Track 2

Hi, and welcome back to our podcast, Chit Chat on Education, where we discuss all things on the use of technology in the classroom. My name is Megan. My name is Erica. My name is Chantel. And we are the Chit Chat Girls. Today, we will be talking about ChatGPT. You may have already heard about it by now, but if not, don't worry, this podcast will teach you all you need to know. We will be talking about what ChatGPT is, how to use it, and its implications and affordances to the 21st century classroom. The field of AI is dynamic and rapidly evolving, with ongoing research and development propelling us towards increasingly sophisticated language models and intelligent systems. Megan, I know that you're kind of the expert on ChatGPT, and you were super excited about it when it first came out. Do you mind informing our listeners about what it is and what it can do? You're right. I am so excited to share what ChatGPT is all about. It's worth noting that AI language models like GPT-3 and 3.5 are the result of a collaborative effort by numerous researchers, engineers, and data scientists who continuously push the boundaries of AI technology. The series has made significant contributions to AI language models. GPT-1 was released in 2018, followed by 2 in 2019, and 3 in 2020. These models were pre-trained on vast amounts of text data and achieved remarkable results in tasks such as language generation, translation, and question answering. ChatGPT-3.5 is a hypothetical future iteration. It is an AI language model chatbot that allows users to have human-like conversations. What do you mean, human-like conversations? I mean, it works like a human brain, almost with interconnected neurons that can identify patterns and predict what comes next. The language model is designed to assist you with tasks such as composing emails, essays, and code. Wow, that's really cool. Megan, I also heard that ChatGPT has 24-7 availability, so it's available for everyone to use around the clock, allowing students and other individuals to seek assistance whenever they need it. With this, it eliminates the need to wait for a teacher or tutor and provides immediate access to educational support. Is this correct? Yes, you are correct. However, depending on peak times, if usage is really high, only premium users might have access. Premium users also have access to faster response times and priority access to new features. Okay, so this all sounds so good, but how do you actually use it? So, great question. To use ChatGPT, you must create an account. And then you simply begin by sending a message to ChatGPT. For example, you could say, hello, or can you help me with a question? And it's important to clearly state your question and provide all relevant information to help the model understand. Be as specific as possible, because the more information you provide, the better the response will be. And then once ChatGPT responds with a text message, you can review the response. And based on what you have received, you can continue the conversation by asking follow-up questions, seeking clarification, or requesting more information. And if you find that the response is not satisfactory or you need further assistance, you can keep continuing the conversation by providing additional context or rephrasing your question. And what's interesting about that is that ChatGPT will try its best to provide a relevant and helpful response. It's actually going to take into account the context of the conversation and the conversation history to generate better responses. That sounds really cool, and I like how thorough you explain this to us, and I know that I would be able to use this now. But one thing that I'd also heard is that ChatGPT supports different learning styles which can accommodate and cater to visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. I heard that it can provide text-based explanations, visual aids, audio instructions, and interactive activities, ensuring inclusivity in the learning process. I also heard that ChatGPT offers personalized support by adapting to individual student needs. I heard that it can provide tailored explanations, examples, and practice exercises based on a student's specific requirements, helping them learn at their own pace. Yeah, and it's great to experiment with different types of questions or engage in a variety of conversations. ChatGPT is designed to handle a wide range of topics and can provide information, explanations, suggestions, creative ideas, and even more. It can even pass the bar exam and was able to beat 90% of lawyers. What? That is crazy. But I need to know, does it stay up to date with current information? That is a great point. September 2021 is actually the knowledge cutoff for real-time information until it releases a new version, like maybe 3.5. The AI bot might not be aware of recent events, and therefore it can sometimes generate incorrect responses. While it tries to be helpful, sometimes its responses are incorrect, nonsensical, or even inappropriate. And when this happens, you can try and rephrase or clarify the question to get a better response. Okay, so by the sounds of it, it seems like it's very easy to use. However, I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I decided to do some research of my own on ChatGPT before our podcast today, and I noticed that there's a ton of controversy surrounding this new AI tool. Oh, really? What implications were you able to find when you were doing your research, Chantal? Well, according to Queen's University Journal, ChatGPT's greatest potential is for learning destruction. I have to pause this. Sorry. Break. I'm going to edit there. It's great. Well, according to Queen's University Journal, ChatGPT's greatest potential for learning destruction may be its potential. Sorry. It's a good thing I'm editing. Okay. Editing again. Well, according to Queen's University Journal, ChatGPT's greatest potential for learning destruction may be its impact on students' essay writing skills. We know ChatGPT is a great tool for the use of things such as writing essays, and for younger girls. Why can't I speak? I'm sorry. I don't know. I have this one paragraph that's going to take you down. It's going to take me forever. Oh, it's a good thing I'm editing. Editing. Okay. Ready? Well, according to Queen's University Journal... I'm sorry. Do you want me to start a new thing? Yeah. Well, according to Queen's University Journal, ChatGPT's greatest downfall may be its impact on students' essay writing skills. As we know, ChatGPT is a great tool to use for things such as writing essays, and if younger students become too reliant on using it while learning how to write, then their critical thinking skills won't develop, and it may hinder their motivation to learn as well. I see what you're saying. Essays are a useful educational tool because they promote critical thinking skills as students are learning how to generate ideas, create different arguments, and use their metacognitive skills. I see. Not to mention, writing teaches elementary and secondary school students how to communicate their thoughts in an effective manner, so using an AI to write their essays can stump their communication skills. Exactly. So, the second implication that I found was that ChatGPT can lead to students cheating. As the information that they're gathering from ChatGPT will not be their own original thoughts. You bring up a good point, Chantel. But also, ChatGPT is able to help build confidence in students as it offers a non-judgmental environment where students can ask questions without feeling embarrassed or judged. So even while using ChatGPT to help further their learning, they can use it as an assistive tool that helps build confidence and encourage students to actively participate in their learning, which they might not have done so if it was in the classroom. Yeah, this is true. But, let's go on to the third implication, which is that I found that ChatGPT may sometimes provide inaccurate or incomplete information, which can lead students to having misunderstandings and gaps in their knowledge. Unfortunately, students do not have the critical thinking skill set to decipher through false or incomplete information. So, when they use ChatGPT without a full understanding, it can hinder their learning. I also read the same source by Dilmagani, and he stated that AI technologies, like ChatGPT, can inherit biases from the data they are trained on, which can result in biased or unrepresentative content generation that can impact teaching and learning in a negative way. And if we're talking about this for students, I think this is a huge implication that should be mentioned. Exactly. Thanks for mentioning that, Megan. Because this leads me to my last implication that I found, which was a source by Handman, which is that there's a potential for students to become overly reliant on technology as students are trying to gather information. And when they gather this information, they can get answers so easily, and they don't even think twice about it. And the students will blindly trust AI tools such as ChatGPT, and then they're not using their critical thinking skills. Yeah, you do raise a great point, Chantel. But in some ways, I think it can actually be looked at as an affordance of ChatGPT as well. ChatGPT is able to promote independent learning because by interacting with ChatGPT, students are able to take charge of their learning and develop independent learning skills. From this, they can seek answers, research different topics, and discover new information, which promotes self-directed learning. You do bring up some good points. I mean, I think we can all agree that the overall theme here is that the biggest implication is on students is, this is not making sense. Sorry, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!