When innovative technologies enter the education sphere, often, for those of us in K-12 Education, we look to see how Colleges and Universities are handling it. We tend to take our queues from them. While Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) has been around for decades, we are now seeing a new form of it known as ChatGPT. When it comes to Chat GPT, there is a wide range of opinions. Depending on the educational institute, they are either viewing it as a valuable tool for improving learning or they’re voicing real concerns on the output’s accuracy and even how we, as humans, interact.

Positives

When we begin to explore what ChatGPT can do, there are many in higher education that see the product and its ability to provide personalized learning experiences for students. In many ways, ChatGPT can be used to give feedback to students on their writing. There is a belief that as ChatGPT evolves, it can be used to tutor students, freeing up professors to focus on other aspects of their classes. It is important to remember that even now, not just in Higher Education but in K-12, we use A.I.; grading tests (at least anything that is multiple choice or has a set correct answer) is one of the most common form of A.I use.

Another way that Chat GPT and A.I. in general is seen as a positive is the ability to break down language barriers. ChatGPT, along with programs like Microsoft Translator and Google Translate, can convert written language into multiple languages so everyone can understand it.

Negatives

While the positives are great, there are some drawbacks we are learning about at the same time. Chief among them is the accuracy of the program. With ChatGPT pulling from the internet, you must trust that you are getting accurate information. There is no bibliography coming with what you are typing in. If the algorithm is written in a way that ignores some facts or believes something is correct but fake, how do you know?

With the advent of A.I., we have also seen a decline in quality human interactions. Just watch the news long enough and you’ll see that social skills are declining. The ability to communicate is key to our society, and there is a belief that A.I. is lessening that. Within that decline there also seems to be a lack of critical thinking that is taking over. If a student doesn’t have to think too hard to write or get an answer, they then stop thinking critically about it.

The last negative that I have come across in my readings is there is a real concern of biases in what Chat CPT puts out. It’s not too hard to see this. To test the so-called biases that I was reading about I asked Chat GPT to Write a positive poem about the joys of capitalism. This was the response:

I then asked the same question but substituted socialism:

I then flipped the question to Write a poem about the evils of socialism?

And to be fair, I asked the same question but with capitalism:

Is it biased? I’ll let you decide.

How’s it Being Used?

Throughout all the articles that I have read I have found some common threads in how Chat GPT is being used:

• Personalized Learning: ChatGPT is used to analyze a student’s learning patterns and then provides a personalized learning plan based on their strengths and weaknesses.
• Feedback and Grading: ChatGPT has been used to help grade assignments and provide feedback to students. The speed at which it provides feedback is sometimes faster than a teacher. Which can help if you are trying to meet with all the students who are ready for conferencing, but you can’t meet everyone quickly. Questions do need to be provided to students to ask to get answers to help improve their writing.
• Tutoring: ChatGPT has been used to give feedback and work with students, similar to the first point in this list.
• Language Support: ChatGPT’s can translate for the students to allow them a greater understanding of what is being taught and shared.
• Research Assistance: ChatGPT can be used to aid researchers in finding relevant literature, summarizing articles, and generating hypotheses. Then the researchers can use it as an outline for their work. This can help speed up the process of ideation and drafting.

ChatGPT is a powerful tool that can enhance student learning and engagement in higher education. However, we should use caution, and we should be constantly evaluating its effectiveness and impact. Check out my Wakelet for all the information I have gathered so far on ChatGPT. What are your thoughts about this tool? Can you think of ways that you can foresee using it in the classroom? Let us know in the chat below.