Overviews of ChatGPT, its implications, & concrete recommendations for educators

“The dawn of AI has come, and its implications for education couldn’t be more significant,” by Vitomir Kovanovic. In The Conversation, Dec. 14, 2022.

Succinct overview of the ChatGPT tool, concerns and challenges in education, and brief recommendations of how to best respond:

• Integrate the tool, rather than prohibit it
• Shift focus of assessments to process of learning & critical thought, not just final product
• Focus assessments on the learning outcomes that matter, i.e. what students need to know and/or be able to do

“ChatGPT: A Must-See Before the Semester Begins,” by Cynthia Alby. In Faculty Focus, Jan. 9, 2023.

Places ChatGPT into the framework of a tech “assistant” that can support learning and writing tasks… IF used with awareness, creativity, and ethical intent. Also frames this current moment as an opportunity to re-envision teaching and learning in higher ed, with renewed emphasis on curiosity, motivation, and self-directed learning. Includes links to additional resources.

“Update Your Course Syllabus for chatGPT,” by Ryan Watkins. In Medium, Dec. 18, 2022.

Succinct, concrete recommendations for how to prepare for an educational landscape in which ChatGPT is readily available to students. Emphasis is on:

• thinking carefully and critically about learning objectives and student needs
• setting clear policy expectations and being transparent with students
• designing creative assignments that frame ChatGPT as a learning tool (rather than simply a means to cheat)

ChatGPT & Education, by Torrey Trust, Ph.D.

CC-licensed Google file that provides more in-depth overview of ChatGPT, what it can (& cannot yet) do, and considerations for educational contexts. Includes many links to additional resources.

“What might ChatGPT mean for higher education, continued,” hosted by Bryan Alexander. YouTube video of Future Trends Forum episode, Dec. 23, 2022.

Online discussion of the educational implications of ChatGPT.

From the session description: “What do we know about how the chatbot works? Does ChatGPT pose an existential threat to higher education, or instead offer new ways of teaching, learning, and researching?”

ChatGPT, concerns about plagiarism — and proactive (often positively framed) responses

“A college student created an app that can tell whether AI wrote an essay,” by Emma Bowman. NPR story, Jan. 9, 2023.

News about a Princeton student who’s “built an app [GPTZero] to detect whether text is written by ChatGPT” with the motivation to “fight what he sees as an increase in AI plagiarism.”

Note: Included for information purposes and awareness, and not to promote the tool. The story itself highlights that the tool doesn’t work perfectly… and illustrates the spiraling effects of using an AI tool to try to catch students who are using an AI tool to plagiarize. An irony that surfaces in some of the discussions below! See those for other, more student-centric responses to ChatGPT in teaching and learning.

“Guest Post: AI Will Augment, Not Replace,” by Marc Watkins. In Inside Higher Ed, Dec. 14, 2022.

 Argues that educators should view AI language models (like ChatGPT) as tech tools to augment and support the writing process, not replace it — and therefore, “it is crucial for us to teach our students about these models, how to use them ethically and what it will mean for their writing process.” Reports on an AI working group at the U of Mississippi’s Dept. of Writing and Rhetoric, and what they’re learning as they incorporate these tools into writing assignments.

Insightful point: “What message would we send our students by using AI-powered detectors to curb their suspected use of an AI writing assistant, when future employers will likely want them to have a range of AI-related skills and competencies?”

“Our Obsession with Cheating is Ruining Our Relationship with Students,” by Marc Watkins. In Rhetorica, Jan. 6, 2023. (An online newsletter about education, AI, and more. Free but requires subscription/account).

Emphasis here is that our focus on AI detection is misplaced; instead, we need to focus on what makes learning relevant and transformative for students.

Key excerpt: “The current freak-out panic over Chat GPT mirrors the panic that drove institutions and faculty to plagiarism detection software in the first place. Decades later, plagiarism detection software has conditioned us to easily access a tool that we hope will prove to us a student’s writing is their own. We don’t think about the fact that this tool helped accelerate contract cheating and creates a culture of mistrust. We don’t think about how the use of these tools has set up a situation in which companies are harvesting unfathomable amounts of data from our students. We mistrust our students’ desire to learn in such a profound way that many don’t give a second thought to using AI-detection software that tracks students’ eye movements and may misflag female students of color at far higher rates than white males.”