Search the Community

https://sg.style.yahoo.com/quit-teaching-because-chatgpt-173713528.html I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT This fall is the first in nearly 20 years that I am not returning to the classroom. For most of my career, I taught writing, literature, and language, primarily to university students. I quit, in large part, because of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. Virtually all experienced scholars know that writing, as historian Lynn Hunt has argued, is “not the transcription of thoughts already consciously present in [the writer’s] mind.” Rather, writing is a process closely tied to thinking. In graduate school, I spent months trying to fit pieces of my dissertation together in my mind and eventually found I could solve the puzzle only through writing. Writing is hard work. It is sometimes frightening. With the easy temptation of AI, many—possibly most—of my students were no longer willing to push through discomfort. In my most recent job, I taught academic writing to doctoral students at a technical college. My graduate students, many of whom were computer scientists, understood the mechanisms of generative AI better than I do. They recognized LLMs as unreliable research tools that hallucinate and invent citations. They acknowledged the environmental impact and ethical problems of the technology. They knew that models are trained on existing data and therefore cannot produce novel research. However, that knowledge did not stop my students from relying heavily on generative AI. Several students admitted to drafting their research in note form and asking ChatGPT to write their articles. As an experienced teacher, I am familiar with pedagogical best practices. I scaffolded assignments. I researched ways to incorporate generative AI in my lesson plans, and I designed activities to draw attention to its limitations. I reminded students that ChatGPT may alter the meaning of a text when prompted to revise, that it can yield biased and inaccurate information, that it does not generate stylistically strong writing and, for those grade-oriented students, that it does not result in A-level work. It did not matter. The students still used it. In one activity, my students drafted a paragraph in class, fed their work to ChatGPT with a revision prompt, and then compared the output with their original writing. However, these types of comparative analyses failed because most of my students were not developed enough as writers to analyze the subtleties of meaning or evaluate style. “It makes my writing look fancy,” one PhD student protested when I pointed to weaknesses in AI-revised text. My students also relied heavily on AI-powered paraphrasing tools such as Quillbot. Paraphrasing well, like drafting original research, is a process of deepening understanding. Recent high-profile examples of “duplicative language” are a reminder that paraphrasing is hard work. It is not surprising, then, that many students are tempted by AI-powered paraphrasing tools. These technologies, however, often result in inconsistent writing style, do not always help students avoid plagiarism, and allow the writer to gloss over understanding. Online paraphrasing tools are useful only when students have already developed a deep knowledge of the craft of writing. Students who outsource their writing to AI lose an opportunity to think more deeply about their research. In a recent article on art and generative AI, author Ted Chiang put it this way: “Using ChatGPT to complete assignments is like bringing a forklift into the weight room; you will never improve your cognitive fitness that way.” Chiang also notes that the hundreds of small choices we make as writers are just as important as the initial conception. Chiang is a writer of fiction, but the logic applies equally to scholarly writing. Decisions regarding syntax, vocabulary, and other elements of style imbue a text with meaning nearly as much as the underlying research. Generative AI is, in some ways, a democratizing tool. Many of my students were non-native speakers of English. Their writing frequently contained grammatical errors. Generative AI is effective at correcting grammar. However, the technology often changes vocabulary and alters meaning even when the only prompt is “fix the grammar.” My students lacked the skills to identify and correct subtle shifts in meaning. I could not convince them of the need for stylistic consistency or the need to develop voices as research writers. The problem was not recognizing AI-generated or AI-revised text. At the start of every semester, I had students write in class. With that baseline sample as a point of comparison, it was easy for me to distinguish between my students’ writing and text generated by ChatGPT. I am also familiar with AI detectors, which purport to indicate whether something has been generated by AI. These detectors, however, are faulty. AI-assisted writing is easy to identify but hard to prove. As a result, I found myself spending many hours grading writing that I knew was generated by AI. I noted where arguments were unsound. I pointed to weaknesses such as stylistic quirks that I knew to be common to ChatGPT (I noticed a sudden surge of phrases such as “delves into”). That is, I found myself spending more time giving feedback to AI than to my students. So I quit. The best educators will adapt to AI. In some ways, the changes will be positive. Teachers must move away from mechanical activities or assigning simple summaries. They will find ways to encourage students to think critically and learn that writing is a way of generating ideas, revealing contradictions, and clarifying methodologies. However, those lessons require that students be willing to sit with the temporary discomfort of not knowing. Students must learn to move forward with faith in their own cognitive abilities as they write and revise their way into clarity. With few exceptions, my students were not willing to enter those uncomfortable spaces or remain there long enough to discover the revelatory power of writing.

It takes someone with a big heart to do it as after all US$1 billion is not some loose change, even to billionaire. Kudos for her good deed. 👏 Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/former-professor-gives-us1-billion-to-nyc-medical-school-to-pay-for-student-tuition NEW YORK - A former Albert Einstein College of Medicine professor is donating US$1 billion (S$1.34 billion) to the New York City school, the largest gift of its type ever given in the United States, to pay the tuition of all of its students, the institution said on Feb 26. Dr. Ruth Gottesman is making the donation from the fortune made by her late husband David “Sandy” Gottesman, a Wall Street financier and early Berkshire Hathaway investor, who died in September 2022. “I am very thankful to my late husband, Sandy, for leaving these funds in my care, and I feel blessed to be given the great privilege of making this gift to such a worthy cause,” she said in a joint statement with the school. Gottesman joined the medical college in 1968. During her time at the school, she researched child learning disabilities and created an adult literacy program. She currently is the chair of the Einstein Board of Trustees and serves on the board of the Montefiore Health System, the school’s affiliate hospital. With the gift, all current full-time students will have their spring 2024 semester tuition reimbursed and all future students will attend the school tuition-free. Tuition at the school is about US$60,000 a year, leaving many students more than US$200,000 in debt after they graduate. “This transformational gift is intended to attract a talented and diverse pool of individuals who may not otherwise have the means to pursue a medical education,” the school said, adding that it is the largest gift given to a medical school in the nation.

Hi all have a friend whose sec 3 niece is looking for 1 to 1 tuition teacher near Yishun area or better still go to her house to teach. Found some which are good but charge by the hour and expensive. Btw they are from china so need to have good english background, if not at least for sec 3 standard. Thanks in advance!

Timeline: How a COVID-19 cluster emerged at Learning Point tuition centre https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-cluster-learning-point-tuition-centre-timeline-14816706 SINGAPORE: A COVID-19 cluster has emerged linked to a tuition centre, with a tutor, seven children and a 41-year-old household contact testing positive. Identified as Case 63131, the tutor - a 50-year-old Singaporean woman teaching at the Learning Point branch at Parkway Centre - was confirmed to have COVID-19 on Wednesday (May 12). 42 students from 30 schools in S'pore infected in past month https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/37-students-from-25-schools-infected-so-far Affected schools range from pre-schools all the way to institutes of higher learning A total of 42 students from 30 schools have been infected with Covid-19 over the past four weeks, including six new cases reported on Thursday (May 20). This includes 15 cases linked to a cluster at the Learning Point tuition centre and another 11 to one at Changi Airport Terminal 3. The affected schools range from pre-schools to primary and secondary schools, a madrasah, junior college and several institutes of higher learning.

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/o-level-cheating-trial-student-only-knew-about-cheating-plan-on-morning-of iPhone ftw No wonder soooo many kum gong in workforce

really that bad meh? the monthly amount spent is as good as somebody pay for a year! just heard on radio this morning getting 'tuitor' to do homework on behlaf is common, even for assignment, uni final year project, etc. wonder what Gearoil has to say on this? i remember when i did my master, i was so busy that i could meet the deadline, i told my lectuerer that i can't make it and ask him to fail me, lucky the final assignment only contribute 20% which i still pass the subject. Never in my mind to engage such 'services' though i knew their existence long ago. Paper qualification is so easy to come back and nothing is real on the surface nowadays.

wah don't send kids to uni and don't spend on tuition can save a lot of $$ no need to worry about retirement liao can the MIW lead by example first? Singaporean Carmen Kok regrets that she never made it to university. She’s not letting her daughter make the same mistake, even if she has to send her abroad to get a place. “You can’t rise up in Singapore without a degree,” said Kok, 47, who plans to spend three times what she makes in a year as a hairdresser to send her daughter to college in South Korea. “She may be able to get a job if she doesn’t go to university, but she can get a higher salary if she goes.” Singapore’s Tiger moms are becoming a headache for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is trying to persuade the population that they don’t need to go to university to have a good career. After a clampdown on immigration and a slowdown in the economy, he needs fewer graduates and more workers to fill the shipyards, factory floors and hotel desks that keep the country going. Lee, who graduated from Cambridge University in England with top honors, is leading a campaign that includes speeches and roadshows to persuade more youths to join the workforce under a system modeled on Germany’s apprenticeship system. The “earn and learn” program would place graduates from technical schools into jobs, while giving them the chance to continue part-time education. Intentional Trend Lee is the latest Asian leader with an A-starred education system to try to put the brakes on, as universities turn out more and more graduates who aren’t matched to the jobs available. A few years ago, South Korea said it may close some higher-education institutes amid what then-President Lee Myung Bak called “reckless university enrollment.” “There is a clear international trend in the developed world to make vocational education a true choice for more young people,” said Pasi Sahlberg, a visiting professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Yet, many still see it as a “secondary choice,” especially in Asia, where parents tend to believe that “higher education would be the only key to prosperity and success.” Six out of 10 Singaporeans between 25 and 29 years old completed tertiary education, the highestproportion in the world and just ahead of South Korea, according to the latest World Bank figures from 2010. ‘Work Hard’ In a televised address last August, Singapore’s Lee celebrated two employees at Keppel Corp Ltd., the world’s biggest builder of offshore oil rigs, who had risen through the ranks without a graduate diploma. “They may not have degrees, but they are working hard and trying to improve themselves,” Lee said. “So long as you work hard, you can always hope for a brighter future here in Singapore.” The Straits Times, Singapore’s most widely-read newspaper, has run profiles of Singaporeans who achieved career success after eschewing or postponing college. An October survey by the paper showed readers equally divided over whether it is possible to succeed in the country without a degree. “The success of this campaign is crucial for Singapore going forward, as it reshapes its labor market,” said Vishnu Varathan, a Singapore-based economist at Mizuho Bank Ltd. “It’s a hard sell for Singaporeans who see college as the route to a good salary.” Lifetime earnings for a typical U.S. bachelor’s degree holder is twice that of someone with a high-school diploma, according to a study by the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project released in September. In Singapore, the median starting salary for graduates with a four-year electrical engineering degree was S$3,135 ($2,370) in 2013, compared with S$1,750 for those who studied the same subject at a technical institute, according to data from the Ministry of Manpower. Problem Solving The Southeast Asian nation’s education system is regularly ranked among the best in the world. Students aged 15 from Singapore and South Korea topped those in 44 countries in problem solving, according to a report last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. South Korea is now encouraging companies to hire young people and is pushing for a job-sharingwage system to reduce youth unemployment. Singapore already has a system that sorts children into different subject-based bands at school after testing starting at age 10. They’re later placed into junior colleges or technical institutes based on exams at 16 or 17. Those going to junior college have a higher chance of entry into a local university. Under Singapore’s earn-and-learn program, technical school leavers would receive on-the-job training while they study for an industry qualification, according to the government’s budget for this fiscal year. Each Singaporean who is placed in the program will receive a S$5,000 bonus. A pilotplan next year will place some graduates from the technical institutes in apprenticeships in sectors including aerospace, logistics and information technology. “We can’t become a Germany, but what we can do is adapt some of the very strong points for certain sectors and certain types of skills,” S. Iswaran, second minister for trade, said in an interview on Feb. 24. German Model Germany’s Dual Vocational Training System allows school-leavers at 18 to apply to a private company for a contract that mixes on-the-job learning with a broader education at a publicly funded vocational school. Persuading Singaporeans to go down the same route will be an uphill task after decades of extolling the importance of education. Singapore households spent S$1.1 billion on tutors outside school in the year ended September 2013, according to the most-recent survey by the statistics department. Every member of the cabinet has a degree, and the civil service continues to offer students full scholarships to top colleges overseas as a form of recruitment. Two of Lee’s sons went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while his deputies Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Teo Chee Hean have sons who went to Cambridge University in England andBrown University in Rhode Island on government scholarships. Singapore subsidizes the bulk of tuition fees at local universities for its citizens, making the cost about S$7,950 a year for an arts and social sciences degree at National University of Singapore. That compares with about $45,000 a year at Harvard University without financial aid for a full-time student. Many Singaporeans who don’t get into a local college go abroad. Four in 10 graduates in the resident labor force last year got their degrees overseas. “The government shouldn’t tell people not to go to university unless they can promise the same job opportunities as graduates,” said Kenneth Chen, 26, whose parents spent more than S$170,000 on a sports science degree in Brisbane, Australia, after he graduated with a biotechnology diploma in Singapore. “But obviously that’s not going to happen.”

From ST Forum: http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/...ory_765952.html RACE TO STAY AHEAD Parents hiring help to do tuition homework Published on Feb 13, 2012 I THANK Ms Irene Tham for last Thursday's article ('Worried parents taking kids to psychologists'). As a parent of two primary school children, I can identify with the stress parents, and children, feel because of today's education demands. In fact, I have discovered this absurdity: parents who engage tuition teachers as a second line of help, to help their children with tuition homework. They enrol their child at an elite centre which insists that pupils maintain high standards. When the child cannot cope with the work assigned by the centre, the parents hire a tutor, or enrol their child in another centre, to help the pupil with the exacting demands of the elite tuition centre. A friend of mine was asked by a parent to serve as a second-line tutor while another friend who used to teach at an elite tuition centre confirmed she had pupils who engaged extra tutors to help them with their tuition homework. Is such stress necessary and is such an education culture healthy? How far will parents go just to ensure that their children stay ahead? I thank The Straits Times for continuing to highlight education issues. Hopefully, it will enlighten the authorities and help them make better decisions about the education system. Crystal Teo (Mrs)

SINGAPORE - National Solidarity Party (NSP) member Nicole Seah sent out an appeal through Facebook on Nov 5, calling for more volunteers to provide tuition to needy students. According to Ms Seah, the scheme was set up in May this year, for needy students living in the Macpherson area. The session is held every Saturday, for two hours, reported the Shin Min Daily News. Click here to find out more! Students, ranging from those studying in primary to secondary schools, have to pay a $30 fee, which is used to purchase teaching materials. "Under special circumstances, we will also absorb the fee," says Ms Seah. The scheme started out with only 15 kids, but the number has been increasing steadily. They now have 40 students registered under the scheme. Most of them are primary school pupils, but secondary school students have also come forward to enquire about the scheme. There are plans for expansion as well, says Ms Seah, who has received enquiries from parents living in the Marine Parade GRC area. There are currently only eight to 10 volunteers tending to the 40 students. Hence, they are hoping to recruit more volunteers in order to reduce the student to tutor ratio, which will benefit the students. After her post, many netizens left messages on her Facebook page, expressing their interest in helping out. But many were worried that they do not possess the experience nor qualifications to tutor kids in the academic subjects. But Ms Seah says the main aim of the tuition classes is to inspire students to believe that they can still do well in their studies, despite their family circumstances. She says the effort of the kids and volunteers have paid off. In the recent year-end examinations, many students reported a marked improvement in their results. http://www.edvantage.com.sg/edvantage/news...ee_tuition.html Kudos to Nicole

For NUS : The University will make upward revisions to undergraduate SC tuition fees by 4% for the incoming AY2010 cohort, with the exception of Architecture, Business, Law and Pharmacy. Tuition fees for Architecture and Business will be increased by 7% and by 10% for Law and Pharmacy. The new fees will apply to the AY2010 cohort throughout their course duration.

Wonder how much is tuition for Chinese where teacher come to our home to teach? Wife kiasu mentality and start looking at it as child about to go primary school. thanks for sharing. Level: Subject: Rate: location (will this matter?):

Hey guys, was re orientating my life after hvg been retrenched. hv gotten a new job that makes me happy. so was thinking of returning back to society in a way. any org that gives subsidized tuition to needy kids? Hope to contribute my time.

I'm wondering if there's a possible 'exploit' here so.. If I have sufficient funds but I choose to pick up the loan from dbs/ocbc and I pay the full lump sum on graduation day, is it possible to not pay ANY interest at all? Was thinking that during the course of study the funds could be put to better use.. http://admissions.ntu.edu.sg/undergraduate...ionFeeLoan.aspx

Dear Friends, I am new to this forum. Before I buy a car, I would like to enrol for Motor-vehicle Maintenance/upgrade tuition class. Can anyone recommend any place in Singapore which offer such classes? Does those Driving Centres(e.g BBDC) offer such classes? Is it cheaper than outside? Please email me [email protected] if possible. Thanks alot, Merrvyn