ChatGPT is here. What do you do now?

 

Although artificial intelligence (AI) has been a topic of interest and research for decades, it has largely been out of reach for most people. The technology has been expensive and complex, ranging from single-purpose programs such as Deep Blue for beating chess champion Garry Kasparov, or IBM’s Watson entry into big business. That all changed this past year when ChatGPT was made available to the public via a simple web-accessible interface, allowing everyone easy access. Teachers and students alike are now quickly trying to learn more about the possibilities.

 

ChatGPT and other similar tools such as Google Bard are a form of AI built upon large language models. What does this mean? The program mimics human language with an algorithm that predicts text to answer and respond to the users' questions. Instead of a web search that produces a list of websites as results, it coalesces the information from the results into a conversational answer. A vast amount of information scoured from the web provides the data with quantifiable outcomes based upon word counts and calculations of their frequencies and relationships. 

 

With that, one must understand the strengths and weaknesses of such a program. Since it is built upon existing knowledge, it’s only as good as the information it has stored, and can therefore be biased. It can get better or worse over time as it is fed more information. It will also repeat what it knows, not invent or make new knowledge. Additionally, it lags behind current topics and information since it takes time to feed everything in. Don’t expect it to know anything about current events. Furthermore, it can and does make mistakes, from facts that are incorrect to web links that are broken.

 

What it can do, however, is pretty amazing. When used correctly it can help when brainstorming topics, can jump-start the creation of outlines, and can assist with writing beyond the typical spell and grammar check. It can also be used later for deeper discussions where students can evaluate ChatGPT results and analyze what it produced or perhaps what it got right and what it did not. It can be a great starting point for continued conversation. Consider how you might use ChatGPT both as you prepare your own lessons, activities, or discussions, and how you might integrate it into your assignments and what students may gain in doing so.

 

It’s a good idea to have a frank discussion with students about when and how these new tools should and should not be used. Consider a policy statement in your syllabus or someplace in your course. As each course is different and we are trying to meet specific learning outcomes, you have to find what works best for you and your course. Some courses may not use or allow ChatGPT at all, while others may integrate it deeply. Most will probably be in between. Regardless, it’s not going away and is just the beginning. Preparing students for how it will be used in the workplace is important for every program to consider.

AI in education and more topics are taught in our Educational Technoogy program at UCM.  https://www.ucmo.edu/academics/programs/masters-degrees/coe/educational-technology-and-library-science/educational-tech/educational-technology-ms/index.php