{"id":69,"date":"2021-11-17T20:33:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T03:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/litt540\/?p=69"},"modified":"2021-11-23T20:46:20","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T03:46:20","slug":"algorithms-of-predictive-text","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/litt540\/2021\/11\/17\/algorithms-of-predictive-text\/","title":{"rendered":"Algorithms of Predictive Text"},"content":{"rendered":"

Education is not about the fact that we are going through this process of being together. I don\u2019t think you need to be there in person to see other benefits. There are some people who don\u2019t have the right idea of what to do. I don\u2019t know what the name of the game is but the only thing that matters is that we don\u2019t go backwards.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I chose to create a micro-blog on the prompt, \u201cEducation is not about\u2026\u201d <\/em>and used the Apple iPad textual algorithm to complete the micro-blog. Since the algorithm makes predictions on the weighted strength of the connections fostered through use,\u00a0 I think that it is important to make note of what activities that I primarily use this device for. I do very little academic writing on it, instead primarily using it for personal reading, texting friends\/family, and quick online queries. These activities would definitely shape the words that are suggested by the algorithm.<\/p>\n

The statement that was generated by my predictive algorithm was similar to one that you may see on a textual product such as a blog. The usage of the personal voice distinguishes it from the other type of writing that I primarily participate in, which is academic in nature. The produced text may also show similarities with novels told from the first-person point of view, although the subject matter and writing level would be lower than those I would be reading as an adult.<\/p>\n

This generated statement is different from the way than the opinion I would normally express on the topic. While it conveys the similar ideal of education being related to a collaborative movement forward, I would not have specifically mentioned other people since I believe that education is primarily a unique, individual experience that can be enriched through collaboration with others. This is an example of how the predictive algorithm influenced the output of the text and shaped the expressed opinion.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, I tend to opt into the academic or formal tone when doing any writing due to my occupation as a teacher and continued involvement in formal education. If I was provided with this prompt, I would not have used any first-person personal voice. The algorithm twice uses \u201cI\u201d as a way to begin the sentence. This prediction would originate from my personal text messages that I occasionally use on the device, where I opt for a much more casual voice, often using personal nouns. The \u201cvoice\u201d that the algorithm created for me sounds like a blend of the two different \u201ctones\u201d of voice that I use in my daily life, but is not quite able to replicate what I would respond with.<\/p>\n

In the educational setting, I often see students using the predictive text element that is part of Microsoft Word to complete writing assignments. This often makes their writing unintelligible and the student\u2019s comprehension of what they have produced is often compromised. With the emergence of algorithms being used in an educational setting, it is easy to see how they could support students but also take away from authentic learning experiences that students participate in as part of making mistakes and maintaining a growth mindset. I would imagine that a more complicated algorithm would also make it easier to plagiarize since it could use other academic sources as a basis of knowledge. We can also observe algorithms as an academic policing software, such as TurnItIn. This software can make it easier to maintain academic integrity, but also can reduce the role of the teacher and lower their understanding of their student\u2019s abilities. It will be a constant struggle of education to balance progress with supportive usage of technological advances moving forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Education is not about the fact that we are going through this process of being together. I don\u2019t think you need to be there in person to see other benefits. There are some people who don\u2019t have the right idea of what to do. I don\u2019t know what the name of the game is but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86830,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/litt540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/litt540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/litt540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/litt540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86830"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/litt540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/litt540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/litt540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/litt540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/litt540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/litt540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}