By this point, you’ve more than likely encountered some of the buzz surrounding ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot released by OpenAI at the end of 2022. And you’ve probably also heard stories regarding students using it to write their papers and essays. You may have even read that ChatGPT will soon replace teachers altogether.
But like cell phones and the internet, AI technology will rapidly become simply a part of the way we all live our lives, so it is best to embrace AI tech and to teach students to use it wisely and responsibly.
Can ChatGPT be used in education? We think that it can! and in this blog post, ChatGPT for teachers and educators, we aim to show you how to incorporate this technology into your classroom!
The Tsunami of AI Technology
Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude 2, and Google Bard are incredibly powerful, and are capable of producing astonishing work, and their capabilities cannot be ignored.
But many people aren’t aware of just how powerful these systems have become.
Many people may have tried out ChatGPT when it was released, found it quite impressive, but may have come across various hallucinations, errors, and the like, and then stopped using it. But ChatGPT has become much more powerful and less error-prone, particularly the GPT-4 version that is only available with the ChatGPT Plus subscription plan.
The reality is that it is not possible to clearly differentiate AI work from human work based on current technology. The best course of action for teachers is to encourage thoughtful use of LLM technology, to teach proper sourcing, attribution, and verification of output, and to provide students with a solid framework for AI technology that will position them for the future of work.
ChatGPT For Teachers and Educators
To start with, we strongly recommend educators check out a blog post published by OpenAI itself. It is an excellent resource for teachers looking to use ChatGPT in the classroom. Additionally, we encourage interested educators who are willing to brave the Twitter/X/whatever it’s called now platform to pay attention to Professor Ethan Mollick, a Wharton professor who provides extremely thoughtful information on LLMs and, in particular, thoughtful use of AI in the classroom.
He produced a series of videos focused on using LLMs in learning settings.
As with any form of new technology, both you and your students must learn how to master its proper usage (emphasis on proper!). But once you do, AI tech can genuinely assist you in how you teach.
As with any form of new technology, both you and your students must learn how to master its proper usage. But once you do, AI tech can genuinely assist you in how you teach.
But first, we need to dispel some of the misconceptions surrounding this emerging technology.
Misconceptions about AI Technology
For starters, ChatGPT is not meant to replace teachers. New systems like these have usually been met with assertions of replacing human educators, although this transformation has never materialized.
AI Is Not a Threat to Teachers
Remember when calculators were considered a threat to math teachers? These days, kids are still taught basic math skills.
And remember when Google was considered a threat? Well, kids still need to be taught the skill of discerning information from the immense volume of data available, underlining the continued significance of teachers as a whole.
AI chatbots are merely the latest wave of technology in this ongoing progression, so it doesn’t possess the threat to education that many have so far believed.
That said, there’s no easy way to differentiate AI-produced texts from human text. AI detection software does not work and teachers should not rely on it.
The Use Of AI Detection Software
There are many purported “AI content detectors” on the market, including Originality.AI, TurnItIn, GPTZero, and others. These systems are easily circumvented and produce false positives and negatives far too frequently to be useful.
Do not use these systems alone as a basis for accusations of cheating, but they may be useful as a portion of a
Here’s what OpenAI itself says about these detectors:
Do AI detectors work?
- In short, no. While some (including OpenAI) have released tools that purport to detect AI-generated content, none of these have proven to reliably distinguish between AI-generated and human-generated content.
- Additionally, ChatGPT has no “knowledge” of what content could be AI-generated. It will sometimes make up responses to questions like “did you write this [essay]?” or “could this have been written by AI?” These responses are random and have no basis in fact.
- To elaborate on our research into the shortcomings of detectors, one of our key findings was that these tools sometimes suggest that human-written content was generated by AI.
- When we at OpenAI tried to train an AI-generated content detector, we found that it labeled human-written text like Shakespeare and the Declaration of Independence as AI-generated.
- There were also indications that it could disproportionately impact students who had learned or were learning English as a second language and students whose writing was particularly formulaic or concise.
- Even if these tools could accurately identify AI-generated content (which they cannot yet), students can make small edits to evade detection.
So, will some students attempt to use ChatGPT as a shortcut?
Undoubtedly, yes.
However, there have always been a few individuals who engage in cheating, and ChatGPT won’t change that. Most students want to learn, and so still strive to complete their own work. They likely won’t unfairly use an AI chatbot to churn out their homework.
The best path is to instruct your students on when and how it’s suitable for them to leverage ChatGPT and when it’s not.
Establish Some Guidelines
Rather than pretending that ChatGPT isn’t a thing in the hopes that your students remain oblivious to it, confront the topic directly by engaging students in conversations about the ethics of AI and listening to their perspectives on the subject.
Rather than pretending that ChatGPT isn’t a thing in the hopes that your students remain oblivious to it, confront the topic directly by engaging students in conversations about the ethics of AI and listening to their perspectives on the subject.
It may be likely that your school already has a technology policy. If not, then it’s the right time to establish one, because AI is rapidly becoming a technology being used worldwide, especially ChatGPT.
By incorporating rules regarding AI bots, you will aid your students in understanding that there are occasions using artificial intelligence is acceptable, and there will be other times when it will be considered outright cheating.
Many universities and education institutions are recommending that students cite that they are using LLM technology in the areas that they are using, and perhaps making an end note stating things like:
- ChatGPT was used during the editing process for this document
- ChatGPT was used during the brainstorming process for this document
- ChatGPT was used for organzation and clarity
- Claude was used for data analysis and review
These sorts of declarations will help educators understand where users are using LLM software, and will help create clear boundaries for what is acceptable and what is not (e.g. full production of a paper).
When ChatGPT Isn’t Acceptable
Make sure that your students understand the rules that you set for them when it comes to using ChatGPT. For example, explain to them that they definitely shouldn’t copy the answers they receive from the AI chatbot and present those answers as their own work.
Plagiarism
Your students probably already know that copying the work of others is cheating. But by explaining that using ChatGPT’s output word for word is essentially plagiarism, (which has its own repercussions), they will be able to grasp that by doing so, they could land themselves in serious trouble.
You should also get your students to understand that you, (and their other teachers), will likely be able to tell whether or not they’ve used ChatGPT to help them with their homework and other assignments.
As we’ve mentioned, you should not rely heavily on tools to detect AI content — they don’t work reliably enough to use as evidence. But during the course of the school year, teachers become attuned to the distinctive writing styles of each of their students, which enables educators to see abrupt changes.
This, plus some use of AI detection tools as supporting evidence, will likely be enough to have a conversation with a student about the use of AI tools.
Hallucinations
Additionally, by explaining to your students that ChatGPT can sometimes ‘hallucinate’, which means that it will make up answers that are out of the remit of its programmed large language model, this will help them to refrain from trusting the AI chatbot to do all of their work for them.
Explain that the reliability of information they receive from ChatGPT hinges on the original source training data (from pre-2021), which may have changed, and that this may inadvertently disseminate incorrect or outdated information. In this way, you will teach your students to verify sources and cite that a) they used an LLM to produce or process the data and b) the data was verified and is correct (with proper citations and attribution).
This method will set students up for a future world where they will be working with much more powerful LLMs than what exist today.
When ChatGPT Is Acceptable
So, how can educators employ ChatGPT to their advantage in the classroom?
While some of your students may be proficient writers that might not want to use the services of the AI chatbot, you can teach the others to use it as a source of inspiration for their writing.
For example, your students can use ChatGPT to generate writing prompts that they can use for creative writing assignments. Doing so can help to encourage your students to explore their creativity, which will help with their storytelling skills.
It will also help them to think outside of the box by introducing them to diverse concepts and themes that they may never have considered otherwise. This will allow them to cultivate their own writing style — all from using text generated by the AI chatbot.
Getting your students to use ChatGPT to generate their creative writing prompts can also help them with brainstorming, drafting, and refining their narratives, as well as support them on a journey of exploration with the opportunity that is presented by the innovative digital educational tools of the future.
Leveraging ChatGPT’s Power For Education
Teachers worldwide are increasingly leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, especially ChatGPT, in order to enhance their students’ experience in the classroom, as well as streamline various aspects of their teaching practices.
Teachers worldwide are increasingly leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, especially ChatGPT, in order to enhance their students’ experience in the classroom, as well as streamline various aspects of their teaching practices.
We’ve discussed the issue of handling student use of LLMS like ChatGPT. But now let’s look at how LLMs can make teachers lives easier in the classroom.
Lesson Planning and Content Creation
One way educators an use LLMs like to help them with lesson planning and content creation — generating draft assignments, reviewing questions, writing prompts, and even creating math problems. This will not only save you time, but also ensure that you have content that is tailored to your students’ needs and aligns with curriculum objectives.
Question Prompting
Tapping into ChatGPT’s capability to generate thought-provoking questions can help you to stimulate your students’ critical thinking skills, which can spark insightful conversations that they’ll remember.
Doing this will turn the AI chatbot into a teaching assistant that helps you create engaging lessons that encourage participation and deeper comprehension among your students.
Conversation Starters
ChatGPT can be a great help for brainstorming conversation starters among students for various projects and group work activities.
Recommendation Letters and Parent-Teacher Meetings
In addition, educators can use ChatGPT to draft recommendation letters, and prepare for (sometimes challenging) conversations with parents or students. By integrating AI into your teaching toolkit, you’ll be able to create a more dynamic and adaptable learning environment that will cater to the unique needs of all of your students.
Final Thoughts
While initial fears of technology replacing educators have historically never materialized, AI tools like ChatGPT can be used to significantly enhance your teaching practices, because of their potential role as a digital aid for educators.
In addition, by using ChatGPT for educators, you can engage your students in open discussions about the ethics of AI to help them understand when it’s appropriate to use ChatGPT and when it’s considered cheating, as well as create a more adaptable learning environment that will cater to the diverse needs of each students and enhance their overall educational experience.
