Practical AI Uses for the Classroom and the Library - A version of what I presented at Atla

Presented on Friday August 30, 2024, online for SCELC (Southern California Electronic Library Consortium).

Practical AI Uses for the Classroom and the Library

Presented on Friday June 21, 2024, in Long Beach, California.

The Common AIs mentioned and demonstrated during the presentation:

• Gemini by Google - https://gemini.google.com/app 

• Claude 3 by Anthropic - https://claude.ai/chats 

• ChatGPT / GPT 4 by Open AI - https://chatgpt.com/ 

• Copilot by Microsoft (a version of GPT 4) - https://copilot.microsoft.com/ 

• LLaMa 3 by Meta - https://www.meta.ai/ 

The "Academic Search" or "Scholarly" AIs mentioned (mostly hard sciences and OA material):

• Perplexity  - https://www.perplexity.ai/

• Consensus (mostly based on Semantic Scholar)- https://consensus.app/

• Scite - https://scite.ai/

• Semantic Scholar - https://www.semanticscholar.org/

• Elicit - https://elicit.com/

• Research Rabbit - https://researchrabbitapp.com/

The Chatbots / Trainable bot mentioned during the demonstration:

• ChatSimple - https://www.chatsimple.ai/

• RoboResponse - https://www.roboresponse.ai/

• CronbotAI - https://www.cronbot.ai/

• Chaindesk - https://www.chaindesk.ai/

• NotebookLM (not customer facing) - https://notebooklm.google.com/

The Other Resources mentioned at the end of the presentation:

• LessWrong - blog site for logic, mathematics, computers, and AI - https://www.lesswrong.com/

• Import AI - newsletter by Jack Clark on cutting edge generative AIs, training AIs, and ethics in AI - https://importai.substack.com/

• Nicole Hennig - Librarian for U of Arizona (formerly from MIT) - a newsletter with some commentary - https://substack.com/@nicolehennig

• Library 2.0 - Steve Hargadon's webinars, conferences, and "podcast" on AI - https://futureofai.org/this-week-in-AI

• TechCrunch - news site for technology - a lot about the money in AI investments and about what is coming out in days and weeks ahead - https://techcrunch.com/category/artificial-intelligence/

• ECampusNews.com - newsletter intended for K12 teachers, but there are occasional AI items worth the quick read - https://www.ecampusnews.com/

• Hope International's Faculty LibGuide - a few pages about AI, but a couple of important pages on the conversations to have with students accused of using AI - https://libguides.hiu.edu/faculty-library-guide/AI

The List of Practical Uses of AI for Personal Use, in the Academy, and in the Library:

1. Improve resumes or curriculum vitae

2. Improve essays for grants or scholarships

3. Brainstorming of ideas or topics

4. Generate research questions on a topic

5. List keywords or terms for study on a topic

6. List of pros and cons for a topic

7. Present a point of view on a topic, "how might .... understand..."

8. Summarize an academic article

9. Identify themes or patterns in an article, chapter, or essay

10. Edit or "improve" some writing

11. A "conversation" partner for language learning - interactive tutor

12. A "conversation" partner for practicing therapy (pastoral counseling or physical therapy or ...)

13. A "conversation" partner for a student with social anxiety. They ask the AI to portray a professor that the student needs to talk to. This allows for practice for a difficult conversation; what most people do with inner speech.

14. Virtual peer review

15. Improve aspects of a sermon

16. Sermon analysis

17. Language learning tool - vocabulary and paradigms

18. Automated content creation - study guides or flashcards based on your topic

19. Personal tutor

20. Event planning in the library

21. Translator of articles and chapters for patrons in the library - with summaries and key points highlighted

22. Use the AI to create abstract and metadata for digital items in archives and special collections

23. Administrative or personal assistant

24. Chatbot for the library

25. Help with grant writing

26. Help with computer coding