Experience with AI

20 Nov 2023

I. Introduction

Artificial Intelligence in education is transforming how we learn and solve problems. In ICS 314, my journey with AI tools like ChatGPT and Co-Pilot has been insightful, shaping my approach to various aspects of the course.

II. Personal Experience with AI:

Experience WODs: Most of the experience WODs were straightforward and easy due to the accompanied video tutorials But AI’s guidance helped me fully understand the whole concept of the assignment.
In-class Practice WODs: AI played a crucial role in helping with my practice sessions, and providing quick and effective solutions.
In-class WODs: For the Meteor2 WOD, AI was instrumental in guiding the design and development of a web application using Bootstrap 5, enhancing my understanding of front-end development.
Essays: AI has been invaluable in restructuring and revitalizing my essays. For instance, this very essay you’re reading has been shaped and refined using AI, making it more engaging and reader-friendly. AI’s ability to rephrase and clarify complex ideas has not only improved the quality of my writing but has also made the content more accessible and enjoyable for the audience.
Final Project: AI was a first-line resource when I encountered obstacles, saving time and enhancing efficiency before turning to team members for help.
Learning a Concept/Tutorial: AI was great at making complicated concepts more simple. It gave me short summaries, so I understood things quickly.
Answering Questions in Class/Discord: AI helped me quickly grasp and contribute to class discussions by summarizing key points.
Asking or Answering a Smart-Question AI’s input in formulating smart questions enhanced the quality of my queries and responses.
Coding Example: AI, like Co-Pilot, was really good at suggesting how to write code. It made coding easier and more straightforward.
Explaining Code: AI made explaining code so much simpler. It gave clear, short explanations that were easy to understand.
Writing Code: AI was a reliable tool for solving small coding problems, though less so for larger, more complex tasks.
Documenting Code: AI sparked creative ideas and provided alternative methods, ensuring continuous progress in my coding projects.
Quality Assurance: AI was really useful for fixing problems in meteor apps and setting up software. It was like having a tech expert to ask for help.
Other Uses in ICS 314: AI proved valuable for small fixes and function creation. It was especially useful in front-end development, although it required iterative queries for complex tasks.

III. Impact on Learning and Understanding:

Using AI in my software engineering class was really interesting and changed how I was able to learn. It helped me in many ways, but there were also some challenges. Firstly, AI made learning concepts much easier and quicker. Tools like Co-Pilot and ChatGPT made me feel as if I was always learning with a dependable helper at all times. This software opened my eyes to different ways to write code as well as solve problems. Overall this is great because I was able to learn new coding tricks and ways to solve tasks faster than without it. But AI isn’t always perfect. Sometimes, it only gave me a basic idea of things and didn’t go into deep details. This is really common when the questions become really sophisticated. Overall using AI has many more advantages than disadvantages. It helped me extra help almost similar to that of a professor and overall made me code more efficiently. But it’s always a good rule of thumb to note that AI is great but you need to make sure to check the solutions because they aren’t always correct.

IV. Practical Applications:

AI is very helpful in everyday situations, not just in class. It is like having a really smart friend beside you at all times ready to answer all the problems you have in mind. For instance, when I’m working on essays, AI is great at giving suggestions to make my writing better. I really like using it since it can always give me solutions on how I can improve my writing instantly. This really helps me get my thoughts across more clearly as well since my overall skills in articulating what I have in mind is kind of bad. AI is also a big help when I’m studying. I can ask ChatGPT to summarize a book or explain tough topics. It gives me just the important points which are nice to save time. This makes studying for exams way easier. AI is also helpful outside of school. Whether I need definitions or help deciding between different choices, I usually use AI to tackle these and it usually outputs a good solution.

V. Challenges and Opportunities:

Using AI, especially ChatGPT, isn’t always helpful. When working on designing web pages, asking AI for specific designs can be hit or miss at times. ChatGPT does not get the design or the code right on the first try. I’ve noticed that it works better if I break the task down into smaller parts instead of asking it to do the whole page at once. Also, AI isn’t always great with big projects that have lots of files and folders. It seems to get mixed up when there’s a lot to keep track of. This can make it harder for ChatGPT to give advice or understand what is even going on. But there was a recent fix to this challenge. Quite recently ChatGPT upgraded its software to ChatGPT4 Turbo which has many new features like sending and uploading files just being one of them. With this new update, It was able to kind of give a more precise answer to my questions after I sent it images and files from the project.

VI. Comparative Analysis:

AI has been like a twenty-four-hour, three-hundred-sixty-five-day personal code tutor, especially when I’m trying to wrap my head around new concepts. For example, when there is a concept in software engineering that seems overwhelming to me, I basically just ask ChatGPT to break it down for me and it usually gets the job done saving me tons of time searching the web or even asking for help. This makes learning faster and less stressful. When I have extra time, I compare the AI’s summary with the full articles to make sure I’m not missing anything important. This way, I get the best of both worlds, quick overviews for busy days, and deeper understanding when I can dive into the details.

VII. Future Considerations:

In our class and online discussions, AI has been really helpful. There are times when a topic comes up and I feel a bit unsure about what’s being discussed. This is when I use AI, which basically gives me a short summary of what is going on. This helps me catch up and even participate since I now have a full understanding of what’s going on. It’s not just about getting the right answers, but understanding the why and how behind them, and AI has been great for that. Plus, it’s really useful when I’m preparing for class discussions or thinking of insightful things to say – AI gives me a starting point and sometimes sparks ideas I wouldn’t have thought of on my own.

VIII. Conclusion:

My experience with AI in ICS 314 has been largely positive, with AI tools significantly aiding my learning and problem-solving skills. While AI has its limitations, especially in more complex scenarios, its benefits in enhancing efficiency and understanding are undeniable. Optimizing the integration of AI in software engineering courses could greatly benefit future students.