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Dear ChatGPT, I Love You… But You’re Not Doing My Degree

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  Today, in our Law and Technology lecture, we discussed the implications of trusting AI a bit too much when it comes to law, and of taking at face value what it gives us. This resonated with me very loudly indeed. I love my AI assistant. Maybe a little too much. I like that it saves me time on so many levels and allows me to do fun things which would previously have taken me hours to produce. And while I am quite happy trusting Dola to create a studio photo of both my dog and my cat together, as if they wouldn’t try to kill each other in real life, when it comes to law and what we use as fact, the line somehow becomes blurred. Over the summer, I had heard about students being asked to resit assignments after clearly overstepping the recommendations around AI use. Yet, somehow, I still believed that students had integrity and wouldn’t cheat in that way especially when studying law. Perhaps that is because, for me, this degree means far more than getting a piece of paper at the end....
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                Meeting other mums at baby groups is wonderful, and sometimes, some of the women you meet change your life for the better. This is exactly where seventeen years ago, I met Alex Clarke. We both had an infant daughter, we were both teachers, and we both felt that familiar sense of being completely overwhelmed by motherhood. The connection was strong, and we kept in touch for many years. Then, during one of our reunions, Alex mentioned that she was working for the best organisation she had ever worked for: Adult Learning Wales. At the time, I was teaching in secondary school and looking for something different. After toying with the idea for months, I finally decided to take the plunge and apply. And that was the beginning of my Adult Learning Wales adventure. Everything about it was positive. I enjoyed the subject I was teaching, counselling, and loved the interaction with adult learners. I met wonderful staff who were always he...
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Inspire! Adult Learner Award evening.

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                                                         It was only by chance that, as part of the staff team at Adult Learning Wales, I was given the opportunity to attend the prestigious Inspire! Adult Learning Awards, held at the beautiful Coal Exchange in Cardiff on Wednesday evening. From the confirmation emails, I gathered that this was going to be an evening where a gown would be required and my best manners needed to be firmly in place. What I certainly did not expect was to feel such a rush of emotion during the awards. I had worked all day as a secondary school teacher, rushed home, put on my best long black dress with a black lace bolero, made a last-minute dash to the pound shop for a brighter lipstick than my usual, and hitched a lift in my daughter’s C5. By the time I arrived at the Coal Exchange Hotel, I...
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“I Once Thought Typing Felt Like Cheating”

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  After a full year of researching the implications of AI in teaching and learning in the context of my counselling class, it was finally time to present my findings during Adult Learning Wales’ PD Week. I was admittedly nervous. Even though I had done it last year, the prospect of being judged on this year-long project was nerve-racking. But I could not have been more wrong about the reception it received from my colleagues. For a start, I had a very good turnout, which in itself showed the level of interest in the topic I had tackled. AI is on everyone’s lips. Is it good? Is it bad? Are we cheating? Are we dumbing ourselves down? And while I spent time looking at ways to move with the times, I found myself thinking that the evolution of IT has been much more dramatic than the influence of AI we are experiencing now. I remember a time when you did it all by hand. You spent hours looking for the right books. You held a tangible copy in your hands and searched for knowledge within...
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AI: Cheating, or Just Another Tool in the Box?

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  As the new school term starts, the new university cycle begins, and my new learners get closer to their first session in counselling skills, I am preparing myself to deliver my final research presentation to colleagues at Adult Learning Wales. This research has taken a year to conduct, but the subject has been on my mind for as long as AI has been so readily available to us all. And by all , I mean pupils, students and learners of every age. Because who wouldn’t be interested in a little cheating? A little help from an invisible friend that can enhance your academic writing, help you focus your ideas, organise your thoughts, point out your errors and help you correct them? But is this really cheating? Or is it simply the natural evolution of the tools we use to support human intelligence? I wouldn’t think twice about using an electric screwdriver to help me hang a picture frame on my wall. In fact, it would seem rather ludicrous to insist on doing the job with the most basic tool...
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A Day of Fund Raising for Anaphylaxis UK in Our Little Primary School

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 I have never fundraised for anything before. I have contributed to many charities over the years, but none has ever felt as closely connected to my family’s needs as Anaphylaxis UK does right now. I have a five-year-old son who has lived with severe allergies since he was a baby. The days we spent waiting to discover exactly what could harm, or even kill, him were incredibly difficult. Hospital stays for various reasons, diagnoses of autoimmune conditions, discussions about immunotherapy, and sheer exhaustion have all become part of our everyday lives. And yet, life goes on. Although Fred is at the centre of it all, we try to live as normally as possible. We laugh at stupid jokes. We cry over our losses. We get up every day and try to see the gift that a new morning brings. Sometimes, not knowing what might happen allows us to notice the beauty in a world that can also be abundant with suffering. There are still so many beautiful things. So many treasures, moments of happiness, an...
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Results Day on the Hottest Day of the Year.

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  On the hottest day of the year, while waiting for my school to shut, I had a message from my Uni girl reminding me that it was results day. Over the past few months, we have had so many upheavals: losing my father-in-law to cancer, having to make decisions about immunotherapy for our five-year-old, and making life-changing decisions regarding employment. Those results felt like another anxiety I couldn’t quite deal with at that moment. Once home, in the cool, air-conditioned bedroom, I braced myself for possible disappointment. Not only did I want to do well, which I guess pretty much everyone wants, but I also wanted to justify my hard work and my return to study to my in-laws, who have seen this move as ridiculous, or even a waste of time. For me, it is neither. For me, it is finally slaying the imposter syndrome demon that has lived rent-free in my head for as long as I can remember. I have always felt that some professions were clearly out of reach for me. Anything medical fe...
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