SignalsAZ.com Prescott News Podcast - Yavapai College is Embracing Innovation: AI and Emerging Technologies

Episode Date: December 29, 2024

Send us a text and chime in!In this special edition of the SignalsAZ podcast discuss how Yavapai College uses AI and how it can help you in your everyday life. Guy Roginson and Robin Bryce discuss Yavapai College's use of AI tools like ChatGPT and Google's Notebook LLM in various applications, including brainstorming, writing, and content creation. They also highlights innovative programs such as virtual reality in biology classes and the Media and Extended Reality (MXR) program, which teaches students to create immersive experiences. The central theme is the college's embrace of emerging technologies to enhance learning and productivity, aiming to democratize education and empower students and faculty.Check out the CAST11.com Website at: https://CAST11.com Follow the CAST11 Podcast Network on Facebook at: https://Facebook.com/CAST11AZFollow Cast11 Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/cast11_podcast_network

Hey, we're going to jump right into a special edition of Signalsazee.com podcast with Robin Bryce of Yopai College and all that she's doing in terms of innovation and AI over there. So let's jump in. What is going on? In my world over at Yavapai? Yeah. Oh, pretty amazing stuff I would have to say.

I think that I get to be in charge of some pretty cool. In charge is not the right word. Lead, help, be a cheerleader for some pretty good. cool projects. Right now, I think the most exciting thing is our win coalition, and it's the What is Next Coalition. What's Next? And that's what we have, our eyes on the future over at Yavapai College. After all, we're, you know, educating students, getting them ready for tomorrow and what's out there. So keeping our own eyes on the horizon to see what signals exist to tell us what may be coming down the pike so we can prepare ourselves and prepare our students. A lot of that

is obviously AI. I think it's one of the hugest talks right now. It's been around for a minute, but November 2022, whenever chat GPT dropped, it really changed the game. So just sharing a lot of those tools and how it can make our work lives more efficient, how it can be helpful and beneficial for students as they're learning. I mean, gosh, the things that I learn on the daily just by engaging with AI, practicing my Spanish or I don't know how to do this thing and just typing in questions into the chat GPT to get some answers. Or using it, were you using it. Were you using chat, GPT extensively to write better emails. It helps.

It doesn't replace what we're writing, but it also gives us ideas. So we'll ask for a business plan. Like we're working on our 2025 budget. Actually, we just finished it. And so some of those missions and narratives will give it the prompts. And it gives us inspiration like, oh, I didn't think about that. Oh, I'm missing that. So that's where we're using it is it speeds up.

I would say the start. Right. Of that creative process or even things like business plans, emails. I've written emails that I knew were important. I'm like, what am I missing here? Can I make it more concise and more engaging? What I worry about is it's so marketed right now and that people are going to take it for granted. Right.

As opposed to no, it's a really great tool. figure out how you can use it to create efficiencies. I think that's what you're doing over YC. Yeah, I would say that's part of it, but I loved what you said about, it really is about the potential that exists there and the possibilities. It's not really like an answer tool,

and I don't think we should be using that as completely as answers, but as a think partner, as a brainstorming partner, as, you know, they talk about how AI can imagine things. What do they call it? Hallucinations, right? But that's maybe kind of one of the cool things about it, if you're going forward for the possibilities and you're asking questions about what potentially could the future look like, having it hallucinate about what the future is or having it

imagine difficult conversations that you might need to have with someone or imagine a plan for how can we execute this grandiose thing. And within there somewhere are nuggets of ideas that as the human element, as the human interacts with the AI can then begin to, you know, use their brain and develop those kind of plans and ideas. And I think that's great. Yeah, you said brainstorming. I've always said to myself, I'm going to be bounce this off a partner, but one of my coworkers isn't in. So I might say, okay, I'm going to continue the process that I'm working on right now,

and I'll bounce the idea off a chat, GPT, and it'll give me ideas that I had thought of or I wasn't educated on that I'll research a little bit more. And it helps me continue production. Yes. If maybe there's not that person there that I thought was there. So for me, it's another thing in the rim to bounce an idea off of. Right. And that you'd creatively use the tool that way that I'm finding more and more resourceful.

Yeah. One tool I know we had talked earlier before we began this podcast is, you know, about keeping the human element and, you know, the possibility of people out of jobs and stuff like that, jokingly, but also a really cool tool. Google has come out with Notebook L.M. Have you seen this yet? Have you played with it? We're playing around with, there was a bubbles.

or something that was a note taker during meetings. Right. We'll just consolidate your whole meeting and it'll even give you the deliverables. Right. Something I don't know what this is. But Noble Gillam, again, it's a way to, you know, you feed in information and you can take notes with it and ask questions. But the cool part about it is it will generate a podcast for you that has two people

talking about this topic. And we've heard generated voices with 11 labs and different things like that. And sometimes they can sound stiff. And sometimes you think like, oh, I can hear the AI in there. This is one of the first tools that I listen to that I'm like, oh, that's, that's wild. I mean, there's emphasis. It's just like the two of us talking and interrupting each other and emoting on what each other is saying.

It's kind of interesting. It's a cool way to digest information. By Google. Yeah. Notebook LM. Check it out. Yeah. So literally you could be listening to somebody else's meeting or conversation about

learn something. Right. And that's what podcasts are. Right. You can take the dry and the dry. I don't mean, the, I mean, information is very exciting. but you can take things that are lengthy. No, there's some boring stuff that's really helpful.

But you can take, you know, my friend did it. She took a manual for her Toyota car and threw it in there. And it came back with a podcast that was like engaging and entertaining, this 14-minute podcast of two people like, yes, and, you know, the Toyota, it mentions, blah, blah, blah, and it just was, it was pretty well. That could be the future manuals because whoever reads how to use their car or whatever, which is the most important. It is. No, he doesn't count.

He's a research guy. That's why he's smart, right? But if you think about it, all people, you know this way better than I do because you're an educator. Everyone learns differently, right? So how do you engage those people? I'm a listener. Right. I learned that I retain stuff better when I hear it.

I can, obviously can read, but I'm not a great reader. but I realized from high school, I remember everything I heard. Right. I don't know what that is. That's just me. No, but you're speaking to universal design for learning. Exactly. When, you know, as an instructor, because I'm an adjunct instructor, and even speaking with

our faculty, you want to make sure that you have things in your courses that allow people to learn, whether you're an auditory learner, a visual learner, kinesthetic learner. So having these different kind of tools that can cut down on the time that a teacher needs to create these different ways for students to engage in this information, right? I'm creating my original notes, my original lecture, but maybe this is a different way for them to absorb it. You can also feed it into different resources to create slide deck so students can have like a PowerPoint presentation with it. You can create songs, you know, using Suno that will create lyrics and songs based on your notes. I mean, there's just a ton of different ways to.

So I have a lot of lyrics. Yes. right. So if I take my lyrics and I can marry it to, because I don't know anybody that can write music. Right. I just was wondering. You're like, can I actually write a song? Yes. Suno, check out Suno, A-I-S-U-N-O. It could create podcast jingles. It can create, you know, songs with lyrics. And you type in, I want a pop song. I want a classical song. I want a, you know, orchestral song. And it's, there's just really cool tools out there to play and see the possibilities. Again, not always the answers.

Like, please don't just take these things and throw it out there on the radio and go, look, I created a song. But just different ways to engage with these different tools and learn about the possibilities that are out there. I think it's interesting. So what have been some wins for you over at YC since you've been there? Because I know you're just so enthusiastic and you're engaging and you got a lot going on. What are some of things that have been wins for you over there since you started?

Well, I would say the first thing, when I started. in this new role as special programs manager was the immersive learning in the VR. And we've really integrated that into a lot of our classes, a lot of our teachers are using it in their classes for students to learn, again, with that universal design for learning, learning about these different just content knowledge in different ways, engaging in these virtual environments. So that's been, that's been really great. And also reaching out to the community. Can you give an example of the VR that you're talking about? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so right now we have Biology 205, where we have students, our instructor has set up like a lot of different experiences with the heart, with the skeletal system.

And students can go in there and take sticky notes basically and label the different parts of the heart, right? So I can do an autopsy, but I don't have to breathe the formaldehyde. We actually have an anatomage table that's actually an anatomy table that is true anatomy and people can dissect. I remember old school biology. It's like, oh, we had the formaldehyde. Which is a part of the experience. I mean, they still use it, right, in real life. Well, even with VR, you know, it's interesting.

We don't necessarily have this at the college. But training for like EMS and things like that, they'll do, not only do you see what's going on and you can hear what's going on, but then they also have olfactory simulations that go through because when you show up in an accident, things can be pretty traumatic, right? So the site sounds, smells that you would hear in an accident. And that's kind of the purpose of one of the purposes of VR of these. immersive environment. So they're actually using olfactory technology, as you say, sense and smells. Right. Because isn't that, correct me if I'm wrong, isn't that the strongest form of

memory is olfactory? I've heard that before. What's a, what's a, what's a, what you smell is exactly, it's a right locks in in your memory. I've definitely heard that before. I still remember that smell of that. I had this little plastic ball. It was probably toxic back there. This isn't like the late 60s. Oh, the smell of vinyl. That was in, it was spark. It was sparking. It was sparking. darkly inside, but it had that really kind of pungent plastic smell that was in the bathtub all the time. I still remember that smell like it was yesterday. Yes. I can appreciate that and understand that. That sounds weird, but I don't think it's weird. I think, you know, you smell those smells and immediately you're taken right back to that moment in time. Sometimes

you'll be walking around and you'll catch a whiff of a plastic ball at Walmart and all of a sudden you're, you know, back in the bathtub. Nowadays you probably be labeled with don't lick. Don't put it in your bathtub. Don't bathe with it. Yeah, we survived. You know, we survived. Well, tangential from these immersive experiences is that MXR program that I had was mentioning to you earlier before we began this and the media and extended reality. So not only do we want our students to engage in these experiences in the classroom, but as this emerging technology, immersive technology is the future, we want our students to be able to create these experiences. So we've created a curriculum. We've created a program that ends in a certificate where students

learn about coding. They learn about architecture of immersive experiences. They learn how to create 3D models, whether that be from photographs or whether building it from scratch and some of these 3D modeling software is like Blender or using Unity or using Unreal Engine. And they create these experiences that then they can

output into a VR world. And the Capstone project of that is pretty cool where they'll basically are project managers working with a client. And hopefully those clients or could be on our campus, could be talking glass media, maybe you want some sort of immersive experience. Absolutely. And our students would create these experiences as part of their last class in the curriculum.

So that's been really exciting. That's definitely like a big W, I think, for us over there. AI, bringing AI across the college has been super exciting. Just innovation in general. I love to be. Great timing. Right. We have a class over at the college taught by Philip Reed that in partner with Intel, where

we are, you know, teaching students about AI and, you know, the foundations of AI. And who knows where that's going to go as we continue to develop our computer science curriculum and computer science programs, as well as just how it can be used by faculty to help students, by students to help themselves, by staff to improve efficiency at the college. So that's been super fun. I just get to talk to a lot of people and share some nerdy stuff. I know where my mind goes with all this stuff is, you know, back in 2004, five, six, Facebook was buzz. bubbling up, electronic newsletters were bubbling up. Basically, the start of the democratization of media and how it was taken out of the hands

of the big agencies and the data houses. It was made available to the end user, the regular person, the business owner, the individual. And now we're able to target our ads to any demographic or lat long we want with the click-foot button for 25 bucks. Right. Right. Where I see VR going is the technology is so much more advanced now and fast and so easy to use and accessible.

Yes. That is democratizing education. Yes. The technology is allowing the student to go farther, faster, and deeper. Yes. And as well as the institution itself. So I see your colleges like a community college like Yavai. by you guys being able to provide advanced training

where normally you probably wouldn't be able to get that out of college. And now it's becoming accessible. So to me, it seems like it's democratizing education. And to even go further, what I totally see, and it's already happening in the world of VR, as much like happen, you know, you needed to be a video maker in order to make videos. needed to be a web designer in order to make web, you know, in order to make web pages and stuff.

But exactly this, the lowering the barrier to entry of some of these tools where it's become drag and drop or, you know, you need less coding. The programs to build these things are becoming a little bit easier to navigate and get into. Of course, you know, knowing code and stuff, you can do deeper and more things, but, you know, definitely on a enough, no enough to be dangerous kind of level, people are able to use these tools. And so, you go get a job, hey, I'm a realtor and I know how to make immersive experiences. Hey, I'm a car salesman and I know how to make. I'm a teacher and I know how to make. And I think that this just helps people become more employable. And it will be a skill set that it's almost, I don't want to say

every day because not everybody can make web design even with the drag and drop. But they're always, I think people worry about, oh, you know, we're going to lose these jobs. Really, you're going to create more jobs. I think it's going to move the economy quicker. Yeah. But it also comes down to now people have to go back to what's most important. Yeah. And that's a story.

Oh, yes. Can't make that up. And that personal experience, that personal story is what people connect with, right? That's where the value is. You can have all the traffic. But what is that transaction and value between the person who is looking and the person that has that story? to fulfill that need.

That's why it's so interesting listening to you. In our world, we're probably using right now three or four AI programs, and we're waiting to find that next thing for efficiency is just listening to all the different areas that you guys are touching right now as a college and an institution. It's fascinating. It's very cool. One of my colleagues, Ryan Gray, he always says we punch above our weight and we really do. You know, we might be this, quote, little community college in rural northern Arizona,

but we are so much more than that, you know. We've always known it. I don't look at you guys as a college or an educational institution. I said this at a meeting with Dr. Ryan there, who had a birthday this week. Yes. Happy birthday, Dr. Ryan. It was yesterday. She had a birthday, right? Okay. Awesome. Is you're a community builder, just like our parent company is a community builder. You guys are building minds and careers and lives. And without that, we don't have community. It's a core part of the community. And to see under Dr. Ryan's direction and just over the years of previous leadership, how the direction you guys have gone. And just in the past few years, I've noticed a big difference in what's happening, how you're progressing,

four-year programs you guys are employing your engagement with the community your leadership those different i'm just starting to see you guys also everywhere yeah what tyler is doing in marketing has has been fantastic our partnership in terms of the storytelling um and what you guys are doing is a core part of the community so i never yeah you're definitely a college you're definitely an educational institution but for me you're you're a community builder first I would agree with that. And I think that we love those community partnerships and where we are in the community and that hub and that space that can provide answers that can provide support, that can provide education, that can provide entertainment. You know, we are, I think, integrated into the community and becoming more and more so. And you're right under the leadership of Dr. Ryan, who is such a visionary and just sees the potential and the possibilities that are there and, you know, leans on the people that can help a lot of those. visions become reality just across the college, not just in the things that I'm doing and the things that I touch, but so many things across the college are just innovative and moving forward

and moving fast just under supportive leadership. And that's really, you know, it takes a supportive leader to help things, you know, to see the possibility that's there and say, hey, what do you think? Yeah, I think that's a great idea. All right, let's do this. Let's move forward on this. And it's been really exciting to be a part of that. That sounds much more entrepreneurial over there now. Yeah, yeah, I would agree with that. I definitely think that entrepreneurship is a big part of, like, what we're doing, you know, that internal building, those internal ideas growing. Yeah. Will you, I'm going to pitch something to you.

Okay, throw, I'm ready for it. This is such a fast-moving section of technology and business and social impact, all that. How do we get you coming back on a regular basis to talk about AI, the college, technology, recommended programs and helpful to the college. Maybe you want to share with the community. Help with community, not just at the college. Yeah. I got to, please, give me a 10-minute tool of the week.

I'll definitely come back here. 10-minute tool of the week. I love that. So, all right, done. We'll figure that out whether you come in or call in. Doesn't matter. I just think that would be super useful because I know we'll learn something along the way. Right.

Because when it peaks my interest, that's got to be good content. Right. So if you want to do the 10 minute tool, what would that be monthly, you think? We could do it. Yeah. Like I think, because you need, you got to give people time to play with it, right? Just first there's like learning about it, hearing the name of it. Then it's like diving into it.

And then, you know, then getting used to it. And then we can move on to the next tool. Here's the new tool. I want to find a sponsor for the 10 minute tool. 10 minute tool. I'll get my team to work. I love it. Robin Bryce, Yavapai College.

What's your title again? Special Programs Manager. I'm going to call you chief of enthusiasm. And innovation. I'm okay with that. Cool. It's great to see you again. Guys, so great to see you. I'm excited about having you in. And now we're going to find a way to get you back for at least 10 minutes a month. I'm here for it. All right. Great to see you. Nice to see you. Take care.