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Word of the Day: kvetch

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Word of the Day: kvetch

The word kvetch has appeared in eight articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Nov. 30 in “‘Doormat Treatment’: Congestion Pricing Plan Riles New Jersey Leaders” by Tracey Tully and Elise Young:

Unsurprisingly, surveys have shown that New Jersey residents are largely opposed to paying more to drive into New York City.

… Still, not everyone in New Jersey was displeased.

“It’s easy to kvetch that the plan is unfair to New Jersey,” said Doug O’Malley, the director of Environment New Jersey.

But an underfunded subway system in New York City would be a “disaster on both sides of the Hudson,” Mr. O’Malley said.

Can you correctly use the word kvetch 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.

If you want a better idea of how kvetch can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try our vocabulary quizzes.

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.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.

What Students Are Saying About New Year’s Resolutions

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What Students Are Saying About New Year’s Resolutions

Please note: Student comments have been lightly edited for length.

_________

At first, I used to believe that New Year’s resolutions were a ridiculous idea. I thought, “Why would I wait for the whole year to end to make a change in my life?” I still believe that if I want to make a change or improvement in my life, I should start today; however, I often find myself struggling with motivation, keeping myself disciplined, and being committed to my goals … Therefore, I realized that New Year’s resolutions are a good way to improve for several reasons. First, it became a worldwide “tradition” that almost everyone gets involved in. It is encouraging to be surrounded by people who are also trying to learn from their mistakes, cultivate new habits, and strive for better versions of themselves. Also, setting goals at the beginning of the year gives us the sense that we still have the opportunity to do better and that we have another chance to progress.

— Jassica, Fountain Valley High School

As another year goes by, I am left once again to reflect on how I have changed and grown as a person. I have grown tremendously individually over 2023, and my life has become much better as a result. I have also been able to do things I love, and I have improved my time management skills, leaving more time for volunteering and charity work. New Year’s resolutions always give me something to work towards, and always are greatly beneficial in the long run for me. Without these goals, I find it hard to make progress and improve my life for the better.

— Megan, North Carolina

Coming from a Chinese family we’ve always celebrated Lunar New Year instead of New Years. On Lunar New Year kids receive red envelopes with cash from their elders. Lunar New Year is celebrated usually in February because it follows a different calendar. I’ve always wanted to try doing New Year’s resolutions, but always forgot. Since the idea of resolutions is so common where I live, it has influenced me to also set goals.

— Elina C., Julia R. Masterman

I’ve never engaged in New Year’s resolutions; they seem like unfulfilled pledges, easily forgotten by the next year. While they might be commendable goals for those who excel at pursuing and achieving them, I’ve never been among that group. Generally, I believe resolutions aren’t suited for everyone, like myself, but they could serve as admirable objectives for others to attain.

— Kendall, Prep

As far as my personal relationships with New Year’s resolutions go, I almost always accomplish every single one of them without too much difficulty. This is mainly because when I create my resolutions each year, I create them with either what I’m on track to do this year in mind, or the bare minimum. Now while this might not sound like the healthiest relationship to have with your goals, I still find it to work fine, because the new year isn’t the one and only time each year to create goals for yourself: you can do it any day. And with this in mind, I usually change and adjust my goals as the year goes on, but if I’m not able to go above the bare minimum I set for myself, I don’t end up feeling bad about it.

— Charles, J.R.Masterman School

Frontline Workers + Online Learning – Does it work?

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Frontline Workers + Online Learning – Does it work?

I don’t know about you, but I remember you from my first job. I was 16 years old. I was hired by a department chain (name not to be released because they are out of business now, and I can’t fully recall it). Rather than placing me into the music section, a dream for any 16-year-old, I was placed in automotive. It was a bad match. Not only because I had no idea about any of these products, nor because the smell was probably toxic, but because placing a 16-year-old into automotive is like placing a 45-year-old into the music department (you could buy tapes and records then) and expecting them to know the latest punk rock and rock bands of that time. Like I said a bad match.

I got canned a month later. There was no major loss. After all, Howard Johnson’s (well-known hotel chain and restaurant – mentioned even in Blazing Saddles) was calling, and I was happy to oblige.

Hojo (its nickname) provided some training. I started as a dishwasher, then moved up to cleaning tables and hanging out with people when the place was dead – always late in the evening. It was a fun gig.

The other? Zero training. 

What is the correlation between the two? Frontline worker. Retail and Hospitality. One offered training; one offered misery. 

The Hojo experience showed the steps to do, how it worked, and other things. I was brought up to clean tables, the same thing. And the person who provided each one? The head of the kitchen will be responsible for the first part, and the manager for the second hands-on learning. No manuals. No guides. No inane banter that treated a 16-year-old as some aloof kid who wants to hang out, earn money, and do nothing. 

The other one? Did I mention misery?

This was, of course, before e-learning was around, let alone CBT (Computer-Based Training, 640 MB on a CD – for those curious). Neither of those folks who trained me had any background in training, let alone learning. Nevertheless, they understood their audience, targeted the correct information to do an adequate job, and treated that person as a person, not a kid.

Perhaps you had a similar experience or experiences. A frontline worker – dealing with customers Face to Face (first gig) and second when I cleaned tables. Customers – just saying the term will make some folks cringe because people can be friendly, jerkish, rude, pleasant, and demanding. Did I mention jerkish and downright offensive?

We expect everyone to be friendly and pleasant, but being a frontline worker in any face-to-face role with the public, especially in retail and hospitality, will show you the worst in people. 

When I look at e-learning courses/content today, I see a lot of good and, yes, a lot of wrong when providing effective online learning for frontline workers. 

What do you need to have effective online learning for frontline workers?

First, the new term you may hear is “deskless workers.” Which includes frontline, blue-collar, and any other role where the person does not work in the office. I have often written about the awfulness and near indifference regarding blue-collar workers and learning systems, even learning technology. Toss in some C-level executives who treat their blue-collar employees as replaceable, and when someone running L&D or Training wants to do something, they can get resistance and even rejection.

Thus, for this post, I will refer to frontline workers. Retail and Hospitality I see as two different segments where people of all ages have to deal with people of all ages as customers. The good. The bad. The downright nastiness (especially today). 

The Needs

  • A learning system (LMS, LXP, Learning Platform, or combo) that targets the frontline worker (and yes, even gig worker, if applicable). The system has a mobile app with on/off synch.
  • Mobile app – Comes with content that focuses on the frontline employee – from what they need to do for their job to various content that provides skills and fun – remember that with learning? The app has a look and feel that embodies something a frontline worker will use.
  • Content – Some assigned – like regulations and skills for the roles – but with flex so that someone can go back in without a specific due date. Think a mix. The content should be around that specific audience – not all text, not with minimal graphics, not a page-turner – that bores people. Make it fun and engaging – I’ve done it for retail – and that target audience 16-23 loves it. Add content that brings real world. Thus, if you purchase the content, the people aren’t a bunch of 30-year-olds in a retail place talking about customer service. I can’t recall seeing a 3rd party course that presents people being nasty from a current perspective. 2005 is not the same as 2024. 
  • Add engaging activities – the key here is engaging, interactivity and fun. Again, focus on the target audience – this was a staple back in the day with instructional designers/developers who would do storyboards that you would review; it is a process. Nowadays, people use their rapid content authoring tool – to create a PPT or use Gen-AI for a text-based course. Boring with a guaranteed rate of ignore and move on.

An activity could be as simple as the employee recording a short up to three-minute video of someone or some employees doing certain tasks correctly – that others could benefit from seeing. The employee can add filters, tweak it up with stuff, and then upload it. Then everyone can view it. You are leveraging what they are using – Instagram, Tik Tok and similar. They are not using LinkedIn here. Or for the employee a 90 second fun video of their choosing around something they do at work, that they like. The key here is fun and effective learning. Simple, simple stuff – and who offers this option for their employees in retail and hospitality? My guess? Nobody. 

If you really want to push it, find a Generative AI solution that can integrate into your LMS, that does a text to image or something that your audience can use to create their own content related to the skills they are learning or something along those lines. 

With any generative ai solution, always use a human element – thus, you may need to do an approval mechanism, if the employee isn’t 100% sure it is a) appropriate and b) correct.

I love systems whereas the learner can create their own content, because the system enables that capability. Thus, it’s not just on the admin side, learners get access too.

  • Know your audience – You should have done or make sure you do – the age bracket of your audience that this is for. I find many in L&D and, yes, training. Even HR who provide training, regardless of whether it is ILT or e-learning, think from their perspective, not the person and people receiving it.

Where I live, there are a lot of retirees at retail places, especially at fast food – like McDonald’s. And there are high school kids, and folks needing another job. The largest audience are retirees and the kids. Two different audiences, two different types of content are needed. Never a one-size fits all. The entire approach has to be different. BUT what I see is one across the board. Yuck. 

I see the same thing when folks pick a learning system, regardless of the type. If the people are frontline workers, why are you picking a system that appears as though it hasn’t been updated in five or more years? Why are selecting a system without a mobile app with on/off synch? Why are you picking a system that does not give you options for tweaking the labels (changing the text), adding widgets, or removing them, giving off a different appearance for different audiences? Example a retiree will use the system – after teaching them how so – and may require multiple times; and the writing size may need to be different too vs. a 17-year-old or 23-year-old, who wants a hipper look and feel. 

There are systems whereas you can do this not just by group, but for each individual – now that rocks. Go multi-tenant, and now you have multiple view options – one for a senior crowd or older adult, one for your younger audience and one for managers. Managers do not like to be shoved into the same system as everyone else – let alone in anything whereas they need to take content that other learners can see. So yeah, they can access the other tenets, using what we call roles and rules for what they see, even with their own manager view, and equally have a place just for them. District managers can be placed into the same tenant.

Automation and Restaurants

It’s coming, and I wonder whether the human workers that are there, will be trained on an on-going basis around it.

One big chain that rolled it out is McDonald’s. It’s an interesting idea, that has already seen a backlash on social media.

What happens when customers experience it on a daily basis, and something goes wrong? I use the mobile app to place my orders (and pay ahead of time), but there are people who do use the mobile app.

There are already restaurants that have rolled out gen ai and automation. But how does that help the frontline worker when it comes to online training, even if you do a combo with ILT (boo) and OJT (potential double boo).

Do it once with ILT and OJT = then what?

You are relying on the manager to continue the training afterwards, and/or the newbie is assigned a productive worker, who may do short cuts, to get the job done. You are hoping that the productive knows how to teach someone correctly, is patient, understanding, and can apply active learning, and not just step by step to use the register or fold clothes correctly or make a cheeseburger or enter in the right data after a person wants to check in the hotel.

As a customer I have witnessed great with OJT, and miserable. Do you think the new employee will tell the manager that so and so, was awful? 

A combo of ILT – with on-going learning and not some manual which nobody still reads – and the online learning is tailored correctly not just focused on “how to” but the target audience, with interactive steps and approaches. I definitely would incorporate gamification here. With the content. With the activities. With the engagement. With the system itself. Go beyond the extra mile here.

Reasons why people fail to do this

Turnover. Yes, I am fully aware that retaining a frontline worker in retail and hospitality, and other sectors is high. Yes, I know that there are employees who are just not right for the job. I know there are managers who are great managers but are indifferent or do not allow their employees to take some time during the day (when it’s slow) to take content online. Heck, even use their smartphone, but then the manager walks away, and the person starts to use their smartphone.

Yes, I am aware of seasonal employees. Half-time, full-time, even full-time, but they reduce the hours – the manager does because they think the employee will bolt. Promise 40, cut to 30. Yes, there are employees who have to get second and third jobs, because of the reduction of hours, because the fear and yes it happens, the fear the manager has for the employee quitting is strong enough to do this. 

Yes, the wages and/or tips plays a role. Yes, the amount of stress many people deal with these days with customers, plays a role. Yes, lack of benefits for a full-time employee plays a role. Yes, an ineffective employee or one who just decides that day to never show up, plays a role.

Nobody ever said that having employees or contractors (hey, Uber!), who are frontline, or gig workers is going to be smooth sailing. The issues places face today with frontline folks are the same as in the 90’s, 80’s, 70’s and probably before then. The increased nastiness and believe that people can say whatever they want and treat frontline workers and gig as less than a human being with feelings, is new. Nobody deserves that. Back in the day when I worked at another retail place in the summer prior to grad school, I remember the manager saying something along the lines that if a customer was rude or saying offensive things, to stop talking and get the manager. 

I always appreciated that. The challenge? Finding the manager, while the customer is getting angrier. Nevertheless, the manager did show up. 

Your online learning has to address the nastiness. You cannot ignore it. Nor can you ignore the common issues on why frontline workers quit. Ask yourself what incentive can I do with my online learning which will help them to stay? Sure, it may not work, but what can do you do or offer them, from a learning and training standpoint?

Access to take online courses/content for skills that are not job related? Access to online content around interests? (YES) Access to online courses/content that is wide scope beyond the usual standard fare? (YES). Access to content that offers life skills? (YES). Access to courses that allow them to learn another language or take courses/classes from online universities and community colleges? (YES, and it can be done, there are systems that have this). Access to the above, and you the company pays for it? (YES, it should be done).

I think back to that McDonald’s, whereas they note all these benefits – when they were trying to find folks. This one offered a lot, even I believe something around tuition or some similar ilk – I honestly can’t recall the wordage, but it was towards past high school, and onto college/community college. Think how many people want to take this content/courses, but do not have the funds to do so. You are now their destination.

What else would they like to learn? Have you asked them? Pick anything you say that is non job-related. Because you, as the client – the company can find it and offer it. And if you don’t know where to look, go beyond two pages of the web, reach out to various 3rd party vendors. 

As for job related. Did you know there are courses specifically for the whiskey industry? Being a barista? Working at a cannabis shop, along with learning all the various types of cannabis? Working in the tennis industry. And the list goes on. 

The Kiosk and Gen-AI

McDonald’s plans to roll out Gen AI with their restaurants, from food, to taking orders.

Good idea. Eliminate the need for some frontline workers (let’s be honest here) and have only people make the food and hand it off. Down the road, I am sure there will be technology whereas the food is just delivered out, and you grab and go. 

Always remember that no LLM, and thus for right now the focus is generative ai (so when people say AI, this is what they are referring to, albeit machine learning is another form, but I digress) – is infallible.

They can produce bias.

They all have hallucinations, which data shows can range from 2% to 27%. Even 2% is bad, if you think about it. How many customers will be impacted when let’s go hypothetically and say 4%?

While I won’t go with the total number of customers per day – with all their locations. McDonald’s reports 69 million customers per day – globally with all their locations.

I’ll just pick one, the one I go to – estimate at best, the one I go to and say 1,000. 40 customers whose information presented to whomever is viewing it, is fake, due to the gen ai.

40 doesn’t seem like that much, right? I mean customer service isn’t a necessity today, right?

I sure hope your online training or ILT on-site will address that issue, and how to resolve it, because 40 is a lot especially in the days of social media. I mean who knows – on that day, someone with 1 million followers just got the whammy of gen ai hallucinations. At your restaurant.

Lastly, it should be noted as a side bar, that gen ai today lacks empathy.

I mean what could go wrong here?

This is why the human element must always be involved – always, before in this case, the order is approved and goes through.

Empathy

The empathy thing is a huge issue with gen ai. Humans usually have it (ok, serial killers, narcissists. and people you may know, lack it). There is a company out there whereas they are working on an LLM that has empathy. 

Thus, what is the game plan for each restaurant, regardless of if it is McD’s here or any other place, retail, hospitality and so forth, when they use gen ai – and run into the lack of empathy (at least today), bias, and hallucinations? Even if you fine tune your LLM, you won’t eliminate hallucinations.

What is your online learning, OJT and ILT plan to handle this with your employees – more importantly, in this post.

The Kiosk Problem

If you think about it, you will clearly see it.

How many times have you seen people who can’t figure out an ATM (yes, plenty exist) or some other type of machine that requires them to push buttons and read the screen? How many times have you seen people who can’t figure out the kiosks at the airport to get their ticket?

At McDonald’s and again, I’ve seen other chains with the kiosk, there are sometimes an employee to help them (the person) and other times, not. 

I’ve even seen employees who can’t figure out certain things on the screen, and they are supposed to be the knowledgeable one.

What are you – not just McD’s here, but any retail or hospitality place…

Are you offering ILT or OJT or ongoing online learning around the whole gen ai aspect for your employees and its issues? Did you offer or continually offering the latest around gen ai, what it has challenges with? Because new things are showing up all the time.

I wonder.

The LMS, LXP, Learning Platform and Content with Gen AI

Right now, overall, it is course/content creator and assessments. As noted before, I have yet to see any of these vendors, actually any that have gen ai in their system whereas a person on the admin side or learner side, has a context window, that if the info is wrong, they can identify that, and enter in the correct information.

A crucial step so that gen ai can continually learn. This is why you see it when you use ChatGPT, GPT-4, Claude, Perplexity.ai and many others – regardless of if it is text generative only (chatbot) or images, PDFs, audio and so on (multimodal).

Which as early noted, baffles me, on how nobody who added gen ai in their system forget about adding that, let alone text letting people know it may produce hallucinations (fake and false information) and may contain bias. I’ve seen two vendors who mention this, and one who mentions it on every screen whereas gen ai (it’s on the admin side) can see it, before using.

Do I see it with the skills produced by gen ai? Nope. Gen ai tied around skills and content? Nope. I won’t mention the vendor name, nor what they are rolling out (but it’s’ cool), but this cool offering lacks any context window and the text for that matter that is needed – even though they the company knows about the issue around hallucinations. Ditto for the company whereas skills is produced by gen ai – and other items they have with gen ai including course creator. Seriously, some amazing stuff they are working on, and solid that is live – no context windows. No text. 

Mystified.

And here comes the client, unaware of the issues right now with gen ai. 

It’s like boarding the Titanic and thinking to yourself, “They seem to have a small number of lifeboats,” oh well, “hey, look at that dinner menu.”

Bottom Line

Turnover. Unhappy people who berate frontline workers, because they can. Managers who are indifferent. Bias at the restaurant by employees, even managers. Training. Ongoing? OJT? What happens if the manage doesn’t have time nor allows their frontline staff to have access to online content on their mobile app?

What if that OJT employee has a bias towards minorities, that the manager is unaware of, but the new employee is assigned to said employee?

What type of content do you have for that?

Are you understanding that to reduce turnover you need new ways to combat it, thru online learning (e-learning) which is achievable.

Have you started or do you have it today?

Are you understanding your audience, truly. Your frontline employees who are worried about life, feeding their families, taking care of loved ones, or lack essential life skills. Your frontline or gig workers where productivity is expected, especially because gen ai will handle everything else.

Do you have the online content for that? Are you going to ignore it?

What is your learning game plan for employees who recognize that gen ai will replace them – or at least think they will? Because not just frontline, but Gen Z in general think so.

What’s your online learning and training plan and strategy for that?

We want you as an employee. We provide all these cool things, we want you to stay because our turnover is over 80%, but we are going to bring in automation and gen ai, to help you be more productive.

Do you honestly believe any frontline worker is going to see a plus here?

What is your online learning plan, or whatever you do from training or learning, to keep them there – and see the pluses for them, and not the big monster in the room of you are not needed?

As a 16-year-old it was clear to me, that at that retail place, I was replaceable.

I was not needed.

At Hojo’s a completely different story.

And one, I will fondly remember

And tell others about.

E-Learning 24/7

Film Club: ‘Visible Mending’

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Film Club: ‘Visible Mending’

“I think people, they need something that’s for them just to concentrate on.” “There’s something about, you know, when your life is sort of falling apart you need to have create a purpose in it for yourself. And if that purpose is quite small, it doesn’t matter. It’s important. It’s something tangible.” “Something they can say, ‘Well, that’s mine. I’m going to do that today.’ And it’s worth getting up for, basically.” “It’s a release. It’s just a way of unwinding. And at least you have something at the end of it. And if it’s been a particularly stressful patch and you’re looking at what you see at the end of it, you go, ‘Yeah. That goes. That’s gone.’ And once it’s gone, then the stress is gone.” “Really interesting — it acts as almost like a biofeedback as well, because the more stressed you are, the tighter your stitches tend to be. So you can learn to knit more loosely and relax your shoulders and relax into the flow of the movement of your hands.” “I suppose I’m a mathematician at heart, and I quite like the idea of patterns, and I love following patterns and the process involved in when you see something written as a K and a P and then it turns into a glove. How does that work, you know? And it’s in two dimensions, and you convert that into three dimensions. It’s just fascinating. And I think Fair Isle’s a favorite, but I get very frustrated with it. And people say, ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and you know it’s not. You know there’s lots of mistakes in it.” “I’m an engineer, but don’t make that out as a techie, hard-boiled stuff. It’s making something that works. It was a bleed in the brain caused by overexertion, so it was very severe stroke. So it was just a case of working at it to get things back again.” “When we put our right hand into the left-hand space, it makes our brain work a little bit harder. But then, when you’re doing a bilateral movement, so using both hands, that cross in a coordinated pattern of movements, your hands have to work together in a very precise way, which means that your brain is working really hard. And if your hands are crossing the midline at the same time, then your brain has to work very much harder.” “I run a knitting club, so when people die, I end up getting their yarn. And that’s that sense — so when I’m using the yarn, I think, ‘Oh, this is Jean.’ And when I look at this, all these different people are knitted into the piece. When you teach someone to knit, you make a square. And people don’t want to knit a square, but what could you make with a square? So I come up with these tension birds, and the idea is that you make a bird, but it’s all based on squares. And it’s just the way that you stitch it together. Looking at the therapeutic benefits of knitting — it’s not just the making. It’s also the giving of a gift, giving away, and then the idea is that people just come together, that whole thing of there’s no right or wrong. It doesn’t matter if you make a mistake. And you make your bird, and you give it away if you want to.” “Well, unfortunately, my son’s marriage had broken up, and — within a few weeks from having to move from his home into another house — and he was cycling to work, and he was hit at the back of his bike and was very seriously injured, indeed. And so I had to go up to hospital and be with him. And then he had a seven-hour operation, very long recovery. We had to have him at home. So life was difficult. And I needed something to keep my mind off. And so I decided to knit this blanket. I think it’s just really peaceful. I don’t know why, but it is. And I love all the colors. You choose a bit of wool, and oh, that goes nicely with that, and then you can embroider a bit on, and you make it your own thing with all the different colors and squares. And I call it my distraction blanket. And it was — it took me 18 months, but it was nearly 18 months before he was back to being more of himself.” “So it usually starts with ‘Who am and knitting for? What do I want to do? What’s the pattern? Because, especially if you’re knitting for somebody else that maybe going through a difficult time, as you knit, you’re thinking about them. It kind of reinforces some of the feelings I have for people. It helps you just to focus on them and their lives. I did some knitting for a hospital. The hospital was — it’s maternity, where there’s perinatal mortality, so little vests. You know where it’s going. And you try to do the best that you can for them.” “One of the things that came up in our study was that people told us that they learned that mistakes can be undone or you can cover the mistake with a button or a crocheted flower or something so that the mistakes don’t matter.” “I mean, I have terminal cancer, and I am not really on the ball sometimes, and my energy levels are really low. And I think that was the thing with me. Although I couldn’t do the things I wanted to do, I could still knit and crochet and do this, that and the other, just little things, and think, ‘Well, I’ve done that.’ I’ve unraveled a lot over the years — well, knitting and myself, possibly. Would you like a coffee now?” “Yeah, let’s.” [MUSIC PLAYING]

Coursera Launches Generative AI Academy to Improve Executive and Foundational Literacy 

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Coursera Launches Generative AI Academy to Improve Executive and Foundational Literacy 

Launch partners include Microsoft, Stanford Online, Google Cloud, AWS, DeepLearning.AI and Vanderbilt University 

By Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO 

Generative AI will unleash the next wave of innovation and productivity. As the fastest-growing technology in human history, it has the potential to transform every aspect of our lives. However, organizations must balance its enormous potential against considerable risks. Companies face a “GenAI conundrum”: they risk ethical, data, and regulatory pitfalls if they move too quickly but may lose their competitive edge if they’re too cautious. The key to navigating this conundrum lies in high-quality education and training, enabling companies to adopt GenAI both quickly and safely.

Today I’m excited to announce the launch of Generative AI (GenAI) Academy, designed to equip executives and their employees with the skills needed to thrive in an AI-driven workplace. GenAI Academy offers a unique blend of foundational literacy and executive education programs from top research universities and companies at the forefront of AI, including Microsoft, Stanford Online, Vanderbilt, DeepLearning.AI, Google Cloud, and AWS.

In the era of AI-generated content, the quality of training from trusted institutions is more important than ever. Poor training can increase the risk of disengagement, misuse, and susceptibility to biases with GenAI. On the other hand, high-quality learning can help develop safe and equitable AI. As they say in F1, “To go fast, you need good brakes.” You also need a skilled driver.

GenAI Academy for Everyone builds foundational literacy across every job role 

This foundational literacy program gives every employee a general understanding of GenAI’s core principles, applications, and impact. Employees will learn how to use AI tools to enhance their productivity and innovation in their day-to-day jobs, with Guided Projects providing hands-on practice. Selection includes: 

GenAI Academy for Executives helps leaders enhance their ethical and strategic decision-making

For executives, GenAI strategy formulation and technology adoption are high-stakes decisions. The choices we make about GenAI will not only determine an organization’s competitive edge but also influence societal impacts and shape the future of various industries. GenAI for Executives will help leaders develop a deep understanding of AI’s broad applications and its market influence. It aims to guide them in making strategic and ethical choices and lead and motivate their teams through rapid change. 

Selection includes: 

New courses and credentials will be added over the coming months, with a focus on further expanding executive education and role-based learning programs. 

As part of our early access program, companies including  Larsen & Toubro (L&T), a $23 Billion  multinational engaged in EPC projects, high-tech manufacturing and services have utilized training from leading AI authorities on Coursera to build skills across their workforces. 

“We believe AI is key for growth, creativity, and innovation. As a tech-driven organization, L&T is committed to harnessing the power of AI to drive engineering and service excellence. The GenAI Academy’s launch reaffirms our commitment to promoting AI literacy and empowering everyone to enhance efficiency and foster innovation,” stated Dr. C Jayakumar, EVP & Head of Corporate HR at Larsen & Toubro.

As Coursera Co-Founder and AI expert Andrew Ng said many years ago, “AI is the new electricity.” We don’t exactly know the full impact of this new technology yet, but we know for sure that it will change our world. It is incumbent upon leaders and workers to embrace this general-purpose technology with both curiosity and rigor.

We’re proud to launch GenAI Academy in partnership with the world’s leading AI experts, offering trusted learning for workforces to navigate and shape the new AI frontier. Whether you aim to deepen your AI understanding or strategically integrate it into your business, Coursera is your partner in this journey.

To learn more about our Generative AI Academy, visit the website. For more information about Coursera for Business, visit coursera.org/business. 

*This course will be available for Enterprise earners by January 19, 2024

What’s Going On in This Graph? | Jan. 24, 2024

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What’s Going On in This Graph? | Jan. 24, 2024

On Wednesday, Jan. 24, teachers from our collaborator, the American Statistical Association, will facilitate this discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time.

5. By Friday morning, Jan. 26, we will reveal more information about the graph, including a free link to the article that includes this graph, at the bottom of this post. We encourage you to post additional comments based on the article, possibly using statistical terms defined in the Stat Nuggets.

We’ll post more information here on the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 25. Stay tuned!

More?

• See all graphs in this series or collections of 75 of our favorite graphs, 28 graphs that teach about inequality and 24 graphs about climate change.

• View our archives that link to all past releases, organized by topic, graph type and Stat Nugget.

• Learn more about the notice and wonder teaching strategy from this 5-minute video and how and why other teachers are using this strategy from our on-demand webinar.

• Sign up for our free weekly Learning Network newsletter so you never miss a graph. Graphs are always released by the Friday before the Wednesday live moderation to give teachers time to plan ahead.

• Go to the American Statistical Association K-12 website, which includes teacher statistics resources, Census in the Schools student-generated data, professional development opportunities, and more.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, 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.

The Benefits & Risks of Overclocking a CPU 

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The Benefits & Risks of Overclocking a CPU 

If you’ve been around the tech sphere long enough, you’ve probably heard about people overclocking their central processing units (CPUs) so they can get more out of their hardware. Overclocking is a relatively easy and inexpensive way to improve your computer’s performance, but it’s important to approach it with caution, because there are definitely risks. Ahead, we’ll go over what overclocking does, its benefits and drawbacks, and what you need to know to safely do it yourself.

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What is overclocking a CPU? 

Overclocking allows you to run your computer’s processor at clock speeds higher than its default. You can think of a CPU’s clock as a mechanism that decides the interval of time between your computer’s operations. Your computer’s processor generates pulses to do its work, and its clock tells the processor how often to generate a pulse. In other words, with every “tick” of the CPU clock, the computer computes something. 

If a computer’s clock had the timing of a regular household clock, it would perform a computation once every second, for example. Now, imagine the second hand on the clock speeding up. This would increase the number of computations performed over a period of time. Similarly, every computer’s CPU comes with a clock speed at which its engineers intended it to run. 

But even though your CPU has an intended clock speed, that doesn’t mean it can’t be faster. Overclocking basically tells your processor to run faster, ​allowing it​ to do more in less time. 

Keep in mind that processing speeds have significantly improved over the years. PCs in the early 90s had speeds around 2Mhz, and nowadays even basic modern computers are over a thousand times faster with speeds over 2.30Ghz.  

A brief background of overclocking 

The first PCs had fixed processing speeds. In some cases, you could upgrade various components (like hard drives, RAM, CPUs, etc.) to improve performance — but these improvements were mostly related to memory and graphics and had little impact on the computer’s speed. 

Then, in 1990, companies started equipping motherboards with jumpers that you could use to adjust speed, voltage, and other settings. It wasn’t until the early aughts when overclocking became more popular, after cooling methods became more advanced, which allowed computers to process faster without overheating. 

Eventually, the practice became more popular, with some hobbyists going to extreme lengths to speed up their CPUs, and today, there are even competitions where people vie to see who has the best overclocking technique. In December 2022, a new world record for overclocking was reached, with overclocking enthusiasts pushing the 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900K past the 9 gigahertz barrier to 9.008 GHz.  

What does overclocking do? 

You overclock your CPU to make it run faster. For example, if you’ve ever tried editing high-definition photos on a slow computer using Photoshop, you know the struggle can be very real. After certain edits, the computer has to re-render the image — at its full size — from scratch. The CPU, at the factory clock settings, is just too slow to keep up with everything you want to do. 

But if you overclock your CPU, you can squeeze 15%, 25%, 30%, or maybe even more computations per second out of the CPU. That can make a huge difference in your rate of production. 

It’s similar ​with​ high-definition gaming. Almost any computer can run a game like Pacman, but with more sophisticated games like Elden Ring that have high-definition images, audio, and thousands of computations running all at once, you need a bit more juice than you would to make the chomper formerly known as “Puckman” munch a bunch of dots. So if you’re a serious gamer, overclocking can take your CPU to the next level. 

Benefits of overclocking 

Overclocking can make your computer run faster while you’re doing processor-heavy tasks, such as: 

  • Editing photos and video
  • Running processor-hungry software like Android Studio or Visual C
  • Playing graphic and AI-heavy games
  • Running certain antivirus software, particularly as it scans your system
  • Mining cryptocurrency, which is often done using specially designed computers 

Downsides of overclocking 

One of the​ major potential​ downsides of overclocking is it can damage your processor. But some of the “threat” to your processor is more myth than fact. Your computer’s BIOS is designed to prevent overclocking ​at a rate​ where it will result in instant damage to your CPU. If you set your clock settings too high, your system just won’t boot up. 

That being said, overclocking can shorten the life of your processor in the long run. Your CPU can easily last 20 years or more under normal conditions. Overclocking could shorten that to 10 to 15 years. As the electrical signals fly through your CPU, they create heat, which, over time, degrades its components. 

There’s also a possibility of overheating your computer and causing another connection or system to get too hot. This probably wouldn’t occur because of overclocking alone but is a risk when combined with other processes that happen in your computer and generate heat. Theoretically, you could overclock your CPU to the point where the heat increase surpasses a threshold. But that’s probably because your computer wasn’t properly vented and cooled in the first place. 

Considering the heat issues, if you want to overclock, it’s a good idea to enhance your system’s cooling mechanisms. Doing this can largely negate the negative effects of having your CPU run faster. 

How to overclock your CPU 

Overclocking your CPU may be simpler than you think, especially because it probably has settings you can adjust within a few minutes. The trick is to perform the adjustments gradually, which will cut down on the number of times your computer crosses its arms and refuses to boot — or crashes — in protest. Here are some step-by-step best practices you should follow if you’re overclocking a CPU. (For the sake of this tutorial, we’re going to assume you’re using a PC.) 

1. Check your current CPU performance 

First, you’ll need to establish a baseline by checking what your computer is currently capable of. There are plenty of tools out there for doing performance evals, like Maxon Cinebench, and once you’ve established your starting point, you can start making your tweaks. (While you’re at it, it’s a good idea to check that overclocking is even supported on your CPU and motherboard — overclocking could void your computer’s warranty.) 

2. Power down, then go into your BIOS controls 

Turn off your computer completely. Because you’re going to make changes within BIOS, you’ll need to access its controls. You can boot into your BIOS controls by pressing F2, F10, or delete as your computer starts. For example, on a Windows 10 machine, you have to press F2 immediately after starting it up. 

Note that the exact keys you’ll need depends on your motherboard, so if you’re not sure, try Googling your motherboard manufacturer’s specifications. 

3. Change your core ratio settings 

Every system is different, so how you go about changing your core ratio settings will vary from one to the next. But generally speaking, inside your system’s BIOS utility, you should see a section that allows you to adjust your CPU’s core ratio limits. 

It’s best to make these adjustments gradually. For instance, if your default core ratio setting is 45, you should change it to 46. After testing the effects, you can take it another step up, if you want, to 47, et cetera. 

4. Reboot your computer 

Rebooting is not only a vital step in checking your system’s performance, but it also lets you know if you did something your system’s architecture didn’t like. If your computer didn’t reboot — or if it crashes after changing the core ratio settings alone — go to step 5. If everything is OK, you can proceed to step 6. 

5. Adjust your CPU’s voltage 

Faster speeds may require making more voltage available to your CPU. You can adjust this within your BIOS utility as well. Look for a field that says, “Core Voltage,” and increase it incrementally until your system can handle your core ratio tweaks. 

You should only increase your core voltage by 0.05 volts at a time. Also, like with most performance adjustments, you should only change one thing at a time regardless of the technology. This makes it easier to troubleshoot issues and identify your sources of success. 

6. Re-test your computer’s performance 

Using the same performance tester you ran in step 1, re-test your system’s performance and compare your numbers to what you got before. If you’re satisfied, you’re good to go. Otherwise, you may want to try again by starting again from step 2 if you want more oomph. 

Start “overclocking” your tech career today 

We provide several courses that focus on programming, tweaking, and managing computer architecture. For example, you can try courses like: 

Using these and other courses in our catalog, you can gain a deep understanding of how computers work and how you can program them to solve business challenges. Sign up with us today to get started.

Does Learning to Be a Good Writer Still Matter in the Age of A.I.?

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Does Learning to Be a Good Writer Still Matter in the Age of A.I.?

Are you a good writer? Do you enjoy the craft?

How do writing and the skills needed to be an effective writer help you inside and outside school?

Do you think learning how to be a good writer is less important now that artificial intelligence programs like ChatGPT can write some things for us?

In “Our Semicolons, Ourselves,” the Times Opinion columnist Frank Bruni provocatively asks whether we still need to teach the craft of writing now that students can use A.I. to generate prose in an instant:

When I go through students’ papers and flag the misplaced modifiers, note the clichés or explain that a 15-sentence paragraph is less approachable than a five-sentence one, I sometimes ask myself a question that the students who get those papers back from me perhaps ponder as well: Does it really matter?

Is skillful writing a prerequisite for accomplishment? For contentment? Even for communication? You can make your point without punctuating it properly. The most potent ideas may well survive the most flaccid prose.

Besides which, you can now generate prose without writing at all. Wait, scratch that: You do need to fashion the prompt that you’re giving ChatGPT — the parameters of the composition you want, the objectives, the guidelines. But artificial intelligence will do the rest. It will sweat the structure, the syntax, the semicolons.

When I prattle on about dangling participles and the like, some students hear a sad evangelist for a silly religion. I can tell. Even a few of my faculty colleagues look askance at me. One couldn’t understand my frustration with a student who had toggled repeatedly and randomly between “and” and “&” in an essay. Didn’t the student’s meaning come across well enough?

I suppose so. But it could have come across a whole lot better, and that’s one of the arguments for writing well — for taking the time and summoning the focus to do so. Good writing burnishes your message. It burnishes the messenger, too.

You may be dazzling on your feet, an extemporaneous ace, thanks to the brilliant thoughts that pinball around your brain. There will nonetheless be times when you must pin them down and put them in a long email. Or a medium-length email. Or a memo. Or, hell, a Slack channel. The clarity, coherence, precision and even verve with which you do that — achieving a polish and personality distinct from most of what A.I. spits out — will have an impact on the recipients of that missive, coloring their estimation of you and advancing or impeding your goals.

Mr. Bruni continues on the virtues of effective prose:

Good writing announces your seriousness, establishing you as someone capable of caring and discipline. But it’s not just a matter of show: The act of wrestling your thoughts into logical form, distilling them into comprehensible phrases and presenting them as persuasively and accessibly as possible is arguably the best test of those very thoughts. It either exposes them as flawed or affirms their merit and, in the process, sharpens them.

Writing is thinking, but it’s thinking slowed down — stilled — to a point where dimensions and nuances otherwise invisible to you appear. That’s why so many people keep journals. They want more than just a record of what’s happening in their lives. They want to make sense of it.

Students, read the entire essay and then tell us:

  • In what ways do you use writing inside and outside school? How much do writing and the skills needed to be a good writer help you in your life? What do you see as the benefits — and the pleasures — of writing?

  • Do you ever use A.I. programs like ChatGPT to assist you with your writing and communication? If so, what do you think of the results?

  • After reading the essay, do you think that learning to be a good writer still matters in the age of A.I.? Why or why not? Mr. Bruni asks: “Is skillful writing a prerequisite for accomplishment? For contentment? Even for communication?” How would you reply?

  • “Good writing burnishes your message,” Mr. Bruni said. “It burnishes the messenger, too.” Do you agree? What arguments in favor of learning to write well do you find most convincing? Which, if any, are less so?

  • What is your school’s policy on A.I.? Do your teachers allow you to use the technology in your writing assignments? Should educators rethink or change how they teach writing and communication in light of the advances in and accessibility of A.I. tools?

  • Will A.I. technology ever replace the need for people to learn how to write effectively? How worried should we be about that prospect?

    Bonus Question: Mr. Bruni delights in good writing and, in particular, good sentences — sentences that zip, sing, delight, even wound. Check out his “For the Love of Sentences” section at the bottom of his newsletter or his recent column “The Best Sentences of 2023.” Which sentences stood out to you? Did any make you smile widely, nod hard or wish you had written them? Have you read any exemplary sentences recently that you would want to share with Mr. Bruni?

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, 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 and may appear in print.

Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.

Coursera Launches GenAI Academy to Improve Executive and Foundational Literacy

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Coursera Launches GenAI Academy to Improve Executive and Foundational Literacy

Launch partners include Microsoft, Stanford Online, Google Cloud, AWS, DeepLearning.AI and Vanderbilt University 

By Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO 

Generative AI will unleash the next wave of innovation and productivity. As the fastest-growing technology in human history, it has the potential to transform every aspect of our lives. However, organizations must balance its enormous potential against considerable risks. Companies face a “GenAI conundrum”: they risk ethical, data, and regulatory pitfalls if they move too quickly but may lose their competitive edge if they’re too cautious. The key to navigating this conundrum lies in high-quality education and training, enabling companies to adopt GenAI both quickly and safely.

Today I’m excited to announce the launch of Generative AI (GenAI) Academy, designed to equip executives and their employees with the skills needed to thrive in an AI-driven workplace. GenAI Academy offers a unique blend of foundational literacy and executive education programs from top research universities and companies at the forefront of AI, including Microsoft, Stanford Online, Vanderbilt, DeepLearning.AI, Google Cloud, and AWS.

In the era of AI-generated content, the quality of training from trusted institutions is more important than ever. Poor training can increase the risk of disengagement, misuse, and susceptibility to biases with GenAI. On the other hand, high-quality learning can help develop safe and equitable AI. As they say in F1, “To go fast, you need good brakes.” You also need a skilled driver.

GenAI Academy for Everyone builds foundational literacy across every job role 

This foundational literacy program gives every employee a general understanding of GenAI’s core principles, applications, and impact. Employees will learn how to use AI tools to enhance their productivity and innovation in their day-to-day jobs, with Guided Projects providing hands-on practice. Selection includes: 

GenAI Academy for Executives helps leaders enhance their ethical and strategic decision-making

For executives, GenAI strategy formulation and technology adoption are high-stakes decisions. The choices we make about GenAI will not only determine an organization’s competitive edge but also influence societal impacts and shape the future of various industries. GenAI for Executives will help leaders develop a deep understanding of AI’s broad applications and its market influence. It aims to guide them in making strategic and ethical choices and lead and motivate their teams through rapid change. 

Selection includes: 

New courses and credentials will be added over the coming months, with a focus on further expanding executive education and role-based learning programs. 

As part of our early access program, companies including  Larsen & Toubro (L&T), a $23 Billion  multinational engaged in EPC projects, high-tech manufacturing and services have utilized training from leading AI authorities on Coursera to build skills across their workforces. 

“We believe AI is key for growth, creativity, and innovation. As a tech-driven organization, L&T is committed to harnessing the power of AI to drive engineering and service excellence. The GenAI Academy’s launch reaffirms our commitment to promoting AI literacy and empowering everyone to enhance efficiency and foster innovation,” stated Dr. C Jayakumar, EVP & Head of Corporate HR at Larsen & Toubro.

As Coursera Co-Founder and AI expert Andrew Ng said many years ago, “AI is the new electricity.” We don’t exactly know the full impact of this new technology yet, but we know for sure that it will change our world. It is incumbent upon leaders and workers to embrace this general-purpose technology with both curiosity and rigor.

We’re proud to launch GenAI Academy in partnership with the world’s leading AI experts, offering trusted learning for workforces to navigate and shape the new AI frontier. Whether you aim to deepen your AI understanding or strategically integrate it into your business, Coursera is your partner in this journey.

To learn more about our Generative AI Academy, visit the website. For more information about Coursera for Business, visit coursera.org/business. 

Civil Conversation

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Civil Conversation

What do you think this image is saying? How does it relate to or comment on society or current events? Can you relate to it personally? What is your opinion of its message?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, 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 and may appear in print.

Find more Picture Prompts here.

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