While Ethan Mollick, Associate Professor of Management and Co-Director of Generative AI Labs at Wharton, may not think my latest use of AI is the best use of AI (because I’m using it to teach me something entirely new),  so far it’s working for me. First, I feel the need for a few caveats:

• I use a paid version of Claude AI by Anthropic,
• I am still struggling with my use of AI and the quick shift from hesitation around AI to let’s-all-use-this-in-our-classes mindset, 
• The more I learn about AI, the more my struggle and optimism simultaneously increase. 

A short time ago, I bought an RV with a solar setup perfect for boondocking and a storage locker perfect for a cat room (cats go camping, too). The RV came with 39 documents for all of the gadgets–some pretty traditional trailer workings, but several that were more high-tech. I read through all the manuals, but truthfully not much stuck. When the first trip came up, I started realizing I did not really know quite enough about the RV yet. I started to panic.

And then I wondered if Claude AI could help me. Since I have the paid version of Claude, it allows me to set up “projects” where I can upload or paste in “project knowledge.” This would be special information that Claude can consult when I start asking questions. And that is what I did to understand the solar setup on the RV–I uploaded six pdf’s related to the solar.  Here was one of my first questions:

“I bought a trailer with 600 W of solar, a smart shunt, and a 3000 W inverter. Can you give me tutoring on how this is going to work? For example, how does the shunt work? What is its role?”

Because I put in the word “tutoring,” the tone of the responses was definitely one of making sure I understood, along with giving me additional ways it could help me when I was ready. The tone was also encouraging. I liked that I didn’t have to use someone’s time, asking them to repeat themselves because I didn’t quite get it yet. The tool was really patient and knowledgeable about the information in the manuals.

 

I used the project to ask question after question about how everything related to solar should work. I took pictures of the Digital Multi Control and uploaded it to Claude, and it defined and then explained all the readouts. I’m pretty sure the manual included all of this information, but in smaller print and in a less explanatory tone. And the manual could not re-explain it to me in different words or use metaphors (which the AI did on its own for me–again the “tutoring” in the prompt was super helpful). 

In his post, Mollick does warn, and this is a good point, that without the expertise to know if the AI is wrong, I could be learning something that is not correct. In other words, I really should not be using AI to teach me something I absolutely have no knowledge of. But also, I do know to be skeptical, and I’ve already caught it in one error. I also use other resources like my camping buddies; Facebook groups like Victron Powered Camper, Ember RV Discussion Group, and, just as important, RV Traveling with Cats; and YouTube to supplement my learning. The AI actually helped me troubleshoot a water issue that would have taken me a lot longer to figure out on my own–I would have had to find the right manual, hope I could read the small print, and locate troubleshooting pages (if they existed), or call someone at the RV dealer, or email the company. Because I had a hunch, I went to the plumbing project and asked a few questions, got a reasonable answer, investigated a little further online, and then spent about 5 minutes fixing it.

I currently have projects on the solar, plumbing, gas, awning, and tv; I guess you can see I’ve moved on from the essential knowledge I need to the nice-to-know knowledge. I’m curious how you might be using AI in some way other than teaching and, if so, how that is going and if you are getting classroom ideas? Share your idea/experience in the comments below!