How Generative AI Can Transform Your Work-Life Balance

There has been so much buzz (and controversy!) over the past year regarding Generative Artificial Intelligence or GenAI and how it will reshape education and our classrooms. There is also a great deal of fear, hesitation, uncertainty – to say the least! But how can we shift our perspective towards Generative AI — instead of considering the risks, trepidations and harm, can we look for opportunities, benefits and potential learning outcomes thanks to this revolutionary technology? Additionally, as educators, how can we get back the very valuable time in our day, to focus further on meaningful interactions, higher-order skills, and most importantly, our own mental wellness?

Large Language Models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, or Microsoft’s CoPilot can prove to be very useful in both our personal and professional lives. Understanding I had just met my new personal assistant was mind blowing at first and it was easy to go down the rabbit hole with the endless support options these LLMs could provide. “Could this technology truly assist me with tasks that feel daunting or that I have trouble brainstorming on my own?” Once I started to play and experiment with these tools, I began to see the magic unfold in front of my eyes and the opportunities to assist me both personally and professionally, became endless. 

In my personal life, we’ve used ChatGPT to assist us with what to make for dinner based on ingredients in our fridge, planned vacations and assisted us with our busy weekly schedules. Essentially, anything that I ask these Large Language Models to do, create, and/or modify – it can do the task within seconds! And, as an educator, it can create lesson plans, speeches, rubrics, draft letters to the community, write emails, break down steps, write code, create questions based on a Youtube video, and the list just GOES ON!

However, it all goes back to a well designed prompt. The most important part of using any Generative AI tool is how descriptive you are with writing your prompt. Chat GPT is continuing to learn YOU and understand who you ARE – and as a result, you must specify who you want the LLM to become, provide plenty of details with the goal at hand and then be prepared to “dialogue” with this machine to further refine and hopefully produce the right creation. 

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Here are some helpful steps to guide you in prompt writing:

Provide Context:

Use keywords such as “You are,” “Be,” “Act as” and provide background information so the machine truly learns who it needs to “be.”

Define the Task:

Be specific and clear with what you are looking for the machine to create for you, think about your ultimate goal – whatever it may be!

Instruction & Guidelines:

Set clearly defined parameters like length, style, tone, and audience to meet your intended goal. LLMs have a neat way of going on and on – providing guidelines improves your outcome. (ex: limit to 100 words)

Model:

If possible, provide an example, model, URL or point of reference. And remember, these LLMs do not function like a Google Search engine.

Clarify & Refine:

Time to “chat” with your LLM and ask follow up questions, make requests or share your feedback. Provide phrases such as: be more engaging, funny, creative, kind, narrative, etc to change your initial outcome. You can also request the content to be rephrased, rewritten, deleted, changed, etc. 

By training your new assistant in learning you and your priorities – whether personal or professional – you are taking the necessary first step to allow this technology to begin to acclimate itself to you. A simple way to connect is by asking your LLM of choice “Ask me twenty questions in getting to know me, my role in education and my focus for this school year.” Once you receive those questions and provide responses that are unique to you, the LLM will remember, recall and use this information going forward with the content that is uniquely designed for you. It does feel creepy at times and mostly unbelievable that it can automate, assist and plan almost instantly; we can either embrace this technology and train it to work for us or stand on the sidelines as others charge forward, empowered by this new technology. I argue that it is important to grow your own Generative AI literacy and become comfortable with harnessing the power of this technology to serve and benefit you. 

After you begin to train your new personal assistant, consider the valuable time and energy you can get back. Instead of putting tasks off or not really knowing what to do, why not ask one of these LLMs for assistance? Planning a school wide event? Not sure how to reply to that parent email? Writing a speech for retirement? By training your personal Generative AI assistant, you’ll unlock time and energy, freeing you to focus on the things that truly matter. These AI assistants aren’t just about relief; they’re about empowerment, allowing you to conquer your to-do list and reclaim your day.