Reflection on Week 1 (2/22-3/1)

 Two things...

1. In a digital culture where things are so easy and convenient for users to work, think, express, and search for ideas, I wonder how well it actually is for people. One thing I saw this week was the Chrome Extension, Speechify. Great tool for users who do not do well at reading PDF's, articles, or webpages. I know it's an easy tool to help students with IEPs or 504s get by in school, and I would probably have my students who need them use them. Then, the layer underneath comes to mind: How well is this for students? The issue isn't text-to-speech platforms; it's the lack of reading skills. I know reading proficiency is on the decline in America, so this tool helps students cope and get by without needing to read. Is that truly solving the problem? I don't believe so. I think students who need services like the one Speechify gives is good to keep students moving along in class so they don't "fall through the cracks", but it doesn't serve them long-term in reading and cognition. Schools should apply more functional practices of reading, like doing visual-motor eye exercises, eye stretches, and auditory processing games and tests. 

2. From that note, I also know I use AI large-language-models (LLM's) like ChatGPT everyday. I don't need to go to the library, check out a book with a title that might have the answers I am looking for, and read through - more realistically, scan through - hundreds of pages to see if I can find satiate my curiosity. Now, I just send a text to a machine and it gives me some information. I hope it's not biased, and it comes to me in my own language as a young adult who grew up in the Midwest - using slang terms, oversimplified expressions, and without exploring the nuances to some of my questions. But... It's easy and quick to find answers. I can even change my search engine to ChatGPT and do my investigating on that. Once again, I use it everyday, but is it good for me in the long run? Will I lose my investigative skills? Will I become lazy or lose my grit to find answers if it doesn't come to me as fast as the LLM can produce? If these were to be true, I could see this being a terribly comfortable poison to younger thinkers, and the greater science fields at large. 

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