Thank you so much for this post, Emily. It is exactly what I needed to read today. Someone at last November's POD conference recommended the book The Slow Professor and that's been giving me life this winter.
“But this process is only inefficient if you think my time is better employed by creating a product than by thinking and feeling things.” - that’s a bar. This applies to so many things. I want to slap this quote on every AI webinar slide deck. Too much digital colonialism and not enough reflection on what it means to be human.
Joining the chorus of thanks, also for the care you have taken to craft phrases that are both creative and pointed, which the rest of us can draw on as we join you in this crucial effort to dwell on human processing rather than machine processing as the ultimate source of meaning.
Thank you so much for sharing these thoughts, I feel every word and that is so validating. Enough with this push to automate and standardize and optimize, as if learning were a transaction.
Also, I had not seen the IHE piece on AI, before. I am just so disappointed that this kind of thinking, this “artificial empathy” finds space in discourse about education. But I’d rather be angry than hopeless. So - again - thank you so much 🥹
Thanks for your kind words! I think breaking through this transactional view of education has become one of my biggest missions recently, in the classroom and elsewhere...
Thanks for writing this, Emily! I can say for sure that I agree with your emphasizing human development in our work in education. Creativity, innovation, advancement, all involve failure. It's incredibly inefficient to find new ways to think, write, and work.
I'm so happy to read this, though I too lament the attacks on our work in public higher education. Please keep writing!
For about year or so, FWIW, I offered amazingly well received workshops on Efficiency (among other poisonous things) as a defining characteristic of White Supremacy Culture (look it up); mostly to international ed & intercultural trainers who were ready & super willing to have it called out and to commit to pivoting away from it. Then, I started getting polite signals that it was a little too out there for someone in my role at a public university to be doing. Then, one day, w/o warning my job was reorganized out from under me. Sorry for the rant -- but STAY MAD, please.
We’re feeling this right now in the Cal State system. The week after Sonoma State announced they were eliminating 20 academic programs and closing the departments of art history, economics, geology, philosophy, theater/dance and women and gender studies, the chancellor’s office announced that the CSU system would become “the first AI-powered university system”. With zero input from faculty or students. And at the same time we’re facing an 8% reduction in state funding.
Wait for the E word: “…all 23 campuses… will have equitable access to ChatGPT, enabling students, faculty, and staff to use AI to accelerate learning, optimize workflow efficiency, and foster cross-departmental collaboration.”
The AI announcement was on my mind as I was writing, but I didn't know about the cuts to Sonoma State and reductions to state funding. Honestly, it's the worst. Solidarity.
The announcement really begs the questions, "'Accelerate' for what?" "'Optimize' for whom?"
Sending care. It is a hard time to watch our world cave-in. I am thinking this is a new "dark age." Over-ridingly for me it is the destruction of American democracy that is happening that scares me. I suspect the Chineses are laughing at us as we give them control of the world.
Please don’t rein it in. 😊 I’ve been complaining about “efficiency” since before all this went down so I am so here for this.
Thank you so much for this post, Emily. It is exactly what I needed to read today. Someone at last November's POD conference recommended the book The Slow Professor and that's been giving me life this winter.
Thanks for your comment and this recommendation, Hannah!
Love this so much. We can’t efficiency our way to learning and thinking and feeling. Thanks so much for sharing this post.
“But this process is only inefficient if you think my time is better employed by creating a product than by thinking and feeling things.” - that’s a bar. This applies to so many things. I want to slap this quote on every AI webinar slide deck. Too much digital colonialism and not enough reflection on what it means to be human.
Joining the chorus of thanks, also for the care you have taken to craft phrases that are both creative and pointed, which the rest of us can draw on as we join you in this crucial effort to dwell on human processing rather than machine processing as the ultimate source of meaning.
Thank you for these kind words!
Thank you so much for sharing these thoughts, I feel every word and that is so validating. Enough with this push to automate and standardize and optimize, as if learning were a transaction.
Also, I had not seen the IHE piece on AI, before. I am just so disappointed that this kind of thinking, this “artificial empathy” finds space in discourse about education. But I’d rather be angry than hopeless. So - again - thank you so much 🥹
Thanks for your kind words! I think breaking through this transactional view of education has become one of my biggest missions recently, in the classroom and elsewhere...
Thanks for writing this, Emily! I can say for sure that I agree with your emphasizing human development in our work in education. Creativity, innovation, advancement, all involve failure. It's incredibly inefficient to find new ways to think, write, and work.
I'm so happy to read this, though I too lament the attacks on our work in public higher education. Please keep writing!
Thanks for your support, as always, Bob!
So glad you wrote this. Thanks for sharing it.
For about year or so, FWIW, I offered amazingly well received workshops on Efficiency (among other poisonous things) as a defining characteristic of White Supremacy Culture (look it up); mostly to international ed & intercultural trainers who were ready & super willing to have it called out and to commit to pivoting away from it. Then, I started getting polite signals that it was a little too out there for someone in my role at a public university to be doing. Then, one day, w/o warning my job was reorganized out from under me. Sorry for the rant -- but STAY MAD, please.
Sorry about this, Katherine.
PS -- watch your back, I guess
I loved every word of this. Keep being “inefficient”! It enriches not just your life but mine too!
This is fantastic, Emily. Thank you.
Thank you for speaking out. You are the resistance this country needs so badly. Like Katie here, I do feel it in my bones.
I feel this in my bones. <3
Sending love, Katie!
We’re feeling this right now in the Cal State system. The week after Sonoma State announced they were eliminating 20 academic programs and closing the departments of art history, economics, geology, philosophy, theater/dance and women and gender studies, the chancellor’s office announced that the CSU system would become “the first AI-powered university system”. With zero input from faculty or students. And at the same time we’re facing an 8% reduction in state funding.
Wait for the E word: “…all 23 campuses… will have equitable access to ChatGPT, enabling students, faculty, and staff to use AI to accelerate learning, optimize workflow efficiency, and foster cross-departmental collaboration.”
The AI announcement was on my mind as I was writing, but I didn't know about the cuts to Sonoma State and reductions to state funding. Honestly, it's the worst. Solidarity.
The announcement really begs the questions, "'Accelerate' for what?" "'Optimize' for whom?"
Sending care. It is a hard time to watch our world cave-in. I am thinking this is a new "dark age." Over-ridingly for me it is the destruction of American democracy that is happening that scares me. I suspect the Chineses are laughing at us as we give them control of the world.