Sailing by starlight: facing a new chapter in the wave of change and learning
Thoughts before dawn: The dual identity of knowledge and the value of learning
When the morning light has not yet fully unveiled the night, I am already sitting at my desk, flipping through the course materials for tomorrow’s school. I keep reminding myself that tomorrow will be a new starting point for my dual identity. On the one hand, as a doctoral student, I will continue to conduct in-depth research; on the other hand, I will play the role of a university lecturer, standing on the podium and turning the accumulated knowledge into more specific teaching content.
This heavy responsibility makes me wonder, what is the real value of learning?
In the process of studying, we constantly pursue the breadth and depth of knowledge, but rarely really calculate the cost of time. Today’s tuition fees are expensive. Every class, every paper, and even every conversation with advanced academics is an investment. What you get in exchange is not just a degree, but the ability to transform knowledge into influence. How to maximize the value of this learning investment has become one of the most important issues at this stage.
This makes me firmer in my belief: the purpose of learning is not just absorption, but transformation and output.
I hope that I will not only become an academic worker, but also a knowledge creator who can inspire and influence others.
The challenge of teaching: making knowledge not just “knowing” but truly internalized
Most of today’s time seemed to be devoted to preparing lessons. I opened the presentation software, adjusted the content page by page, and tried to design classroom activities that would be more relatable to students.
The students in this course are sophomores from the Department of Journalism, and the feedback from the pre-class questionnaire allowed me to better understand their expectations and needs. Many students hope to learn the application of AI tools and learn in an easy and interesting way, but do not want to hear too much theory. This reflects the learning habits of contemporary young students - they like hands-on practice and hate boring academic content, but they want to master the core value of technology.
Students’ expectations for this AI course
This is both a challenge and an opportunity for me as a lecturer.
How to allow students to truly “learn” AI instead of just “listening to it” is one of the questions I have been thinking about for the longest time today. I decided to design the class into three levels:
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Introduction to tool operation - first let students actually experience the basic application of AI tool to lower the learning threshold.
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Case analysis and application - Through actual cases in the news industry, students will understand how AI affects media work.
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In-depth discussion and innovative thinking - Encourage students to think about how AI will change the future media ecology, and guide them to conduct group discussions and special reports.
This kind of design not only allows students to sit in the classroom and listen to lectures, but also allows them to truly grasp the application value of AI tools through practical operations, case studies and discussions.
This class is not only the imparting of knowledge, but also a reshaping of thinking patterns.
Encounter in the evening: inspiration from UX design to personal brand management
In the evening, I took a walk near the Arena, still thinking about the details of instructional design, when I unexpectedly met [Richard] (https://www.facebook.com/uxrichard), the founder of Ushi Digital Consulting Co., Ltd., and his wife.
This chance encounter started a wonderful conversation.
I have a great time meeting Mr. and Mrs. Richard
Richard has focused on UX design training in the past few years, and his [Youshi Academy] (https://edu.userxper.com) has become an important brand in the UX field. In this meeting, he shared his experience on how to shift from business operations to training business development, and mentioned that he hopes to provide more in-depth market guidance as a personal consultant in the future.
This made me think, how can knowledge workers advance from “outputting information” to “providing value”?
We talked about market trends, brand positioning, and the possibility of monetizing knowledge. This conversation not only communicated about the future of UX design, but also allowed me to see the infinite possibilities of personal branding in the digital age.
This makes me more convinced that learning is not just for accumulating knowledge, but for creating influence.
Nightly Conversations: How does intellectual creation impact the world?
As the night fell, I discussed future cooperation opportunities with the graphics coach [Qiu Yilin] (https://www.facebook.com/yilin.chiu.73) through messages. We plan to jointly organize a lecture to discuss how to help learners use knowledge effectively and avoid learning anxiety.
In this era, people have an explosion of information, but there is very little knowledge that can be truly “applied”.
We hope that through this lecture, more people will understand that the value of learning lies not only in accumulation, but also in how to use it skillfully.
Knowledge creation is not a one-way output of information, but a way to establish influence. When we are willing to transform the learning process into practical actions, we can make knowledge have more profound value.
Star Guidance: Inspiration from Stars, Storks and Bears
Today, I drew the Star, Stork and Bear cards. These three cards, like the guidance of destiny, light up the day’s thinking.
🌟 Stars - represent clear vision and guidance, reminding me not to get lost in the busyness, only by having clear goals can we move forward firmly.
🕊️ Stork - symbolizes change and a new journey, echoing the university lecturer career that will start tomorrow, and also hints that a new chapter of personal brand and academic development is about to begin.
🐻 Bear - symbolizes inner strength and leadership, reminding me to believe in my own influence and make good use of knowledge to help more people.
This day is full of thinking and dialogue, and the appearance of these three cards seems to tell me that when we are willing to embrace change and strengthen our beliefs, knowledge and influence will lead us to a farther future.
Tomorrow, I will take this belief with me to welcome a new beginning.
