YouTube Adventure

 I have been a fan of YouTube for a long time. I am trying to remember how I was introduced to YouTube or even what type of videos I started out watching, I think it was music videos. However, I know the videos I watch now are not the same as they were back then. I have only been active on the creating side for a year. Now, when I say creating please do not go to my channel thinking you will find the page of a professional YouTube Creator. I am not that. I have only uploaded videos that I have made for my Masters program. I said all that to say. When I was asked to make a playlist for my channel, I knew that was a thing because I had seen it on YouTube before. On the other hand, I have never done it. It was easier than I thought it would be. The hard part was finding videos that could be put into each playlist. A lot of the videos I found were 10 plus years old. For example, finding videos for using Web 2.0 tools for learning was easier than finding videos for Web 2.0 tech for Special Education. After completing this adventure I can say that I enjoyed learning how to add videos to a playlist. I can also say I still strongly dislike recording myself. So, professional Youtuber is not going on my resume anytime soon.

The skill that I am looking forward to learning is crocheting. That must be a skill that a lot of people want to learn because I did not have trouble finding videos. Plenty of them were for beginners and they are step-by-step instructions. I have used YouTube to learn a skill before. I think it is a great way to visually learn something new. You can go at your own pace.

https://youtu.be/5XKaWHwnCHw

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTQnrfqQtg4abIgocY720HCqVrvCi-Dxb

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTQnrfqQtg4amxOhTSqj_yDhpj13L7VuV

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTQnrfqQtg4ZzpizRW0DRZ0ZTGlkAnPlE

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTQnrfqQtg4ZldOEDZGDrEaefXTgVpVuC

AI Adventure

When it comes to AI, I don't know how I feel about it. On one hand, it can be a great tool when used properly. On the other hand, it scares me. Sometimes it feels like the lines between fake and reality are starting to blur. With that being said, I had fun with the AI exploration that was done for this week's blog post. We were asked to explore different AI tools and report our findings. The first AI I used was Copilot on bing.com. This AI can be used to generate different images from what you type in, giving it what you are looking for. The first search I did was of a Texas K12 teacher. The image it gave me was not very diverse. I could see the bias that it may have, with it giving me all males wearing cowboy hats. 

Since it did not give me any women I decided to search the same thing but added women to it. Again the search was not very diverse. I thought when it said to be as specific as possible, I assumed that meant hair color or if you wanted a certain outfit. I was shocked to see that the results were so stereotypical I am also shocked it didn't stick a bluebonnet on her dress. 

The next AI site I played around with was https://web.diffit.me/. This is a resource for teachers to get instructional materials to use. I had never heard of this website before and I was happy with how user-friendly it was. The topic I searched was "making inferences". This is a topic I teach and every year I am trying to find new resources to use. I like that once you search your topic it gives you a lot of materials that you can use. The next AI that I got a chance to explore was ChatGPT. I asked it to write me a 400-word essay on why reading literacy is low in the United States. The response was fast, and I have to admit it was a good response. It wrote about the lack of reading and access to resources. Now, of course, it is an AI so it lacks the human tone that makes it feel less like facts are being thrown at you. Other than that it gave me what I asked for so I can't complain. 

In conclusion, even through AI has started to make its way into different spaces in different ways such as images and text. I feel that I could have more use for the text form of AI. I feel that there are improvements that can be made for AI and images. 

W1: Vanity Search

20 years ago a question like "have you googled yourself"? Would have been considered strange. Now in the year 2024 the answer to that question, depending on how you answer it would be the strange part. Before this assignment this week I had googled myself once or twice. I may or may not have googled my husband when we started dating. For this assignment, I went to Google and searched "Shatara White". Immediately my Facebook and Instagram pages popped up. I was able to find the website for the school I currently teach at. When I looked at the photos I was shocked that it took me a while to find pictures of me. There were a good number of pictures of different Shataras around the country, but it took a while to find myself. Now, of course, some websites say they can give you information on the person you are looking for if you pay them, those are kind of scary because you can get someone's parents and spouse's name without paying, Imagine what you could get if you did. I think doing searches like this is important and I also think it is good for students to know that what you put out there can be easily found but simply typing your name.