Not another A.I. Training.....

Perhaps this article title has a “ring to it” for you, and/or, like me, it might be something you’ve said as of late.

A.I. has rapidly entered our professional and personal lives in the last two or three years. I would call myself a “regular but cautious user of A.I.” While it isn’t my immediate go-to, it is a part of my work week, and I think I need to stay abreast of how my field continues to use it and share that as appropriately as possible with students and clients.

However, A.I. has been a constant for me, whether it was specific training, a topic at a meeting, or hearing from a knowledgeable guest speaker. By no means am I “against” those discussions and conversations, as I find value in different perspectives, but my interest was thinning on the topic.

My inner thoughts this past spring semester were: "If I see one more meeting, webinar, or training on A.I…..”

Reality Check (to me, from me): Get over it; it’s not going away!

And then, here came an invitation to attend the Alliance for Innovation and Transformation Conference (AFIT) in Phoenix, Arizona, with four other colleagues at Highland! My colleagues told me that the conference had been well-liked in the past. I was invited because some knew how I use it and how I am sharing it with students. ?

Now, if the administration invites you to attend and because your boss isn’t able to go, do you say no? Could I have declined? Sure. But I hesitated without a compelling reason beyond the short summertime with two conferences. Valid excuses existed – a busy summer and interviewing candidates for a new position in the department. Yet, I challenged my initial reluctance and thoughts about "another training."

Here are my takeaways from attending the AFIT Conference:

1. For someone who almost always attends a conference solo and enjoys those benefits, I also identified positives in attending a conference with colleagues, processing the information learned, and having camaraderie! Each team had a theme and were encouraged to decorate our tables. Our theme was The Matrix.

2. It’s okay to use A.I. cautiously and responsibly – but continue to use it and find new ways to incorporate it as a tool.

3. My lens and use of A.I. have been mainly in higher education, resume writing, and career counseling, but there’s SO MUCH more to it than that.

4. I have a list of people and companies I need to start following and other podcasts I can tune in to and expand my knowledge.

5. It’s confirmed. The A.I. discussions, training, and webinars are not going away, and when my schedule allows, I need to find my way toward them.

6. Lastly, while A.I. is a big part of our lives, we still cannot lose the humanistic value we all have, combining human and artificial intelligence to create the “superpower.”

Fun side note: Our team attended a Virtual Reality session at the University of Arizona that was themed around Indiana Jones. This was my first VR experience, and it was absolutely wild, mind-blowing, fun, and memorable. Pictures are below.

To end…

As my peers in higher education embrace a new academic year (and all of my other followers, too!), I encourage you not to pass up the opportunity that makes you think, “Another A.I. webinar/training” or “Another A.I. conference.” Look at it as an opportunity to gain a new perspective or to develop your strategy for creating your “superpower” by combining human and artificial intelligence.

Wishing all of you a great start to the academic year!