LDT 501 M6-M7 Draft & Final - Technology Use Plan using Artificial Intelligence to creat a Standards based Model for complex data network components

Technology Use Plan
Using Artificial Intelligence
to create a Standards based Model
for complex data network components.

Timothy I Copley
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University
Course Number: LDT 501

Instructor’s Full Name: Leanna Archambault, PhD
Due Date: 02/26/2023


Technology Use Plan

Introduction:

A brief summary of the technology use plan is to use the concept of Situated Learning Theory, the learning that occurs within authentic context, culture and activity.  Situated learning is uniquely situated in the corporate environment, it tends to promote the idea that students learn better in collaborative group settings, where the activities are based on real-life experiences.  The situation will be using an advanced tool in AI (Artificial Intelligence) a chatbot, to stimulate learning of the different parts of the project.  It will be a group project whereas a small group of 2-3 students will each work on different parts of the project and come together as a group for integration of the work into a presentation or web site that will be reviewed and critiqued with the entire group for feedback and suggestions on further enhancements.  The project will walk the learners through creating a corporate switch standard for the organization, that will be used by other employees of the company for direction on how to deploy networking equipment into their corporate environment.  This is a sort of a train the trainer, allowing the learner to become the SME (Subject Matter Expert) on integration of AI into their company for Technical Standards Definition of this particular technology.
Context:

From learning theory, instructional design approaches, trends in educational technology, and related research, the technology use plans goal is to use AI to create a learning environment in a corporate setting. The goal is to consider relevant standards, affordances of integrating technology into  the learners environment, integration strategies into that environment, and a means for evaluation and revision of the students use of that technology.
Learners:

The Learners will be those that are trying to take more of a leading role in the Architecture and standards setting position within a large organization or corporation.  Those students with deep technical understanding of underlying technologies and components of those technologies, who are trying to move from an engineering role into a SME or Architecture role within their company.  The learner will have advanced knowledge of different components in computer engineering and a hunger for learning how to integrate new technology into their existing infrastructure.

This will be a component of a Masters level course in computer engineering.  The typical learner in this course will have completed the equivalent of a Bachelors, or are working on their masters in computer engineering.  This will be a component of a course on creating architectural standards using AI within a company.  There will be practice in using AI to create IP standards / naming standards / device and deployment standards.

The module will address using an advanced tool typically seen as an innovator or early adopter on the Rogers diffusion of innovation scale, to create those standards which are typically used within legacy systems or Late Majority or even lagards in technology type of devices. However with a little work the module could be modified to address new technologies and new features for deployment into a corporations network.

Overview of the content:

The goal is to use technology in a learning plan and create a module that uses AI technology to help the student better understand the topics being learned and familiarize themselves with new and innovative ways to create standards for their corporate technologies.  This module will be using AI to come up with different pieces of the corporate standard.  Using, Cisco for this example, however with AI, the course doesn't have to be a particular vendor.  One of the issues with today's learning model in technology is most of the training programs are vendor specific.  With the use of Artificial Intelligence it is possible to remove the vendor specific components and allow the student to focus on the Architecture.  The difference between architecture and the rote regurgitation of a vendor specific configuration allows for a true understanding of the technology being conveyed.

This module will create samples using an AI chatbot to create the network architecture for a particular piece of networking hardware.  In this example, a Switch Standard configuration.  Answering the questions:  What a standards way to deploy the switch using AI to supply the vendor specific pieces?  How does a particular vendor require a particular concept to be deployed into their equipment?  A true network architect doesn't need to know how the particular vendor has coded their equipment to accept a configuration.  They just need to know that it can do what they require of it.  AI will help to remove vendor knowledge requirements and vendor certifications from the equation of learning.
Learner Standards:

The plan should align with the following standards and guidelines: International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Educators and Students. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.  The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework.  The use of AI technology in a corporate technology learning plan aligns with the ISTE Standards for Educators and Students in several ways. 

ISTE standards for the Learner, AI technology can personalize learning experiences to meet the individual employee needs, which aligns with the ISTE Standard for Educators' providing an emphasis on the importance of tailoring learning to the individual learner.  Empowering the learner by the use of AI technology in a corporate technology learning plan can provide an empowered employees with personalized and adaptive learning experience.  This aligns with the ISTE Standard for Students putting an emphasis on students taking ownership of their learning and to being able to personalize the learning experience.  For a computational thinker the use of AI in a technology learning plan can help the employee develop their computational thinking skills, as they learn how to use multiple data sets and algorithms to analyze and solve different problems.

For the Educator or Leader, by using AI to analyze learning data and provide insights, educators can make data-informed decisions that support their organization's learning goals, which aligns with the ISTE Standard for Educators' emphasis on using data to drive decision-making.

Incorporating AI technology into a corporate technology learning plan aligns with several ISTE Standards for Educators and Students. Use of AI can support personalized learning, data-informed decision-making, authentic and personalized learning experiences, and the development of computational thinking skills.

Affordances, Relative Advantages of using AI in a corporate technology learning plan:

 
The integration of technology in the corporate learning environment provides the following benefits.  It enhances engagement and motivation among learners. Supports diverse learning needs and styles. Provides access to vast amounts of information and resources. Supports collaboration and communication, enhances assessment and evaluation of learning outcomes.

One of the advantages of using AI in this type of lesson plan is it doesn't require the learner to be fluent with a particular vendor.  Allowing the student to Learn: How to learn, and how to design using a holistic approach.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) can offer several affordances and relative advantages when incorporated into a corporate technology learning plan, such as: Personalization: AI can analyze employees' learning patterns and preferences and provide tailored answers and learning experiences that match their individual and company needs. This approach can enhance the employees' engagement and motivation, leading to better learning outcomes and increased job satisfaction.

Data Analysis: AI can analyze learning data and provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the information, it can also help with topics employees find challenging or engaging. This analysis can help organizations to refine their learning program and improve its effectiveness.

This approach aligns well with Situational Learning Theory, which emphasizes the importance of contextualizing learning to fit the learners situation. By using AI to provide data examples of the work and to work through some of the disparate vendor issues the experience and individual learners' needs, the technology can provide a more contextualized learning experience. 

Learning Environment:

The technology integration plan should consider the following elements of the learning environment: The infrastructure and technology resources available in the organization. The budget, the format of the learning, and the use of resources, skills, knowledge, and attitudes of the learners and instructors regarding technology use. 

The infrastructure and technology resources include equipment, software, media, and materials. The equipment needed will depend on the learning format selected, but should include computers, mobile devices, headphones, webcams, and projectors. The software will include a learning management systems. 

The budget will depend on the organization's financial resources and the scope of the technology integration plan. The budget will cover the cost of equipment, software licenses, media and materials, and any associated training and support, however with this project most of the resources are freely available on the Internet.

The format of learning will depend on the organizational needs and learning objectives. The technology integration should include online learning, but could include blended learning, or face-to-face learning, or a combination of these formats. The format of learning will be determined by the availability and accessibility of resources, employee preferences, and the effectiveness of the selected learning approach.

The resources will be used to support instruction and learning by providing opportunities for employees to engage with the content and each other. The learning management system can be used to deliver courses, track progress, and provide feedback.  Video conferencing can be used for virtual meetings and collaboration. The media, materials and the equipment will enable employees to access the learning materials and activities from any location.

Integration Strategies:

Situated learning methods are based on the idea that learning should take place in the context in which it will be used. In a corporate technology learning plan, this means that employees should learn in the context of devices in their work environment, using technology that they will actually use on the job from their desk and using the network they are working with.

Incorporating AI technology into a technology integration plan can support situated learning methods in several ways. For example, AI can be used to analyze data from real-world work scenarios, and employees can learn by interacting with the AI system and seeing how it makes decisions based on that data. This can help employees understand the context in which they will be using technology, and can support their ability to apply their learning to real-world situations.

Other learning theories contemplated to support the technology integration plan included Social constructivism which emphasizes the importance of social interaction and collaboration in the learning process. A technology integration plan based on social constructivism might incorporate AI technology in collaborative learning activities, where employees work together to analyze data and solve problems. Other learning theories that might work include situated cognition, which emphasizes the importance of learning in authentic contexts, and cognitive apprenticeship, which emphasizes the importance of modeling and scaffolding in the learning process.

The time frame for the technology integration plan will typically be a week.  But, depends on a variety of factors, including resources available, and the specific learning goals. However, it is important to establish clear milestones and benchmarks to measure progress, and to allow for regular evaluation and revision of the plan as needed.

The technology integration plan should include the following strategies:  Incorporating AI Chatbot tools and resources into course content and instructional strategies. Providing opportunities for learners to engage in technology-enhanced activities and projects. Supporting collaboration and communication among learners through the use of technology.  Incorporating technology into the assessment and evaluation of learning outcomes.

The step by step approach in the learning activity to include AI use in the Technology Plan, the learner will use AI to create configurations, Interface configuration, VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) configuration, IP (Internet Protocol) addressing configuration, ACL (Access Control Lists) and other generic configurations.  Some of the tasks to be completed in AI include create their openai login, read through openai usage manuals, create their template for their standard models, query AI for example configurations. Example equipment that can be used for the architecture include a switch Specific to vendors (Cisco / Aruba / Netgear) or a firewall, router or wireless access point
Technology to be used in the Technology Plan

Examples of technology to be used referring to a network switch standard including Configuration Snippets From AI. The student should use ChatGPT or some similiar AI interface to gather the following 

items:

VLANs (Virtual Local Area Networks) should be configured on the network switch to segment the network into smaller, logically separate networks. This can improve network security and increase network performance by reducing broadcast traffic. From a sample AI output the student should answer: How does this relate to your corporate environment?  How can it be modified to create a company wide standard that can be replicated world wide?  Given Ports on the network switch, how should they be configured to belong to a specific VLAN? From a sample AI output how does this relate to your corporate environment?  How can it be modified to create a company wide standard that can be replicated world wide?  Would that interface be the correct one for every device of this type?

The switch should be configured with a static IP address and subnet mask, as well as the default gateway, to allow it to communicate with other devices on the network. From a sample AI output how does this relate to your corporate environment?  How can it be modified to create a company wide standard that can be replicated world wide?  Given what you know about reuse of IP addressing and given a public /8 how would such a configuration be modified to incorporate 10 locations?  100 locations?  1,000 locations?

STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) should be enabled on the network switch to prevent network loops and ensure the availability of redundant paths in the network. From a sample AI output how does this relate to your corporate environment?  How can it be modified to create a company wide standard that can be replicated world wide?  Would this cause problems for other devices configured similiarly?  Would larger locations have problems with this configuration?  Would other types of devices be able to interoperate with this configuration?

Access Control Lists (ACL)s can be used to control access to network resources and improve network security.  From a sample AI output how does this relate to your corporate environment.  How can it be modified to create a company wide standard that can be replicated world wide?  What is this ACL allowing through?  What is this denying?  Is that sufficient?

In conclusion, a switch standard should include configurations for VLANs, ports, IP addresses, STP, and ACLs. These configurations should be implemented in accordance with best practices and industry standards to ensure the efficient and secure operation of the network. The configuration snippets provided are just a starting point and will need to be modified to fit the specific requirements of each network which is whole goal of this exercise.  Using AI as a starting point for creating standards for a corporation and allowing AI to do the conversion to the specific Vendor standard instead of a learning becoming an expert at a particular vendor hardware software model, it allows the learner to become proficient with the technology.

Additional information that should be queried by AI:  How Can AI be used to create Naming standards for Company Location? IP Addressing scheme for company per location? Sample site diagram? Complete diagrams of whole company?  How does the information need to be modified for your company?
 

Evaluation:

The technology integration plan should include a means for ongoing evaluation and revision to ensure its effectiveness and efficiency. This should include the following:  Gathering feedback from learners and instructors on the effectiveness of technology integration. Monitoring and analyzing the use of technology resources and tools.  Revising the plan based on the results of the evaluation and feedback.
To effectively assess the effectiveness of AI in the technology integration plan that utilizes situational learning methods, the following steps should be taken: did the student meet the defined learning outcomes? Clearly define the learning outcomes that are expected from the learning activity.  This should include a clear understanding of what needs to be assessed and evaluated for the company.  Has the learner just cut and pasted from AI or has it been modified to reflect the business?  Have they modified information gathered from an AI Interface to create a template?  How did they gather data?  Did they collect both qualitative and quantitative data?  Examples of data that can be collected include: Learner feedback tools: This can include surveys, questionnaires or interviews that collect feedback from the learners about their experience of the learning activity, what they found most useful and what could be improved.  Could they have asked ChatGPT a different question or in a different manner for different results?  Did the members of the group get different results?  From learner performance data evaluate how well the learners has achieved the learning outcomes, as well as to identify any areas that need improvement.

Use the data collected to evaluate the impact of the learning activity. This can involve analyzing the performance of learners, comparing the results to the defined learning outcomes, and identifying areas of success or failure.
 

To improve the effectiveness of future learning activities, the data collected can be analyzed to identify areas for improvement. Tools such as learning analytics and data visualization can be used to identify patterns and trends in the data, which can inform future revisions to the learning activity.
 

Overall, technology can be used to support situational learning methods by providing tools for data collection, analysis and visualization, which can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning activity and inform future revisions.
 

Instructor self-reflection: This can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the learning activity, such as, what worked well and what could be improved.  Activity recording using video analysis can be used to analyze the behavior of learners during the learning activity, identify areas of improvement and adjust the learning activity accordingly.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the technology integration plan for a corporate learning environment should be based on relevant standards, consider the affordances of integrating technology, take into account the learning environment.  Use effective integration strategies, and provide a means for evaluation and revision. This plan will support the goal of providing a dynamic and engaging learning experience for all learners.






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