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Turning an interest in programming into an AI career

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Turning an interest in programming into an AI career

Bharathan is a senior in the Bachelor of Engineering program at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda and recently shared how he was able to use what he learned on Coursera to land a Machine Learning internship. In his own words, he describes how he used his passion for computer science to launch a career in the Artificial Intelligence field.  

When I was 5 years old, I lost 85% of my vision and was later diagnosed with Macular Dystrophy. Since my diagnosis, I’ve been using a combination of Windows Magnifier and NVDA, a screen reading software, to access my school course materials and also to learn online. 

I was in the eleventh grade when I was exposed to programming for the first time, and from there I developed a deep interest in different programming technologies. 

A few years later, I was introduced to Coursera through Vision Aid, a Boston based NGO working in the interest of the blind and vision impaired. I enrolled in their Python programming class which used material from Dr. Chuck’s Python for Everybody Specialization

I really enjoyed the online learning experience and since then I have taken many courses including Stanford’s Divide and Conquer, Sorting and Searching, and Randomized Algorithms, Graph Search, Shortest Path and Data Structures, and Machine Learning as well as the Deep Learning Specialization from deeplearning.ai. 

The knowledge I gained through the Machine Learning and Deep Learning courses helped me land an internship this summer where I’m applying the concepts I learned to real-world projects.

The idea behind my main project is developing a Salesforce Conversational Analytics Chatbot. I think the most remarkable feature of this application is that the data never leaves the user’s desktop or laptop!

I am fascinated by the idea of machines being able to learn and do things as well as a human (and sometimes even better!). The flexible and self-paced courses on Coursera have been a great resource for developing my skills in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

In the future, I want to specialize in Artificial Intelligence and become a researcher that can contribute to the ever-growing field of AI.

Coursera is a great resource for honing my skills. Anyone who wants self-paced learning would easily fall in love with these courses.

 

Lesson of the Day: ‘90 Minutes a Day, Until 10 P.M.: China Sets Rules for Young Gamers’

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Lesson of the Day: ‘90 Minutes a Day, Until 10 P.M.: China Sets Rules for Young Gamers’

Find all our Lessons of the Day here.

Featured Article: “90 Minutes a Day, Until 10 P.M.: China Sets Rules for Young Gamers”

No playing video games after 10 p.m. No more than 90 minutes of gaming on weekdays. These are just some of the rules the Chinese government has released to curb video game addiction among young people, which they blame for a rise in nearsightedness and poor academic performance.

In this lesson, students consider whether fears about video gaming are valid or overblown, and evaluate whether China’s strategy toward internet addiction seems to be the right approach.

For each of the following statements, say whether you strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree. Then, discuss with your classmates or in writing why you think the way you do. (Note to teacher: If you’re doing this in a classroom context, you might do it as a Four Corners activity.)

  • Video game addiction is a problem in society, especially for young people.

  • Parents should have rules about how much and when their children can play video games.

  • The government should set limits on how much and when users younger than 18 can play video games.

Read the article, then answer the following questions:

1. Why has China instituted new rules around video gaming for users younger than 18? What problems do they attempt to address?

2. The Chinese state-run media has likened some games to “poison.” Why?

3. What are some ways that video gamers might get around these regulations?

4. How might the new policy impact technology companies in China? What about companies in the West?

5. How have the rules been greeted by some parents and gamers?

6. What is your reaction to China’s policy? Would you want your government to implement something similar? Why or why not?

In 2014, we featured the seven-minute Op-Doc “China’s Web Junkies” in our weekly Film Club. Watch the film, and then write about or discuss these questions:

  • What moments in this film stood out for you? Why?

  • Were there any surprises? Anything that challenged what you know — or thought you knew?

  • What reaction do you have to the images of the internet treatment addiction center in the film? What does the center remind you of? Why?

  • Do you think internet addiction is a real disorder that requires treatment? Do young people experience “screen addiction” here in the United States?

  • Are there other reasons, besides addiction, that young people might spend so much time playing video games and using the internet? The center’s director, in a lecture to parents, says loneliness is a factor. What do you think?

  • Do you think the boot camp-style treatment being used at the center will be successful? Why?

  • How does this film add to your understanding, or change your opinion about, the article you read about China’s new rules for young gamers?

  • What messages, emotions or ideas will you take away from this film? Why?

You can learn more about internet addiction centers in China in this article by the filmmakers, Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia.

Do You Ever Laugh at the Misfortune of Others?

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Do You Ever Laugh at the Misfortune of Others?

Find all our Student Opinion questions here.

Have you ever laughed at someone who made a mistake, fell down or was visibly struggling?

Has your moment of suffering ever been the butt of a joke or shared on social media? How did it make you feel?

In “Stop Posting Your Child’s Tantrum on Instagram,” Rebecca Schrag Hershberg and Daniel T. Willingham write about their concerns about parents sharing their children’s distress online:

What should a parent do when a 2-year-old shrieks inconsolably because her string cheese wrapper tore “the wrong way”? Increasingly, the answer is “snap a photo, add a snarky caption and upload it to Instagram.”

Publicly laughing at your toddler’s distress has somehow become not only acceptable but encouraged. Websites offer “best of” compilations, or canned quips readers can use when posting tantrum photos and videos (“Metallica has a new lead singer”).

As psychologists and parents ourselves, we understand the urge to laugh when a child howls because he’s forbidden to eat the packing peanuts from the Amazon box, and we also understand the impulse to make these moments public. The problem is the mockery.

They continue:

When a child cries, parents are biologically programmed to spring into action; blood pressure increases, for example, even if it’s not your kid. Because you know there’s no real danger during a typical tantrum, you joke in an attempt to silence the false alarm your ancient brain is sounding.

In addition, joking about difficulties with those who share your situation creates an in-group, a feeling of solidarity. In a classic experiment, a researcher observed that patients in a hospital ward were quick to joke with one another about their greatest discomforts: helplessness in the face of hospital routine or fear of the unknown. For parents, seeing that other children go boneless in the grocery checkout line offers the consoling knowledge that “I’m not the only one.” A popular 2015 book combined jokey name-calling with direct reassurance: “Toddlers are A##holes: It’s Not Your Fault.”

A##holes? Really? Well, the benefits of humor do come at a cost — someone must be the butt of the joke. Another hospital study noted that humor usually has an undercurrent of hostility, which is why jokesters felt compelled to respect social hierarchies. Doctors could poke fun at residents, and residents at nurses, but jokes directed up the hierarchy were not acceptable.

More formal experiments confirm the role of aggression in humor. In one, an experimenter interacted with subjects either rudely or neutrally. Later, the experimenter “accidentally” spilled hot tea on herself, and subjects to whom she was rude were much more likely to smile or laugh.

This perspective — that there’s a whiff of meanness in the tantrum-posting craze — may strike you as melodramatic. After all, he’s not crying because his dog died; he’s crying because the water in his sippy cup is too wet. It’s funny because there’s nothing wrong.

But in his 2-year-old brain, those two events may be equally tragic. The prefrontal cortex has not fully developed, making it difficult to appreciate that water can only be wet or that his dog will not return, or to regulate the ensuing emotion in either case. That his agitation is illogical makes it no less real.

Another person’s distress should not be a signal to pull out your phone, craving “likes.” That’s bad enough when it’s a stranger on a plane, but how much the more so when it’s your child, who needs your respect and compassion?

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

  • Do you ever laugh at the misfortune of others — whether in real life or online? Why do you think people sometimes find others’ suffering funny?

  • Do you think it is ever O.K. to laugh at someone else’s pain? If so, in which situations? If not, why not?

  • Have your parents, family members or friends ever shared an embarrassing moment of yours online? What do you think of Ms. Hershberg and Mr. Willingham’s argument that parents should not share videos of their children’s tantrums?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

What Students Are Saying About Fact-Checking Facebook, Making Small Talk and Being Alone

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What Students Are Saying About Fact-Checking Facebook, Making Small Talk and Being Alone

I think that Facebook shouldn’t fact-check political speech. The media is wrong all the time, and it’s the job of the people to choose what news to believe and what news to ignore. People should be allowed to form their own opinions and if they really want the truth, they’ll look for it.

— Elliot Wells, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

Initially I believed that Facebook should fact check its ads. However, it is the job of the consumer to question what they read. News sources everywhere are biased, and the media often puts out fake news. By saying that Facebook should only post true material, there is the danger of only telling half of a story, or only showing what some people believe to be true. And by saying that websites, companies, and people should only allow validated ads to be posted, there is the possibility of infringement on free speech.

— Samantha Rogala, Norwood High School, Norwood, MA

Using Facebook as your primary means of staying up-to-date on politics is irresponsible. People are already quick to acknowledge the bias in major news sources, such as CNN or FOX. These sources are run by people trained to portray the news as accurately as possible, and any bias that seeps through is likely just accidental. It seems surprising that, given how many people distrust professional news sites, people are still rushing to Facebook to get their news from people’s personal accounts.

— Jillian Steeves, Danvers, MA

Initially when posed with this question of limiting public content on Facebook, I was compelled to immediately argue for the undeniable right to free speech Americans are supposed to have. But with the current circumstances in consideration I find it difficult to compare the free speech of newspapers and soapboxes in 1789 to modern day global scale, instant communications. There is a much larger impact nowadays because any message can be viewed by the masses within seconds. With a constant influx of information at our fingertips it becomes difficult to decipher whether what we read is reliable or not. It is unfair for Facebook to expect their viewers to filter what politicians are saying, especially if Facebook has the power to fact check.

— M. Krous, California

Without this reliability that current and future voters can depend on, we might as well pick our president based on who has the prettiest hair, but who knows, that’s probably a lie too. Today’s world needs a president that they can trust, and if we can’t even trust the information we’re being given, will we ever know the honest truth?

— Olivia Graham-Diaz, Benicia, CA

People are prone to believe the first things that they see and don’t even attempt to fact check the information. The extreme amounts of false information that is to come from this policy can be very dangerous. People will end up spreading these false stories to those who follow them, and someone who follows them will spread it, resulting in a vicious cycle of lies. I believe that the fake news will be more dangerous in this way than any other.

— Bennett M, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

Political ads are usually subjective/biased, so the “fact-checking” could get subjective and even more political, so it seems unreasonable that the fact-checking would stay unbiased. Furthermore, it should be monitored by someone else (a government agency, a nonpartisan private organization, or something like that so the people posting the false material are still held accountable. Also, where would the fact-checking end on Facebook if it were started? There would be no clear line for what needs to be fact-checked and what doesn’t, which would get to be too big of a responsibility for a company whose main focus is not fact-checking. After all, they aren’t a database. They’re a social media platform.

— Charlie, Northbrook, IL

How great storytelling can change your career

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How great storytelling can change your career

The ability to deliver a message that inspires action is a career game-changer. But it’s easier said than done. Watching and listening to stories is one thing. But carving out your own takes confidence, and a clear sense of narrative. Luckily, we’ve got you covered.

Whether it’s in a job interview, a team brainstorming session or a meeting with clients. If you can set up a scene, draw your audience in and make them care, you’ll create a memorable impression.

Trying to win some budget allocation? By telling a story you can create interest in the area you’d like backed.

Going for a promotion? Use an anecdote and you’ll not only demonstrate experience, but you’ll be the more memorable candidate. 

So, how can you leverage storytelling for your career? Gabrielle Dolan, the author of Stories for Work: The essential guide to business storytelling, is an expert on business storytelling and leadership. 

Her success in storytelling has seen her work with large-scale companies including National Australia Bank, Telstra and Uber. Put simply, she’s The Guru. 

According to Gabrielle, there are four steps to nail storytelling in your career

How to nail storytelling in your career

1.     Conduct a story inventory

“Take some time to think about the experiences you have had in your life and how they could be used to communicate a business message or show a value that is important to you,’’ says Gabrielle.

“Some of these may be major life events, but typically your day-to-day experiences are more relatable to others, and therefore the most powerful stories you can use in business.’’

 2.     Be clear on your message

According to Gabrielle, one of the biggest mistakes people make when they first attempt storytelling is that they’re unclear about the end message or “key take-away” that they’re trying to communicate.

“People may try to communicate several messages with one story. As a result, your audience will be confused about the purpose… Ensure you only have one clear message per story.’’ Gabrielle says. 

3.     Prepare your stories

Make no mistake, the people who appear to be natural storytellers put a lot of effort into preparing and practising their stories.

They know how to start with impact, what to omit so their story isn’t too long, and how to end in a way that links the story to their message.

“Preparing and practising your stories won’t make them inauthentic, it will make them better.’’ Gabrielle says. 

4.     Be authentic

Last but by no means least, your stories need to be true.

“Perhaps the most important aspect of storytelling in business is that your stories need to be authentic.’’ Gabrielle says.

“It’s not worth the backlash to your credibility to make-up or exaggerate stories… You also need to really believe in the message you want to communicate. This means your stories need to be consistent with your behaviour.”

“Storytelling in business is not about manipulation, it’s about genuine influence.’’

Now that you have the intel, it’s time to give it a trial run. What’s a workplace situation in which you could give storytelling a shot? It’s bound to help you reach your goals. 

Captain the operation with construction management

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Captain the operation with construction management

The next time you spend a day in your nearest city’s CBD, look up. Now consider this: How did the buildings that shadow your every step come into existence?

While there are many roles involved in bringing a building to life, construction managers are the captains of the operation. Study the Bachelor of Applied Science (Construction Management) with Curtin University through Open Universities Australia (OUA), and you can become one.

So, what is construction management?

“Construction management is fundamentally the ability to understand how a building gets put together,” explains Jane Matthews, Associate Professor in the Department of Construction Management at Curtin University.

“It’s the ability to communicate that to different sets of people – that might be the tradies on site, right through to the owners of the building.”

“[It’s] about your interaction with people,” Monty Sutrisna, Head of the Department adds.

For aspiring construction managers, having the know-how to build a strong proposal, and the people skills to negotiate, can help them win work to build major constructions.

“It’s really important for students to understand how to work and navigate a construction from the very beginning, and how to work as a team,” Monty continues.

Construction workers standing at site.

The degree with a digital edge

With the construction industry becoming more and more digitised, Jane speaks of the importance of digital elements in a construction management degree. This is something that the Bachelor of Applied Science (Construction Management) with Curtin University is proud to offer.

HIVE (Hub for Immersive Visualisation and eResearch) is an advanced facility established by Curtin University to serve the growing demands of researchers and industry for visualisation, virtualisation and simulation capabilities in Western Australia.

Facilities like these allow Jane and her team to test elements of a building’s design and safety through digital technology.

Perth Children’s Hospital is just one project that is benefiting from the digitisation of construction. Currently, the building is being replicated via digital technology to review security camera design.

“Curtin is one of the first courses to embed Building Information Modelling (BIM) to make sure students have those skills that will make them employable” Jane says.

Why choose Curtin University?

If you’ve decided that taking constructions from blue-print to brilliance is where you see your future headed, you may be wondering: is Curtin University, and studying online through OUA, the right choice for me?

Curtin University is a solid choice for students looking to make a seamless transition into the workplace. The university places great importance on being work-ready by giving students real-world projects to develop their industry skills.

What’s more, Curtin University infuses its courses with industry experts – many of whom are past students.

“Many [alumni] are now senior managers in large companies, and some of them are willing to give back to the university to do a guest lecture, or help with materials for a case study.” says Jane.

Studying online

If you’re worried that studying online might leave you short-changed, think again. Not only does online study provide you with the flexibility to reach your goals while meeting work and family commitments, Jane says that students who study the Bachelor of Applied Science (Construction Management) through OUA get knee-deep in the construction management experience.

“We have great things our OUA students can do.” says Jane.

“That involves working with other disciplines, going overseas on field trips, and getting involved in building projects.”

With an exciting range of careers for graduates to embark upon, including project management, site management, facility management and quantity surveying, there are endless possibilities for where you could take your degree.

To learn more about how to study through OUA – fill out the form on this page, and a friendly student advisor will get in contact. You can also chat to them on OUA’s website Messenger service, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or SMS. They’ll help you find the right course for your future.

Otherwise, head over to the website to browse hundreds of degrees and subjects from leading Australian universities right now.

Engagement and Interest

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Engagement and Interest

Another aspect of engagement seems to be interest and attention. If we focus on this aspect of engagement the definition is closer to ‘participating in activities that capture interest and attention in a subject matter’. In this view interest and attention are, in and of themselves, effective processes that promote understanding and learning, or they lead to effective processes that promote understanding and learning. So, do interest and attention lead to better learning?

First, I want to be clear that focused attention is very beneficial for learning. Promoting focused attention (1) and avoiding, or mitigating, divided attention (2), helps students process relevant information and ignore irrelevant information (3). However, when talking about ways to engage students people often talk about grabbing or capturing attention, without necessarily worrying about whether students are multitasking in the process.

Second, interest is a term that is hard to define. In one context, interest might be a short hand for paying attention. In another, interest might signal some sort of background or history with a subject. The Four Phase Model of Interest Development by Hidi and Renninger (2006) is a useful framework for disentangling the various forms of interest (4). They propose that there are two main types of interest. Situational interest is interest that happens in the moment. A funny story or a cool demonstration might capture attention and cause someone to be interested in the situation. Individual interest is interest that is the result of repeated engagement with a topic, and is indicative of a more substantive background knowledge and greater ability to learn more about a topic. I clearly have an interest in how learning and memory work, but this interest is also reflective of years of research and study on the topic that makes it easier for me to read the latest research, understand it, and learn more about the topic. On the other hand, I recently had a conversation with a student about a Japanese band called Babymetal, who started the kawaii metal sub-genre, that was very interesting. It was, relative to my experience, a fairly unique and therefore situationally interesting conversation, but I have a very limited range of experience and background knowledge with this topic and remember very little about the nuances of metal music composition from the conversation.

Dream House

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Dream House

Last month, a real-life Barbie Dreamhouse was made available to rent in Malibu, California.

Have you ever fantasized about having your own “dream house”? What kind of features, gadgets and memorabilia would you put in it? Where would it be located? Who would live there with you?

Describe your perfect home in the comments below, then read the related article about some of the zany locations where people can stay on vacation.

Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan. You can find all our Picture Prompts in this column.

Word + Quiz: xenophobia

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Word + Quiz: xenophobia

: a fear of foreigners or strangers

_________

The word xenophobia has appeared in 163 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Oct. 5 in “The Modernist ‘Outsiders’ in Paris” by Nina Siegal:

Chagall, born Moishe Segal, was a Belarusian Jew who had fled Vitebsk for Paris a half-century earlier, at age 20. He was trying to leave behind Russia’s discrimination against Jews and the periodic violent pogroms, trading them for the center of the art world.

… Even though Chagall immediately became one of the leading modernist painters, he continued to face difficulties in the French capital. When the Vichy government came to power in 1940, Jewish artists could no longer exhibit in Paris. Even in the 1960s, many French critics still regarded him as no more than a “foreign Jew” who should not be able to paint a national monument, said Maurice Rummens, a research assistant at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

This story is part of “Chagall, Picasso, Mondrian and Others: Migrants in Paris,” an exhibition curated by Mr. Rummens at the Stedelijk Museum until Feb. 2, 2020. It seeks to remind visitors that while Paris may have been an artistic melting pot in the first half of the 20th century, “outsiders” experienced xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

_________

Teenagers in The Times: October 2019

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Teenagers in The Times: October 2019

Here is the October edition of Teenagers in The Times, a roundup of the news and feature stories about young people that have recently appeared across sections of NYTimes.com. We publish a new edition on the first Thursday of each month.

For ideas about how to use Teenagers in The Times with your students, please see our lesson plan and special activity sheet, both of which can be used with this or any other edition.

_________

Education

_________

Civics, Politics, Economics and Business

The Democrats Worth Staying Up Past Bedtime For

For the way-too-young-to-vote crowd, 2020 events are still a draw.

On Climate Change, Biden Has a Record and a Plan. Young Activists Want More.

No presidential candidate has Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s experience in the trenches of the climate wars. For a youth-driven movement, though, he may not be the man of the hour.

Are School Debate Competitions Bad for Our Political Discourse?

This Opinion essay argues, “They can be a good credential for aspiring leaders, but they favor a closed-minded and partisan style of argument.”

She Was Raped by a Classmate. She Still Had to Go to School With Him.

The case jolted a working-class town, prompting a walkout by students and a debate over whether school officials are equipped to address sexual assault.

Kansas Student Charged With Felony After Making Gun Shape With Fingers

School officials in Overland Park, Kan., were made aware of the threat by a student through the district’s website, which allows students to report safety concerns, the police said.

An Entire College Team Gives Up Football

Down to 28 players, the Grinnell team voted to call it quits with seven games left, out of concern for its own welfare and as a protest over the administration’s level of support.

Coco Gauff, 15, Wins Her First Singles Title

Gauff, the American tennis phenom, defeated Jelena Ostapenko, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, in Linz, Austria, to add another highlight to her breakout season.

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