Super excited to publicly launch "All Day TA" (http://www.alldayta.com), a product @joshgans.bsky.social and I have been working on with our team over the last year. Short version: if you teach in spring, you will want to use this! It's the future of higher education. A short thread: 1/x
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Comments
For now, what you've got is a million monkeys running a million Eliza programs.
Seems like a big unnecessary risk in a field all about teaching people the correct information that people are shelling out tens of thousands of dollars for every year, and not just some cursory internet search.
I can correct and/or fire my TA if they mess up. But this is a black box.
2) I’m sure you’re right that “the computer needs more information” is the most common error but that’s not the one I’m worried about. I’m worried about AI having no concept of truth or falsity.
Q. Does using "instructor approved" content not ensure instructor #bias is clearly communicated in case any one student missed it?
Bias is already a huge issue with #AI - Now I can create my own biased #SLM for my students. (Ironically, I'm just 🔵🦋ing implications)
Is it that you imagine this being used to write essays rather than quiz students on math problems? Or that you imagine the robots displacing us? Or…?
I wrote about my particular issues with AI:
https://www.yorku.ca/edu/unleading/podcast-episodes/technologies-of-leadership/
i am mostly staying out of this one but as part of a cohort that verifiably had no interest whatsoever in interacting with instructors, ever, i don't think the notion that students pay for or want instruction is generally true
You’re a parasite.
These are exactly what the current crop of AI _doesn’t_ have. Might as well hand the students ouija boards.
This is snake oil and paints you as a fraud.
You make me sick.
I’m just saying it helped me learn faster and easier, so it stands to reason that it could help others too. Feels like you and others are not willing to acknowledge that potential
Also, if I am paying tuition, I'm not paying for that. Otherwise, why send the student at all?
Just have them sit in front of a machine.
paid a salary PLUS they get thousands of $$& of tuition waived. Stop trying to play gotcha games. Ignoring the huge benefit of not paying tuition is dishonest af
Arrested Development's Ron Howard: "It was not."
For us to help you stop this, we need to see at least as much depth of justification as Kevin has provided in his thread.
I hope you (and others commenting here) will make a good faith effort to help us see your point.
Don’t let technophobic audiences ruin your day haha 🤣
Had several great professors though, so at least there was that.
1. Anything a student gets from you either builds or undermines trust, which may start at a negative number. This, to them, offloads interactions to something that shows you're too busy for them.
3. "Provide more one on one service" is far from being a proven outcome for many reasons. And that's a policy, not a tech problem. Pay TAs more!
You utter di’kut.
Your product looks a little confusing, & maybe not user-friendly, given that AI is so new. There's still a very real need for AI tutors & busy work support.
I have found a fair amount of students who will ask AI a question, get word salad, and realize that either they can do better OR they need help. I see this as positive.
His use of the "Invisible Hand" can be counted on ONE FINGER.
Is it Really Capitalism without mandatory accounting? Haven't economists figured that out?
Oh, they don't quote that by Smith!
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300
Marx used the word 'depreciation' 35 times in the first two volumes of Das Kapital.
Marx & Smith never saw a planned obsolescence economy. Our economists leave out Net Domestic Product.
He was saying economists are.
Here's a snippet from a graduate microeconomics textbook. This is what economists "are"
https://bsky.app/profile/chickenpuppet.online/post/3ldcshcbphc2o
And sure, but at that point, how is this different from Twitter. I can get death wishes there too!
And these comments on this thread are baffling and not something most startups ever deal with.
The professors and educators are making the comments.
They are experts in this matter.
If they're commenting...well...
Are you saying you teach groups of people in the university setting, at that level?
Are you saying the settings you tutor at are the same?
Would be interesting to see how this develops over time - what works, what doesn’t… how are you planning to track it?
It's the more "out from their own walls" business-types who want to foist this on us.
No.
Replies here are the most Xitter-like I’ve seen on BSky. I muted a lot.
If using AI and other programs is an "education", I'll just set it up and save money. I'll look at the program requirements and I'll substitute by using online recorded courses.
Why do tech people think they can replace educators?!!!
What is it about this specific use of tech that you hate so much?
Yes, people have access to chatgpt, but if you think that's the same as this service.... people have access to the worlds knowledge online, but still pay for college.
wrt higher education, I agree many institutions have unfortunately gone down that path of corporatization a bit too much.
Do you disclose the training data and weights used by this LLM?
Have you written anything around your findings while working on this?
Enable them to use it in a best-informed way.
1) Only give it course logistical information, not course content. It's job is to take those 1am queries about where the exam is, what's on the exam, where are the datasets for the problem set, etc. "Night Shift TA."
Good luck with your effort.
There are plenty of academics who couldn’t care less about pedagogy. That’s your target audience. I’d imagine most of them are not on Bluesky.
Does the teacher side of this get a summary of what students struggled with? That could be really helpful.
I 100% agree with you that grades don’t tell the full story. That’s why I’m so excited about the application of LLMs to education, and am very glad to see the OP doing what he’s doing.
I was a film/media prof for five years, so I’m struggling to see how this would be any different than existing software like Blackboard Learn (with AI added to it). How is it different?
yeah that checks out
You can use your own ideas and structure for material in the prompts, and customize it to teach your educational vision.
The gatekeeping is somewhat interesting here, too. I have taught professional courses
Lordy. Are you people all twelve years old?