New Technology

 How have I never heard of this technology? This is the single most effective thing I have ever used in the area of AI, and one more tool for my personal learning toolkit. NotebookLM is a AI-powered tool developed by Google. What makes it unique is it does not just pull information from the whole of the World Wide Web, but it allows you to upload your own sources, like class reading, PDFs, websites, or lecture notes. This allows your results to be more specific to your content. For the purpose of trying the technology, I had it create a 2 month plan to prepare for a long hike I am doing with my church in June. After I uploaded about 7 websites and a 42-page PDF informational packet, it gave me a week by week outline to prepare myself for hiking around 8 miles a day, for someone who is not currently in shape. I also asked NotebookLM for a specific first aid kit supply list. This is a fantastic resource.  I can also see how valuable this tool is for learning as a college student...

If you’ve ever struggled to find the perfect image for a blog post, presentation, or project, you’re not alone. Stock photos can feel overused, and creating your own visuals from scratch isn’t always realistic. That’s where AI image generators come in—and honestly, they’re kind of a game changer. Think of AI image tools like a construction crew for your ideas. Instead of bricks and concrete, you’re working with words. You describe what you want, and the AI “builds” it for you. Sometimes it nails it perfectly… and other times, it’s like a robot holding blueprints upside down (which, let’s be honest, can be part of the fun).

I have been very unfamiliar with using AI tools (my age is showing again). I used ChatGPT to give me some ideas on how to write a good prompt. Using good prompts = a blog post about good prompts! Genius!! My first attempt to get a good prompt out of ChatGPT included a lengthy description of good prompting ideas. I remembered what I watched in one of the YouTube videos about defining a persona, giving the context of what I needed, asking for a goal, and needing an output. This was much better for the prompt. I used another prompt to make it shorter and include using bullet points/lists to make it easier to read. This seemed to be the ticket to give me really great content in a useful way. Here is what my final prompt gave me: AI tools can be incredibly helpful for learning, writing, and brainstorming. However, the quality of the response you get often depends on the  quality of the prompt you give . When prompts are unclear or poorly written, AI may give answers that are too broad, ...