The Human in the Loop: Learning to Work with Technology We Never Asked For

What the Heck Do We Do Next? Part 2: Guest Post by James Hammer

Welcome back to our "What the Heck Do We Do Next?" series!

Check out early articles in the series:

Part 1: "Embracing AI in Education: One School’s Journey," Guest Post by Brenda Brusegard

James Hammer's insightful post serves as a perfect follow-up to my recent exploration of higher-order thinking processes in a deep AI work cycle. In that discussion, we uncovered how AI can energize our work processes, often through its mediocrity. Early debates on AI in education questioned whether AI-generated ideas might stifle creativity. However, my experiences—both personally and with students—reveal the opposite. AI acts as a possibility generator, refining and sometimes accelerating the decision-making mechanisms at the core of our analytical and creative processes.

James' recent career exemplifies the creative power of AI when wielded by a skilled practitioner. His work in integrating AI into learning design showcases how technology can enhance creativity and drive innovation. Let’s dive into his insights and explore how we can harness AI effectively in our own practices.

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Today’s Guest Author

James Hammer, CDLS AI in Learning Specialist Certified (with Distinction)
Learning Designer & Content Creator | Co-Founder of ATLAS | Award-Winning Director | Veteran Educator | CEO of Mental Forge Media

James Hammer is a learning designer and content creator passionate about integrating AI technology into creative and educational applications. As the Co-Founder of the ATLAS International Learning Initiative and Chief Creative at Mental Forge Media, he guides strategic direction while leveraging innovative media solutions.

With extensive experience as a theatre teacher, James has developed curricula aligned with state standards, empowering students to excel in the performing arts. His commitment to excellence and personal growth fosters a collaborative environment for creativity and learning.

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Creation and Responsibility

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a scientist breathes life into a creature, only to recoil in horror and abandon his creation. Two centuries later, we find ourselves in a similar moment of creation and responsibility. But this time, our creation isn't a patchwork of human parts—it's a disembodied mechanization of words and understandings that make up Generative Artificial Intelligence. And unlike Dr. Frankenstein, we don't have the luxury of running away.

A Thought-Provoking Parallel

I stumbled upon this parallel while reading a LinkedIn post about Dr. Nick Potkalitsky’s AI literature course. He drew a compelling connection between Frankenstein and our current AI moment, asking whether we're on the verge of repeating the doctor's error. His words struck a chord with learners and ignited a conversation about this current crossroads, reminding me of my journey from an AI skeptic to an enthusiastic but cautious explorer.

The Tenuous Relationship with Technology

We have a tenuous relationship with technology, primarily because of its functionality and unpredictability. Our focus, up to this point, our cornerstone in technology development, has been functionality. We create tools that work easily from their first installation. We’ve come to call this “Plug and Play,” in which we develop every new software and hardware component that easily interfaces and functions with existing solutions.

But Generative AI isn't the plug-and-play solution many have come to expect our technology to be, and that's causing so much frustration. More importantly, despite these challenges, we must resist the urge to flee the room like Dr. Frankenstein. We are responsible for engaging with this technology thoughtfully, shaping its evolution, and ensuring it aligns with our values and ethical standards, even though it may be being developed without them.

Confronting My Skepticism

My initial reaction to the first wave of advertising and socialization about AI and its capabilities struck me the same way it struck many.

"What the f*ck?"

As someone who found a life of service in public education, nurturing students' creative energy on and off the stage, I found the idea that AI would replace human creativity completely incomprehensible.

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The Power of Creativity

I had seen the power of the creative experience and the impact of the power of ownership, with young people reaching to create something unique, either in design or performance. That magical lightbulb moment: learning taking place right before my eyes.

I had seen how a pandemic had all but left them comatose, afraid to connect, collaborate, or even get close enough to relate. It was like watching their souls die a little.

I had seen how they bounced back with a furious hunger to connect, create, build relationships, and tell stories. That 2021-2022 school year will always be my most successful as an artist and educator.

Uniqueness of Human Creativity

Our creativity is as essential to our souls as the air we breathe, friends, and there is no way we are relinquishing the one thing that makes us unlike any other, as unique as fingerprints.

So, rather than losing the one thing that is truly ours, we must discover a way to be true to who we are in every way as we negotiate with intelligence we had no part in creating (yet did in every way) and how it changes the paradigm of our creative work, its effectiveness, efficiency, and scope of what we can accomplish.

A Friend's Inquiry

The corner turned for me when a good friend from my high school experience asked me what I knew about AI-driven learning. He wanted to build a system for his customers to learn what the product does and provide them with an AI Assistant who could help build understanding among clients.

This AI Assistant is a prime example of leveraging AI to increase response to the consumer feedback loop we've created. As we become more proficient in providing goods and services, customers will demand more face time with companies that fail to meet expectations. AI technology will help us shape customer expectations while speeding up processes. Nations incapable of scaling their use of AI most effectively will quickly fall behind in global markets.

The Weight of Responsibility

That's the worst-case scenario, but with the speed at which technology is developing, it's not impossible.

And that's what I was thinking about when I got off the first Zoom meeting for my AI for Learning course at the Digital Learning Institute. This is an important, urgent thing, and we must find out how it works and how it can help us keep up with the rest of the world because they know the urgency of this thing as well. That's the weight of our responsibility when utilizing generative artificial intelligence; we must figure out how it works.

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A Shift in Understanding

This is a new technological experience for many because for as long as they can remember, they've had "plug-and-play" technology. A new program comes out? All they have to do is install it, and it is ready with all of its features right at their fingertips to get the user exactly where they want to go as quickly as possible.

Is it any surprise that after a full generation of "plug and play," we no longer understand how to communicate with a tool that does not have all the answers ready to spill out into our waiting documents?

Familiarity with AI

As a theatre educator with twenty-three years of experience coaxing creative solutions from students over and over each year, with a new rotation of students to understand and develop a collaborative relationship every four years, AI felt like a VERY familiar process.

So, once I settled on a tool I liked (because not all LLMs are created equal), I began using the tool to develop the ATLAS International Learning Initiative with Wamiq Tughlaq from Karachi, Pakistan (how that happened is a whole other story).

Shaping the Conversation

Using what I believe to be one of the most ethically trained LLMs, I began shaping the conversation. Who was I? What did I want from the tool? How would I define the parameters of our collaboration? So many initial prompts had nothing to do with tasks related to the project but defining expectations, copying and pasting LinkedIn conversations, and asking the tool to analyze for connections I couldn't see (because I know my weakest areas of expertise).

I used the tool to develop concepts for the overall theme and define the ten most needed skills to safely navigate the Internet and leverage the experiences there for learning and growth. I built each learning mission from the ground up and created relevant activities the learner could participate in individually or collaboratively. So far, the Prologue unit prototype is complete, and each of the ten missions are outlined in the learning platform and need activities and details to be filled in. With AI, I've storyboarded, scripted, and rendered probably more than a dozen videos. Everything has been of fantastic quality, and the product is developing nicely. That's our first three months.

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A Global Learning Platform

This is all in an effort to launch a global, mobile learning platform that can be accessed on mobile devices wherever individuals may have access. We're on track to have the complete prototype of The Digital Ninja's Playbook: Mastering Your Internet Instincts by the end of November 2024 to have a viable pilot of the learning platform in Karachi, Pakistan, and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, that can be tested and launched by the end of July 2025.

AI has improved my creative productivity. I want to collaborate with other artists and learning designers doing the same work to discover the real impact of leveraging these machine-learning products in attempting to solve critical problems that are now within our grasp.

But here's the thing: AI isn't some magic wand we can wave and suddenly have all the answers. It's more like a new instrument in our creative orchestra. We need to learn its rhythms, its tones, its capabilities. And just like in theatre, where every performance is a dialogue between actor and audience, working with AI is a constant back-and-forth.

The Iterative Process

Sometimes it hits the right note perfectly, and other times... well, let's just say it can be as unpredictable as a first-year drama student on opening night. The key is in the iteration, the refining of our prompts, the careful curation of its outputs. It's a dance, really, and we're all still learning the steps.

But oh, when it works - when AI amplifies our creativity instead of replacing it - that's when the magic happens. That's when we can start to see solutions to problems we thought were out of reach. It's like suddenly having a super-powered brainstorming partner, one that never gets tired and is always ready with a new perspective.

A Call to Action

As we stand on this precipice of technological change, I can't help but feel a mix of excitement and responsibility. We have the chance to shape how AI is used in education, to ensure it enhances rather than diminishes the human experience of learning and creating.

So here's my call to action, friends: Let's not run away in confusion, shock, and fear of what we’ve created with this new technology. Let's engage with it, challenge it, mold it to serve our highest educational and creative ideals. Let's be the humans in the loop, guiding AI to amplify our innate creativity and problem-solving abilities.

Unleashing Creativity

Because at the end of the day, it's not about AI versus human creativity. It's about how we can use AI to unleash levels of human creativity we've never seen before. And that, my friends, is a story I can't wait to help write.

Unlike Frankenstein's creature, left to wander alone in a world it never asked to be part of, we have the opportunity - no, the responsibility - to guide our creation. To nurture it, to teach it, and to learn from it in turn. In doing so, we might just discover new depths to our own humanity.

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The Stage is Set

The stage is set, the players are ready, and the script is yet to be written. Are you ready to step into the spotlight and play your part in this unfolding drama? Because in this performance, we're all both the creators and the created, the teachers and the students, the humans in the loop of our own technological evolution.

The curtain is rising. It's time to act.

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Check out some of my favorite Substacks:

Terry Underwood’s Learning to Read, Reading to Learn: The most penetrating investigation of the intersections between compositional theory, literacy studies, and AI on the internet!!!

Suzi’s When Life Gives You AI: An cutting-edge exploration of the intersection among computer science, neuroscience, and philosophy

Alejandro Piad Morffis’s Mostly Harmless Ideas: Unmatched investigations into coding, machine learning, computational theory, and practical AI applications

Amrita Roy’s The Pragmatic Optimist: My favorite Substack that focuses on economics and market trends.

Michael Woudenberg’s Polymathic Being: Polymathic wisdom brought to you every Sunday morning with your first cup of coffee

Rob Nelson’s AI Log: Incredibly deep and insightful essay about AI’s impact on higher ed, society, and culture.

Michael Spencer’s AI Supremacy: The most comprehensive and current analysis of AI news and trends, featuring numerous intriguing guest posts

Daniel Bashir’s The Gradient Podcast: The top interviews with leading AI experts, researchers, developers, and linguists.

Daniel Nest’s Why Try AI?: The most amazing updates on AI tools and techniques

Riccardo Vocca’s The Intelligent Friend: An intriguing examination of the diverse ways AI is transforming our lives and the world around us.

Jason Gulya’s The AI Edventure: An important exploration of cutting edge innovations in AI-responsive curriculum and pedagogy.