An experiment…

Maggie: write four paragraphs for a blog for educators about using ChatGPT in the college classroom as a learning tool

Bot: As educators, we are always looking for new and innovative ways to engage our students and enhance their learning experience. ChatGPT, a natural language processing tool developed by OpenAI, offers a unique and exciting opportunity for college classrooms.

One way that ChatGPT can be used in the college classroom is as a tool for discussion and collaboration. By providing prompts or questions, students can use ChatGPT to respond and engage in conversation with their peers. This not only allows for a more interactive and engaging learning experience, but also allows students to practice their communication and critical thinking skills.

Another potential use for ChatGPT in the college classroom is as a writing assistant. By providing a prompt or topic, students can use ChatGPT to generate ideas and generate a rough draft of a written assignment. This can be particularly helpful for students who struggle with writer’s block or are looking for a way to get started on a writing assignment.

Overall, ChatGPT has the potential to be a valuable learning tool in the college classroom. By providing a platform for discussion, collaboration, and writing assistance, ChatGPT can help students to engage with course material in a more interactive and meaningful way. As educators, it is important to stay current on the latest technology and tools that can help us to better serve our students and enhance their learning experience.

Maggie: write at least two more paragraphs addressing concerns about plagiarism if students are using ChatGPT

Bot: One concern that may arise when using ChatGPT as a learning tool in the college classroom is the potential for plagiarism. It is important to address this concern and make it clear to students that they are expected to use ChatGPT as a tool for generating ideas and inspiration, but that the final product must be their own original work.

One way to address this concern is to explicitly state the guidelines for using ChatGPT in your course syllabus or in a class discussion. Make it clear that while students are welcome to use ChatGPT to generate ideas and rough drafts, they are expected to fully understand and synthesize the material, and to present their own original thoughts and analysis in their final work.

Another option is to require students to provide citations for any outside sources that they use, including ChatGPT, in their final work. This helps to ensure that students are giving credit where credit is due, and also helps to prevent plagiarism.

Ultimately, it is important for educators to be aware of the potential for plagiarism when using ChatGPT or any other tool in the college classroom, and to take steps to prevent it. By setting clear guidelines and expectations, and by actively promoting academic integrity, educators can help to ensure that students are using ChatGPT ethically and responsibly.

Frankly, I think there is a lot of potential for AI in the classroom, but it’s going to take some strategizing and navigating to realize that potential. I would love to hear from other educators: how do you think we might harness this power for good? I know many of us are very concerned about cheating–and I discovered ChatGPT precisely because a student submitted a generated book analysis* to one of my Composition instructors–but I think our best way forward is to acknowledge and incorporate AI as a tool.
*Suspicions were raised because the paper was well written but not in the usual voice of the student, and more importantly, got the theme of the book under review completely wrong. We confirmed by running the intro paragraph through ChatGPT’s companion site, GPT Detector, which reported it as 99.5% fake.

One Reply to “An experiment…”

  1. Hi Maggie,
    I am a 79 year old retired photo researcher for college textbooks and am fascinated by this newly released AI ChatGPT. I think the negative potential for classrooms (all ages) is huge but I also think there is some very positive potential as well. One scenario that occurs to me is that of a teacher/professor talking to her class about an assigned book or Shakespeare play, etc. All students have ChatGPT on their devices. The teacher tells the kids the things she wants covered in a paper–let’s say 4 relationships or motivations of characters. Then each student gives her own “assignment” to the bot in her own words so each result will be different. They all relax and chat while the bot is “writing”. Once they all have the results, there is a discussion among the kids with the teacher about the differences in the “papers” and why they think those differences happened. I could see this being a fun and an exciting way to teach using these new technologies. Thanks very much for the piece you wrote. It’s the first one I’ve seen linking this all up to the classrooms.

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