Anna's Blog

After playing around with ChatGPT, one thing that struck me as strange was how convincing and certain it can sound while it gives you false information. I noticed that it frequently cites things incorrectly, "hallucinates" information, and gives made-up or inaccessible sources. Because of this, I had the idea to create a two part "reality check" assignment with GPT.  For the first part, I would give students a simple research assignment: "write a 1-2 page paper about _____" - and I'd give a timely, relevant topic that requires a decent amount of research. The twist is, they can only use ChatGPT to research things on the topic, to write the paper, and to cite their sources (in APA format). This shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes. For the second part, I would have the students act as if they were a teacher, grading their own paper - I'd tell them to proofread it, check it for errors, look at all the sources, etc. From doing some testing, I kno...

 During week 2, I created a beginner-friendly Spanish quiz on Socrative. I included the code to my room in my blog post, but not a link to the page where you enter the code - I'm guessing that's why it's still listed as incomplete on my Elearning! My apologies - I'm republishing it here for easy access. The link is:  https://b.socrative.com/student/#quiz The room code is: LANG2242

  This is a slideshow I made in Google Slides. I'm a big fan of Google Drive and all of its components - Slides included. I find the interface easier to work with than Powerpoint, because it's less busy and less scattered - the buttons are the same size, there's orderly sections that help direct you to what you're looking for, and the process of moving your text and building blocks around is much easier than it is in Powerpoint. I firmly believe that Google's workspaces are better than Microsoft's, and I'll die on that hill - but let me get off my soapbox. All in all, I enjoyed this mini project and hope this slideshow could help those who have never made an instructional slideshow before!

  This is the screenshot I took using Techsmith Capture - it complements my how-to on basic file organization within Google Drive. As stated in my previous post, I believe this would help someone whose class or company uses Google interfaces. The picture could be especially useful to hang onto if someone didn't have time to look back on a video, as it outlines the most important button that displays several options and the rest is likely self explanatory from there.

  Here is my screencast video - I used Techsmith Capture to demonstrate and explain a bit about how to organize files and folders in Google Drive. I believe this would help someone whose class or company uses Google interfaces - it would be the first step of many designed to explain how Google Drive works. 

 What stood out to me most in Chapters 7 and 8 was the emphasis both authors place on how designers learn to think, not just what they learn to do. The discussions around developing design expertise made me reflect on my own path and where I want to go - whether that’s teaching in academia or moving into a UX research or instructional design role. Both Fortney and Tracey highlight that becoming a designer is an ongoing process of reflection, experience, and identity-building, which resonates with me at this point in my life. Fortney’s ideas about exposing novice designers to authentic, complex problems early on made a lot of sense. I’ve noticed in my own learning that the most comprehensive understanding comes from struggling through problems, testing ideas, and figuring out what works in context. Tracey’s focus on designer identity added another layer to that. She talks about how being a designer also means understanding your own perspective, values, and how you approach problem s...