We can’t beat new tools like ChatGPT, so use it to teach students why it’s important to learn

There’s been quite a bit of press lately about content generated by artificial intelligence. Initially programmatic graphics such as DALL-E and Midjourney, and now written content with ChatGPT.

ChatGPT is an open-source artificial intelligence bot that allows users to type questions and provide human-like answers. As an educator, we are concerned that students will use these tools to plagiarize or cheat in order to advance their coursework. For example, students can easily feed discussion prompts into ChatGPT, receive acceptable answers in seconds, ask them to write a poem, or ask them to generate computer code.

While these examples seem like smart shortcuts to avoiding a busy job, what’s more worrying is that this technology is helping students understand the world in the context of their personal, real-life experiences. It means that you can stop

For example, when I ask ChatGPT to describe my extrovert personality, it tells me what kinds of social activities and events I enjoy and what my general expectations are of extroverts. But if I want to explore my extroverted personality in my life, my relationships with others, my job requirements, my real-life experiences, ChatGPT’s answer is a unique way to integrate myself. You will not capture the introspection and meaning necessary to develop the path. Add personality to my daily activities.

The sensemaking process is how we take in information, process it, and use it to understand and generate our worldview. It works in four stages. news What is in our environment through observation, we create interpretation of the event author Unique response by integrating with information held in the past, enact What we feel is appropriate behavior.

This is an important way humans learn, even if we are not aware of it. Shortening this process by asking the AI ​​questions shortens the learning process. We might notice something (or be forced to notice because of assignments), but ChatGPT will generate an answer. The AI ​​does not compare different interpretations or explanations, nor does it create its own response based on the user’s experience. We are no longer creators of our own behavior, we are simply reacting to AI’s reactions in the world around us.

One approach to addressing this challenge is for educators to stay ahead of AI. Create increasingly difficult questions that require analysis, limit computer use during classes and tests, and incorporate software that can detect AI-generated answers. Most educators say this is like whack-a-mole, that the software they use to detect cheating (such as Turnitin) is superior to the techniques that students use, and that university IT departments are in dire straits. It is so underfunded that teachers find it overextended with increasingly large classes. size.

Some proponents echo the argument from a generation ago that programming graphing calculators to perform sophisticated analyses, freeing their human counterparts from manual computational tasks, was possible. I repeat. Opponents, however, argue that this is more than just a tool. It is a destructive force that permeates every level of our education system and corrodes the learning process. Educators must find compromises while embracing technology and emphasizing the value and process of knowledge acquisition. This approach embodies the fundamental beliefs about education that Plato espoused. Education is not simply memorizing dates and facts, it is a lifelong learning practice and a requirement of social justice.

If we don’t want to be drones that just recite what AI has created, educators need to emphasize the importance of sensory formation processes and embrace technology as a tool they can use to enhance the learning process. .

But professors have another option. Instead of embarking on a futile battle to ban technologies like ChatGPT, you can help your students better understand why learning how to understand what they’re learning is so important. They can do this by integrating technology into education. For example, an educator requires a student to enter a question exactly into her AI (awareness) and prompts the student to find alternative explanations for the AI-generated answer (interpretation). To create relevant responses, students interact with the AI ​​to include personal experiences (create) and adopt or discard recommended actions (execute).

Too many people see learning as just another task they have to do and get a degree. We forget that learning creates connections between neurons, allowing us to interpret what we observe in multiple ways, facilitating new connections and creating innovations around the world. We. When a learner is no longer interested in seeking knowledge and simply uses her ChatGPT to provide answers, we literally become meaningless. A better way is to use technology to stimulate and personalize the sensemaking process.

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Gretchen Vogergesang LesterPh.D., is an Associate Professor at San Jose State University and a Public Voice Fellow of The OpEd Project.

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