Korea's Basic AI Law for Educators

 

Google Calendar Time Insights

#1 View in the left-side navigation

As some of you may know, I'm a fanatic about Google Calendar and have been for many years. I started really getting into using it back in 2010. At the time, I was working as an EdTech Coach full-time and it was an excellent way to organize my time. It also became a way to "justify" my job, because some segments of the school community were wondering why positions like mine exist. My calendar became a form of evidence that I could share to explain how my time was being used. As I moved to my next role as a Head of School, it was a form of accountability for the Board, faculty, and parents. During the next several jobs that I held, I continued to use Google Calendar to organize my time and also as a method of explaining my work to others. Which brings us to my current role as Director of Technology at St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju, where I am actually starting to use the color coding in calendar to track how and where my time is being used. If you haven't gotten this granular with Google Calendar, I am going to recommend that you do. The
visual quality of the data alone is helpful. As you can see in screenshot #1, this is what you see in Google Calendar on your left-side navigation. Using the "More insights" button will provide a new view, which is the "Time breakdown" panel. I find the "By color" option to be more useful for me, but you should

definitely experiment and find a system that works for you. One thing that I found was that I need to be careful with the different colors so that each one actually has a true meaning and allows me an opportunity to really document where my time is being used. For example, rather than specifically mentioning something like PowerSchool, I have the division of the school ES, MS, HS. When I do something, regardless of the program or tool used, I'm tracking which division I was doing it for, not that tool was used. This is a decision based on who I'm showing this data to later. Based on the population of each division, I want principals to be able to see how much of my time their division is getting. When it comes to my regular view in Google Calendar, I find the weekly view (screenshot #3) is more helpful to my job overall. Again, you should play around with different options to find the view that works best for your situation.

#3 Week view in Google Calendar

After using Google Calendar for over 15 years, I really can't imagine my work life without it. I have shared my calendar to my IT Department and Leadership Team, so they can all completely see it. The rest of the faculty and staff have access to see the "Tech Bytes" which are appointment slots for them to request direct support. As Gemini begins to rollout across the various Workspace tools, I'm excited what new possibilities will become available for organizing and documenting data about my schedule.

Build Your Own RPG with Gemini Gems

Everweave

This story begins with my love of Role Playing Games (RPGs) and I do love them. Growing up, I would purchase Dungeons & Dragons (D&D)materials all the time. I loved reading about the character classes and different races, about unique skills and abilities, about spells and monsters. It really captivated my imagination. Later as video games started developing, I enjoyed a variety of RPGs, but nothing really captured the feeling of world creation of old school table-top gaming. So when AI came along, I started wondering how RPGs would develop... And then I found Everweave. It is a great game and I highly recommend it, if you are into that sort of RPG (which I clearly am), but Everweave isn't cheap. Now I understand that building a game takes time and money and that developing an AI model is no easy feat and also requires money, so I'm not judging the Everweave folks. I get it, they need to make a return on their investment. I'm not here to bemoan the workings of our capitalist system. I paid; in fact, I paid twice. I purchased a chunk of 900 turns and then purchased a six month subscription with 1000 turns a month. I enjoy the game, but my wallet can only take so much abuse. Enter Gems.

After playing Everweave for a short time, it occurred to me that it is really just a slick AI model and that Gemini was offering the possibility to build my own version of the game. I went online and found a old, free version of the GURPS system. If you are unfamiliar, it is a generic gaming system that is meant to be adaptable to any sort of gaming world — fantasy, spy, space, etc. If you can think it, GURPS can help you make it into a RPG. It seemed like a good place to start. I created a Gem in Gemini.

RPG V1 prompt in Gemini Gems

I uploaded the PDF of the rules to Gems. Gave it title, a description, and then the prompt. Voila! A RPG was born. Now to be fair, Everweave is way more slick than mine, but mine is free and still fun. I can create as many new games and universes as I want by simply using the Gem and then renaming the new chat. After building this one, I was so happy with the results, I built three new characters all in different RPG universes. One was a typical fantasy adventure world where magic and monsters exist. Another is a modern day world where psionic powers exist. The third one is a pirate adventure in space. The options are really limitless... But, the GURPS rules are different from the old school D&D rules, so I continued to experiment.

RPG V2 prompt in Gemini Gems

I found some old, free D&D rules online to build from for the next iteration of the RPG. I used the D&D Basic Rules (2018) and the Dungeon Master D&D Basic Rules 0.1 as the core of the world creation, but I also added a photo of a map of a land called Caprona to give some context. This latest version is very true to the D&D rules, which is something I was really hoping to achieve. I'm going to begin trying to provide my DM with more guidance on how to play, but it is responsive to my instructions and questions about game play, which is amazing to see in action. I asked it about some calculations it did to arrive at a certain point in the game and it explained, in great detail, how it rolled the "dice" and I failed, but because my roll was close (I needed a 10 and he rolled a 9) he gave it to me because my characters background as a life-long criminal made the story odd to not be successful on this particular attempted roll. I found that fascinating. It really is "thinking" through the game play. Another time I recommended something and it said, "That is a great idea. Moving forward, I will adjust the game accordingly."

So get into Gemini Gems and build yourself an old school RPG game, you won't be disappointed with the results.

The Taming of the Spaces

 

All those Spaces in Gmail driving you crazy? Here is some help to tame the madness.

Reflecting on the Start

This image was created with Gemini.

It has been a whirlwind start. I know that is a cliche, but it is the truth. (There will be more cliches in this post, so if that bothers you — feel free to pass this post by without a read. Most of my blog is shouting into the void anyway, so your lack of engagement won't bother me.) Last week, we made it to the Chuseok holiday in Korea and it was the first time I felt like I could really catch my breathe. All transitions are difficult, even with the best laid transition plans in place, so the chaos isn't surprising or unexpected by me. This isn't my first rodeo as they say in Montana. But now that I'm having time to reflect, I want to look back at the successes and failures of the first few months as the Director of Technology at St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju.

Success #1: The team is coming together nicely. I need to commend my IT team. Jason, Kihyun, and Howon have really pulled together and stepped up to the challenges. It has been a pleasure to see. They seem happier, more confident, more ready to meet the problems we face daily. Teachers and students feel more comfortable asking for support. 

Success #2: Giving a facelift to some of the old and tired digital items. I have created a new digital subscriptions website where teachers can explore the digital tools that we have available. Previously it was a list of links on a Google Doc. Not very engaging and little explanation of the products. Teachers have limited time, so presenting some simple, quick explanations of what the tools actually are gives them the opportunity to decide if they want to invest time in learning about the tools. This led to another new website called Who-Should-I-Ask that explains the different roles of the IT and EdTech positions at SJA. Again, previously this was a Google Doc with an explanation of each person, but no photos or clear reason to look at it. Both are works in progress, but the change is an improvement.

Success #3: We made it to Chuseok! Things are working. Teachers are teaching, students are learning, and the admin team is making lasting changes for the better.

Failure #1: The paperwork involved in purchasing the digital tools is cumbersome. I didn't fully appreciate just how difficult the process was for Kihyun until really seeing it in action. Unfortunately, during summer, with the time difference and trying to squeeze in time to see family, the flow of the documents needed and the process wasn't completely clear to me. This led to confusion and frustration for both Kihyun and myself. But to be fair, this situation was mostly my fault. It was one part the system itself, and two parts my understanding of it. Once I was back on the ground in Jeju, I quickly started to see my errors and adjusted my approach. I was more careful about the quotes, invoices, and receipts that are all part of the documentation process. This definitely made things better, but the initially failure was mine.

Failure #2: There are always blindspots in any position, but PowerSchool is a definite one for me. I'm working on up-skilling my knowledge, but it is a huge hole. Luckily we have Jason King and Dave Griffith who both know the system, but they are continually having to "fix" things for me or help me understand the system better. I appreciate and respect their support, but I sincerely hope to reach a level where I will be able to know the answers with regard to PowerSchool.

I recall a job-a-like for tech directors and coaches hosted by Matt Harris for 21st Century Learning HK several years ago where he said we needed to lean on our skills, but be accountable to our deficits. Those words are just as wise and true today as they were when he said them back then. Thanks again for those words, Matt.