Traditionally, the TTT goes on summer break until August, but I couldn’t help doing a quick check-in on ChatGPT. I am eager to return to the classroom after my sabbatical, but I need to figure out how to navigate this new technology. A lot has developed in the past few months, and I am curious to see how you will address this AI in the fall.
If you still have questions about ChatGPT – how it works or how it can be used – I highly recommend you sign up for the New York Times On Tech AI newsletter. Since we first shared this in April, they have put out new pieces about every two weeks. I found their pieces on golden prompts and turning AI into your study pal particularly useful. As a Denison community member, you can access the NYT here https://nytimesineducation.com/access-nyt and access prior pieces in the series.
I gave several workshops and webinars this spring on the perils and promises of AI and will give two more workshops in early August for the Mathematical Association of America’s annual conference. As I prepare for these, I am curious about what others in the Denison community are planning for the fall with regard to AI. Do you still have questions? Do you have ideas you will try? Please share your thoughts and suggestions with this simple form.
Of all the articles I’ve read on the topic of generative AI, two have stood out. The first is a Chronicle article I shared in May: I’m a student. You have no idea how much we’re using ChatGPT. This article helped me realize that I cannot simply write “ChatGPT proof assignments,” but I need to rethink how I assess my students’ learning and how they can leverage this technology to increase, not replace their learning.
The second article is from last week: Warming up to the power of ChatGPT. I like analogies. They help me share and understand new concepts. I was struggling with a ChatGPT analogy – math and calculator, the industrial revolution..? But the author, Dr. Erin Kelly, likens the advent of ChatGPT to the microwave oven. Initially, we did not know quite how to use it – Look what it did to this hotdog! Why is the metallic band on my mug exploding? As well as many misconceptions – That radiated food will cause cancer. You can cook an entire Thanksgiving meal in the microwave! But with time and practice, we realized that microwaves could be indispensable kitchen tools, but they did not replace all other means of preparing food. The author posits, and I agree, that ChatGPT will fall into a similar category in a few years. It will be indispensable for some tasks but not be a wholesale replacement for teaching and learning. The trick will be navigating the next few years as we figure this out.
Finally, I would like to pass on a piece that Dr. Lori Kumler, one of our new Instructional Technologists, shared: Responding to generative AI for assessments. This living document from the University of Sydney provides ways to diagnose our current assessments in light of AI and how we can redesign our assessments to fit the changing landscape that AI has introduced.