How to use ChatGPT in the classroom, OpenAI’s guide for teachers

It is possible to entrust ChatGPT a certain number of missions. It can be of great help in certain tasks if it is well guided by its user. Among these, the role of educational assistant for teachers is an area in which it can be particularly useful.

If ChatGPT can be used for more than questionable purposes, it is possible to integrate it into a learning process. OpenAI, the start-up behind this language model, has just published a rather comprehensive guide for teachers (see the source at the bottom of this article). To support its arguments, the company gave the floor to several professors from different fields.

Imagine ChatGPT as a learning partner

These teachers include Dr. Helen Crompton, a professor of educational technology at Crompton University in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. For her, ChatGPT can be used to refine her rhetoric. This is why she strongly encourages her students to use it as a virtual interlocutor to simulate a debate and practice their speech.

Even if it is very far from having the sensitivity of a human being, the chatbot is still capable of analyzing a person’s arguments to detect flaws. One might wonder the relevance of such an educational posture, the era of tribunes having long since passed. According to Helen Crompton, a conversation with ChatGPT constitutes excellent training for simulating scenarios: job interviews or a discussion with a fictitious superior in the middle of a feedback session, for example.

Geetha Venugopal, a high school computer science teacher at the American School in Chennai, India, envisions another use. More focused on the ethical use of the Internet, she makes her students understand that AI tools are not infallible. Critical thinking must be required when considering or using AI-generated content, and ChatGPT is a very effective way to train it.

Help with creating educative content

ChatGPT is particularly good at “creating” stories, imagining situations, or simply generating situations. Even if the results obtained are not constantly satisfactory, it is used by many fans of paper RPGs, for example. Either as a game master or to generate characters which will then be used by players.

In this vein, Fran Bellas, professor at the University of Coruña in Spain, advises other teachers to rely on this creative capacity. Whether to create exam or course sheets, or even quizzes. According to him, the use of ChatGPT would help teachers to create inclusive content adapted to the level of their students.

ChatGPT, despite its recognized weaknesses and potential excesses, is beginning to be seriously considered as a serious assistant in the teaching staff of certain institutions. If it is used well, that is to say in full awareness of its shortcomings, it can become a valuable ally in the field of pedagogy.

Source : OpenAI