Joseph's Media Blog

Education remains a vital part of our lives. It shapes us into who we are, and prepares us for the world ahead. Naturally, it has evolved constantly throughout the years, and signs show it will continue to do so. Previously, I considered how the progression of artificial intelligence will likely shape our education system by the time we reach 2040. Now, I must look further ahead to 2050. Once again drawing from curated research, along with Wendell Bell’s theory, I intend to provide a full picture of how AI might transform both our teaching methods and equity in learning.

Like before, Bell’s theory will allow me to structure this blog around multiple futures – the possible, probable, and preferable outcomes. This framework has often been identified as crucial for examinations of the future – a way to explore what could happen, what is likely to happen, and what we want to happen (1).

Possible Futures

I’ll begin where I did before – with the open end the future will always be. Already, we’re seeing AI being developed to a level beyond our wildest dreams. With that in mind, many possibilities have been considered for 2040 – ranging from AI teachers to even independent learning. The amount of ideas brimming all point to a 2040 that will be steeped in experimentation. By 2050, these innovations will have become deeply embedded in our school systems.

With the presence of fully developed AI tutors, opportunities to close ever-widening gaps will present themselves. Each student could have their tutor tailored specifically to their needs – thus allowing individualised pacing and support. Students could learn at their own pace, with AI assistants answering questions on demand and adapting content to each learning style (2).

It has been predicted that teachers will remain an integral part of the process, only they will take on more of a mentor role. Grading and exam monitoring are fully automated in this scenario – allowing teachers to form stronger connections with students and act more as guides. 

This environment gives way to the closing of the equity gap, as AI’s ever-growing grasp would have the potential to reach areas where the less fortunate are plentiful.

With every student receiving personalised learning, research has shown there’s a chance to improve overall student performance by 98%. These possibilities coalesce to predict a utopian future, where learning environments are led by smart tools which put the students’ experience first. In other words, we can see an expansion continuing from what has been predicted for 2040.

Prompt 1: Possible futures of education

The AI-generated images above depict two possibilities – one that reflects the potential benefits that tech-driven learning could bring, and one that portrays more of a dystopia. In this future, human teachers have been completely replaced with AI, something experts have already advised strongly against. Furthermore, the atmosphere is sterile – thus suggesting a learning environment that is less AI and more robotic. It points to fears regarding total surveillance and biased algorithms, possibilities that would work against the idea of progress. 

Naturally, the possibilities are endless. Alongside an image of warmth is another that could easily drain it. 

Probable Futures

This is where I explore the outcomes that are mostly likely to occur – a space in which many of the possibilities may intertwine.

A widely projected issue happens to be one we’re already attempting to deal with – that being overpopulation. It has been predicted that, by 2050, the world will need to educate two billion more individuals than it does today. The challenge of meeting this demand will likely require AI-driven innovation – the kind of which will have already been developed as early as 2040. What is most probable is the prospect of AI-human teacher collaboration, as opposed to a full AI replacement. By 2050, the probable future is that AI will be as commonplace in schools as whiteboards and textbooks, functioning as an assistant to the teachers. 

This dynamic will grant teachers more time and energy to focus on meaningful one-on-one interactions – guiding project work and nurturing social skills. In the meantime, the AI will provide organisation and grading, and even generate lesson plans (2).

According to experts, we’re likely to see regular evaluations integrated into learning software to consistently track comprehension and adjust lessons accordingly. If so, we’ll certainly see improvements in educational equity. However, the ability for these upgrades to spread worldwide will depend on policy and investment – inequality won’t vanish automatically.

Prompt 2: Probable future of education

The image above depicts our probable future – one in which both AI and human learning will intertwine. Students are benefitting from personalisation, all while still being guided and grounded by human educators.

Preferable Futures

Lastly, there’s the future that would benefit us the most. In a perfect world, AI would be harnessed thoughtfully to ensure an education that is both inclusive and of high quality. It could become a great equaliser – a tool used to bridge regional gaps.

It has been predicted that, by 2050, a global network of AI-driven learning platforms could deliver personalised lessons in any language. Already, we’ve seen attempts to solve this divide through the Internet – AI is the next natural step.

In a perfect world, classrooms remain human-centric. AI is a supportive tool, one that should assist with the collaboration, ethical reasoning, and imagination that makes us human. The focus of the AI should be on gauging student progress in a way that is fair and tailored to the needs of each student. These programs should cater to students with disabilities and different learning styles – thus bridging whatever gaps the teacher fails to fill, and leaving them to focus on the more hands-on learning.

Prompt 3: Preferable future of education

The image above presents the preferable future of education – one where human teaching remains at the centre of the process. The AI element works to complement the teaching, as both an assistant and as a translator. The image presents a future that has passed the experimentation phase that 2040 will be – thus becoming the inclusive utopia we all dreamed of.

Well, ideally anyway.

With the right ethical frameworks and reform, this future could become not only preferable, but also projected. 

It would seem the key for developers is to prioritise equity, as it would ensure access to quality education for all. More than anything else, a human perspective must remain at the centre of each program.

References

(1) Angeura, C, Santisteban, A. (2016) Images of the Future: Perspectives of Students From Barcelona, Journal of  Futures Studies

(2) B-Lessons Academy (2023) How AI might impact education from now to 2050, linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-ai-might-impact-education-from-now-2050-b-lessons-academy/

ALL IMAGES WERE CREATED WITH CHATGPT IMAGE GENERATOR

https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/content/arrival-exodus-the-sci-fi-films-hidden-framework

Upon watching Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival for the first time, it surprised me. I was a teenager, waiting eagerly to find out how the alien invasion tropes would be subverted.

They were – far beyond my imagination.

After now having rewatched it, I was able to soak in further Villeneuve’s depiction of the life cycle. He manages to craft a film that feels so huge and yet so intimate.

From the beginning, and even in-between her extraordinary interactions with the alien creatures, Louise (played by Amy Adams) remains haunted by visions – ones that we’re led to assume have already happened. We see flashes of her daughter – happy memories which all lead to a tragic death. The film subtly portrays the emotional burden these visions place on her – the sense of loneliness in her life is palpable. 

In his article explaining the film, G.G. Townsend eloquently lays out what distinguishes Arrival from other films about alien invasion. While this trope is typically used as a symbol for a topical social issue, Villeneuve uses it to explore some of our deepest fears. This sentiment is emphasised further by James Slattery: ‘Arrival sits uncomfortably in strict generic categories, because it uses them to particularly smart effect’. He also makes the argument that the film both ‘includes’ and ‘rejects a plethora of tropes’ (1, 2020). The unique tropes creep up on the viewer, despite Louise asking quite plainly “what is your purpose on earth?” early on. 

https://slate.com/culture/2016/11/all-your-arrival-plot-questions-explained.html

As is common with the sci-fi genre, Arrival experiments with the concept of time. Only the filmmakers choose to take it to a level more philosophically inclined. The questions posed ask us to turn away from the stars and enjoy life while we can. Alas, the fear of death prevents this.

These fears are not only reflected in Louise, but also in the characters around her. As Louise fulfills her task of communicating with the ‘heptapod’ aliens, global pressure mounts. The government naturally sees these creatures as a security risk. They’re focused less on understanding them, and more on removing the potential danger they pose. Louise often runs into conflict with Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) as a result of this tension. This storyline sees the film follow a common trope associated with the alien invasion genre. But more than that, it highlights a fear of death that permeates throughout civilization. 

https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/11/11/13587262/arrival-movie-review-amy-adams-denis-villeneuve

Louise remains on shaky ground with her employers as she grows closer with the heptapods. In her efforts to communicate with and understand them, Louise finds acceptance within herself.

The realisation that her flashbacks have actually been visions of the future functions as the film’s primary twist, as it recontextualises the entire narrative. It’s where the film reveals that this story of aliens coming to earth merely provides the backdrop for a highly personal journey. Through her experiences with the creatures, Louise captures a full picture of her life – the love, the fun, the peace, and the eventual loss. She comes to accept what once haunted her – “despite knowing the journey… and where it leads… I embrace it”. Even as she hugs the man whom she knows will leave her, she chooses to “welcome every minute of it”.

The aliens depart peacefully, thus preventing an inevitable war. In the face of these otherworldly events, Louise remains focused on a key question: “if you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?”. She fully accepts that her visions are of the future. She sees the light in them, and the darkness. She lets it all unfold, for she believes the light will shine brighter. The inevitability of death doesn’t disrupt it, for it is also part of it.

A film that depicts a potential threat to civilisation ends with an individual accepting the natural life cycle. She moves on, in spite of all that transpired. The beauty of life’s narrative transcends the common alien tropes – thus resulting in a piece of art steeped in humanity.

If nothing else, Arrival remains a poignant take on the concept of our future – one that left me both rattled and in awe at once. The rewatch allowed me to soak in the nuance, for much like Louise, I knew where it was heading.

Reference

(1) Slattery, J. (2020) A Matter of Life and Death: Cinematic Necropolitics in ‘Arrival’, Free Associations, pg. 1

For my Digital Artefact, I sought to present a persona who wished to increase their knowledge in the topic of 1960s Rock music. Through this persona, I could convey my interest in this genre by sharing with an audience the ways in which this era of music remains both important and relevant to the eras that followed. Later on, I summarised my project by naming it ‘The Birth of Art Rock’. I intended to have it take the form of a series of discursive essays, each one focusing on one particular artist and their significance in popular culture. I aimed to use a Twitter account to promote these essays. In addition to educating a potential audience, I also wanted to use this as an opportunity for me to learn more about this era of music, which is where the autoethnography comes in. Although I admit with a heavy heart that I did not come close to realising my vision, what I can do now is reflect on the experience – more specifically on the epiphanies that struck me as I went along. What the ethnographic process tends to promote is the importance of epiphanies. According to researcher Robbie Blinkoff, they are “the real metric for ethnographic success” (Blinkoff, 2016), and they took a few different forms during my process. Whether I acted upon them effectively or not is up for debate, but many of them at least offered a vision of what my project could’ve been.

My first epiphany struck when writing up my map for my ‘classic rock’ niche. The idea behind the map was to outline the ways in which this niche has been both accessed and approached in the past. One of the lists I made included the names of online creators who are known for their dives into this niche (along with a handful of notable music critics that I threw on for no reason). Polyphonic was one of the creators I listed, as he is someone who I’ve been observing on and off for a few years. Through his YouTube channel, he posts video essays that explore a multitude of different eras of music and the artists within them. After listing him on the map, I sought to take a closer look at the ways in which he engages with his fans, which brought me to his Twitter and/or X account. Leading up to this point, I was struggling to envision what my social media persona should look like. Outside of using it as a means of promoting my essays, I had nothing. This is why it was an imperative for me to observe how others within my niche use it. What I found in Polyphonic’s Twitter account was someone who is actively finding ways to connect with their fans.

What are some of your favorite characters from songs?

— Polyphonic (@WatchPolyphonic) August 1, 2023

Observing this allowed me to have my first epiphany. From that point onwards, I intended to use my Twitter account not only to promote my essays, but also to share opinions of mine that would likely not become part of the main project, but remained in-keeping with my niche. I would use the platform to engage with my hypothetical audience, which would allow them to join and inform my process. It was clear to me that this was considered the norm in this field, so I wished to follow suit.

While I can safely say that this was my plan, what soon transpired was me opting to post my essay first, which would leave me to worry about setting up my account later.

Soon enough, later translated to weeks…

…… and it eventually reached Neverland.

Bob Dylan expands the depths of Popular music

By just posting my first essay with nothing to accompany it, I was unfortunately enabled to remain within my bubble, something which an effective social media presence would’ve done wonders in bursting. In a way, my second epiphany was me realising just how much evolution I was missing out on. Without a captive audience, my drive remained on autopilot. Even though I had put a plan in place for the essays (one every two weeks or so), I was lacking in inspiration. Even if I had stuck to that plan, I still missed out on the benefits of outside interest. Building a fan base willing to share their input would’ve allowed my content to grow far beyond my initial ambitions.

My idea to both share my love of classic rock and find out more about it quickly became something to be shared with only myself. Also, based on the content I created, it would seem that Bob Dylan stands as the only innovator of that time. In the absence of true proliferation, I am left to sulk in the shadow of what could’ve been. The epiphanies I experienced only work to highlight this. By now, I was hoping to have told the story of how art rock came to be, with each essay providing a piece to the puzzle. If I have to do another Digital Artefact in the future, I will make sure to lead with the social media angle. I’d probably also choose a niche that is more accessible, and thus easier to market. Most importantly, I will be sure to embrace the video format next time. I now believe that I should’ve taken an extra step from my experience observing Polyphonic and Lie Likes Music and borrowed the video essay format from them. This stands as my final epiphany. Based on the level of engagement these two creators have achieved, the potential was wide for a lot more outside interest than I envisioned even from the beginning of the process. 

I’ve learned that the general idea behind autoethnography is to create “evocative descriptions of personal and interpersonal experience” (Adams, Ellis, Bochner, 2011). It appears that’s all I can do now. I’m sure I’ll find time to explore this niche further on my own, but I’ve failed my hypothetical audience. It’s been a disappointing experience, in spite of the lessons I’ve learned along the way.

References

Adams, T, Bochner, A, Ellis, C. (2011) Autoethnography: An Overview, Conventions and Institutions from a Historical Perspective, Vol. 36, No. 4, p. 277

Blinkoff, R. (2016) The Full Epiphany, Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings Volume 2016, Iss. 1, p. 552

Link to audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/187jGaibPIvnqeBYkfb_cUoXj1PWu1jSt/view

As I reach the end of the process, I now must reflect on the work I did… and the work I aspired to do.

To recap, I intended to focus my project on the innovative popular music of the 1960s. With each informal essay, I was hoping to essentially tell the story of how Art Rock came to be – beginning with Bob Dylan’s innovative Folk Rock albums and continuing down the line with The Beatles, who were directly inspired by Dylan’s albums. This way, instead of just serving as a substitute for Wikipedia, I would be able to uniquely connect each essay – thus generating more interest than if I were just to post a bunch of random info about the artists I like (even if that is why I chose this topic to begin with).

John Lennon

Artwork by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum – link here

Where I failed in progressing this project effectively was in my inability to remain consistent in terms of both producing content and maintaining a social media presence. This mainly came down to my lack of confidence in these areas. It has also been down to the fact that procrastination remains a prominent sticking point in my UOW journey.

Thankfully, autoethnography is carried out largely with the intention of conveying a “path-work of feelings, experiences, emotions, and behaviours” (Wall, 2006), which gives me more to talk about than just the work I didn’t do.

In hindsight, I believe that I would’ve been better served by the YouTube format. That way, my hypothetical audience would be able to take in my content in a way that is more accessible both physically and mentally. I also should’ve more properly considered the power of social media. Although I had formed a plan to create a Twitter account (along with an idea concerning Reddit), this never came to fruition. If I ever were to do this again, my number one goal would be to make sure to construct a detailed plan before pitching the project. 

I would also make sure to not have as many other UOW subjects going on at the same time.

Reference

Wall, S. (2006) An Autoethnography on Learning about Autoethnography, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, P.g. 5

If there’s one thing I’ve observed about my content generation journey so far, it’s that I don’t believe this process to be for me.

Another thing that’s not for me would be scheduling, which is a real shame. By now, I was hoping to have written at least three essays, in addition to establishing a presence on at least Twitter. The plan I eventually decided on was for me to post an essay once every two weeks. I was hoping that this way, I would be able to generate interest through a sense of consistency. 

Stock image

I guess, in the place of consistency, I can instead reflect on what could’ve been. 

In previous blogs, I spoke at length of the cultural biases I had going into this project. I’ve made sure to remain well aware that my niche is not doesn’t reach very far on paper in terms of diversity in both the content my niche is based on and the typical audience. I aimed to problematise this by bringing up the female artists who came after the male artists I’ve chosen to focus on. I admittedly treated this as more of an afterthought in my first/only essay, but I did intend to include better further down the line.

I’m often told that the ability to be reflexive is a hard-earned skill. It requires introspection (Moore, C. 2023). I will use this opportunity to criticise my choice to treat social media as an afterthought.

Reference

Moore, C. (2023) Content Generation Skills: Including, Comparing and Contrasting, Reflexivity, Sensitivity and Flexibility, Lecture YouTube, BCM 241, UOW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU0narcqsEY&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fmoodle.uowplatform.edu.au%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title

As I sadly fall behind in my content generation, I must now reflect on how my project has changed since creating my map all those weeks ago.

Looking back, I’ve only now come to realise just how much my project has narrowed since I started. My initial vision was far too broad and thus would’ve been unlikely to reach anywhere. 

However, I’d argue it still contains a lot of value. For instance, I’m now reminded of my intention to discuss the introduction of specific genres. This is something that I did touch on during my essay on Bob Dylan, but there’s a very good chance I was going to neglect that thread moving forward. It has also reminded me where to search for those in the community for which I’m making my content for. The conversations I would find on Reddit were what led me to want to do this project. I plan for this epiphany to guide me as I begin to promote my content on Reddit in the near future.

So clearly this map continues to be “ordinarily accessible and usable” (Campbell, M & Gregor, F 2002). I hope to continue to explore my project by taking into consideration just how much further I can possibly take it. 

I should also add that, going forward, I will be referring to my project as ‘The Birth of Art Rock’, or just Art Rock for short. The term Classic Rock refers to a much broader landscape of music than what I originally had in mind, and I’ve observed some confusion concerning that in the recent past.

Reference
Campbell, M. Gregor, F. (2002) Mapping Social Relations: A Primer in Doing Institutional Ethnography, University of Toronto Press, P.g. 8

I’ve uploaded my first major piece of content for my project. I’m moderately happy with it, but going forward, I’m hoping to implement some alterations.

Bob Dylan expands the depths of Popular music

One aspect of my project that may cause issues for me further down the line would be my lack of consideration in the way in which I’m using my platform. The way I’ve always pictured my content is like a series of video essays, but purely in written form. Due to this, I’m finding it more difficult to generate interest than if I were to produce a YouTube video. I intend to explore this aspect by trying out a different promotional strategy (Moore, C. 2023), or rather just a strategy. Setting up a Twitter account for my project would be a good first step, as that way I will be able to make use of the inspiration I garnered from exploring Polyphonic’s Twitter account.

When it comes to the content itself, I do hope to implement more of my personality into the next essay, which will be on The Beatles. Although I wanted to keep my writing style casual, I also hope to include more sources in order to contextualise that time period more effectively. I aim to have the next post completed by the end of next week.

I wouldn’t say there’s too much to narrow down just yet – I just need to get my social media presence up and running.

Reference

Moore, C. (2023) Digital Ethnography and Content Generation 2, Lecture Youtube, BCM 241, UOW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8d1Ebx4Bh4&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fmoodle.uowplatform.edu.au%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title