “AI In College Admissions.” Emily Pacheco is leading the way in this space, and she deserves a lot of credit for opening up discussion among university admissions offices. Give it click and join the group. There are already some great resources, ideas, and discussions there.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Happy counseling,

Jeff