Latest news with #Gehl
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
AI Is Destroying a Generation of Students
If the testimony of beleaguered teachers is anything to go by — as gathered in this extensive roundup of educator opinions by 404 Media — it sure sounds like the explosion of the homeworking-cheating machines also known as AI models is obliterating the up and coming generation of students. "I think generative AI is incredibly destructive to our teaching of university students," Robert W. Gehl, Ontario research chair of digital governance for social justice at York University in Toronto, told 404. Gehl noted how institutions collaborate with companies like Google and Microsoft to push their AI tools on students, undermining teachers who try to limit its use in the classroom. "A student might hear 'don't use generative AI' from a prof but then log on to the university's Microsoft suite, which then suggests using Copilot to sum up readings or help draft writing." "Honestly, if we ejected all the genAI tools into the Sun," Gehl concluded, "I would be quite pleased." Hearing the horror stories they have to share, it's not hard to see why Gehl and other educators feel that way. A Los Angeles-based teacher grimly estimated that 40 percent of the work that came across their desk "is touched by the hand of AI." Another who teaches postgrads was appalled that their students in a doctoral program about responsible AI gave in to lazily using the tech. And as it turns out, teaching English-speakers how to speak Spanish is pretty difficult when the AI-addled learners barely have a grasp on the written language of their native tongue. "Even my brightest students often don't know the English word that is the direct translation for the Spanish they are supposed to be learning," a high school Spanish teacher in Oklahoma told 404. In several cases, the Spanish teacher said they caught students using AI for assignments "because they can't read what they submit to me and so don't know to delete the sentence that says something to the effect of 'This summary meets the requirements of the prompt, I hope it is helpful to you!'" A Philadelphia English teacher who conducts lessons virtually shared her ghastly suspicion that some of her students are using AI chatbots to pretty much outsource thinking itself. "In response to follow up questions, students regularly will — in the course of conversation — use AI to respond on the spot," they told 404. "Just yesterday, a student who couldn't explain her response asked for a second to think. She went on mute and, I have to assume, Googled the question I just asked out loud. The effect was not seamless, or convincing." Trying to crack down on AI usage just made things worse, pushing many of the students to stop participating. "I am often left with a choice between soliciting participation where students are merely the deadpan voice boxes of hallucinatory AI slop, or silence," the Philadelphia teacher despaired. "Which am I supposed to choose?" There's research to back up the idea that extensive AI usage could be making us dumber — part of a broader phenomenon known as cognitive offloading. In an academic setting, some research has found a link between ChatGPT use and tanking grades — and even memory loss in students. And one study from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon found that the more that people trust in AI responses, the more their critical thinking skills turn to mush. But some pedagogues aren't quite prepared to declare that the AI apocalypse is fully upon them yet — or that the kids are beyond saving. "LLM use is rampant, but I don't think it's ubiquitous," Ben Prytherch, a statistics professor at Colorado State University, told 404. After moving to in-class writing assignments, Prytherch found that the students' performance improved remarkably. "It turns out most of them can write after all," Phyrtherch said. "For all the talk about how kids can't write anymore, I don't see it." And that brings us to our next point. If we're going to be a little critical of some of the teachers here, some of their complaints make them sound a little out of touch: "My kids don't think anymore. They don't have interests," fumed a 12th grade English teacher. "Literally, when I ask them what they're interested in, so many of them can't name anything for me… They don't have original thoughts. They just parrot back what they've heard in TikToks." We have to remember we're talking about human beings that just happen to be younger here, and not some impenetrably exotic species of extraterrestrial. Granted, the teacher's frustration is more than justified. They're dealing with a massive problem inflicted on them by moneyed interests totally beyond their control. "ChatGPT isn't its own, unique problem. It's a symptom of a totalizing cultural paradigm in which passive consumption and regurgitation of content becomes the status quo," Nathan Schmidt, a university lecturer and managing editor at Gamers With Glasses, told 404. More on AI: AI Is Destroying Gen Z's Chances at a Stable Career
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
UOttawa's free tuition for Algonquin students a big step towards reconciliation: advocates
Indigenous advocates are praising the University of Ottawa for providing free tuition to Algonquin Anishinàbeg Nation students, saying it is a big step towards reconciliation. The university announced the move Friday as part of its Indigenous Action Plan. The plan, which was first approved in 2020 and recently updated, is a framework guiding the university's decolonization efforts and engagement with the broader Indigenous community. The tuition fee waiver will start in fall 2025, the university added. 'It was something we discussed for quite a long time beforehand. … We really wanted to pay respect to the Algonquin nation, because the university operates on Algonquin territory,' said Tareyn Johnson, who is Anishinaabe and director of Indigenous affairs at uOttawa. 'When universities across the country started doing it, it piqued our interest, and we had to go through logistics and stuff like that. I would say (the process) took about a year.' Kassidy Klinger, the students' union's Indigenous students' representative, celebrated the move in an emailed statement to the Ottawa Citizen. 'The Algonquin students at uOttawa have been expressing excitement and relief after the news of this tuition waiver came out! This will help alleviate some of the financial burden that students face, and we are hoping that more Algonquin youth will be motivated to come study at uOttawa and pursue post-secondary education,' Klinger said. Lynn Gehl, an Algonquin scholar and advocate, said the move will open a lot of doors for Algonquin people. She said tuition fees were a huge barrier for her when she was in her teens and early 20s. She saved for more than a decade and finally pursued a post-secondary education when she was 30 years old. Now, Gehl has a PhD in Indigenous studies, a master's degree in Canadian studies and Indigenous studies, and an undergraduate degree in cultural anthropology. In total, the 13 years of post-secondary cost her more than $500,000 after factoring in textbooks and living costs. 'I don't think (Indigenous and Northern Affairs) is covering everybody's tuition anymore, it's a competition. Everyone assumes that, if you're status registered with Indian Affairs, that your education is covered, and that's not necessarily true,' she said. Gehl also noted that Indigenous students experience higher rates of poverty compared to their non-Indigenous peers. The free tuition will also allow older Indigenous people the opportunity to continue their education, she added. 'It's a great step in terms of truth and reconciliation,' she said. The Ottawa Citizen reached out to Carleton University asking if it is considering a similar initiative. A university spokesperson said the initiative is currently under review. Johnson confirmed that the university will not require Indigenous students to prove their status to qualify for free tuition. 'They just have to apply through their First Nation for post-secondary funding the way that they always have. It's exactly the same process. Nothing changes for the students,' she said. 'Instead of being on a sponsored student list by the First Nation, the First Nation provides us with the eligible students, and we just waive it instead of getting the sponsorship letters.' But Gehl raised concerns about the university potentially excluding a First Nation. UOttawa said there are 10 federally recognized Algonquin nations in Ontario and Quebec, but she said there should actually be 11. 'I think it would be most unkind if the university is not aware that they could be disenfranchising a First Nation,' Gehl said. Johnson said it is up to the Algonquin nations to determine how to process these students' applications. 'The University of Ottawa is not an Indigenous entity, so we don't have a say in determining identity. That's not our role,' she said. Johnson hopes the program will be expanded in the future to include Indigenous students from other nations. 'I've been clear that that is a goal of mine. … When it comes to just the climate with financial constraints on universities right now, there's a really tense environment for post-secondary globally,' she said. 'I think that we need to celebrate the wins that we have while keeping our eyes on the future.' Both Johnson and Gehl have advice for prospective Indigenous students. 'Everything is scary when you start. Everything is intimidating when you start. It's one day at a time, and every little, you know, step that you take is getting you closer to your goal. So don't lose faith because things are new and challenging, but just look at what's the next thing on your list to do,' Johnson said. 'Reach out to the people that can help you before you have a problem. … We offer everything from academic counselling to mental well-being counselling. We offer cultural activities. We can help with anything that students are facing: housing issues, food insecurity, even just someone to talk to. Use those resources that are available to you.' Gehl says it is OK if students want to take a lighter course load to prioritize their physical and mental well-being. Indigenous people have higher rates of mental illnesses and disabilities compared to their non-Indigenous peers because of intergenerational trauma and poverty, she said. 'Universities are a business, and so they expect the students to come in and take five courses. … I think some students might feel inadequate or discouraged because first year and second year are hard,' she said. 'I think that's really important for new students coming into an undergraduate program, that they understand that it is hard and that a full workload for people is unreasonable, and it's written in the economic model versus what is the best for the students.' Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Sindy Hooper's legacy drives news push at Ottawa Race Weekend Volunteers at the National Gallery worry about opportunities vanishing
National Geographic
06-05-2025
- Health
- National Geographic
How to design a city to improve your mental health—according to science
Experts say small changes in our neighborhoods—like where we sit, walk, or congregate—can make a big difference in how connected we feel to those around us. Designed to enhance accessibility and offer new perspectives, Denmark's Camp Adventure Forest Tower draws visitors into the canopy in a way that feels both immersive and restorative. It's part of a growing movement to design public spaces that encourage people to gather, linger, and connect. Photograph by Orsolya Haarberg, Nat Geo Image Collection Erin Peavey was four months pregnant when she lost her mother to cancer. After her daughter was born in January 2019, the loneliness set in. Her mother had been her rock, a source of steady support. Now, home alone with a newborn and her husband working full time, Peavey clung to a piece of advice her mother had always given her: stay connected. Each day, Peavey strapped her newborn to her chest and took walks in their Dallas, Texas, neighborhood. She hung out in coffee shops, made small talk at the grocery store, and got into the habit of visiting other such 'third places'—a term by urban sociologists for informal gathering spots that aren't home or work but can foster community. Peavey, an architect, says she didn't need in-depth exchanges with others, she just felt a shared connection when out. 'It was like this antidote to the loneliness and mental struggle from losing my mom at the same time as becoming a new mom for the first time,' she says. 'I was just struck by this gift that my built environment was for me…It allowed me to cope.' Many experts now consider loneliness to be a public health epidemic, with the former U.S. Surgeon General warning that it affects roughly half of American adults and raises the risk of premature death to levels comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. But as these mental health challenges mount, experts like Peavey are asking: What if the spaces around us could help us feel less alone? 'The built environment, which is everything from our streets to housing to transportation systems, is such an important piece of how we actually interact with each other,' says Julia Day, a partner at the global urban strategy firm Gehl. 'While addressing an epidemic requires multiple tools, changes to place design and programming are a key ingredient.' A 2024 report by the Foundation for Social Connection underscores this point, showing how the built environment can hinder or encourage meaningful social interactions—whether brief or deeply personal. These ideas aren't new, but they've been gaining traction. Peavey says this is partly because the pandemic helped destigmatize loneliness and made people more aware of their physical surroundings while stuck at home. 'Over the last five-plus years, we've started to recognize that there are these structural factors that impact so much of our health, well-being, economic outcomes, etc,' she says. 'And that one of those is our physical and built environment.' Designing for connection There's no one-size-fits-all approach to designing for social connection. However, architects, urban planners, policymakers, and others have developed various strategies that increase the chances of spontaneous or meaningful interaction—including in both private housing and public spaces. Peavey has evidence-based design guidelines for social health she's coined PANACHe. One type of place with these elements, she says, are Italian piazzas: They're open to people (accessibility), have a hub of restaurants and shops (activation), and buildings with natural clay bricks and stones, often covered in ivy (nature). 'When places can help us feel anchored and calmer, which is a huge part of what nature provides, it can help people feel more open,' she says. (Asking for help is actually really good for you, according to science.) These ideas are also reflected in a student residential campus at the University of California San Diego designed by the global firm HKS Architects, where Peavey is a design leader in health and well-being. It features shared spaces for cooking and socializing, interconnected staircases, and large windows overlooking common areas to promote social and academic interactions. After completion, studies showed an 8.2 percent drop in students' self-reported depression and a nearly 28 percent increase in satisfaction with the residential spaces. Elsewhere, a Canada-based consulting firm called Happy Cities is helping apply similar ideas to urban housing. With a growing global housing crisis, Emma Avery, an urban planner and communication lead at the firm, says there's been greater interest in their approach to multi-unit housing, like apartment buildings and townhouses. 'We have housing unaffordability. We have the climate crisis. We have the crisis of social isolation and loneliness, and we really must work together to solve all these things at once,' Avery says. 'If we're building thousands of new homes in these high-rise towers, how are we ensuring that we're not worsening social isolation?' To that end, Happy Cities produced a toolkit based on over a decade of research. Key recommendations include blending buildings into the surrounding neighborhood, creating gradual transitions between public and private spaces, and co-locating shared amenities. These concepts guided the development of Our Urban Village in Vancouver, a 12-unit 'co-housing lite' project where residents live collaboratively. In line with their principle of invitation, for example, there are wide outdoor walkways, a shared courtyard, and social nooks to encourage lingering and interaction. A study showed that six months after moving in, 100 percent of residents said they never or rarely felt lonely, and 88 percent considered two or more neighbors to be friends. 'With loneliness it's not necessarily always about a lack of social relationships, but it's how satisfied you feel in those relationships,' says Avery. That's 'why we're really focused on creating these inviting spaces for people to pause and where they feel more open to connection and at their own pace.' (Here's why your neighborhood matters more for your health than you think.) Public spaces are another area where they've seen more interest, especially since the pandemic. Though their toolkit focuses on housing, Avery says some concepts can also apply to public spaces. One is activation, where space is activated with intentional things to see and do, whether it be seating, a playground, or a community garden. A recent study by Gehl and University of Toronto public health researchers highlights the value of activating public spaces. They examined The Bentway, a once-overlooked space beneath a major highway in Toronto that was transformed through design and programming. Most visitors said they felt healthier and more socially connected in the space—especially with its inclusion of landscape features, public seating, and arts events. Day says that while urban planners increasingly recognize the value of such features, public health professionals often need more concrete data on the benefits to support their inclusion. 'Getting some more research on this like The Bentway project is really helpful to form more meaningful partnerships between public health and urban planners and developers, who can then really work together as needs to happen and make sure that addressing social isolation is a core part of a design brief,' she says. Translating these design ideas into reality is far from simple. Built environments are heavily regulated and negotiated among numerous stakeholders, including developers, local and state governments, and community members, who often have competing interests. Priorities and policies can also shift with changing governments. More cross-sector collaboration and more research are needed. Candice Ji, an urban planner and designer at Gehl, says there was little systematic data available when they first began looking at this issue. 'We're continuing to build an evidence base for action through the different studies we're conducting,' she says. Eric Klinenberg, a New York University professor of sociology and author of Palaces for the People, says there's been more recognition of social infrastructure's value over the past decade, but this hasn't always led to more resources. 'Investment in public spaces and social infrastructure remains stingy and uneven,' he says. 'Cuts to government social spending, on parks, schools, libraries, and public spaces, threaten to increase the threat of loneliness and isolation at the very moment people need stronger ties.' (Nine simple ways to boost your mental health, according to science.) Still, some cities are applying these ideas. For instance, New York City's Active Design Guidelines, though focused on physical health, also encourage features that support social interaction. Barcelona's 10-year plan to reduce loneliness includes restructuring the city into community spaces and promoting new forms of home-sharing. In Seoul, South Korea, the Seoul Without Loneliness plan takes a multi-pronged approach, including using convenience stores as third places for people to gather over ramen and ensuring sufficient open spaces. 'When we can start to create places that foster trust and belonging and combat loneliness,' Peavey says, 'that has so many different positive ripple impacts throughout our lives.'
