Reviewing Thinglink

For my final post I will be reviewing Thinglink. It is a tool to easily create multimedia interactive learning materials that are accessible via an integrated reading tool. It focuses on interactive images, videos, 3D models and VR/360° content. It touts itself as an easy to learn and intuitive editor.

After reading Vaughn's Technology Tools instructions I found the idea of what Thinklink is offering as very interesting. I especially like interactive tags that can be added to almost any type of multimedia content. I also noticed it integrates with Canva which good thing we can refer to Andrea's techiesandtalent blog if you need a quick rundown of Canva. 

I can see Thinklink being a huge hit in the classroom with so many young students being accustomed to using electronic devices it only makes sense to cater to what they are already familiar with. Interactive learning modules to help students learn new material just makes sense. Adding quizzes to ensure students are actually interacting and learning will help them progress in any subject. Thinklink could be this generations textbook.

The only downsides I have seen to Thinklink are the time it takes to setup all of your content. If textbook publishers offered Thinklink like textbooks I could see textbook industry changing how they deliver learning content. I would like to see more interactive multimedia content in my classes. 

ChatGPT Meal Plan

 Just in-case anyone was curious to see the full meal plan and all the prompts I will add them to this post!

Make me a weeks dinner plan with no tomatoes or mushrooms

Sure, here's a week's dinner plan without tomatoes or mushrooms:

Monday

Main Course: Grilled Chicken with Lemon Garlic Butter

• Side: Steamed broccoli
• Side: Roasted potatoes

Recipe Highlights:

• Marinate chicken breasts in lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
• Grill until cooked through and serve with a lemon garlic butter sauce.

Tuesday

Main Course: Beef Stir-Fry

• Side: Jasmine rice
• Side: Stir-fried vegetables (bell peppers, snap peas, carrots)

Recipe Highlights:

• Sauté beef strips with garlic, ginger, and soy sauce.
• Stir-fry vegetables separately and combine with the beef before serving over rice.

Wednesday

Main Course: Baked Salmon with Dill Sauce

• Side: Quinoa salad (cucumber, feta, olives, red onion)
• Side: Steamed green beans

Recipe Highlights:

• Season salmon with salt, pepper, and dill. Bake until tender.
• Serve with a dill yogurt sauce made from Greek yogurt, fresh dill, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.

Thursday

Main Course: Chicken Fajitas (without tomatoes)

• Side: Mexican rice
• Side: Black beans

Recipe Highlights:

• Sauté sliced chicken, bell peppers, and onions with fajita seasoning.
• Serve with tortillas, avocado, shredded lettuce, and cheese.

Friday

Main Course: Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Shells (without mushrooms)

• Side: Garlic bread
• Side: Mixed green salad with vinaigrette

Recipe Highlights:

• Stuff cooked pasta shells with a mixture of ricotta, spinach, and Parmesan cheese.
• Top with a white or Alfredo sauce and bake until bubbly.

Saturday

Main Course: Pork Chops with Apple Cider Glaze

• Side: Mashed sweet potatoes
• Side: Roasted Brussels sprouts

Recipe Highlights:

• Pan-sear pork chops and finish in the oven with an apple cider glaze (apple cider, Dijon mustard, brown sugar).
• Serve with creamy mashed sweet potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts.

Sunday

Main Course: Shrimp Scampi

• Side: Linguine pasta
• Side: Caesar salad (without tomatoes)

Recipe Highlights:

• Sauté shrimp with garlic, butter, lemon juice, and white wine.
• Toss with cooked linguine and garnish with parsley and Parmesan cheese.

Shopping List

Proteins

• Chicken breasts
• Beef strips
• Salmon fillets
• Chicken strips
• Ground beef
• Pork chops
• Shrimp

Vegetables

• Broccoli
• Potatoes
• Bell peppers
• Snap peas
• Carrots
• Cucumber
• Green beans
• Spinach
• Brussels sprouts
• Lettuce
• Mixed greens

Other Ingredients

• Lemon
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Soy sauce
• Dill
• Quinoa
• Feta cheese
• Olives
• Red onion
• Greek yogurt
• Tortillas
• Avocado
• Ricotta cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• Apple cider
• Dijon mustard
• Brown sugar
• Sweet potatoes
• Linguine pasta
• Caesar salad dressing

Spices and Condiments

• Salt
• Pepper
• Fajita seasoning
• Vinaigrette

This plan includes a variety of proteins, vegetables, and flavors while avoiding tomatoes and mushrooms. Enjoy your meals!

Can you suggest a dessert pairing for each meal?

Absolutely! Here are some dessert pairings for each dinner:

Monday

Main Course: Grilled Chicken with Lemon Garlic Butter

• Dessert: Lemon Sorbet
  • Details: A refreshing and light lemon sorbet complements the lemon garlic butter chicken perfectly.

Tuesday

Main Course: Beef Stir-Fry

• Dessert: Mango Sticky Rice
  • Details: Sweet, creamy, and a bit tropical, mango sticky rice is a great follow-up to the savory stir-fry.

Wednesday

Main Course: Baked Salmon with Dill Sauce

• Dessert: Greek Yogurt with Honey and Nuts
  • Details: This simple yet delicious dessert balances the flavors of the dill sauce and adds a healthy finish.

Thursday

Main Course: Chicken Fajitas

• Dessert: Churros with Cinnamon Sugar
  • Details: Crispy and sweet churros make an excellent end to a flavorful fajita meal.

Friday

Main Course: Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Shells

• Dessert: Tiramisu
  • Details: This classic Italian dessert is creamy and rich, a perfect pairing for a cheesy pasta dish.

Saturday

Main Course: Pork Chops with Apple Cider Glaze

• Dessert: Apple Crisp
  • Details: A warm apple crisp with a scoop of vanilla ice cream complements the apple cider glaze on the pork chops.

Sunday

Main Course: Shrimp Scampi

• Dessert: Panna Cotta with Berry Compote
  • Details: This creamy Italian dessert pairs well with the light, garlicky shrimp scampi and adds a touch of elegance.

Shopping List for Desserts

Monday

• Lemon sorbet

Tuesday

• Mangoes
• Sticky rice
• Coconut milk
• Sugar

Wednesday

• Greek yogurt
• Honey
• Mixed nuts

Thursday

• Churros
• Cinnamon
• Sugar

Friday

• Ladyfingers
• Mascarpone cheese
• Coffee
• Cocoa powder

Saturday

• Apples
• Oats
• Brown sugar
• Vanilla ice cream

Sunday

• Heavy cream
• Sugar
• Gelatin
• Mixed berries

These dessert pairings are designed to complement the main courses and provide a satisfying end to each meal. Enjoy!

Can you make me a shopping list for the meals and desserts grouped by each dish?

Of course! Here's a detailed shopping list grouped by each meal and dessert:

Monday

Main Course: Grilled Chicken with Lemon Garlic Butter

• Chicken breasts
• Lemon
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Broccoli
• Potatoes
• Butter

Dessert: Lemon Sorbet

• Lemon sorbet

Tuesday

Main Course: Beef Stir-Fry

• Beef strips
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Soy sauce
• Jasmine rice
• Bell peppers
• Snap peas
• Carrots

Dessert: Mango Sticky Rice

• Mangoes
• Sticky rice
• Coconut milk
• Sugar

Wednesday

Main Course: Baked Salmon with Dill Sauce

• Salmon fillets
• Salt
• Pepper
• Fresh dill
• Greek yogurt
• Lemon juice
• Quinoa
• Cucumber
• Feta cheese
• Olives
• Red onion
• Green beans

Dessert: Greek Yogurt with Honey and Nuts

• Greek yogurt
• Honey
• Mixed nuts

Thursday

Main Course: Chicken Fajitas

• Chicken strips
• Bell peppers
• Onions
• Fajita seasoning
• Tortillas
• Avocado
• Shredded lettuce
• Cheese
• Black beans

Dessert: Churros with Cinnamon Sugar

• Churros
• Cinnamon
• Sugar

Friday

Main Course: Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Shells

• Pasta shells
• Ricotta cheese
• Spinach
• Parmesan cheese
• Alfredo or white sauce
• Garlic bread ingredients
• Mixed greens
• Vinaigrette

Dessert: Tiramisu

• Ladyfingers
• Mascarpone cheese
• Coffee
• Cocoa powder

Saturday

Main Course: Pork Chops with Apple Cider Glaze

• Pork chops
• Apple cider
• Dijon mustard
• Brown sugar
• Sweet potatoes
• Brussels sprouts

Dessert: Apple Crisp

• Apples
• Oats
• Brown sugar
• Vanilla ice cream

Sunday

Main Course: Shrimp Scampi

• Shrimp
• Garlic
• Butter
• Lemon juice
• White wine
• Linguine pasta
• Parsley
• Parmesan cheese
• Caesar salad ingredients

Dessert: Panna Cotta with Berry Compote

• Heavy cream
• Sugar
• Gelatin
• Mixed berries

Consolidated Shopping List

Proteins

• Chicken breasts
• Beef strips
• Salmon fillets
• Chicken strips
• Pork chops
• Shrimp

Vegetables

• Broccoli
• Potatoes
• Bell peppers (3 dishes)
• Snap peas
• Carrots
• Cucumber
• Green beans
• Spinach
• Brussels sprouts
• Avocado
• Lettuce (for shredded and Caesar salad)
• Mixed greens
• Onions (for fajitas)
• Red onion

Fruits

• Lemon (2 dishes)
• Mangoes
• Apples
• Mixed berries

Dairy

• Greek yogurt (2 dishes)
• Feta cheese
• Ricotta cheese
• Parmesan cheese (2 dishes)
• Mascarpone cheese
• Heavy cream

Grains and Pasta

• Jasmine rice
• Sticky rice
• Quinoa
• Tortillas
• Pasta shells
• Linguine pasta

Bread

• Garlic bread ingredients

Other Ingredients

• Olive oil
• Butter (2 dishes)
• Soy sauce
• Fresh dill
• Honey
• Mixed nuts
• Fajita seasoning
• Cheese (for fajitas)
• Black beans
• Alfredo or white sauce
• Vinaigrette
• Apple cider
• Dijon mustard
• Brown sugar (2 dishes)
• Oats
• Vanilla ice cream
• Ladyfingers
• Coffee
• Cocoa powder
• Gelatin

Spices and Condiments

• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic (4 dishes)
• Ginger
• Cinnamon
• Sugar (2 dishes)

This organized shopping list should make it easier for you to shop for each meal and dessert for the week. Enjoy your cooking and meals!

Chatting with ChatGPT

 Hi all,

This week we will be checking out ChatGPT-4o. I have spent a little bit of time playing with the old Chat GPT 3.5 and I always had fun asking it silly things but I never found it polished enough to trust it to do any serious tasks. One thing I always enjoyed with Chat GPT was asking it to make me a weekly meal plan, then ask it to create a shopping list for the ingredients. 

Be specific 

To get the most of of any generative chatbot you need to be specific about what you want. For example if you put in your prompt "Make me a meal plan" then ChatGPT asks some follow up questions. 

Playing with Pixelcut! An AI Image editor

 Hi all,

Today I want to go over Pixelcut. What is Pixelcut? It is a free online AI image editing tool featuring tools like a background remover, magic eraser, recoloring, AI photo shoot, and even a Magic Writer. So today will spend some time going what these tools do and how to use them.

Pixelcut Background Remover!

First up is the background remover. I can see these be a very handy tool for a classroom environment allowing you to strip out backgrounds of photos to help bring focus to the main topic of discussion. For todays example I am going to use a photo of a motorcycle I once owned. It's an okay photo and serves the purpose of a listing photo. If I didn't like the background I could spend hours in an image editing software with the erase tool but who has time for that? With the Pixelcut background remover we can simply upload it and it automagically removes the background without any need for highlighting areas we want to keep or erasing any parts we don't want.

Working with Images

Today I want to go over editing images and tools we can use to edit with. First we need to acquire an image to work with. As with all images we will need to respect copyright laws and make sure any image we use falls under Public Domain, Fair Use, or Creative Commons. One way to ensure you are not violating any copyright laws is to make create your images. 

How can we create our images? Well we can take pictures with our mobile phone, we can create images using programs like Photoshop or GIMP, we can use a Snipping tool to capture images or we can utilize an AI image generator. 

Snip & Sketch!

 If I am making some instructional material I will most often start with the Snipping tool or Snip & Sketch which is built into every Windows 10 or newer OS. The snipping tool itself has some features for annotating including a pen and highlighter tool.  

Snipping tools are a great way to capture something on your computer that can' be natively saved as an image like a piece of software. 

While the snipping tool itself works great for getting your image sometimes it still needs some extra work to get it looking a little better. For editing images I like to use GIMP as it is a free image manipulation program. 

GNU Image Manipulation Program or GIMP!

GIMP is a complex program but it can be used for simple image manipulation, it is not as powerful as photoshop yet I find it does almost everything I need.

To start we will launch GIMP and create a new file and select Advanced Options to change the Fill with option to Transparency. We can now use the option Open as Layer option for the image we would like to edit. For this example I will be editing the above image to get it looking a little cleaner, I will use the image from before I annotated using the Snip & Sketch tool. 

Next I will be using the Rectangle Select Tool to select the portion of our image we want to keep.

   

Our next step will be to trim the canvas to match the size of our selection. Now we will go to our Toolbar and select Image-> Fit Canvas to selection. This will trim our image to match what we had selected and leaves us with our desired image. To get our image out of GIMP we will need to Export it which can be found on the Toolbar under File-> Export As. This will allow us to name it and pick our file type. File formats saved as a GIF or PNG will retain any transparency or will not save with a background color if left transparent.

Now this was a very simple and brief walk-through of GIMP. There are multiple ways within GIMP to do the same task we just completed, I have shown what I think is the easiest way to do so. There are still a plethora of tools with in GIMP to be explored. While our final image could have been obtained using the Snip & Sketch tool it's not always easy to get your snip right the first time or if want to do more with GIMP like adding text or directional arrows GIMP can do that too. GIMP, admittedly, is a very difficult program to navigate and operate. I would strongly encourage you to watch a tutorial if you would like to learn more about it. 

For fun I ran my previous blog post through Chat GPT 3.5, I used the prompt "Can you help with my blog post?" then posted my blog in. This was Chat GPT's response:

"That sounds like an intriguing and informative blog post! Here's a draft incorporating the points you mentioned:

---

Title: Exploring the Boundless Potential of AI in Education

In the realm of education, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked a wave of innovation and possibilities. One particularly enlightening blog, aptly titled "AI for Education," delves into various facets of AI's role in shaping the educational landscape.

One of the standout posts on the blog examines the efficacy of AI detection software in educational environments. This technology holds promise in enhancing learning experiences by providing personalized feedback and identifying areas where students may need additional support. By leveraging AI, educators can gain valuable insights into student performance and tailor instruction to meet individual needs.

Another compelling initiative featured on the AI for Education blog is the concept of the "Prompt-a-thon." This innovative approach harnesses the power of AI chat services to address local community challenges. However, its applications extend far beyond problem-solving. Schools can host their own "Prompt-a-thons" to generate ideas for school activities, themes, or even curriculum enhancements. This not only fosters creativity and critical thinking among students but also promotes community engagement and collaboration.

The versatility of AI in education knows no bounds. While STEM educators readily embrace its potential, integrating AI into other disciplines, such as literature and the arts, may pose challenges. The key lies in thoughtful implementation and management. Educators must discern when AI can enhance learning experiences and when it's prudent to rely on traditional teaching methods. Striking this balance ensures that AI serves as a valuable tool rather than a mere novelty.

As we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of education, AI stands poised to revolutionize how we teach and learn. By embracing its potential and harnessing its power responsibly, we can unlock new opportunities for student growth and academic excellence.

---

Feel free to modify or expand upon this draft as needed to align with your vision for the blog post!"

If you read through my first post you will find that I am not a great writer. Once running my post through ChatGPT it greatly fills in the post with many extra details and makes me look like a great writer, at least I think it reads better that my first post. There are many points in the AI edited post which are slightly wrong or takes my ideas in a wrong direction. It should be easy to find a copy and pasted AI response, if a student were to massage the draft more in line with their natural writing style it may be harder to recognize.

I recently came across a blog titled AI for Education. There are several blog posts highlighting several different topics relating to AI and how it can be used in educational environment. One notable posts discussed the effectiveness of AI detection software, that blog can be found here. 

Another post found on the AI for Education blog related to using an AI Chat service to solve local community problems, they called it the “Prompt-a-thon”. I thought this would be a great way to introduce AI to students of any grade level and can be incorporated into other areas of study too. It's also not just limited to solving community problems, schools can host a "Prompt-a-thon" to generate the year's school actives or themes for said actives. 

The possibilities for integrating AI into classrooms are almost limitless. I can see STEM educators getting onboard with AI while some literature arts programs may struggle with its use. The tricky part will be how to manage it, when should it be used and when should we avoid it. 

Image generated by Ideogram 1.0, Prompt: AI in education