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ChatGPT, a new artificial intelligence tool, turns on a warning sign for teachers

When Kristen Asplin heard about a powerful new AI chatbot tool called ChatGPT, which has recently gone viral with its ability to write really good essays in seconds, she was concerned about how her students might use it to cheat.

Asplin, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh in Greensburg, USA, soon joined a new Facebook group for teachers like her to speak out about concerns and exchange suggestions on how to restructure their classes and assignments in response to the ChatGPT.

The tool, launched in late November, can create detailed answers to simple questions like “Who was the 25th president of the United States?” as well as answers to more complex questions like “What political developments led to the fall of the Roman Empire?”

Asplin decided to adjust his approach to writing. Instead of just focusing on the final product, which could easily be done via ChatGPT, she now asks students to turn in their work at various stages of the writing process.

“I’m emphasizing and being more vigilant about the early stages of the writing process so I can see their progress,” Asplin said of her new approach to classwork.

“It will give students more confidence in the writing process so they are less likely to get desperate enough to cheat. It will also show me their work along the way so they can’t just type a prompt into the program and have the computer do the work for them.”

In the weeks since artificial intelligence research group OpenAI released ChatGPT, which is trained on a huge trove of online information to create its responses, the tool has been used to write articles (with some factual inaccuracies), lyrics in the style from various artists (one of whom later responded, “this song sucks”) and wrote summaries of research papers that fooled some scientists.

But while many may see the tool as a novelty with unknown long-term consequences, a growing number of schools and teachers are concerned about its immediate impact on students and the ability to cheat on assignments. The Facebook group Asplin joined, for example, has added over 800 members in just a few weeks since it was created.

Some educators are now moving with remarkable speed to rethink their work and assignments in response to ChatGPT, even though it remains unclear how widespread use of the tool is among students and how detrimental it can actually be to learning.

In an interview with CNN , some university professors said they are returning to classroom essays for the first time in years, and others are demanding more personalized essays. Some teachers said they also heard that students were being asked to film short videos that elaborate on their thought process.

Meanwhile, public schools in New York City and Seattle have already banned students and teachers from using ChatGPT on district networks and devices.

While there have been a few cheating stories circulating the internet and sparking fears that more may be to come, some teachers are urging their peers not to overreact to a new technology.

“There was a mass hysterical response to ChatGPT that it could potentially ruin writing, while other people felt it [ChatGPT] it’s actually a good thing,” said Alan Reid, associate professor of English at Coastal Carolina University. “We have to try to cross both sides and recognize the disadvantages and the positives.”

Adapting to a new AI chatbot

Over the past few weeks, Kevin Pittle, an associate professor at Biola University in California, has found himself thinking about what ChatGPT knows.

“Before assigning materials, I thoroughly interrogate ChatGPT to see what it ‘knows’ or doesn’t ‘know’ about the material or to which it has access,” he said.

With that in mind, he said he is now requiring his students to show quotes from specific sources that are not available to ChatGPT, including textbooks, paywalled articles, and materials produced after ChatGPT training on internet data available from from 2021.

And he doesn’t stop there.

“ChatGPT doesn’t ‘have a soul’ – its dummy reflections are usually pretty lifeless – so in a course I’m requiring a lot more ‘soul searching’ and reflective journaling than ChatGPT seems capable of cheating,” he said.

OpenAI previously told CNN which made ChatGPT available as a preview to learn from real-world usage. A spokesperson called this step a “critical part of developing and deploying safe and capable artificial intelligence systems.”

“We don’t want ChatGPT to be used for deceptive purposes in schools or elsewhere, so we are already developing mitigations to help anyone identify text generated by this system,” the spokesperson said. “We look forward to working with educators on useful solutions and other ways to help teachers and students benefit from artificial intelligence.”

Some companies, like Turnitin, are already actively working on ChatGPT plagiarism detection tools that can help teachers identify when papers are written by the tool. Turnitin already works with 16,000 schools, publishers and corporations with its other plagiarism detection tools.

Princeton student Edward Tuan told the CNN that more than 95,000 people have already tried the beta version of its own ChatGPT detection feature, called ZeroGPT, noting that there has been “incredible demand among teachers” so far.

The concern extends beyond the United States. Alex Steel, director of teaching strategy and professor of law at the University of New South Wales, said several universities in Australia had announced a return to textbook exams.

“There are a growing number of academics concerned that they may not be able to detect responses written by artificial intelligence tools,” he told CNN . “In part, the concerns are driven by teachers’ lack of understanding of what kinds of questions might be susceptible to […] then the team can push for a return to testing until [essas questões] can be addressed”.

Learning to embrace technology

Not all teachers are looking for ways to crack down on ChatGPT. Reid, a professor at Coastal Carolina University, believes teachers should work with ChatGPT and teach best practices in the classroom.

Reid said teachers can encourage students to ask a question about working on the tool and compare that result to what they’ve personally written.

“It can also allow for a teaching opportunity for students to see what they missed, look at the various approaches they might have taken, or use it as a starting point to help with an outline,” Reid said.

He argued that there will always be ways for students to cheat online, so teaching them how ChatGPT can improve their own writing could be a practical step forward.

“The burden is on educators – and many don’t want to be police officers in the classroom,” he said. “The way to deal with this is for teachers to examine their own practices and think about how this can be used positively. If they ignore it and don’t seek to know anything about it, it leaves the door open for students to use it to cheat and get away with it.”

Leslie Layne, professor of English and linguistics at Lynchburg University in Virginia, agrees. She now plans to teach students how ChatGPT can improve their writing.

“ChatGPT can give students a quick start so they don’t start with a blank page. But it doesn’t come close to a finished product,” she said. “We want students to include more sources and evidence so it can be used as something to build on.”

She likened ChatGPT to the clamor around calculators when they first came out. “People were very concerned that we would lose the ability to do basic math,” she said. “Now we carry one with us wherever we go with our phones, and it’s very useful.”

Layne said teachers might consider having students critique how ChatGPT handled a question on work, teaching students how to find the best command for the best answer, and having ChatGPT argue one side of a topic and one side. student argue the other side.

“Like other new technologies, this can be a tool that instructors use to help students express their ideas,” she said. “Students just need to learn to improve their writing and adapt it to their own voice.”

Source: CNN Brasil

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