ENTI 674: 6-Weeks in Review
Technological Innovation.
What comes to your mind when you hear these words? Personally, my initial response was equal parts afraid, overwhelmed, and anxious. Given my lack of technical skills, past struggles with Excel, and my lack of knowledge about the subject matter, I was not prepared for what this course had in store. In the beginning, my goal was to gain tangible skills, but most importantly, not to fail the course. Who knew that this class would make me re-evaluate my beliefs and challenge my preconceptions about technology. If asked, I would say that the tagline for this course would be; technology is here to assist you, not necessarily replace you. Don’t believe me? Keep reading! This blog will go over the major highlights from the six-week ENTI 674 course that I recently took, taught by Kris Hans. In short, this experience acts as a reminder that I was able to achieve my goals for this course successfully; however, the latter objective is still pending.
What about the course that surprised you the most?
Growing up, I had always believed that to succeed in the tech industry would entail being a genius or having a degree in the field. To me, coding was a foreign language that only a few were gifted with the ability to understand. Hence, why try to learn these topics when someone else was better equipped to deal with these matters.
Due to this misconception, I believed that making a website or using technological tools would be difficult to grasp and implement. In my mind, why automate when I could take the time to do it the old-fashioned way, a little bit of elbow grease. To my surprise, having completed the labs, what seemed like a daunting process was quite repetitive and simple. Take, for example, creating a Twitter bot or landing page. While previously setting up these tools would require extensive coding knowledge, this is no longer the case. There are so many free services that can complete the same task without needing the user to code, such as Google Sites, Weebly, and Wix. The process has become so refined that it is simply a click of a button. Platforms that assist in making a website range in depth, costs, and features. Ultimately, one’s website can be minimalistic and bare-bone. So long as the site outlines critical information and helps the viewer understand the product, service or company, this is sufficient. Therefore, given the number of free services, I was shocked to learn that 35% of businesses lack a website (G.N., 2021). The main reasons owners cite for not creating a website comes from the misconception that the process is costly and complex, which is false (G.N., 2021). This statistic indicates that there is still a pervasive misunderstanding about the benefits and ease of using technology.
At what points in the course did you feel most engaged?
What I enjoyed most about this course was the opportunity to gain hands-on experience either through the labs or by creating our minimum viable product (MVP). I was the most engaged during these periods as I applied theoretical concepts and transformed them into practical skills.
As the literature shows, one of the most effective forms of learning is through practice, up to 75% retention (Education Corner, 2021). Working through the steps to develop an MVP or using an AI system gave me a new appreciation for technology and why more people should adopt these tools. As mentioned earlier, technology is a resource that society can harness to expedite processes, address pain points, and inform our future decisions. This is best demonstrated during the second lab. In this lab, we were asked to use Genderize.io to determine if there was a gender bias in the hiring process. What would have taken hours to determine the most probable gender took the system mere minutes. The process was fast, efficient and only required the inputs to be modified so the computer could discern the commands. In this situation, AI was an asset that allowed me to focus on the purpose of the lab, determining whether a gender bias is present instead of being distracted by data collection.
What will you still remember 5 years from now that you learned in this course?
There were a few takeaways that I took from this course. First, technology is a tool and does not require immense knowledge to learn how to use it. Tasks such as coding, utilizing AI and creating a website are easy tools that anyone can utilize to their advantage. For instance, having a website can generate immense value for the user and help the business or individual stand out in a saturated market. This also lends well to my second takeaway, which is the fact that technology is pervasive. Given the number of free platforms and services, there is no excuse for companies or individuals not to use these tools. Concerns about costs, time investment, and the belief you need an expert to use technology effectively become nullified. There are multiple ways to gain these skills outside the classroom. Thirdly, systems such as AI allow users to work smarter instead of harder. These measures save valuable time and allow users to focus on more critical tasks. Neither the less, we must remember that technology is a tool that aids us, not a tool to replace us altogether.
References
Education Corner. (2021). The learning pyramid. Retrieved on April 25, 2021, from https://www.educationcorner.com/the-learning-pyramid.html
ENTI 672 L02 Home Page. [Digital image]. (2021). Retrieved on April 25, 2021, from https://d2l.ucalgary.ca/d2l/home
G.N. (2021, March 8). What percentage of small businesses have a website. Review 42. Retrieved on March 22, 2021, from https://review42.com/resources/what-percentage-of-small-businesses-have-awebsite/#:~:text=More%20than%2036%25%20of%20small,to%20build%20one%20in%202019.
