Tip: ChatGPT edition...
“ChatGPT is learning, and ChatGPT is an infant. In a month, it will be smarter.”
Updated February 28 with more resources.
I’ve been gathering these resources for the past several weeks, and wanted to share now, even though more comes out each day in what sometimes feels like a tsunami of articles, advice, and predictions.
Artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced content production is not new, but there’s certainly been a change in the landscape over the past six weeks, leaving us each to figure out what exactly it is, what it does, and what are the possible implications for us and our students. My personal views are still evolving on AI-assisted content generation, but I do have two core concerns.
ChatGPT and other AI tools do not write content. They scrape the internet, compiling language that others have written, and mash it together in ways that follow the rules they have learned (and, it’s important to note, are still learning) to follow. Language is important, and I think it’s vital that we are precise in how we describe these tools to our students.
ChatGPT and other AI tools rely on the freely provided labor of actual writers, researchers, artists. They take what we have created, providing our words, pictures, and ideas to others without attribution. The more content we provide to these tools, the “smarter” they become, with the ultimate goal of monetizing all this “learning.”
Start here
If you have more questions than answers and too little time, these four articles are a good place to start.
ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about OpenAI's GPT-3 tool (BBC Science Focus, 1-16-23)
ChatGPT: A Must-See Before the Semester Begins (Faculty Focus, 1-9-23)
ChatGPT Advice Academics Can Use Now (Inside Higher Ed, 1-12-23)
Three Things to Know about AI Tools and Teaching (Agile Learning Blog, 12-20-22)
Some extra reading
If you want to dig in a little more, these are some thoughtful pieces.
Getting the AI We Deserve (Inside HigherEd, 1-24-23)
Education in the World of ChatGPT (The Absent-Minded Professor Blog, 12-6-22)
AI and the Future of Undergraduate Writing (Chronicle of Higher Ed, 12-13-22)
Raise your hand. Send the email. Some thoughts on ChatGPT. (Karen Ray Costa, 12-15-22)
AI Will Augment, Not Replace (Inside Higher Ed, 12-14-22)
Here’s How Art Schools Are Dealing With The Rise of AI Generators (Motherboard: Tech by Vice, 1-24-23)
Advice from university centers for teaching + learning
And, I would be remiss not to link to just a small handful of resources your university teaching and learning centers are frantically compiling as they try to stay ahead of the tsunami.
Strategies for Teaching Well When Students Have Access to Artificial Intelligence (AI) Text Composition Tools (George Mason University)
Practical Responses to ChatGPT (Monclair State University)
Crowd-sourced materials
Because this is so, so new, a lot of the most interesting things are happening in informal spaces. Here are just a few under-construction site with resources.
ChatGPT: Understanding the new landscape and short-term solutions
The nail in the coffin: How AI could be the impetus to reimagine education
How to use ChatGPT
I confess - I am very hesitant to encourage anyone to use any AI-assisted content generators, but I am keeping an open mind and would love to hear about the ways that these tools are helping you in your work.
has a great post about ways to use ChatGPT for research and writing.
And if you want to explore the AI-enhanced writing world beyond ChatGPT, Writing to Riches has a thread with tools to try.
What do you think?
NEW: Videos about using ChatGPT in different disciplines
Philosophy
Foreign & Second Language Learning
What’s one way you might use ChatGPT (or similar tools) this semester?
Thanks for reading…
Thanks for gathering these helpful reference pieces from various perspectives!
In reply to your question about uses of AI, I’m interested in experimenting with periodically querying AI tools like ChatGPT to identify points I’m leaving out in lesson plans or ideas I’m not taking into account in outlines and drafts or to otherwise help spotlight blindspots and areas where there may be divergent views or biases that I haven’t considered or I’m not aware of.
I’ll also experiment with asking it for analogies or anecdotes that might help explain complex concepts in creative new ways to push and stretch my own thinking.