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Owen Davis

INSIDE OUT

Citizen Engagement is a hot topic and citizen engagement initiatives are popping up at federal, state and local government entities.  This webcast will take an in-depth look at two creative companies that engage members of the public with federal, state and local government in novel ways. This webcast will be a joint presentation by one of the founders of PopVox, a company that verifies, aggregates, and simplifies communication with Congress on an open and nonpartisan common ground, and Citizinvestor, a crowdfunding platform for local government projects.  Marci Davis of PopVox and Tony DeSisto of Citizinvestor will talk about their process for capturing and stimulating public engagement with an eye toward how aspects of their processes might be applicable across other areas of the government.

Best Practices for Citizen Engagement Initiatives

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Trainers Take Your Own Advice

Workplace intrusions—when one co-worker stops by another’s desk for social or work reasons, interrupting their task—are often seen as distracting, momentum-killing, and taking time away from work. But if done correctly, some intrusions are beneficial and even energizing.“We read in the news and books about how bad workplace intrusions are, with co-workers portrayed as ‘time thieves’,” says Mike Baer, an associate professor of management and entrepreneurship at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. “But as authors and researchers, we started to look at our experience. We could think of many situations in which intrusions led to interesting research projects and energized us throughout the rest of the day. So, we questioned whether it was true that intrusions are always bad.”Baer co-authored a research paper, “To What Do I Owe This Visit? The Drawbacks and Benefits of In-Role and Non-Role Intrusions,” with ASU Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship David Welsh, to investigate the dynamics of various types of workplace intrusions. Their results suggest that intrusions may lead to beneficial employee outcomes in addition to the adverse outcomes previously demonstrated in the literature. Specifically, what Baer and Welsh call “in-role” intrusions—when a co-worker comes by to ask about a project or to hand off a task—reengage employees and sometimes lead to enhanced collaboration, while non-role intrusions, like asking about weekend plans, require greater mental energy to switch between and are more important to limit.As organizations navigate the transition to hybrid or fully remote work environments, understanding how in-role intrusions can positively influence engagement and productivity is more important than ever. Here are some tips for mindfully leveraging workplace intrusions:Be aware that trying to avoid all intrusions may cause you to miss out on meaningful benefits. The pandemic has given rise to remote work and situations that are designed to reduce intrusions in many ways, but Baer cautions organizations against policies that cause employees to miss out on the benefits that come from in-person interactions like collaboration and increased engagement.Think of work-related intrusions as challenges that motivate you to work harder rather than as an unnecessary distraction. Challenge stressors—things like time pressure or workload—require people to expand their capabilities to overcome challenges. In-role intrusions can act as challenge stressors and motivate employees to push harder and be more engaged in their work throughout the day.Harness the opportunity that intrusions provide to share information and bounce ideas off your co-workers. The benefits of engagement, collaboration, and helping behaviors are often hidden. Baer’s research found that stopping by a coworker’s desk with an in-role intrusion can become an opportunity for positive collaboration between employees.If you’re a leader, consider implementing work arrangements that facilitate the work-related intrusions that can energize employees and foster collaboration. Seating employees near one another or implementing hybrid work schedules to encourage employees to work in the same spaces can encourage impromptu encounters and feedback that act as challenges to reenergize and focus employees while providing opportunities for natural collaboration.If you’re intruding on others, save your non-work topics for breaks rather than dropping by your co-workers’ desks unannounced. “I would counsel employees to be aware of when and for what reason they are intruding on their co-workers throughout the day,” says Baer. While discussing things like family or extracurricular activities helps build and maintain relationships, they typically have a negative effect on employees’ immediate job performance and should instead be held during a break. 

5 Tips for Reframing Workplace Interruptions

今年1月，OpenAI的对话平台ChatGPT-3成为互联网史上热度上升最快的应用。这只是过去几周来，人们对GPT和其他聊天机器人的兴趣愈发浓厚的例证之一。作为最早看到会话式人工智能（AI）的潜力并为其设计应用程序的学习专业人士之一，我很乐见人们如此关注这项引人入胜的技术。我在《人才开发中的AI》（AI in Talent Development）这本书中，概述了几种将聊天机器人融入强大的学习体验的方式，并以OpenAI的ChatGPT系列的第三个版本，即ChatGPT-3，演示了其中的大部分用例。当ATD邀请我撰写一篇以此为主题文章时，我发现自己几乎词穷了，想不到如何为这个热搜话题添加更多新意。所以，我决定做自己最擅长的事情：传达核心信息，并指明实际的应用方向。让我们先了解一下它的基本概念。ChatGPT-3的工作原理ChatGPT以自回归模型运行，它其实没有听起来那么复杂。Transformer是一种程序、模型或算法，可以将代码转换为其他东西——在本例中就是指人类语言。“自回归”意味着该软件会基于先前的事件，预测未来最有可能发生的事件，这也正是人类大脑的运行模式。它允许ChatGPT和类似的应用程序模拟两个人之间的对话。要制作这类应用程序，就必须掌握两项关键的技能：1. 自然语言编程自然语言处理（NLP）允许机器人通过人类语音或书写来识别输入，无需使用菜单或代码。这种功能还可以支持机器人通过文本进行回复。在NLP问世之前，大多数聊天机器人都是由菜单驱动的，机器人通过预先编写的选项数据库，选择最适合的选项，并据此作出回应。对话式AI代表了人类使用计算机的一种新方式。它是一个用户界面，与之前的UI（用户界面）相比，它需要的硬件和先验知识较少。注意！不要将“自然语言处理”与使用相同首字母缩略词的“神经语言编程”（Neural Linguistic Programming）相混淆，后者是一个被广泛否定的伪科学术语，也是一种无效的实践。2. 海量训练数据集与任何神经网络（包括你的神经网络）一样，AI模型必须使用一种叫做“深度学习”的技术进行有效训练。坦率地说，ChatGPT 令人震惊的强大功能并不是什么新鲜事。正如David Chalmers（澳大利亚哲学家和认知科学家）所言，不存在所谓的新技术。行业已经出现了许多具有类似能力的机器人，我在2020年就详细描述了与之相关的信息。但ChatGPT-3采用了创新的训练方式，并且它的效能同样令人耳目一新。首先，Open AI使用了最大的训练数据集，结合了一个包含大部分互联网的数据库、一个庞大的图书库和维基百科。然后，Open AI在内部完善该机器人之后，向世界免费推出了这款产品。在我们体验其功能的过程中，我们实际上也是在强化它的训练。我们不妨将它视为一项众包的培训工作。庞大的训练数据库规模生成了不负众望的结果——这些令人印象深刻的结果能够很好地模仿人类的表达，几乎难以分辨出是机器人所为。不过，这里仍然存在一个根本性的问题：聊天机器人的优劣取决于它的训练程度（就像我们人类一样）。如果你思考GPT培训的来源，就不难理解为何它有时候也会出错。我们如何使用ChatGPT ？因为该产品仍然有待升级，所以截止本文发布时，业内可能还会涌现关于ChatGPT 的新用例。以下是一些有助于节省时间的用法，作为一名学习专家，你可以借助它们提高工作效率和产能。撰写内容如果你让机器人写一段介绍某个主题的内容，它几乎能够立即应答，并提供言之有理且语法正确的文本。由于它的培训包含未经验证的来源，例如互联网和维基百科，所以你必须对其生成的某些内容进行修改和纠正。尽管如此，你仍然可以获得优秀的初稿，并在此基础上进行润色。文档摘要需要寻找某本书或某篇文章的摘要？将文本粘贴到ChatGPT的提示中，它就会返回一篇很好的摘要，其中还会提到绝大部分的文章要点。编写和诊断计算机代码因为ChatGPT是用于分析和生成人类语言输出的，所以它在计算机语言方面的表现也不逊色。程序员正在使用它来诊断代码。如果你要求它开发一项新功能，它甚至可以生成新的代码。翻译文档ChatGPT比其他翻译软件更有效，能够将网站或文章翻译成另一种语言。出题和阅卷你可以将内容输入GPT，并要求它生成带有答案的试卷。为它提供一个广泛的主题，比如世界历史，它仍然可以生成一份相关的试卷。将学生的考试答案输入GPT，GPT就会给他们打分，它甚至还能给论文评分！制作游戏我让GPT制作一款游戏，目的是向六年级的学生传授关于太阳系的知识，机器人返回了一款关于太空冒险的有趣游戏。提高写作水平我这篇文章当然不是由GPT代笔，但我可以要求GPT审查我的初稿并提出修改建议。执行研究我要求机器人以APA（美国心理学协会）的风格，提供一份关于在教育领域使用聊天机器人的最新同行评审研究列表，并收到了一份格式正确的列表。ChatGPT的问世为何令某些人感到担忧？虽然大多数人对GPT给予了积极的评价，但有一些教育者对这款新工具的功能深感担忧。模仿人类写作教师们对GPT的写作能力感到担忧，因为它能够像人类一样，写出言之有理的文本，并根据已知作者的文风进行写作。那么，学生就有可能要求机器人模拟他们之前的写作风格写一篇论文，而这就很难判断该GPT论文究竟算不算学生的原创。但这种模仿能力仍然不是什么鲜事。AI早在数年前就已经模仿伟大艺术家的风格进行了艺术创作。ChatGPT只不过是将相同的预测方法应用于语言领域罢了。ChatGPT也会犯错另一个令人担忧的问题是，机器人能够以极具说服力的方式提供虚假信息，以至于某些用户忘了亲自验证其回答的正确性。例如，我让机器人计算五个数字的平均值，结果很有趣。我收到了关于“均值”的统计学定义以及如何计算的详细说明，但我并没有提出这个要求。不过，这个机器人将这五个数字相加的结果算错了。公平地说，ChatGPT当然不是为解决数学问题而构建的。但它没有告诉我或者报告该结果可能有误。与任何热心的助手一样，它已经在尽力为人们提供答案。如果我是一个依赖GPT的学生，我就会被误导，并因此而犯错。大多数此类错误与让机器人聊天体验突飞猛进的原理同出一源——它的主要信息来源是互联网和维基百科。Vince Han是构建学习聊天机器人的先驱之一，我请他总结了GPT新功能带来的挑战，他的回答如下：“ChatGPT和AI质量提高的一个影响就在于，它改变了用户需要的技能。例如，大多数用户已经掌握了如何搜索的技能，即知道如何创造关键字以及如何筛选搜索结果。现在，人们将需要辨别能力，或者学习如何通过一个聊天机器人识别真相和观点，因为聊天机器人只是提供了一个看似确定的答案。因此，从绩效的角度来看，人们现在的提问的确可以立即得到答复，但该答复的准确性和相关性将取决于他们自己的判断。”作为教育工作者，我们现在必须正视一个人们热议了数十年的问题——大多数领域、人口统计和工作小组的批判性思维正急剧下降。在我看来，ChatGPT进一步扩大了这种差距，也让我们看到了弥合这种差距的紧迫性。结论微软拥有独家使用该模型的许可证，我们实际上都在为微软工作，为其发掘可能为微软的AI产品找到出路的绝佳用例。目前，这个平台推出了免费版和专业版。我们可以通过这项工具，开始了解AI的前景以及我们未来的定位。正如机器学习专家Santiago Pino所言：“AI不会取代你，能够取代你的是使用AI的人。”

ChatGPT 对人才发展行业有何影响？

In January, OpenAI’s conversational platform, ChatGPT-3, became the fastest-growing app in internet history. This is just one indication of growing curiosity about GPT (generative pre-trained transformer) and other chatbots in the past few weeks. As one of the first learning professionals to see the potential of conversational AI and one of the few designing the applications for years, I’m excited to see the recent attention paid to this engaging technology.In my book, AI in Talent Development, I outline several ways chatbots can be used as part of a robust learning experience, and ChatGPT-3, the third version in OpenAI’s ChatGPT series, demonstrates most of them. When ATD asked me to write a post on this subject, I struggled to find the value I could add to the exploding conversation. I decided to do what people say I do best: Give you the bottom line and point the way towards practical applications. Let’s start with the basics.How ChatGPT-3 WorksChatGPT operates on an autoregressive model. It’s not as complicated as it may sound. A transformer is a program, model, or algorithm that converts code into something else—in this case, human language. The autoregressive part means the software uses prior events to predict the most likely future events, which is what your brain does all the time. It allows ChatGPT and similar applications to simulate a conversation between two humans. Learn the two keys to making an application like this work:1. Natural Language ProgrammingNatural Language Processing (NLP) allows the bot to recognize input through human speech or writing, eliminating the need for menus or code to engage with it. This same ability enables the bot to reply through text. Before the development of NLP, most chatbots were menu-driven, and the bot responded by selecting the best fit from a database of pre-written options. Conversational AI represents a new way for humans to use computers; it’s a user interface requiring less hardware and prior knowledge than any previous UIs.!CAUTION! Don’t confuse Natural Language Processing with the pseudo-science term using the same acronym. Neural Linguistic Programming is widely disproved and an invalid practice.2. Massive Training DatasetsLike any neural network (including your own), AI models must be effectively trained using a technique called deep learning. Quite frankly, the stunning capabilities of ChatGPT-3 are nothing new. As David Chalmers points out, there is no new technology here. There are many bots with similar abilities, and I described them in detail in 2020. How this bot is trained and how well this approach works is innovative. First, Open AI used the largest training dataset, combining a database containing much of the internet, a huge library of books, and Wikipedia.Then, after refining the bot in-house, Open AI released it free to the world. As we all started to play with it, we were training it further for them. Think of it as a crowd-sourced training effort. The sheer size of the training database resulted in what everyone always expected: Impressive results that can mimic human expression so well it is hard to tell a machine generated it. However, there continues to be an underlying problem: Chatbots are only as good as their training (like us humans). If you consider the source of GPT’s training, you can see why it sometimes makes mistakes.What Can We Do With ChatGPT-3?Because this product is still being explored, there may be new use cases by the time this post publishes. Below are a few applications that can save time and make your work as a learning professional more efficient and productive.Write ContentIf you ask the bot to write a paragraph introducing a subject, it comes back almost instantly with plausible, grammatically correct text. Because its training included unvalidated sources like the internet and Wikipedia, some of the content it produces must be corrected. Still, you can get excellent first drafts and refine your content from there.Summarize DocumentsLooking for a “Reader’s Digest” version of a book or article? Paste the text into a prompt to ChatGPT, and it returns a nice summary that should hit most of the highlights.Write and Troubleshoot Computer CodeBecause ChatGPT was built to analyze and produce output in human language, it is also great at computer languages. Programmers are using it to troubleshoot code. It can even generate new code if you ask it to develop a new capability.Translate DocumentsFar more effective than other translators out there, ChatGPT can take a website or article and translate it into another language.Write and Grade QuizzesYou can feed your content into GPT and ask it to generate a quiz with answers. Or, give it a general subject, like world history, and it will do the same. Feed your student’s quiz responses into GPT, and it will grade them (even essays!).Create GamesI asked GPT to create a game teaching sixth-grade students about the solar system, and the bot came back with a fun adventure through space.Improve Your WritingI didn’t do this for this article, but I could have asked GPT to review my draft and suggest improvements.Conduct ResearchI asked the bot to provide a list of current peer-reviewed studies on chatbot use in education using APA style and received a properly formatted list.Why Does ChatGPT Have Some People Worried?While most of the comments about GPT are positive, you will find a few educators deeply concerned about this new tool’s capabilities.Mimicking Human WritingTeachers are worried about GPT’s ability to write plausible text reading like a human created it and write in a known author’s style. A student could ask the bot to write a paper in the same style as one of their previous works, and it would be hard to tell the GPT paper wasn’t an original student effort. But, again, this mimicking ability is nothing new. AI has generated art in the style of great artists for years. ChatGPT applies the same predictive approach to language.ChatGPT Makes MistakesAnother concern is the bot’s ability to present false information so convincingly that some users forget to validate the response with research. For example, I asked the bot to calculate the mean of five numbers, and the result was interesting. I received a detailed explanation of the statistical definition of “mean” and how to calculate it, which I did NOT request. However, the bot added the five numbers incorrectly.To be fair, ChatGPT wasn’t built to perform math problems. But it didn’t tell me that or report the result might be incorrect. Like any willing assistant, it did its best to provide an answer. If I had been a student relying on GPT’s help, I would have been wrong. The reason for most of these mistakes is the same reason that it is such a stunning improvement in the chatbot experience: It’s primary sources of information are the internet and Wikipedia.I asked Vince Han, one of the pioneers in building chatbots for learning, to sum up the challenges presented by GPT’s new capabilities, and here’s his response:“One of the effects of ChatGPT & increased quality in Artificial Intelligence in general is shifting the skills users need. For example, most users have developed a skill for how to search which is knowing how to craft keywords and how to sift through search results. Now, people will need the skill of discernment, or learning how to decipher truth and views from a chatbot that provides what reads like a definitive answer. So, from a performance support perspective, yes, one can now get an immediate response to a question but how accurate and relevant that response is will be up to them to determine. “As educators, we must now confront a problem that has been boiling for decades—the decline in critical thinking across most domains, demographics, and workgroups. In my opinion, ChatGPT makes this gap more visible and increases the urgency for closing it quickly.Closing ThoughtsBecause Microsoft owns the license for the exclusive use of the model, we’ve all been working for them, revealing exciting use cases that may find their way into AI-enabled Microsoft products. For now, the platform consists of both free and professional versions. It’s an excellent way to begin learning about the promise of AI and our place alongside it. As machine learning expert Santiago Pino says, “AI will not replace you. A person using AI will.”Where Can You Learn More?There are so many articles about this subject right now that I’ve limited myself to a few favorites:Under the Hood of Chat GPT With Myra RoldanHow ChatGPT3 Impacts the Future of L&D in an AI WorldChatGPT Has Educators Scrambling to Keep UpWhat Is ChatGPT and How to Teach With ItWhat Is ChatGPT and Why Does It Matter?What Is ChatGPT? Is It the Beginning of the End?Ger’s Learning Notes #51 - ChatGPTFor more information and resources, Check out ATD's AI Resource page.

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