Fully online degree from one of the top engineering schools offers unprecedented flexibility for working adults to advance their careers
By Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer at Coursera
Today, I am excited to announce a Master of Advanced Study in Engineering (MAS-E) from the University of California, Berkeley, the top-ranked public university in the U.S. and our newest university partner.
This online degree from UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering will upskill engineers and expand access to world-class education. Aligned with UC Berkeley’s strategic goals for equity and inclusion, this program provides a new pathway for those unable to attend in-person programs due to work or family commitments, which is the primary reason students study online.
The degree employs a new customizable program design to best meet the needs of working professionals. Students primarily take one-credit, asynchronous micro-courses that can be completed in five-to-seven weeks rather than the standard 15-week semester. These self-paced micro-courses are complemented by live office hours with Berkeley’s world-renowned faculty.
Key features of the degree:
Customizable curriculum: Students choose 22 one-unit micro-courses across five themes:
Infrastructure systems engineering
Biomedical and biomechanical engineering
Engineering data analysis
Advanced manufacturing and materials
Electrical, power, and autonomous systems.
Breadth and depth: Students acquire a technical foundation, specialize in one area by taking seven courses, and complete six courses across themes.
Hands-on learning: The program culminates in a two-credit interdisciplinary capstone project, where students apply new skills and build powerful assets to include in their professional portfolios.
“The new MAS-E program will enable students to tailor their degree path to align with their interests and career goals, helping them stay abreast of technological advances while accelerating their professional development,” said Tsu-Jae King Liu, Dean of Berkeley Engineering. “MAS-E graduates will be better prepared to tackle complex engineering challenges and to pursue new opportunities with the knowledge, skills, and connections gained through our unique online master’s program.”
“Technology is advancing at an accelerating pace – causing many STEM professionals to seek out ‘knowledge upgrades’ that build on what they learned as undergraduates,” said Tarek Zohdi, Faculty Director of Professional Online Master’s Degree Programs and Associate Dean for Research at Berkeley Engineering. “Working professionals need a flexible, industry-responsive program that reflects the interdisciplinary nature of modern engineering. We constructed this innovative program to best prepare engineers for the future of work.”
Berkeley’s MAS-E degree will prepare graduates for the nearly one million U.S. engineering jobs* that require or prefer a master’s degree. Additionally, those with a master’s degree in engineering earn almost 20% more than those with a bachelor’s degree. Berkeley Engineering graduates, in particular, are highly sought after and have joined the ranks of leading companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
We are honored to partner with Berkeley on this groundbreaking program. Online education increases access and opportunity for students from all backgrounds, and this program marks a milestone in further advancing educational equity. We look forward to seeing how increased access to this prestigious institution enables learners worldwide to transform their careers and the world at large.
*Source: Lightcast data, Occupation Summary for Engineering; Open jobs denote open positions from June 2023 to June 2022, Total count is 899,000+; Accessed June 22, 2023.
It’s the rise of the machines, but the truth is, the big machine uprising has been a long time coming. And now that it’s here, we need to figure out how to navigate this new world of artificial intelligence. AI is the hot, not-so-new craze that’s still making waves, and we’re all adjusting to it. But of course, we don’t all understand what it is, what it means for our everyday lives, and how we can use it to enhance our working experience and output. From music and art to research and school, and now the world of work, AI has transformational power and the many ways it can be utilised. We’re answering some of these questions below.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is described as the replication of human intelligence by machines in computer systems. These systems are built to have similar capabilities like imitating human actions and behaviours. and the expert systems include natural language processing, speech recognition, and machine vision. AI is the ability of a computer to behave in human-like ways and understand its surroundings using the information it collects.
In their efforts to not get left behind, companies the world over are scrambling to tell the world how they are leading the charge in their industries and using AI to change the game. Often, they use a component of the technology, machine learning. AI systems operate by absorbing vast amounts of data, analysing the patterns, and then using these patterns to predict future states. It picks up images, tools, and exchanges and, with these, can describe, identify, and create based on what it has ingested. This begs the question if AI will soon be able to do everything humans can and more, where does it fit into the workplace? How can professionals learn the skills to use these systems that will give them the extra edge where and when it matters?
The Value in Learning AI Skills
The foundations of machine learning and neural networks must be understood to learn AI skills. It’s essential to be proficient in programming languages like Python and can manipulate and analyse sizable datasets. Acquiring AI skills empowers individuals to develop innovative applications that can automate tasks, make predictions, and drive data-driven decision-making. Here are a few AI courses you can take to get you started:
The simplest way to use AI is to help you tick off small tasks on your to-do list. Here are a few tools you can use to make the most out of your day.
1. Canva Pro
Canva is a free-to-use graphic design platform for designing creative assets like presentations, posters, videos, logs, social media posts, and more. With Canva Pro, you have access to a rich AI image generator that doesn’t give you the traditional stylised designs of other image generators. The Pro version allows you to add text to images, magic design, magic eraser, beat sync, and magic edit.
2. Chatbots
We’ve all heard about ChatGPT and Google’s answer to this bot, Bard. These tools let you communicate with AI bots like you would with any other person. But that’s just the start of it. Tools like ChatGPT and Bard can write emails, code, and write essays. Bing Chat takes it further by having web-informed answers to questions and AI image generation. You can use it to proofread a document or email and help you phrase your message right before you hit ‘send’.
3. Numerous.ai
This tool is a plus for anyone working with large data sets if dealing with spreadsheets is not their cup of tea. You tell it what formula you need, and working with Excel and Google Sheets, it extracts the relevant information, and sorts and categorises the data into what you need.
4. Tome
The Tome app is your answer to creating beautiful slide decks or PowerPoint presentations for work. Impress your team, customers, and potential new clients with 3-D rendered presentations, adding live content. If you want to spruce your deck up even further, include video narrations in your slides.
5. Brain.fm
A big issue many professionals struggle with is focus and concentration. This music tool is scientifically backed to help unlock the best version of yourself. Brain.fm helps get more done with less effort. It can also help you relax, focus, and sleep better. The music is designed to blend into your background, stimulating your brain and helping you sustain attention for longer spans, and is produced from the bottom up in a way that optimises your performance.
6. Scheduling assistants
Another common bee in the workday bonnet is scheduling. Setting up meetings, jumping on and off calls, checking your calendar, and managing other tasks can be a job. Enter AI scheduling assistants! X.ai, Reclaim, Clockwise, and Motion are great options, each with pros and cons. For example, X.ai integrates popular calendars to help streamline the scheduling process while taking over the back-and-forth communication with meeting attendees to find a suitable time for all parties. Reclaim ensures you don’t miss your weekly targets. From weekly gym sessions to reading goals, Reclaim schedules it all. Clockwise works better for teams to create an ideal day. Motion is more project management-focused, helping you stay on top of your tasks, tweaking priority levels, and shuffling other events around this.
8. Otter.ai
Transcribing meeting minutes, interviews, lectures, videos, and other conversations, is tedious and time-consuming. Otter.ai is the time-saving answer to your transcription headaches. It’s a top-rated transcription app because of its accuracy, ability to distinguish speakers, and time stamps. Additionally, it can generate summaries in real-time, ensuring you don’t miss a second of what was said and who said it in minutes.
Like it or not, AI is a part of our personal and professional lives and is here to stay. The best thing we can do is learn how to leverage its capabilities for our benefit so that as the world forges ahead into new territories, we are right there learning and growing along with it. Find the AI tool that works for you and work it.
As the leaves change and fall, the autumn color palette comes alive with warm shades of pumpkin orange and coral. These vibrant hues create a cozy and inviting atmosphere that is perfect for snuggling up with a cup of tea. Soft green and beige provide a soothing contrast, adding a touch of serenity to the lively colors of the season. Whether you’re going for a walk in the park or enjoying a warm fire at home, the autumn color palette is sure to inspire feelings of comfort and joy.
Colors of Autumn Palette
The autumn color palette can be used in a variety of ways, from decorating your home with cozy blankets and throw pillows to creating a warm and inviting atmosphere in your wardrobe. These colors are not only beautiful, but they can also help to create a sense of calm and relaxation, making them perfect for unwinding after a long day. The versatility of this palette is what makes it truly awesome – it can be used in so many different ways to create a welcoming and inviting space that you’ll love spending time in.
As always, we have put together a mood board with some inspiration. It is in perfect Pinterest format, so feel free to pin it for later.
See our collection of other gorgeous color palettes by visiting our color palette section.
What do you think about this Autumn Colors color palette? We would love to hear about the places you see yourself using it. Your feedback means a lot to us, so please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
Make sure you take a look at our blog post about the importance of using color in blog design. It’s a really interesting read and will show you just how big of a role colors can play in your projects.
If you’re a fan of today’s color scheme, you should definitely take a look at April’s Wallpaper. It was published in spring, but its beige and yellow tones will also work great for autumn!
And, of course, don’t forget to check the 2023 Ultimate Planners! Over 100 pages that will help you grow your blog and social media and plan your perfect year!
If you create something using today’s color palette, don’t forget to share it with us!
The Department of Agriculture strongly encourages people to stomp, squash or swat lanternflies when they see them. Officials have been recruiting residents along the Eastern Seaboard to join the effort for years.
… As global supply chains become increasingly intertwined, the ecological impact of trade continues to grow. Invasive species introduced through imports, like the spotted lanternfly, will need to be controlled through means that might feel unseemly to some.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word unseemly in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how unseemly can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
Breaking into tech can be hard without guidance. Many self-taught programmers and career switchers have a difficult time figuring out if their skills are up to par, and if not, what they need to learn to bridge the gap. You might’ve finished dozens of courses and even built a few projects, but is it enough to land a job? That’s why we’ve created our new AI resume analyzer: The job-readiness checker.
Our new job-readiness checker, powered by GPT-4 (the latest model from OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT), helps evaluate how well you meet the requirements for a given role based on your skills and experience.
When you’re logged in to Codecademy, you can access the job-readiness checker under Resources in our navigation menu. Once you have a job posting’s URL from LinkedIn, just copy and paste the link along with your resume (or just copy and paste the full job description from another site). The job-readiness checker will parse through this information and the courses you’ve completed on Codecademy to generate a compatibility score that summarizes how well you meet the requirements. Here’s an example of how it can break down your compatibility and skill alignment with a given role.
The job-readiness checker is designed to take the guess work out of your job search, so you can be strategic about where you send your resume. “The job-readiness checker crystallizes how ready you are for a particular role,” says Owen Ou, Codecademy Senior Product Manager who helped spearhead its development. With this tool, we’ll also break down exactly which skills you already have and which ones you need to pick up. “We’re hoping that this empowers learners to know like, Oh, I’m only 30% ready,” he says. “Hopefully that can motivate some to go through our content faster to accelerate getting that outcome.”
Here’s a peek behind the scenes at how our engineers used emergent AI technology to build our job-readiness tool, and how you can use the job-readiness checker in your own job search.
Learn something new for free
The project: Create a tool so learners can check if they’re ready to apply for a job.
When you’re learning to code so you can get a job in tech, it’s hard to figure out when you’re ready to take the next step and enter the job market. Our learners have diverse educational backgrounds and past professional experiences, so there’s no one-size-fits-all way to evaluate job readiness. That’s why we thought this would be a good opportunity to use generative AI.
The biggest tasks involved in developing the job-readiness checker included:
Creating an OpenAPI endpoint
Developing a new data model to save users’ sensitive resume information
Calibrating prompts to ensure ChatGPT provides the desired output
Investigation and roadmapping
Owen: “Previous to AI, the only way that a learner would be able to access this sort of capability was to sit down with a real human. A human advisor would have to review what courses and projects you’ve done, how well you’ve done on each, and tell you manually [if you’re ready to apply] by reviewing the data that they have about you and looking at the roles that you’re interested in.
I’d followed developments in AI and neural networks for many years. With the latest iteration coming out of OpenAI and how easy and powerful GPT-4 was, it seemed like we could start tapping into the predictive capabilities a little bit more. The project was basically connecting lots of different dots: connecting the learner pain point; and connecting the business interest to the technology trend that was developing. We thought this was an interesting problem to work on.
The first part was just a tactical investigation. We had Jon, our tech lead, spend quite a bit of time initially just playing around because it’s a bleeding-edge technology; no one really knows what it’s capable of, and it changes every month. We were just tinkering and messing around with this technology in the back end against our hypothesis. This probably took over a month, just seeing what was capable, and could it return a score that roughly made sense based on a Codecademy progress data that we fed it? Directionally, we were checking different components of our vision and whether the existing technology could deliver something. There’s like a huge laundry list of tools that we used — you’ll have to ask our Senior Software Engineer Jon Sanders.”
Implementation
Jon: “This is the first Codecademy feature that uses ChatGPT, so we started by making a new micro service which contains the endpoints for all our AI-related API calls (right now just OpenAI). This took some time to get right, and we are still iterating on it, but it’s nice to have one service to track all of our AI usage. It allows us to see how much each feature is spending on API calls, how they are being used, and we can add all of our various prompts there (amongst other things). It’s good we built it early, because now multiple teams are making use of it for upcoming AI-related features.
Once we got the service running, we started building the job-readiness checker’s frontend. At some point, I became focused on building the features instead of modifying the prompts, so our team’s manager, Aditya Srinivasan and Curriculum Developer Melanie Williams, began work on calibrating the prompts to give us the desired outputs: accurate scores of job-readiness and helpful feedback for what someone should work on to become more compatible with a given job posting. Aditya made a script to run many examples through the service at one time, so we can see how any prompt changes affect a host of different example learners.
The most important feature of GPT-4 (also available in GPT-3) is function_calling, which allows us to get predictably formatted JSON the way you would expect from a “normal” API. Before function_calling was released, we were having trouble ensuring ChatGPT’s responses were in the correct format, which made building the feature nearly impossible. I imagine almost all of the upcoming features from Codecademy that use ChatGPT will also make use of function_calling. It’s a vital part of the API for us.”
Troubleshooting
Owen: “It’s a novel use case, and as a result, we’ve had to build new playbooks. We’re just using principles and working through the muck, the mess, like the low-level details to kind of achieve an objective. It’s not like we’re just following a standard process that other projects have. It’s just a lot of on-the-fly problem solving, and using resources and talent within the company that you think have the raw skills to help tackle these problems. And then just trust that it can be done.”
Jon: “We did a lot of testing with GPT-3.5-turbo-0613 and GPT-4-0613 and found that we get much more accurate and reliable results with GPT-4. We had hoped to use GPT-3.5 because it is faster and less expensive, but the qualitative difference in results, for a prompt as complicated as we are using, was obvious.
Unfortunately this means our learners need to wait up to 30 seconds for a job-report to get generated, so building a UI reflects this without being confusing was an interesting design challenge that our designer, Mat Stevens, did a great job with.”
Ship
Owen: “We were all holding our breath to see if this would work. Every day we’d be like, Oh my god, could it do it? No. But then we’d try a work around. When you’re doing stuff that hasn’t really been done before, you know that some of your ideas just aren’t going to be feasible. But this one we were both lucky and well-timed. We knew the wave was coming, and we bet that this wave would be the right wave to ride — and you could crash a little bit once in a while.”
Retrospective
Owen: “This one stood out against the other projects I’ve worked on because we didn’t even know it was possible. We hadn’t seen this done before in the edtech industry — that’s what’s unique about this project. We were pioneering.”
Jon: “I’d like to add a shout-out to Ahmed Abdallah, Staff Engineer — huge snaps for building out a lot of the AI-service, including rate-limiting, infrastructure, and security. His help was vital to the project.”
Writing the perfect resumé is difficult to pin down for most of us. What format should you use? How do you put your best foot forward to show you’re the right candidate for the job? What will make your resumé stand out from the hundreds landing on the hiring manager’s desk? These are just some of the many questions that plague professionals looking for their first job or seasoned employees who want to make a career change. In this article, we will help you build your perfect resumé by using the best CV practices according to HR experts.
Your Resumé
A great job starts with a great resumé. Your resumé is your two-minute elevator pitch to potential employers where you showcase your skills, experience, educational background, and accomplishments. These tell the HR manager reviewing candidate applications whether you’re a good fit for the company and possess the skills they are looking for to fill that position.
Types of Resumés
You can use different formats to lay out your information, and choosing the right format is just as important as the content of the resumé.
Reverse chronological: This is the most common resumé format and showcases your work experience first and then tells the story of your work history and skills. This format is best suited for people with years of work experience behind them, which is also relevant to the position being applied for.
Functional resumé: This style directs focus to your skills, thus making it the ideal format to use for those who are highly skilled but have little in the way of work experience.
Combination resumé: As the name suggests, this format is a combination of both the functional and reverse-chronological formats. It focuses on an individual’s skills and work experience.
In choosing which format to go with, you should consider your skills, work experience, and which of these the hiring company is looking for.
Best CV Practices
So, where do you start with writing a resumé? And how can you write the perfect resumé that will result in an invitation for an interview if you don’t know what hiring managers are looking for? We’ve gathered expert insights into best practices for creating your resumé.
Use a Template
HR managers see lots of resumés daily. You need yours to stand out from the rest and using a basic Word template won’t make the cut. For the best result, you may want to take advantage of the thousands of free resumé templates available on Alison and select one that best fits the job you’re applying for.
2. Watch Your Words
When building your resumé, you need to be mindful of the words you use. You want to neither use too few words that don’t give a comprehensive account of your skills. And you don’t want to submit a 5-page resumé with needless information. Check that your resumé is devoid of mistakes and that it has a professional tone.
3. Customise Your Resumé
A customised resumé is an attractive resumé. Hiring experts highly recommend customising your resumé for every job you apply for. This is because each job has specific tasks, keywords, and skills they are looking for. A copy-and-paste resumé is easy to spot and tells the recruitment manager that you aren’t willing to take the time to present your best to them. Although this can be time-consuming, it holds a greater chance of reaping rewards than a one-size-fits-all resumé.
4. Keep it Short
Include only relevant information in your resumé. This states your work experience and skills related to the position you’re applying for. Being the captain of your debate team in high school holds no bearing on your application to be a mechanic. Limit your resumé to a maximum of two pages. Any more than that, and you risk losing the attention of the reader.
5. Use Keywords
The most important thing HR managers look for in resumés is keywords. Job adverts contain specific keywords that list exactly what they’re looking for in a candidate. If you add these words to your resumé, you present yourself as a good fit for the job. Experts suggest not going overboard with all the skills you have, but instead, focus on the ones the company is looking for to increase your chances of getting the job.
6. Make it Easy to Read
Recruitment managers don’t have the time to spend reading paragraphs detailing your value and skillset. It’s best to write your resumé in bullet points because it makes reading and drawing out key information about you easier. They also recommend you use an action word to start every bullet point.
7. Provide a Summary
Introduce your resumé with a strong summary about who you are and what value you will bring to the organisation, how your background relates to the company values and goals, and outline, using key metrics, your achievements. A good summation of your skills starts you off on the right footing because it informs and outlines what the rest of your resumé will include.
8. Optimise your Resumé for APT
An APT, or applicant tracking system, is a tool used by most hiring professionals to weed out undesirable candidates. This software is designed to process, filter, scan, rate, rank, and search resumés to determine if the applicant meets their criteria. It’s imperative for you as a potential applicant to ensure your resumé doesn’t slip through the cracks. You can do this by paying attention to format and font sizes, listing keywords, and ensuring your resumé is personalised to the position.
9. Proofread
Mistakes do happen, but they can be costly. Once you’ve built your resumé, review it with fresh eyes to check for grammatical errors, typos, and other inconsistencies. You can also share it with a trusted friend or colleague for their input and use editing tools like Grammarly before submitting it to the business.
Top Skills Every Resumé Should Have
A well-rounded resume should showcase a mix of technical expertise and soft skills. Communication skills demonstrate your ability to convey ideas effectively, while adaptability and problem-solving exhibit your capacity to navigate challenges. Strong teamwork and collaboration highlight your aptitude for working harmoniously in diverse environments. Employers also value critical thinking for its role in making informed decisions. Lastly, technical skills pertinent to the job, such as coding languages or software proficiency, are crucial in illustrating your practical qualifications.
Communication: Effectively conveying ideas and information through written and verbal means.
Problem Solving: Analysing complex issues and devising creative solutions.
Teamwork: Collaborating seamlessly within diverse groups to achieve common goals.
Adaptability: Demonstrating flexibility and resilience in evolving work environments.
Critical Thinking: Evaluating situations and making informed decisions based on logic and reasoning.
Time Management: Efficiently organising tasks and prioritizing work to meet deadlines.
Leadership: Guiding and inspiring others to achieve objectives and deliver results.
Attention to Detail: Ensuring accuracy and precision in tasks, projects, and documentation.
Technical Proficiency: Mastery of relevant tools, software, and technical skills specific to your field.
Customer Service: Providing exceptional support and satisfaction to clients and customers.
It’s important to remember that crafting a resumé isn’t just for those entering the job market. If you’re switching companies or simply want to make a lateral move within your current company, you need to ensure you submit a resumé that sets you apart and not rely on your years in the company to secure you the position.
Take advantage of Alison’s free and easy-to-use Resumé Builder tool to create a professional resumé, in minutes, that will get you hired and promoted faster.
But then again, “Ted Lasso,” now in its third (and ostensibly final) season, has never been about subtlety. The series follows Ted, an American football coach transplanted to Britain to coach AFC Richmond, a fictional Premier League team. Ted is played by the show’sco-creator Jason Sudeikis, who portrays the character with a steady mix of goofiness and pathos.
From the get-go, “Ted Lasso” has loudly proclaimed its values, almost always through big, sweeping speeches, and almost always through setting Ted’s earnestness as a counterweight to a pervasive cynicism that surrounds him. “For me, success is not about the wins and losses,” Ted contends in an early episode. “It’s about helping these young fellas be the best versions of themselves on and off the field.” The scabrous journalist Trent Crimm retorts that Ted is being “irresponsible.”
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word scabrous in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how scabrous can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
In the past month I’ve been thinking a lot about history. I was tasked with writing a brief overview of cognitive psychology for a book I’m writing with Megan, and someone wrote into the Learning Scientists interested in the history of learning and asking for some places to start. I was not prepared for either of these requests. I never had the chance to take a class on the history of psychology, so the only history I knew was more or less what was presented in the textbooks I used for class. These all tend to paint a similar, unidimensional picture of the history of cognitive psychology which I would summarize as: Important men (mostly white and European) had important ideas. Then the computer came along! This changed some of these ideas. And then the men (mostly white and American, but now with some women) continued to have important ideas that you’ll learn more about in this book. These histories are often related as a series of dates with little mention of the lives and circumstances of the players involved; flattening otherwise dynamic, charismatic, and flawed (i.e. human) people into figureheads and symbols for schools of thought*. This paints a rather flat and unsatisfying picture.
After some initial digging, I can report back that the history of learning is much broader than just the history of cognitive psychology. Even the history of cognitive psychology is broader than cognitive psychology – encompassing the various disciplines that make up Cognitive Science (philosophy, neuroscience, computer science, linguistics, anthropology, and psychology), and at a pivotal point in its development spanning two world wars†. As the Ebbinghaus quote says, “Psychology has a long past, but a short history” (1).
All of this is to say that even if you have a degree in Psychology the only thing you probably know about Mary Whiton Calkins is that she was the first female president of the American Psychological Association. She was also, separately, the first female president of the American Philosophical Association. I was also delighted to find out that her early work focused on memory. Her ideas and theories about paired associate learning and the effects of primacy and recency predated modern memory research by about 70 years. She also was never awarded her PhD.
Mary Whiton Calkins was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1863. She was the oldest of five children. She spent her childhood in Buffalo, New York, then moved with her family to Newton, Massachusetts in 1881. Calkins went to Smith College to study philosophy and the classics – during a time when it was uncommon for women to pursue higher education. After completing her undergraduate degree, and traveling Europe for a year with her family, Calkins was offered a job at Wellesley College teaching Greek (2).
Her skill in teaching and interest in philosophy prompted her department to recommend that Calkins be appointed to the newly created position in experimental psychology. The college agreed on the stipulation that she take some time off to study the subject further. This required special arrangements since the nearby universities offering courses in psychology did not take women. So Calkins was independently tutored by Edmund Sanford of Clark University and attended seminars from William James of Harvard University.
“I have been attacking the President again on the subject you know of. He tells me that the overseers are so sensitive on the subject that he dares take no liberties. … They are at present in hot water about it at the medical school he himself being for the admission of women.” William James, 1890 (3)
A brief aside for those who are unfamiliar with William James. He is credited with being the “Father of American Psychology”. He was also a philosopher and credited with establishing pragmatism in philosophy‡. His brother was Henry James, celebrated American novelist, and his sister was Alice James, noted diarist. Unlike many early figures in psychology he disliked conducting research and instead focused on teaching and writing. By my count he published over 300 works in his lifetime (I counted the number of items in the 47 pages of bibliography in the back of The Writings of William James (4). There may be some duplicates in this count, but not many. It’s a truly impressive amount of writing.). In psychology his most famous work is two volumes entitled Principles of Psychology which are remarkable in their descriptions of various psychological phenomena and are eminently quotable even now, some 130 years later.
“I began the serious study of psychology with William James. Most unhappily for them and most fortunately for me the other members of his seminary in psychology dropped away in the early weeks of the fall of 1890; and James and I were left … quite literally at either side of a library fire. The Principles of Psychology was warm from the press; and my absorbed study of those brilliant, erudite, and provocative volumes, as interpreted by their writer, was my introduction to psychology.” Mary Whiton Calkins, 1930 (5, p. 31)
When Calkins returned to Wellesley in 1891 she established a psychological laboratory and introduced experimental psychology into the curriculum. At the time there were only a dozen or so other psychological laboratories in North America. In the first year students dissected sheep’s brains and conducted experiments on sensation, association, space, perception, memory, and reaction time (2). She was invited by G. Stanley Hall❡ to publish an article describing her experimental psychology course in the American Journal of Psychology. Calkins published a series of reports on findings from her and her students in the lab over the next 10 years (2).
After establishing her laboratory, Calkins returned to Harvard to work in the laboratory of Hugo Münsterberg§ . Here, Calkins pioneered the use of paired-associate learning, a methodology that is heavily used in memory research today. Her method involved showing a series of colors paired with numbers, then testing the memory of the numbers when shown the colors. She demonstrated that while numbers were remembered better when paired with bright colors, it was the frequency of the exposure that mattered for memory (7, 8, 9).
“She was one of the first in this new field, and she created an experimental technique that is now called the method of paired-associates, which has survived to the present time.” Hernstein & Boring, 1966 (10)
Calkins made several notable observations that are of interest to modern memory researchers (11), but before I go on to describe some of her observations it will be useful for you to know about the Serial Position Curve. If I were to read you a list of items – say I’m cooking a new dish and ask you to get a list of ingredients at the store – you would likely repeat those items back to me in a predictable pattern. People tend to remember the first items on the list really well, remember less and less as the list goes on, and then remember the last item or two on the list really well again. We call this the serial-position effect, or serial position curve.
A good prompt gives a large language model (LLM) a starting point to figure out what to create, says Ada Morse, a Senior Instructional Designer at Codecademy. Prompt engineering is the art of designing prompts that result in the most effective output from AI models. Ahead, Ada breaks down some of the basics of AI prompt writing. These are general guidelines that will help optimize your results no matter what you’re working on. For a more in-depth look at prompt engineering, check out our Prompt Engineering for Marketing course.
Learn something new for free
DON’T be ambiguous
One of the best things about generative AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E is their ability to process natural language. You can talk to them the same way you’d talk to a friend, and it’ll respond appropriately (more or less). But natural language can be ambiguous, and computers aren’t great with ambiguity.
“The more ambiguous your language, the more likely it is the model will go off and do something random that you didn’t want,” Ada says. For example, please analyze this dataset of customer transactions and provide insights into the most frequently bought and returned items for a meeting about product performance gives a model a lot more to work with that please analyze this dataset and summarize the results.
DO provide details
LLMs don’t have any background knowledge or context, so every time you start a new chat, you’re starting from a blank page. That’s why it’s crucial to provide as much info as you can.
“If the starting point doesn’t provide all the needed information, the probability machine might generate nonsense that’s not very useful — or completely incorrect,” Ada says.
In our free course Prompt Engineering for Marketing, you can experiment with different example prompts to see how providing detailed instructions, context, and examples can help ensure the program produces the desired output.
DON’T use sensitive info
AI tools can be great for time-consuming tasks like debugging or analyzing data, especially at large volumes — but be mindful of sharing private or sensitive information. Depending on the tool, your prompts and responses may be recorded and used as training data to help fine-tune the model. So if you’re using AI tools at work, make sure you know how your prompts are being used before uploading company data or code.
“Make sure you read the privacy agreement, and if you’re giving it confidential data, know how it’s being handled,” Ada says.
DO reference help guides
Different tools operate by different rules, and there are many factors that can influence a model’s output, including its training data, set parameters, and content type. For example: text-based models like GPT-4 tend to perform better with more information, but wordy prompts can confuse image-based tools like Midjourney. (Check out our free Intro to Generative AI to learn more about the different types of content you can create with AI.)
“It’s always a good idea to read through the frequently asked questions on the website,” Ada says. “They might have more or less detail depending on the tool, but they’ll provide the basics.”
DON’T forget to check your responses
LLMs are probability-based, and they don’t have a fact-checking system so there’s no guarantee for accuracy. In fact, AI programs often make up information (or “hallucinate”), and studies show that ChatGPT’s accuracy fluctuates over time.
“Remember that models aren’t optimized to be correct or credible; they’re optimized to produce a plausible response,” Ada says. Even with the best-written prompts, AI can make mistakes. That’s why you always need to validate your results.
But while you can’t take AI’s output at face value, you can get it closer to what you want by iterating on your prompts. “A big mistake is to write a prompt, get the response, and move on from there instead of going back and iterating on prior messages,” Ada says. In our Prompt Engineering for Marketing course, we go over how to use reflection — referring to past prompts — to increase the likelihood that the AI will follow instructions.
DO adjust your parameters
Some AI tools allow you to adjust the configuration of the model’s parameters, and experimenting with them can help fine-tune your output. “The more control you have over the model, the more reliable the output’s going to be,” Ada says.
For instance, in OpenAI’s Playground, you can mess with different parameters and see how changes affect GPT-3.5’s (the model behind ChatGPT) output. Turning down the model’s temperature, the parameter that determines the randomness of its output, will make it less random and more deterministic. And if you turn the temperature all the way down, it may reproduce text from its training set or provide the same output every time, Ada says.
Along with your parameters, you can also experiment with different plugins. By default, LLMs are limited to their training data, which may be out of date — but add-ons like our ChatGPT plugin help update the model’s knowledge base and improve its functionality.
Married since 2005 to Camilla, with whom he was romantically involved before and during his marriage to Diana, Charles has found stability in his personal life. With the death of his father, Prince Philip, at 99, last year, he became paterfamilias of the House of Windsor. Camilla, 75, who will take the title of queen consort, is a sturdy and respectable presence at his side.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word paterfamilias in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how paterfamilias can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
