Exploring the Role of AI / Chatgpt in Higher Education: Advantages, Opportunities, and Risks in 2023

Don’t tell me you’re living, eating, and drinking in the 21st century but thinking in the 14th century. Uh, so dull, don’t you think? But you are now riling up by the winds of evolution, breaking your resolution to stay loyal to your old good friend–comfort. Getting rattled as to what is all of this babble about, eh??

Fret not; this is all about the grand revolution that has shaken up the 21st century. Rather than getting triggered, break the shackles of orthodoxy and accept the opportunities presented on the plate by ChatGPT with open arms.?

But wondering what it is exactly. In the following article, let’s delve into the details of what it is, its pros and cons, its potential role in higher education, and its drawbacks. So hold your boat tight and say ready, steady, go!

Unveiling #ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a chatbot given by OpenAI (Open Artificial Intelligence) in November 2022. GPT conveys the meaning of “Generative Pre-trained Transformer” as it possesses the ability to produce fresh conclusions. With 100 million users in two months, it has become the first chatbot that boasts this feat.?

It is, in reality, a computer robot with whom you can talk about everything from the history of the US-North to the geography of China, from computer coding to Biryani recipes. If you get stuck at anything, ask, it will reply. Yes, read that again.?

To make a long story short, if you name a thing, it will talk to you in a manner even your peers don’t. Mindblowing, no???

Advantages of Using AI/ChatGPT in Higher Education

There has been a continuous debate about whether #Artificalintelligence / ChatGPT will substitute humans in the future. Well, nothing can be said with certainty yet, but one thing is for sure people utilizing this technology will do so.?

So, there is always time to start familiarizing yourself with it.?

Personalized learning

Just like five fingers are not equal, likewise, students in a classroom don’t possess similar caliber. Sometimes they require in-person help, which is outside the educators’ capabilities. If you are a student or an educator studying or teaching from school to university, anyone can use it for their learning or teaching experiences.?

Want to optimize your learning too? Here is the secret prompt. Sshh, don’t tell anyone:

“ I want to jot down a [topic]. Discern 20 % of information to help me digest 80 %.”

Adaptive Instruction

It can tailor its response per the direction given by the user. Depending upon the area in which the pupil is lacking, it can identify the weak spots and provide alternate plans adaptive to the student’s preference and requirement.

For instance, you want to learn machine learning or linear algebra but at your own pace from the comfort of your home. All you need to do is give AI a prompt to provide a basic outline of the required course and divide it into small portions to digest easily. That’s it. And it will do so.??

Immediate Feedback

Have an interview tomorrow? But worried that you might mess it up? Rest assured. ChatGPT is here to act as an interviewer. Ask it to assess your capabilities and point out the gaps in your responses. Refusing is not the privilege it owns.??

How do you do so? Cast an eye on the given prompt:

“Please act as my {Field/Area} interviewer. After carefully examining my answers, ask me questions and give me a detailed opinion.”

Increased Engagement

Students feel at ease interacting with it with its natural linguistic ability and not-so-robotic language. Its conversational tone and interactive features make it unique.?

Unlike your traditional professors, reachable only in university time, it is available round the clock. Extraordinary, don’t you agree?

Improved Learning Outcomes

With 30 to 40 students of varying aptitudes in a brick-and-mortar classroom, only some have the same efficiency in learning what the instructor is teaching. You second me, right??

It makes complicated concepts smooth sailing and concise the vast ocean of knowledge in a small water bucket, thus facilitating high cognitive yield.?

Reduced Costs

Now are you thinking about the cost of this mentor of the mentors? Worried it may be pricy, just like thousands of online platforms there. What if I tell you that’s not the case here??

The only need is a device, either your smartphone or laptop, with an internet connection, and go and sign up for free and use it however and for whatever you want.?

Opportunities for AI/ChatGPT in Higher Education

It creates many opportunities, from providing assessments to administrative tasks to crafting course design.

Assessment

ChatGPT can be linked to various teaching platforms and #LMS(Learning Management Systems) like Google Classroom and Microsoft Word, which can assess pupils’ performance.?

Research

Though AI can create a whole new journal, an ethical debate is whether it can consider a creator of knowledge since it cannot take responsibility for its tasks. But one thing is sure it, at present, can solve the nitty-gritty of research for you, from selecting the title to running a background check on it to generating relevant resources and citations.?

Data Analysis

Do you need more time to dive into the ocean's depths just to analyze your data? Undoubtedly, coding is a daunting task. But, again, give it a prompt to act as a data scientist, and from generating Python codes to clarifying them to a non-technical user to granting natural language processing, it will do so like a pro.?

Administrative Tasks

It can be a tremendous virtual assistant for educators, thus saving their time. From scheduling to creating content, generating emails to producing questionnaires to altering one learning style to the other, teachers, under AI, can ensure the students learn in a better way–the unconventional way.

Course Design

Too overwhelmed by your busy mundane that designing a course has become an uphill task for you? You must provide educational goals, evaluation benchmarks, and content outlines. Then leave the brainstorming to AI. In the end, to ensure there are no mistakes, just take a glance and give a human touch to it.?

Risks of Using AI/ChatGPT in Higher Education

While its usage penetrates almost every department, issues like ethical ones or posing threats to one's personal life are also rising.?

Bias

Though ChatGPT directly does not generate a response to discriminatory queries, since it is fed on website content written by humans who exhibit biases in one way or another, so it does show an inclination to a certain race, gender, or religion unintentionally.

Privacy concerns

Since OpenAI collects the user data from the log data to the IP address of anything you type, using it may lead to disseminating one's personal information.

Ethical issues

With students' rampant usage of AI in research, intellectual property thefts are becoming very common without giving the rights to the owners they deserve.

Job displacement

With the advent of AI and its incorporation in every strata of life, from engineering fields to graphic designing, 300 million jobs are at risk of going extinct.

Conclusion

If you are still studying like old-school foggiest from the days of yore, like from books and all that stuff, then lagging behind others in every aspect of life is inevitable for you. So, it is time for you to familiarize yourself with AI/ChatGPT.?

From personalized learning and adaptive instructions to improved learning and acting as a free virtual assistant, ChatGPT has revolutionized the higher education field. However, you must beware of its potential cons, like breached privacy and property rights to job displacement.

To cut a long story short, it is the need of the hour to make policies regarding the regulation of usage in the educational sector. But it should be done with a discerning eye to avoid over-regulation, which instead of helping, may instead widen the gap in this field.

Do you agree with the above debate? Showcase your concerns in the comment box with us.?

Adieu!