How I use ChatGPT

I love ChatGPT and use it in my lessons at Nottingham Trent University and at tutorials for the Open University. Oh and by the way, I wrote this article and not ChatGPT. I’m not an AI expert, but I will tell you how I use it. Some people say it will replace teachers, and will encourage cheating, but I believe it is just the next wave of technology that’s been rolling in for decades. Calculators and Google haven’t replaced teachers – children and adults still need to learn from reliable sources and, due to the enormity of information out there, teachers are more important than ever.

Teachers need to tell students the right way to use it and learn the best way to use themselves. ChatGPT is a valuable tool, but it's not a substitute for the expertise and guidance of a qualified teacher. Teachers should use it to supplement their teaching methods and guide students' use of it. ?Ethical considerations, privacy, and responsible use should be taken into account when using AI technologies in the classroom.

Students should never copy answers from ChatGPT and submit them as their own. This is cheating and plagiarising. Teachers know students’ writing styles and if it changes, they’ll notice, plus they can ask ChatGPT the question themselves to get a similar answer.

Use ChatGPT for clarification on a topic you don’t understand – you can get a readable response perhaps giving another angle. I have done this in my Law degree when I found certain law topics ?very complex.

I use it as a smarter search engine. I use Google for quick facts, but ChatGPT for more complex answers. You can also refine your question and ask follow-up questions. However, the sources need checking as they are sometimes wrong.

I use it to generate questions and examples for discussion at tutorials and in seminars. For one of the modules I teach students need to choose an innovation for a company of ther choice, so I ask them to choose a possible innovation and then query it with ChatGPT or ask t to generate other possible ideas.

ChatGPT has helped me write a reading passage and then adjust the response to different reading levels.

I use it to help me generate basic lesson plans. ?

I use it to give me ideas to put in my assessment feedback eg examples of sustainability, business admin, digital marketing.

Other ways it can be used:

It can create writing prompts to inspire children to finish a story.

It can be used to teach vocabulary eg get it to generate a sentence with a certain word in, or get students to deduce the meaning of words written in a sentence.

It can be used to give examples eg of declarative sentences or generate questions for a test in maths.

It can help you write complaints letters.

It can help you make lists eg of adjectives around a topic.

It can help you with editing paragraphs.

Chat GPT says it can help teachers with: ?

Answering questions

Tutoring and homework help

Writing assistance

Language learning

Creating learning materials

Simulated conversations

Research assistance

Coding assistance

Encouraging critical thinking

Personalised learning

The Open University (OU) provides detailed guidance for students when considering whether and how they might make use of AI during their studies:? https://about.open.ac.uk/policies-and-reports/policies-and-statements/gen-ai-learning-teaching-and-assessment-ou?nocache=65262c439108d

The key points to highlight from this guidance are:

1. The limitations of using AI. For example, AI generated answers are likely to contain significant factual inaccuracies.

2. The potential for academic misconduct where AI is used. Good academic conduct means you complete your work independently and honestly, using your own words and appropriate academic style, with all sources fully attributed according to academic requirements. Inappropriate use of AI, such as copying and pasting AI-generated answers without referencing them, would be a breach of the OU’s Academic Conduct Policy. https://help.open.ac.uk/documents/policies/plagiarism ?