ChatGPT is confirming my suspicion all along, and this is great news!

In this blog, Nadia Seaborne at GEMS Wellington International School in Dubai, explains how AI might change teaching and classroom practice. Is it a case of ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’? With an optimistic mindset the benefits could be endless and Nadia ends the blog with twenty examples of how ChatGPT could be used to improve critical thinking.

Scrolling through any education forum or Facebook post, I would be very surprised if ChatGPT is not too far away from any conversation. Threads are full of panic, hesitation and a relentless worry by teachers who cannot believe what they are seeing. Panic and fear seem to have settled in (even though this AI is just over a week old) and optimistic posts about this being a learning tool, and a fantastic one at that, are few and far between.

What is ChatGPT?

For anyone of you that hasn’t yet dabbled in Elon Musk’s newest AI baby, let me tell you. GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) is a type of artificial intelligence (AIhow) model that has been developed by OpenAI and it is specifically designed to generate a human-like text. It is trained on a large dataset of human-generated text and uses machine-learning techniques to generate new text that is similar in style and content to the training data. GPT can be used for a variety of natural language processing tasks, including language translation, summarisation, and text generation.

I was astounded when I first opened the programme and began exploring what it could do. This model is faster and more sophisticated than previous AI systems and the language and content of what it produced initially shook me to the core. It initially seemed much more real. It was terrifying yet brilliant at the same time.

Within five seconds of writing a question, the programme had written a poem in the style of Shakespeare using iambic pentameter. Shakespearean style techniques ranging from assonance, consonance and metaphors were so perfectly placed within this AI designed poem, they wouldn’t look out of place in an original Shakespearean collection.

Within ten seconds, the programme created an essay on the comparison of Ibsen’s Doll’s House and Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby.

Ten seconds – quotations based on specific themes in specific books.
Five seconds – editing and proofreading.
Five seconds – poems written in the style of famous authors.
Five seconds – gathering research on specific themes and characters.
Three seconds – answers to specific English language and literature questions. The list goes on…

Written before my very eyes, within seconds, was content that would ultimately take myself and my students hours to produce in real-time lessons. I instructed ChatGPT to write an essay and then mark it using the criteria of the IB, so it did, it also gave itself evaluative feedback about what it needed to do next time. This new AI programme has changed everything that I know about delivering lessons, and what’s worse (or better) is there is absolutely no way that I could ever compete with this. How could I? and more to the point? Why would I? Could there be a chance we are both on the same side? Getting knowledge to others, whilst giving them the skills to do this themselves.

Remember the saying ‘Keep your friends close … keep your enemies closer’

This is exactly how I feel about ChatGPT. Competing with this machine would be a huge waste of time so I began thinking about ways that this new technology could enhance my own learning and teaching and ultimately make me a more effective teacher. How could this technology save me valuable time both with planning and inside the classroom? There was absolutely no point in trying to hide this type of technology from my students as they may have been using this already without me knowing.

With a new optimistic mindset, I began asking the system questions about the types of lessons and activities that I could include in a scheme of work that I was currently writing. Within seconds, ideas were created and outlines of lessons were being written. This was incredible. There were some great ideas and reminders about what we need to include in lessons and the type of activities that students enjoy. My schemes of work were being revamped and It was like receiving instant professional development. Like all great professional development, it meant that I could ultimately magpie key ideas and adapt them based on my students.

What I have noticed about the content that is being produced

Whilst the content that is being generated is clear, coherent and well-written. It does lack the ‘voice’ of the teacher, this I feel is something that AI like this will never be able to really do, how could it? It’s not us. The more focused and detailed the questions are, the better the response yet the voice of who we are isn’t there. It is a machine after all. As teachers, we are anything but, and we all have different relationships with our students. We know them and they know us.
The case will be the same if students use AI to produce their work – we will know! If we absolutely know our students and we know them well and how they write, we will be able to tell if there are any changes. Personalised learning is going to be more crucial than ever and this is great news. Maybe this is the reminder that we all need.

If we stop fearing this type of AI and think about ChatGPT as a friend, not an enemy, it will force us as educators to remember that the connection and relationship between the student and the teacher has always and will always be fundamental to learning and success. Whilst AI offers numerous opportunities and ideas, the face-to-face connection that happens in real lessons and that real exchange can never be substituted for machine learning, a suspicion that I have always had regardless how good technology gets!

ChatGPT is a timesaver!

What’s brilliant about this resource is that it will save students time looking for quotations, finding themes, learning about context etc. Diagnostic tests can be written in seconds by both staff and students and they can check their answers instantly. ChatGPT will give our time back to us as teachers so that we can do what we do best.

We now have time for those critical thinking discussions and we can be present to support students to improve their writing. We may even have time to read texts again in class without skipping sections – can you imagine? This could potentially bring back students’ love of reading whilst still allowing them to learn and have access to everything they need to be successful. We just need to think about how we will set writing. Perhaps the days of completing written work at home are gone, so let’s use this to give them time to write in class with pen and paper, where we can live mark and really see what they know!

As an educator, I am incredibly excited to try new ideas and ways of teaching in class, the possibilities with this GPT is endless and I for one cannot wait to see how my students respond.

As an example, I have created 20 ways you can use GPT in the classroom in order to improve critical thinking.

1. Use GPT to generate discussion prompts and questions that encourage critical thinking and analysis.
2. Have students use GPT to generate writing prompts or summarise texts, and then use the generated prompts or summaries as a starting point for discussion or analysis.
3. Use GPT to generate debate topics or positions, and have students use critical thinking skills to defend or refute the generated arguments.
4. Use GPT to generate problems or scenarios for students to solve, requiring them to apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
5. Have students use GPT to generate potential solutions to real-world problems, and then use critical thinking skills to evaluate and improve upon the generated ideas.
6. Use GPT to generate alternative viewpoints or perspectives on a topic, and have students consider and analyse these viewpoints using critical thinking skills.
7. Have students use GPT to generate questions about a topic, and then use critical thinking skills to research and find answers to these questions.
8. Use GPT to generate outlines or diagrams that illustrate complex concepts, and have students use these visual aids to better understand and analyse the concepts.
9. Use GPT to generate summaries of texts or articles, and have students use critical thinking skills to evaluate the accuracy and completeness of the generated summaries.
10. Have students use GPT to generate reports or presentations on a topic, and then use critical thinking skills to evaluate and improve upon the generated content.
11. Use GPT to generate multiple versions of a text or story, and have students compare and contrast the different versions, using critical thinking skills to analyse the changes and differences.
12. Use GPT to generate prompts for creative writing assignments, encouraging students to use their imaginations and critical thinking skills to come up with unique and original ideas.
13. Have students use GPT to generate responses to prompts or questions, and then use critical thinking skills to evaluate and revise their responses.
14. Use GPT to generate quizzes or tests on a topic, and have students use critical thinking skills to answer the questions.
15. Have students use GPT to generate questions for peer review or peer feedback sessions, encouraging them to use critical thinking skills to evaluate and improve upon the work of their classmates.
16. Use GPT to generate study guides or review sheets, helping students to focus their critical thinking skills on the most important information.
17. Have students use GPT to generate flashcards or study aids, encouraging them to use critical thinking skills to distill complex concepts into concise and memorable summaries.
18. Use GPT to generate group projects or collaborative assignments, encouraging students to use critical thinking skills to work together and come up with creative solutions.
19. Have students use GPT to generate presentations or demonstrations, encouraging them to use critical thinking skills to explain complex concepts in a clear and concise manner.
20. Use GPT to generate ideas for hands-on activities or experiments, encouraging students to use critical thinking skills to design and carry out their own investigations.