*The Online Homepage[^1] of [Will Berard](About)* > [!hint] Notice > ![[organic.webp|40]] Unless stated otherwise, all the copy on this site is guaranteed free from synthetic text. I'm a PhD-with-A(u)DHD at the [University of Roehampton](https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/guillaume-bérard), with a background in computer science (10+ year stint in software development), after which I trained to teach computing (secondary) under the mentorship of the ever-delightful [Pr Miles Berry](https://milesberry.net/about-3), with particular interest on [[Why and How to Teach Programming]]. My research is on ['Generative "AI"'](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lQtucvGEBFA) - really the LLM-backed chatbots of tech companies - and assessment in UK higher education. Someone once mentioned it was like '*researching the structural integrity of steel-hulled ships on the maiden voyage of the Titanic'.* Being a *sound guy*, I have a little podcast on the topic ([Soundcloud](https://soundcloud.com/lowkeyresearchpreview) - [RSS](https://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:649122957/sounds.rss)). **I position myself as an enthusiast of LLM technology itself, but a staunch [critic of Big Tech.](https://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/volume-141-papers/stockman-2022)**[^2] Unfortunately, for most of us now, the former is accessed through the products of the latter. On this topic: - [[Social Theory and its use in three studies on 'generative AI' in higher education.]] - a comparative review of the use of Bijker's Social Construction Of Technology (1990) in three studies on ChatGPT in higher education. - [[Theoretical perspectives on the mechanisms of 'AI' chatbots]], an attempt at outlining the core mechanisms of LLMs for non-technical scholars, linking them to relevant ideas in Philosophy and Linguistics. - [[The Social Construction of Generative AI]] - a non-academic riff on SCOT and AI Chatbots as penny-farthings (...*hear me out.*) - and its [video version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TsOD7x6rSQ) I have a personal interest in neurodiversity studies, particularly around AuDHD individuals' experience and inclusion in academic and educative environments. For this, you may want to look at - my article in the journal of the Chartered College of Teaching, [[ADHD, Autism, and Teacher Training]] ([published/paywalled here](https://my.chartered.college/impact_article/send-inclusion-and-my-initial-teacher-education)), - or [[The Lens and the Mirror]], reviewing through a philosophical lens the [research of Claire O'Neill](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/372087880_I_Saw_Things_through_a_Different_Lens_An_Interpretative_Phenomenological_Study_of_the_Experiences_of_Autistic_Teachers_in_the_Irish_Education_System) (and Neil Kenny) on Autistic teachers in Ireland (2023). I engineer, and false-reluctantly host the Roehampton [Grad School Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/4bH2RYGfzhVkdAonK6qzy7) - launching properly Oct 2025. I'm nowhere near as active as I wish I was in the [Computing At School](https://www.computingatschool.org.uk/community/will-berard) community. [Mastodon](https://mastodon.acm.org/@MrBerard) is the place to \*consults notes\* 'hit me up'. If you're on Bluesky, enable the bridge. I've got a [channel on the Tube of You](https://www.youtube.com/WillBerard), with a lot of programming education videos, pivoting to cover AI. Also, dad jokes, many a [cat](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/k1CEsPV9PVE), but the music is all [noodling](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cTId7mxdNCw) - compositions and production live [elsewhere](https://soundcloud.com/soundonsoundonsound). ___ ![A clipart of a triangular "under construction" road sign, but instead of a worker shoveling dirt, it's someone at a computer. Presumably shovelling content|200](img/under-construction_geek_man_01.svg) This is a sub-section of my [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) vault, to quickly make my writings publicly available. As such, it is messy. You will see things appear, disappear,[^3] and change. I don't think you'll be particularly keeping up, *stalker*, but this means that, unless it's tagged #final , urls to notes ("pages" as far as you're concerned, stage-side) are provisional. All things are, but those, more so. So it's lit, legit, but *low-key*. You dig? This site is not indexed by search engines, so if you landed there you're *special*, certainly to me. Mwah. Or *something* is not reading robots.txt. Shoo. Away with you, naughty AI. ___ [^1]: Party like it's 1996! [^2]: This is why you will not find me on their platforms. Well, except one, and I'm working to get out. [^3]: Or enter an Oxford comma.