Martin Rich

Thanks for a great #LTHEChat

Oh! Happy birthday in any case for next week #LTHEChat

A6 #LTHEChat AI makes the algorithms we work with a whole lot more complex & a whole lot less deterministic in that an individual could put something into AI multiple times & get the same answer. But understanding biases & managing them is fundamental to using AI especially determining how to prompt

Again thinking of marketing it would be interesting to figure out what's going on with the advertisements that platforms feed us - eg why does Twitter send me ads for AI tools and for dodgy people offering me to get compensation if I was ever mis-sold car finance (I wasn't) #LTHEChat 2/2

A5 #LTHEChat beyond the platform comparison that I've mentioned, compare different students' use of the same platform, consider 'reverse engineering' the way that somebody has worked the algorithm to create some influence or otherwise, look at what platforms know or think they know about people 1/2

A4 #LTHEChat I think it's very much part of our teaching role & a skill & area of understanding that runs across disciplines. Also I think in a rather febrile political environment (whether that's driven in part by social media or not) understanding & respecting multiple viewpoints is important

Also a good adaptation of comparing 2 new outlets' coverage of the same story which is a valuable exercise for eg journalism students #LTHEChat

A3 #LTHEChat I'm less conscious of it than some others but marketing academics in particular who've looked at social media campaigns have reported students getting what looks like a v skewed view of what's out there. It's an interesting digital manifestation of different staff & student perspectives

This is an issue from way back: when social media 1st became widely used I suggested to students arriving at uni that they knew less than they thought they knew #LTHEChat

A2 #LTHEChat in principle yes but I think this is an extension of evaluating critically the relevance & authenticity of sources of information which should be at the core of being a university student. The source and nature of bias is evolving & students need the skills to adapt to this

A1 #LTHEChat put simply it's the extent to which material which we see on social media particularly is biased, whether directly through an algorithm or through choice of platform (always instructive to compare responses to an issue between BlueSky & Twitter) or how you navigate a platform

Hi - I'm Martin and a slightly late arrival (sorry) to this #LTHEChat from an unexpectedly spring-like London

A6 #LTHEchat I have colleagues on BlueSky so couldn't possibly comment! But I do get positive feedback from students especially. In terms of relationships with other staff I'd hope that the various things I do mean something to other people

A5 #LTHEchat lots of things matter in online spaces eg providing background info about different participants & encouraging them to build up personas & that influencing participation & their role in an online community

A4 #LTHEchat this is subtle: there are definitely gender differences between typical expectations around belonging although there are many other factors

A2 #LTHEchat a lot depends on attention to detail: remembering students' needs, encouraging them to be involved in activities, etc. There's also a big difference between commuter students & those on campus in how they interact with activities in the university

A1 #LTHEchat this is something that's often overlooked in dealing with students. There's huge scope for student facing staff to foster belonging eg through organising activities & through things like bringing alumni into uni activities with current students

A3 #LTHEchat this is something I've strong feelings about: a few actions around uni staff, professional as well as academics, knowing students' names & coming in with some understanding of their background, really makes a difference. A good customer relationship management system is v valuable

Hi - I'm Martin from London & a slightly late arrival for this #LTHEchat

Thanks Alina for a great #LTHEchat

A6 #LTHEchat it has to be about incorporating it into everyday conversations about practice & into whatever CPD we do &shoudn't be a bolt-on. For Business Schools there are parallels with conversations on business ethics 10-15 years ago: we couldn't just have 1 session on ethics & say it was covered

A5 #LTHEchat apart from the sort of interdisciplinary activity that @dompates.bsky.social provides in our institution I'd suggest opportunities to work on case studies etc around climate change. We've had students doing relevant placements who've been able to offer their own perspective

On the whole I agree with you & there's a v strong awareness of relevance but I know that passive & didactic learning is still around in places #LTHEchat

A4 #LTHEchat I'm inclined to separate out the really frightening & overwhelming emotions which are certainly some people's response to climate change from a broader responsibility at least in anything vocational to prepare students for an uncertain world

If students are learning Business, Finance, Economics, or Geography at least it's v much part of what's taught. However there's an interesting question of how much it should be a distinct subject to cover & how much should be part of the context within which other things are taught #LTHEchat

I'd say there's a difference between putting somebody in a contrived situation that creates genuine challenges & purely teaching theoretical concepts. But I accept that the boundaries can be blurred. If I discuss the circular economy & briefly mention an example is it authetic #LTHEchat

A3 #LTHEchat possibly that they don't appreciate the complexity of the subject. Interestingly despite some of the rhetoric which crops up on social media, including the bizarre way that net zero gets demonised, it's v rare in my experience to find outright denial of climate change among our students

When I taught construction management MSc students I had a coursework around 'Green IT' partly because a test of students who bothered to find out about the subject was that they didn't uncritically recycle greenwash in IT companies' publicity material #LTHEchat

We had several instances of life imitating Millcaster (this was a series of fictitious case studies which set out to present participans with tricky & often wicked problems in business) so I would like to think of it as authentic #LTHEchat

Eg for business students learning about the circular economy, being sensitive to greenwashing, understanding the scope for nudging people into different behaviours, to list just a few #LTHEchat 2/2