If You Haven’t Jumped Into AI Yet Part 2
Let’s compare and contrast AI services hands-on
This is Part 2 of a series. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
I keep a page for organizing AI web services as I learn about them:
https://lenniesymes.me/ai
It is by no means a complete list, but we will use it today to help with your exploration of AI. Some services require you to have an account, others do not. Also, many services have a version of their services that require payment, but most have a lesser version for free.
Much of what we do today will explore the row called LLMs, which stands for Large Language Models. Rather than just view my examples, I encourage you to take a few moments to try these out as you read about them.
Before we get started, it is important to note that many of these services require you to write a request or question, often referred to as a prompt. Writing a thorough prompt is a developed skill. Do not write off AI as worthless because you got an undesirable result on your first few tries. Approach learning AI as an opportunity to practice and become efficient with writing prompts/questions that produce the results you want on the first try.
Our focus here will be to examine several capabilities, which were listed in Part 1 of this AI series.
Language Translation
If you own an iOS phone or Android phone, each have a Translate app that works with voice or text. You can do the same with AI web services (listed on my page as LLM). For example, you can type a prompt that says:
Translate this text into Spanish: At the bottom of the page is a list of AI resources I use for organizing AI web services. It is by no means a complete list, but it may help you as you get further into your exploration of AI.
For this example, ChatGPT produced this:
Al final de la página hay una lista de recursos de IA que utilizo para organizar servicios web de IA. De ninguna manera es una lista completa, pero puede ayudarte a medida que te adentres más en tu exploración de la IA.
Summarizing
One service I sometimes use is ChatPDF.com where I can drop a pdf and it will summarize it. To practice this, let’s get a new PDF file at https://ascd.org/el, click an issue of Educational Learning, scroll down and choose one article to download as a pdf. Now open ChatPDF in your browser and upload that PDF. Did it summarize accurately?
Let’s use one of the LLM web services to try this with an online article. On Google Gemini, I typed
Summarize this article: https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2024/5/23-1
Here is the response from Gemini:
This is an article about metacognition in the classroom [1]. It discusses what metacognition is and how educators can foster it in their students [1]. Metacognition is the ability to think about one’s own thinking [1]. Students with strong metacognitive skills are able to identify areas they don’t understand and select appropriate strategies to learn the material [1]. Educators can model metacognition by reflecting on their teaching practices out loud [1]. They can also use pre and post assessments to encourage students to reflect on what they’ve learned [1]. Other strategies include group discussions and encouraging spaced practice [1]. Websites reviewed www.learningscientists.org/blog/2024/5/23-1
Try typing a summarizing prompt in other LLM’s to see what you get. Find an article on a website and ask it to summarize it. If you need some articles to summarize, pick one from https://www.eschoolnews.com/.
Writing Informational Narrative: writing informational non-fiction content
This is one area you need to try several services and compare. Let’s start with Perplexity and ask it to write a 300 word essay describing the difference between mastery-based grading vs traditional grading (here is a portion)
… The primary distinction lies in the emphasis placed on learning. Mastery-based grading prioritizes the depth of understanding and skill acquisition, allowing students multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery of each concept or standard.[1] [3] This approach recognizes that learning is a continuous process, and students …
It provided 5 resource citations and note that resource 1 and resource 3 were cited right in the excerpt above.
Trying the same thing with Meta.ai did provide text but not the references. Interestingly, Microsoft’s Copilot will not show references on the web site service, but when using their Edge Browser tools for Chat, it does provide references (hence I recommend using Edge Browser for Copilot). Kagi.com/fastgpt does provide references.
As I mentioned in Part 1 of of this article, I think it is extremely important for educators to only use LLM services with learners that provide original source listings (citations) for their information. This is crucial for developing a key skill for learners to evaluate the viability of an AI’s response by examining the original sources provided.
Writing/Grammar/Tone Assistance
I have used a program called ProWritingAid for years. One feature is to examine your sentences and offer alternative “rephrasing.” It rethinks your writing to make it more concise with better clarity. For example, my first draft sentence from an article I wrote:
Part of the problem is that most educators have spent (literally) all their lives in some form of educational system as a learner or teacher, so exploring these systems with fresh eyes can be difficult.
And ProWritingAid offered several rephrases, including this one:
Many educators struggle to explore educational systems with a fresh perspective because they have always been part of the system as learners or teachers.
Much cleaner! You can do the same with web-based LLM AI’s. I used the prompt “Rephrase this sentence for clarity and conciseness:…” with several AI’s and got a lot of viable alternatives. You try it.
Creating Images/Media
Most services require an account to create images. For example, if you have a Microsoft account, you can use Edge browser chat prompt to create an image, but if you don’t have Edge you can still access Copilot with any browser and log in. One exception: Craiyon allowed me to create an image without an account. Note here you can choose if your image is to look like art, a photo, or a drawing.
When done right, these can be great tools for educators and/or learners for creating diagrams or pictures representing concepts in learning. Writing a descriptive prompt for image generation takes practice. Barebones prompts will often generate unpredictable results.
Now You Choose What Services to Explore
Take a moment to examine a few of the Specialties AI services. Contrast and compare how these AI’s respond. Having an understanding of AI’s strengths and limitations of writing content is, quite honestly, now a basic required skill for all educators.
Educators need to pay particular attention to services that offer tutoring. I personally have only scratched the surface on exploring this capability. Is AI geared for tutoring a valid coaching tool for our learners? We will see. I encourage you to try out a service like Khan Academy’s Khanmigo(they recently made it free for teachers to try).