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09/26/2024
profile-icon Angela Davis

There’s always something to learn…about everything, all the time, and A.I. is the latest thing we are expected to master. But how? Who has time? Do we just jump right in, or take our time? In either case, here are few things I’ve come across just in the past couple of weeks that have been helpful to me – someone who is only just beginning to stick their toes into the vast ocean of AI “stuff.” If you have a favorite A.I. tool, article, website, etc. please consider posting it in the comments section below. 

Figuring Out Artificial Intelligence. Just jump right in...?

What do college students need to know about AI? 

  • Read the Student Guide to Artificial Intelligence by Elon Univ. and the AAC&U. It’s brief and to the point, which makes it very manageable for all types of learners. It has a CC BY license, which means you can use it all day long for your classes!

  • If you only have time to read one section of this guide… 

    • The Essential AI “How-To” Manual should be required reading for all– students and instructors alike. There is a lot of good advice here on how to use generative AI for various things, but most importantly, it briefly outlines Generative AI Cautions – all from an academic perspective. 

    • And on that note... if you don’t know how to fact-check, that is now an essential skill.

       

What is A.I. trained on?  

 

How do I distinguish AI hype vs. what it can actually do? 

 

What AI tools should I try first?

There are so many AI tools it’s hard to know where to start, but this librarian has decided to play around with these for right now: 

  • Perplexity: Free tool that can be described as a cross between an internet search engine and generative AI. There is a pro version too, but the free version does plenty. It’s highly recommended by library-folk. 

  • Semantic Scholar: Free, AI-driven search and discovery tools, and open resources for the global research community. It’s not for general searching, but if you create an account, you have some neat research tools. 

  • MagicSchool – A high school teacher told me about this one and it’s great for all kinds of education things. You must have a .edu email to sign up, but it has a lot of built-in prompts that are specifically useful for teachers (K-12 and College) and students.  

  • Copilot: PCC provides access to Copilot 365.  

    • To use it… Open the Copilot homepage (https://copilot.microsoft.com).  

    • Click "Sign In" and choose "school or work account."  

    • Log in using your myPittCC credentials. 

Important Info from PCC IT 

  • This version of Copilot DOES use your data to train the LLM for this tenant (and the OpenAI LLM too due to their business connections). So, if you log in and utilize Copilot AI, it should have access to the same data YOU have access to.  

  • Why log in? Logging in with your PCC credentials gives you access to everything that comes with a paid subscription to ChatGPT4o (audio generators, visual generators, agents, etc.). 

 

Well, that’s probably more than you wanted to know. I went on an AI bender earlier this year and created an Artificial Intelligence Library Guide, but things change so fast it could literally be updated every day of the week.  

Have fun discovering new things! If you find something cool, let us know about it. 

Angela Davis 
Instruction & Web Services Librarian, PCC 
 

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By setting up Library Links, you can access research articles licensed by PCC Library while using Google Scholar.

Go to Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com

If you have a Google account, go ahead and sign in. This way, you will always have your Library Link connected no matter where you log in to Google.

Click the sandwich menu in the top left.

Google Scholar menu

From the drop-down menu, choose Settings.

Google Scholar Settings

From the Settings menu, choose Library Links.

Google Scholar Library Links

In the search box under Show library access links for… type Pitt Community College.

Click the Search button.

Google Scholar Pitt Community College

Click to check the box next to Pitt Community College - Full-Text @ My Library.

You may also see options for PITT COMMUNITY COLLEGE-ProQuest Fulltext and/or Open WorldCat. You may check all three, but it is not necessary.

Click Save.

Google Scholar: Check options for Pitt Community College Library

When you log in to your Google account and search Google Scholar, you will see Full-Text @ My Library along with other links out to the sides of articles. 

To access the article, click one of the links out to the side (there may be more than one way to access an article). 

When you see . . .

  • No link out to the side - You can submit an Interlibrary Loan request and we will try to find access via another library

  • [PDF] URL from a school (.edu) or other website (.org, .com, etc.) - Click to open the article

  • ProQuest Fulltext - Available in one of PCC's ProQuest databases; Click the link, login to mypittCC, get the article

  • Full-Text @ My Library - Available in one of PCC Library's databases; Click the link, login to mypittCC, get the article

NOTE: When you click a link that goes to content available via a Library database, you will be prompted to login to myPittCC before you can access the article.

Google Scholar results list

If you have questions, or come across an article with a Full-Text @ My Library link that doesn’t actually take you to the article, please contact Angela Davis, PCC Librarian, at asdavis688@my.pittcc.edu

Updated: 5/30/2024 ASD

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