17 Learning to swim in the sea of numbers

Last time I did economics was during my undergraduate degree many years ago in Greece, when I was studying to become a translator at the Ionian University on the beautiful island of Corfu.

I am currently a postgraduate student on a leadership programme at a university in the United Kingdom. As I knew I would need to invest more time than usual for learning on the finance module, I started engaging from the outset in the resources and readings provided by the module team.

My focus quickly turned to the assessment brief and requirements as I see assessment as learning. I kept notes on paper, notes in a word document and also kept visualisations in a PowerPoint to capture my questions, my understanding and misunderstandings and non-understandings. I read recommended sections of the core textbook, papers I found but felt lost or drowning in, and struggled to see how I would learn to swim in that sea of numbers and equations.

As I was concerned about the assessment, I reached out to the tutor to get some direction and check if I had understood what was required. I can see why it was suggested to wait with making a start in advance of the first seminar and the following workshop, as these would bring the whole cohort together and enable us all to ask questions and clarifications. However, I felt pressure to progress before then for three reasons:

1) The submission of the assignment was under two months away.

2) I wanted to participate in the seminar and workshop and be prepared with my questions so that I could contextualise what the conversations would be about and enable me to learn and make further progress with my assignment. I really liked that the assignment itself relates to my work and organisation, and it was that contextual knowledge in finance I felt would be of most value to me enabling me to apply what I was hoping to learn in practice.

3) I also wanted to find hooks that would help me move some of the dark clouds away to bring some early spring sunshine into my learning experience and learn to navigate my way through the numbers.

I wanted to learn 

After trying all of the above and sharing some of my frustrations as a student who felt challenged but with a big appetite for learning, I reluctantly turned to Copilot on a Sunday when I was attempting to do some work on the assignment for the module. My youngest son’s words came to mind when he was working on an essay last year and when I asked him how it is going, he quietly told me that he has reached out to ChatGPT to ask some questions as he felt stuck. This is how I felt too. Could Copilot help me to get unstuck?

In my teaching, I have used GenAI to, for example, transform assessment feedback into poems (Nerantzi, 2023a) and create scenarios for Problem-Based Learning based on my own storyline and details (Nerantzi, 2023b). I have also provoked it to engage with me in conversations about specific topics such as LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® and mistrusted outputs and suggested publications as they were indeed non-existent (Nerantzi, 2023c). Research I have done in this area as part of larger teams with colleagues from across the globe also made me aware especially of the limitations and the need for criticality (Bozkurt et al. 2024).

Just reading books and journals was not enough for me, and I increasingly felt frustrated. Complaining about my situation to family and friends did not help either. Waiting for another week and just attending the seminar was also not an option for me. I wanted to learn and get unstuck! I missed having a conversation with somebody who had at least an idea or who might be able to help. I had to give Copilot a go.

Politely, I said hello and asked Copilot if it knew anything about calculating ratios in financial reporting. I know “knowing” was the wrong word, but it felt more human to use it, so I did. Instantly Copilot, let’s call it Sofia, said yes. Can you guess, why I called my conversation partner “Sofia”? Anyway, I was thrilled but also sceptical at the same time and I didn’t know what to expect.

After providing a few more details and context I asked Sofia if she could calculate ratios. I must admit that I did not mention my course.

My goal was to learn more about ratios as I wanted to calculate some. I had found examples in the core textbook but these didn’t match the terminology used in the reporting in my organisation, perhaps because it is a university. I wanted to explore if Sofia could help me identify equivalent terms that I should be looking for in the financial report.

My conversations with Sofia

I have to admit that it felt like having a conversation with Sofia about what I was thinking, what I was attempting to do. With the formulas in my document and the report open to look at specific terminology and a calculator ready, I started working on locating the right amounts manually. I struggled to easily find equivalent terms and reached out to Sofia to help me identify what I needed for the equations from within the report, where it wasn’t obvious. I told Sofia that I am looking at financial reporting in the context of higher education and this is what created the challenge for me as the book I was reading was more focused on the commercial sector.

Sofia helped me look for equivalent terminology. It still wasn’t always obvious, and I am not sure if I have managed to calculate the five ratios correctly using the right amounts. But the fact that I no longer felt alienated by ratios, was progress for me. I felt that I was learning and making sense of ratios. I had attempted to calculate specific ratios using an ordinary calculator and present this work to my tutor.

I wasn’t looking for answers, but to discuss my questions with somebody(?) who could help me to make sense of terminology

With Sofia I discussed the questions when I had these questions in my head based on the readings and my feelings of being stuck. I didn’t have to wait. I could do it instantly. I wasn’t looking for answers, but to discuss my questions with somebody(?) who could help me to make sense of terminology in the report that looked different from the book and to learn to interpret specific ratios and better understand their usefulness. Sofia replied to my question about sources which I am following up with other sources I located the old-fashioned way.

Thank you, Sofia. Looking forward to discussing what I did with my tutor in a few days. Did I learn to swim in the sea of numbers with Sofia’s help?

GenAI Tool(s) Used: