Should we let students use ChatGPT? | Natasha Berg | TEDxSioux Falls

Last December, I was sitting around a table having lunch with some English teachers when one of them started talking about how he had recently caught a student cheating on an essay using this new form of artificial intelligence called GPT chat which he watched in amazement and astonishment. a bit of mild horror as this program built an entire essay for the student with the click of a button, the initial reaction around the table was disbelief, there is no way AI can write a quality essay, naturally Curious, I pulled out my laptop to try it all out. Of us watched in shock as this AI program constructed a well-written analysis essay before our eyes in a matter of seconds.

If you've ever wondered how to induce an immediate existential crisis among a group of English teachers, yes, that's how, while there are dozens of text-generating AI programs out there open ai's GPT chat, which was released on public last November, is the best known since its launch. The GPT chat has been featured on almost every major news station and even made the cover of Time magazine. In February, this program took the world by surprise because it was 10 times smarter than the previous version. GPT is what is known as a large language model, which is essentially a network of neural pathway connections that allows the program to learn and become more accurate in its responses over time When I asked the GPT chat what it wanted the world to know about his capabilities, he responded I can provide information on a wide range of topics and understand and respond to natural language.

I can also generate creative and personalized responses. and learn from my interactions to improve my language processing abilities over time. Ah, right after its public appearance, companies and people around the world began to take advantage of the immense power of this technology, doctors have used it to help diagnose patients, companies began to use it to create. ads and blog posts, and Joe Schmoe has been using it to help him write all those annoying thank you cards from his wedding 14 months ago and it's all done with the click of a button. Common apps like Snapchat instacart, Duolingo, and Quizlet have done it too.

They started integrating this technology into their platforms and then openai launched gpt4 in March which is the newest version of the system that powers GPT chat gpt4, unlike GPT chat, can also analyze images and web links instead of being restricted to text input, only Microsoft started using gbt4. To boost their Bing search engine, they also have plans to integrate gpt4 with Microsoft Office Suite products. You'll soon be able to turn your boss's 20-page email into a full PowerPoint presentation with a single click, a couple of weeks after Microsoft launched its new search engine Google launched its Bard artificial intelligence system and I'm sure that it's only a matter of time until we see artificial intelligence incorporated with Google Suite products as well.

The tech world has entered an artificial intelligence arms race, but with such explosive technological advancement. Seemingly overnight, educators around the world have entered a state of panic—of course, there are the typical worries about AI taking over the world, courtesy of too many movies and TV shows like Terminator and Westworld , but for educators the concern

falls

more on their

students

after the pandemic. Educators have noted serious declines in

students

' ability to think critically and solve problems at the most basic levels, but now that AI can think for them, educators are inundated with concern not only about their jobs but also about development. of their students and as authors. and writing instructor John Warner points out that the reason the emergence of this technology is so impactful is because it forces us to confront what we value rather than letting the status quo move forward unexamined.

There is no doubt that AI is going to transform the education landscape. As we know it, after all, we have seen this type of transformation before and for most of us it occurred within our lifetimes. The widespread proliferation of the Internet just a few decades ago completely transformed the way schools and our global economy operate. Is not safe? Assuming that a new technological leap could do the same hard work of this leap will fall to educators. Generative AI systems will force educators and educational institutions to reevaluate what they teach and why and how they teach it.

Do students really need to do it? know how to write a rigorously structured five-paragraph essay or need to understand how to approach a concept, break it down, and organize it into bite-sized chunks since the dawn of time, students have asked teachers to ask when will I use this? In real life, now is the time to find a concrete answer to that question because the truth is that many of the tasks given in the classroom do not really prepare students for real life, when will they need to know how to diagram? a complex, compound sentence unless you end up being an English teacher.

Possibilities are never possible. If students feel that what they are learning in the classroom will benefit them in the long term, they will engage in learning and not look for shortcuts to get to Simply. get the job done, but instead of adopting and learning from this new technology, many schools across the country responded to the public launch of GPT chat by immediately blocking it and other AI applications on all school-authorized devices, but is it beneficial to restrict the use of a student? technology that companies around the world use or

should

we instead teach our students how to interact with AI safely and productively.

Anyone who has been around teenagers for any period of time understands the implications of reverse psychology all too well, even adults fall prey to this trap. If I tell you not to think about an elephant in anything you do, don't think about an elephant, yes, we are all thinking about an elephant right now. If you tell a teacher, a teenager, not to do something, you can bet they will do it. Eager to try it as soon as your back is turned, blocking GPT chat and similar AI applications will not work, it will only make the programs more intriguing for students who do not want to explore the secrets contained in this technology that has caused such a reaction between their teachers and we cannot control what students do outside of their classrooms and school buildings, it is very easy for students to open this program on their phone when they go to the bathroom or simply access it on a different device when they are completing their schoolwork at home and once Microsoft and Google integrate this technology into their office suite products, unless we want to return to the pre-internet era of paper and pencil, we will not be able to avoid AI in the classroom.

We will never be able to truly and completely block it, but instead have to find ways to work with and around it to implement effective use of AI in the classroom. Teachers may need to reevaluate how they teach material and assess student learning. If instead of assigning worksheets and essays we encouraged more collaboration in the classroom, project-based and student-directed learning has always been my go-to as an English educator and teacher, my students constantly created posters and participated in discussions to analyze various aspects of literary work, we would work on group projects and presentations as an end-of-unit assessment, and we would use the game to review material such as participating in an escape room or a competitive game of Jeopardy, even if my students could access the AI ​​in My In the classroom I wouldn't have given them much help beyond the ability to be a sounding board for their ideas and what would be wrong with that?

I think most educators would agree that the goal of education is to help our students learn to think. AI technology for critical and problem solving can be incorporated into the classroom in ways that truly engage students in critical thinking. Math students could create their own math problems and then use AI to test the results. Social studies students could use the GPT chat to write alternative realities to history. and then discuss the results in a science class, students could use the chat bot to adopt the voice of a famous scientist and then engage in a stimulating conversation about their discoveries.

Students can also use AI to help edit vocabulary terms for their writing practice. Providing one-on-one tutoring and editing your ideas and research and these are just a few of the limitless applications from a student perspective, but it also has capabilities that can benefit teachers almost immediately after my school blocked AI on all learning devices. our students, my coworkers started using it to help. do their jobs more effectively use GPT chat to write lesson plans, generate discussion topics, and create tests and quizzes, and in fact, I used it to help me write a final exam for my students, a process that normally takes me hours, it only took 30 minutes.

With the help of AI, AI not only has the ability to save teachers hours of preparation, but it can also take a piece of writing and adapt it in any way the user requests, which can help make learning and reading are more accessible to students. all skills, for example, we could ask the GPT chat to take a complex text and transform it into something a fourth grader could read or we could have it transform Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet into a modern soap opera. The possibilities of a soap opera are as limited as the user's imagination. Living in a digitally progressive world,

should

n't our schools reflect that?

As Matt Miller of Ditch That Textbook said, this version of GPT chat is the weakest and most rudimentary artificial intelligence of its kind that our students will ever use if we block technology in our schools. are being used in companies across the country and around the world we are not adequately preparing our students to enter the 21st century workforce our students need to be trained on how to interact with the world around them through technology a their readiness and how to do it so safely and who will teach them these skills if teachers don't, but whether we should also give students the benefit of the doubt, just as educators do with other technologies in the classroom, Teachers can set times to use Ai and times not to When one educator gave the option for his students to use GPT chat on an assignment, only four took up the offer.

Many students are as nervous as their adult peers about this new technology and also worry about the impact it will have on their ability to solve problems and become functioning adults who can make a positive contribution to the world. In fact, there are many students who do not know this new technology. Of course, this will change in the coming months and years, but for now we have time and we need to use this time to adapt accordingly, just like the Internet did before. AI will make its way into every facet of Our Lives. The process has already begun.

We already carry little AI machines in our pockets and purses, and while Chad GPT and gpt4 are much more advanced than Siri or Alexa and will eventually become a staple of our everyday routines as well. A great language model. Generative AI will change the landscape of the global economy and launch us into a new era of education. Schools need to start teaching their students how to use AI safely and effectively, and teachers need to start reevaluating and redesigning their curriculum so that next year we won't be sitting around a table in shock while our coworker shares how they caught a student cheating using anything.

The AI ​​way comes next, thank you.