Good morning/afternoon/evening, and a belated Happy 2023!

When I sent my last update I was about to head down to Antarctica to co-lead a quite unique study abroad with my colleague Nicole Mayberry. As a number of people have been asking about this, I thought I'd focus on the highlights here -- and especially the value of such an experience to our students.

Plus, some more on ChatGPT, and an update on what's happing with the ASU Future of being Human initiative.

Enjoy!

Andrew

Antarctica Reflections and Responses

I thought I'd start with this virtual gallery of our collective experiences as we headed down to Antarctica as it provides a good overview, as well as some quite profound insights, into what all of us -- faculty as well as students -- took away from the voyage:

​ASU Global Intensive Experience 2022/23 to South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula​

As you will see browsing through the gallery, this was a voyage that touched our students in very different -- and often unexpected and profound -- ways.

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I Want To Feel ...

Talking of just how profound this voyage was to some of us, I wanted to link to this piece by one of our students -- Lauren Richards.

Lauren wrote this the evening after debarkation, and it provides a compelling insight into how the experience impacted her. What I find quite quite moving is how the combination of the extreme environments, unique experiences, and incredible people we shared these with, was utterly life-changing.

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Not Just a Bucket List Checkbox

Lauren's experience eloquently captures something I grappled with on this voyage -- is going to Antarctica simply a bucket list checkbox for rich folks, or is there something more to it?

Going into the study abroad, I wasn't sure. But coming back, I am convinced that there is deep value to voyages like this for young people, and people who wouldn't normally get to have such life-transforming experiences.

I wrote about this around mid-voyage in a reflection on the Antarctica Overview Effect. Looking back, I am more certain than ever that, if appropriately led and curated, places like South Georgia, the sub-Antarctic, and Antarctica itself, can have a profound impact on how people who experience them first hand think about themselves in relation to others, the planet we live on, and the future we're building together.

In other words, Antarctica should not just be for the rich, but also for those who have the potential to be profoundly changed by the experience, wherever they are in life.

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... and of course, the photos

One thing we did discover is that photos and video simply cannot capture the majesty and the awe of these places. Before we first landed on South Georgia our expedition leader Jamie Watts told us that nothing can prepare you South Georgia -- no matter how many documentaries, videos, or photos, you've seen. He was right.

That said, there are photos! And just in case you're interested in a tip of the iceberg insight into the places we went and the things we saw, here you go.

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Can ChatGPT Be Good For Academics?

Changing tack completely (although maybe my frustration with my annual self-evaluation was partially a result of just getting back from such an incredible experience), I thought some of you would be amused by this ChatGPT story:

As you'll see in the article below, I really, really, struggle with writing about myself in my annual academic self-evaluation. And so this year I decided to get a little "meta" as I study tech, society and the future, and co-opt ChatGPT into helping me write it.

This was the result:

​Can ChatGPT take the pain out of annual academic reviews?​

I must confess that I found the whole experience rather therapeutic. I for one welcome my ChatGPT collaborator ...

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And finally ... a Future of Being Human update

For those of you following the progress of our new initiative around the Future of Being Human, we have a really exciting lineup of events this semester. Of course, most of you aren't here physically, but I thought I'd pass this on as it's laying the groundwork for community building around thinking about the future of being human that we hope to extend out to other locations and platforms (including, possibly, a podcast).

If you're interested in what's coming and aren't on our email list, please do sign up here for occasional updates.

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