Dear Raincatchers,
Summer “holiday” begins! Family and friends keep asking me “so there’s no work in these four months, yeah?” I’d go like, “Dream on! That’s just the beginning!” The beginning didn’t set off too well…
Rain from My (Un)Eventful Days
1 - 5 May 2023 | The Finale
The semester ended with two seminars I organised, both related to AI-assisted writing and feedback. The one on the 4th was delivered by Dr Lianjiang George Jiang from The University of Hong Kong. George focused on how undergraduate students would adopt automated written evaluation (AWE), from a sociocultural perspective in terms of “appropriation”, that is, how one uses specific tools through social mediation. Aside from students, George said teachers’ appropriation of such automated feedback is also necessary — after all, we can never take for granted that AWE can help perfect students’ writing, or motivate them to use them automatically.
Another talk was given by my former colleague Dr Wayne Wong, now Lecturer at School of East Asian Studies at The University of Sheffield. His talk was about the affordances and constraints of ChatGPT, and how he uses ChatGPT especially for scholarly writing as a martial arts film scholar. As we all know, however amazingly the tool is able to solve our 99 problems, the one problem is still accuracy. One of his key messages may perhaps upset less-experienced users: it actually takes an expert in a discipline to be able to use ChatGPT. I think I get it, for I echo Wayne’s reflection that, one needs to spend as much time “fact-checking” for that much time saved asking ChatGPT to do things for them.
Frankly, I use ChatGPT less these few days, as I’m thinking carefully how it is actually helping me save time. It helps me outline a blog, but it can’t complete the article without my insights; it can give me a marking rubric but can’t mark for me. I’m also wondering whether I should just be a “user” of GenAI, or a “creator” with some basic understanding of embedding it in apps I’m dreaming of developing.
Priorities, priorities…
8 - 12 May 2023 | I finally got “it”
In case you’re wondering why this newsletter comes slightly late, you might have guessed it right: I haven’t been able to process much after getting Covid last Tuesday. I was the “last survivor” in the family: even when my wife was infected last September, I managed to get away from it! I believe the “culprit” was one of my students, who did his exam as he fell sick that evening. But of course I’m not blaming him; just like influenza, one gets it from anyone anywhere anyway any day.
Lesson learnt: put on the mask when invigilating.
The first day felt worst: it started with a high fever and chills, and I didn’t have any energy to even go see a doctor. I had to wait until Tuesday evening to get a doctor — many patients got Covid too.
It’s the sixth day now; I still occasionally felt exhaustion, along with runny nose and coughing…
That’s why this fortnight’s newsletter is way shorter than the previous ones. I promise when my energy’s back, I’ll say a bit more about the articles I’ve read and the latest tools I’ve been using…
Other Rainbuckets
It’s been raining for some time here in Hong Kong. I’m not always the “sunshine” guy — I enjoy the gloomy vibe rainy days give me from time to time. The smell of petrichor, a view from the window in high-contrast film quality, and a personal soundtrack playing through my earbuds. My recent favourite goes to (London) Suede, from the Sci-fi Lullabies (1997) era… If you’re in the city with me, stay dry!
The main idea of this message: wearing your masks🤔
I have! I'm going to invigilate an exam this evening, so I'll have to be extra careful -- mask on!