Hi Reader,

I am sending this to you on FRIDAY morning before a student meeting and my freshman First Year Experience course but I will share I made it through the first week of another school year as I firmly assume my new program coordinator role. All in all, a fun week.

After nearly three decades of teaching college, you might think the first week would feel pretty routine by now. It doesn't (does it ever??).

There are new students, new personalities, new classes, and inevitably a few moments when I wonder why something that worked perfectly last semester suddenly isn't working at all. 😄

But something felt different this year.

In one of my classes, I watched a group of first-year students start talking to each other during an activity. Later, some of those same students showed up in another class and sat together.

I asked if they knew each other before college.

Nope. They had just met.

That made me smile.

After everything I saw during and immediately after COVID, particularly with students sometimes struggling just to talk with one another, it was good to see. It was also a reminder that some of the most important things happening in a classroom aren't necessarily on the syllabus.

Which brings me to something a little different I tried for this week's podcast.

I let the technology do the interviewing. It is something I have been wanting to try.

If you've listened to Mr. Fred's Tech Talks, you know I've joked about the name having two meanings. I talk about technology, but ever since I saw C-3PO and R2-D2 in Star Wars as a nine-year-old kid, I've also been waiting for the technology to actually talk back.

It took almost 50 years, but here we are.

For this episode, Milo, the name I've given my AI assistant in ChatGPT, interviewed me about my first week back in the classroom.

I wasn't quite sure where the conversation would go, and that's what made it fun.

At one point, Milo asked what people might not realize professors think about after the students leave the classroom. That one made me think.

Even after all these years, I still sometimes walk out of a classroom wondering:

"Did I land that class today?"

Did they get it? Did I lose them somewhere? Did the activity work? Did I create something they'll actually remember?

Professors are human too. Sometimes an activity works beautifully. Sometimes it flops. And sometimes you walk out thinking, "Well...I'll be doing THAT differently tomorrow."

Milo and I ended up talking about that, students making connections, teachers being willing to experiment, the role AI should and shouldn't play in learning, and why I think the simple phrase "show me" is becoming more important as AI gets better.

👉 [Listen to: My AI Interviewed Me About the First Week of College]​

​https://www.getmecoding.com/ai-interview-first-week-college/​

TECH CHALLENGE

There's also a Tech Challenge in this episode that I'd love for you to try this week.

Ask someone who's starting something new:

"What are you curious about right now?"

Then just listen.

And if you're the one starting something new, ask yourself the same question. Find one thing you don't understand yet and explore it. Use AI to help you understand it if you'd like, but don't ask it to do all the exploring for you.

Tinker a little.

That's where some of the best learning happens.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Keep playing, keep tinkering, keep exploring, and most importantly, keep asking questions.

Keep learning and keep tinkering, Mr. Fred

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P.S. I'm curious about something too. Milo did a pretty good job in the interviewer's chair. Should I let him interview me again sometime? Just hit reply and tell me what you think.