OpenAI’s ChatGPT helping empower education worldwide

On 31 August, 2023, OpenAI, a renowned California-based artificial intelligence (AI) research and deployment company responsible for creating ChatGPT, published an instructional resource for teachers incorporating ChatGPT into their classrooms.

This guide included prompts, insights into ChatGPT’s functionality and constraints, as well as an examination of the effectiveness of AI detectors and issues related to bias.

ALSO READ: ChatGPT can help students who are non-native English speakers

ChatGPT guidelines are important because they provide teachers with guidance on how to use this tool responsibly and ethically. ChatGPT can be used to enhance education in a variety of ways, such as by generating person.

However, it is important to use ChatGPT in a way that promotes critical thinking and avoids plagiarism. OpenAI’s announcement cited four unique cases of how ChatGPT is being used in teaching and learning in four contexts: North America (US), Europe (Spain), Africa (South Africa), and Asia (India).

In the US, Dr Helen Crompton, a professor of instructional technology at Old Dominion University, encourages her education graduate students to use ChatGPT as a stand-in for a specific persona, such as a debate partner, a job interviewer, or a new boss.

ALSO READ: How artificial intelligence is helping to restore works of art

She believes that exploring information in a conversational setting helps students understand their material from different perspectives.

In Spain, Fran Bellas, a professor at Universidade da Coruna, shared how ChatGPT can be used to create quizzes, tests, and lesson plans from curriculum materials. He recommends that teachers use ChatGPT as an assistant in developing these materials.

First, teachers should share the curriculum with ChatGPT and then ask for new and relevant quizzes and lesson plan ideas. Bellas also uses ChatGPT to help teachers ensure that the questions they write are inclusive and accessible to students of all levels.

In South Africa, I discussed how ChatGPT can reduce the challenges faced by non-native English speakers in the academic world. I have over a decade of experience lecturing at university, where many students are non-native English speakers.

ALSO READ: Artificial intelligence refined for Africa’s benefit

I have found that ChatGPT can be a tremendous asset for these students, as it can help them improve their command of English. Even minor misunderstandings of English grammar can hold back students from recognition and opportunity.

I encourage students to use ChatGPT for translation assistance, English writing improvement and conversation practice.

Geetha Venugopal, a high school computer science teacher at the American International School in Chennai, India, explained how ChatGPT can teach students about critical thinking.

In her classroom, she emphasises that ChatGPT’s answers may not always be credible and accurate and encourages her students to evaluate whether they should trust the answer. She also teaches them to seek other primary sources to confirm the information.

The goal is to help them understand the importance of developing their critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity skills.

ALSO READ: Embrace AI for better efficiency, opportunities – experts

Further, OpenAI provided four examples of prompts that teachers can use with ChatGPT.

First, teachers can use ChatGPT to generate customised lesson plans tailored to their students’ specific needs.

Second, the chatbot can create effective explanations, examples and analogies. Here, ChatGPT can help teachers develop clear and concise explanations that are easy for students to understand.

Third, it can help students learn by teaching. Teachers can use ChatGPT to simulate a student’s perspective and evaluate their own explanations and applications of concepts.

Last, ChatGPT can be used to create an AI tutor that can guide students through explanations, examples, and questions. This can help students learn at their own pace and get the personalised attention they need.

-Kaziboni is head of research, Africa Centre for Evidence, University of Johannesburg