Joy!

A bit of a lightbulb moment from yesterday’s Jisc AI roundtable – we don’t talk about joy enough! It started in the context of data and what we’d really like to know about students when they join, and one participant (we aren’t naming individuals, just themes) said it was what brings the learner joy. What do they love doing?

For context, our definition of data in this conversation was very broad – it wasn’t just numbers, but more like information. So don’t think of some sort of joy index – that wasn’t where we were!

This got us thinking: this is the one thing that’s been missing from the conversation about skills for the future, where the emphasis has been on critical thinking, creativity – all good stuff. But from my perspective as an employer, a team member who takes great joy in what they do is the most precious thing. What’s the role of AI in that? That’s one for another day.

On a tangent – we also heard about young family members creating fantastic music with the aid of AI, bringing joy to them and their families. We often hear about the negative impact of AI on the creative arts, but making the art of songwriting and music more accessible to all is wonderful. I think I’ve mentioned before – I’ve always written and sometimes performed music. I get the negative impact on livelihoods, but let’s not forget that opening creativity to more people is a brilliant thing – and if you can get started with just your phone, then that’s great as far as i can see.