Teaching with ChatGPT: OpenAI Issues Guidelines

Teaching with AI: The New Frontier

A comprehensive guide aimed at educators for the integration of ChatGPT in classroom settings has been released. The guide includes suggested prompts, details on the working mechanism and limitations of ChatGPT, efficacy of AI detectors, and the AI’s bias.

This comes as part of a broader initiative to furnish educators with actionable resources, with the guide being supplemented by a FAQ section that answers pressing questions about teaching with and about AI. The FAQ section further encompasses contributions from leading educational organizations and provides examples of AI-powered educational tools.

ChatGPT in Classroom Settings: How It’s Being Used

Role-playing and Argumentation

Dr. Helen Crompton, Professor of Instructional Technology at Old Dominion University, employs ChatGPT for role-playing exercises. In her graduate classes, students interact with the AI as a debate partner, a job recruiter, or a new boss, aiming to flesh out weaknesses in arguments and gain new perspectives.

Curriculum Development

Fran Bellas, a professor at Universidade da Coruña, Spain, suggests using ChatGPT to design quizzes, tests, and lesson plans. “If you go to ChatGPT and ask it to create 5 question exams about electric circuits, the results are very fresh. You can take these ideas and make them your own,” he says.

Language Barrier Reduction

Dr. Anthony Kaziboni, the Head of Research at the University of Johannesburg, focuses on ChatGPT as a translation and conversational practice tool for non-native English speakers.

Teaching Critical Thinking

Geetha Venugopal, a high school computer science teacher at the American International School in Chennai, India, uses ChatGPT to instill critical thinking, urging students to verify the AI-generated information through other primary sources.

Example Prompts: A Practical Start

Ethan Mollick and Lilach Mollick, both affiliated with Wharton Interactive, have been experimenting with ChatGPT for pedagogical purposes. They’ve offered a series of example prompts aimed at lesson planning, creating effective explanations, and peer teaching. The guidelines underscore that these are starting points, encouraging teachers to modify them as per their unique classroom needs.

Caveats and Recommendations

The guide is explicit about the limitations and reliability of AI, urging educators to be cautious. It underscores that while ChatGPT can be a useful tool, the human teacher remains the expert in charge of the material.

Conclusion

As AI continues to make inroads into educational settings, the just-released guide offers a structured approach for educators looking to integrate ChatGPT into their curriculum. The emphasis is on customization and human oversight, even as AI offers innovative strategies to make education more interactive and effective.

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