Serendipity and Learning

My year end reflection - on AI.  Proceed with caution: To be fair, I don't know much about AI. I know ChatGPT (I mean, who doesnt. Even my cat does). I have used it and found myself alternating between being blown away and feeling meh.  I have seen midjourney images (never tried) and AI driven story lines and plot lines. Quite impressive really. And apparently it has won a creativity contest as well.  And at a conference recently someone said, AI will be like electricity in future - that was a different way of looking at it. It could become as ubiquitous as electricity, but like anything these days will have a steep tab attached to it. And the moment that happens, it will be preserve of a few who can afford it.  Organizations will have (many already have) co-pilots enabled - and beautiful mails will be read and replied to by AI. (Human communication hopefully will keep pace.) But keeping all that aside, can AI really replace L&D professionals? Let us look at the ...

Up until now, I was of the firm belief that AI wont be able to beat human creativity soon (or never). But seeing results of AI based Chatgpt scores in TTCT makes me rethink.  The Torrance test measures, in its own words, fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration.  Fluency stands for number of relevant responses. Flexibility is number of categories of shifts or ideas.  Originality is number of unusual ideas determined by statistical infrequency Elaboration is ideas beyond the usual necessary for the responses Yes, on the face of it, seems like a brute force AI will work well. Plus we may be tempted to question the test itself which was developed in the 50s.  But to me this is a first breach in the wall that is humans versus artificial intel in a manner of speaking. \ PS: I still feel an AI is no match for a creative human, but who knows

 This is the first generation AI (ok, maybe more, but leave the technicalities aside for the moment). As on date, you can create perfect emails, documents, powerpoint slides and do a lot of things with basic AI. It will only get better as time progresses.  Now for the moment, it is argued that AI will improve productivity - which it might, if you see the copious new emails that will be created and exchanged with attachment runnings into reams.  One person makes the email with AI, another replies, so the human sitting there is just pushing buttons. I am almost reminded of the 90s Ramayana television where the battle between Rama and Ravana was depicted as an "arrow vs arrow" battle. It is hard to explain it - but IYKYK.  So, point being (and this is the continuation of the earlier post in a different manner) - we can create great emails, but we need to learn basic human etiquette. And we are great with words, but miss the comprehension and originality of thought....

Visited a friends home recently. Among other things, the door had a video cam that shows who is standing outside the door, so that you can check and open the door.  Only problem - the video camera does not have a fish eye lens, so unless the person stands smack in front of the camera, nothing can be seen. The peep hole with its fish eye lens had solved this problem without technology already.  And then there were the movement sensing light in the washroom. So, when you walk in the lights turn on. So far so good. And then you stay immobile for a few seconds thinking of something deep (yes, exact situation that is coming to your mind) - lights out.  All you need are switches right inside or just outside near the door. And the fans now have a remote control - the switches for the fans are inoperative or something like that. And the remote being those tiny remotes, they disappear exactly when you want them. Switches at the right place solve for most fan needs.  Three ins...

 The Indian YouTuber meme is famous and if that is an indicator, looks like Indian YouTube is supporting faltering education systems the world over. I chanced upon this article about it is enabling engineering students in, hold your breath, Nigeria .  And this is something I have wondered. Why isn't YouTube eating other content providers for lunch? It can.  There are crazy niche courses/channels on YouTube that make tons of money by finding the right niche of customers. Competitive exams is an ever giving machine. 

Continuing from the previous series  How does all this translate into a corporate learning scenario? Does online work?  Short answer yes, if your participants are motivated enough and the technology infrastructure is good. If they are not motivated (My boss asked me to attend- I am not here of my own volition), this will be a painful experience regardless of technology.  If your participants are not motivated, as a facilitator you can move heaven and earth, nothing will work. They will get sucked into work - all if requires is one email ping and they will disappear.  And if they dont turn on video, then rest assured, you are screaming at a screen (honourable exceptions will remain) And so, we have completely stopped virtual trainings unless there is no other way to do it.  Second, we conduct trainings only when there is a need and the manager and their employees are bought into it.  What about Hybrid trainings? Hybrid trainings require good digital infrastr...

Continuing from the previous post on online learning education Without human (or a future ai-human-ish) interaction for doubt resolution, questions, clarifications, the online learning experience breaks down. There are good games - dragonbox is a good example - am sure there are others, but the only way you will finally learn maths is by practicing more and more complex problems that are based on your thorough understanding of the subject. Various parts of this can be moved online or be made asynchronous. But at a fundamental level, when you work together as a motivated set of students with a teacher, the learning is faster and often more meaningful. For instance, you realise that the other students are often struggling like you are. A doubt asked by one student, often clarifies something for another. The magic of interaction and facilitation (by the teacher) is yet to be cracked online.  Yes, online is a supplement. And must be. But to expect that everything can be taught online i...

 Every company claims to be customer first. Yet, they bombard you from day 1 on cross selling, upselling, notifications (check the types of notifications on any app), phone calls, spam emails.  A grocery app has decided to add ads before the customer starts adding to the cart. It also sends me useless information on nutritional value of cabbage (yes, it does). Plus sends me useless offers on a continuous basis. I finally silenced notifications.  The ecom app sends me more scratch cards than I can ever itch. And I have not managed to use a single one yet.  Ditto with the payment app that sends me off on useless collections - stamps, tiles, destinations and what not.  The bank, has spammed me so much I have auto blocked most numbers.  And oh, the grocery app which got taken over a conglomerate, has suddenly offered me a personal loan.  If you are customer first, can you please stop it? Point being: How do you know when to stop? Is it so difficult? Put yo...

A short summary of my learning from learning this year...and some questions... Digital learning does not happen by itself.  It has to be enabled. In an age of digital abundance and overdose, digital is likely to be shunned. Tell me, the learner, why should I. Give me a strong reason... Learning competes with Tik-Tok and Whatsapp on a bad day. With Netflix on a good day. Are you making me curious enough? A lot of elearning content is B grade as compared to what is available outside. I mean, very little has changed in elearning. How to make it meaningful (not entertaining) in a short span of time? Time is a real constraint. But time can be moved, shifted and even bent given the right motivation. But are you giving me reason enough to do so? Non-digital actually scores over digital. The unique things one can do using non-digital are really cool. Non-digital actually gives a better overall sensory experience. Why is that so? My view is that it is partly because digital has n...