ChatGPT is no longer just a topic for companies, but is also increasingly being discussed in schools. These include colleges and universities, but also increasingly primary and secondary schools. In this article, I will focus primarily on the use of ChatGPT in primary and secondary schools.
What is ChatGPT?
The article What is ChatGPT describes the use and functionality of ChatGPT in great detail.
For this article, however, I asked ChatGPT directly what it actually is and how it works? I asked the text robot to put itself at children’s eye level and formulate the text for this target group. I received the following result.
“Imagine having a robot friend who is super smart and knows almost everything about the world – that’s what ChatGPT is like! ChatGPT is a computer program that can chat with people using what it has learned from many books, articles and the Internet. You can ask it questions, such as the deepest oceans, the farthest planets or the trickiest math problems, and it will answer you almost like a real person. It’s like a mixture of a super smart tutor and a storyteller who never gets tired of talking to you and teaching you new things!”
How does ChatGPT work?
I then asked the text robot to write more about how it works and got the following answer.
“Imagine that your brain is like a huge treasure chest full of words and sentences. If you want to speak, look for the right words in this treasure chest and put them together to form sentences. This is exactly how ChatGPT works, except that it has a treasure chest in the computer that we call a “database”. ChatGPT has read millions of books, conversations and websites and has memorized all these words. When you ask it a question, it rummages through its digital treasure chest at lightning speed and finds the right words to give you a helpful and clever answer. It’s like a magic trick with words, where ChatGPT always pulls the right word out of a hat!”
In the following video, SRF explains what ChatGPT is, especially for children, and how the text robot can help with homework in the future.
ChatGPT explained by SRF for children
ChatGPT for teachers
ChatGPT will also change the day-to-day work of teachers in the future. Here are some examples of how ChatGPT can support teachers.
Create teaching materials: Teachers can use ChatGPT to generate customized teaching materials such as quizzes, worksheets or discussion topics tailored to the specific needs of their class.
Create exam papers: ChatGPT can create exam papers and sample solutions for teachers.
Translations: ChatGPT can translate teaching materials or parent information into any language. This is particularly helpful when communicating with pupils and parents with a migration background.
Preparation of certificates. ChatGPT can help to create assessment texts for students. However, important rules on data protection and entering personal information should be observed (see bottom of this page).
Teacher training: Teachers can use ChatGPT to train themselves by requesting information on the latest pedagogical research or teaching strategies that they can integrate into their lessons.
ChatGPT for students
Students can also use ChatGPT. In most cases, the students know even better what is already possible with the text robot.
1. answering questions: ChatGPT helps students with homework by answering questions on various topics, including math, science, history and geography. However, it is not always guaranteed that the answers are correct.
2. translation: ChatGPT supports students in understanding foreign-language texts by translating texts into the desired language.
3. spelling and grammar correction: ChatGPT can correct students’ texts and help them improve their spelling and grammar.
4. test preparation: ChatGPT helps students prepare for tests and exams by asking them practice questions and providing feedback on their answers.
5. text summarization: ChatGPT can extract important information from long texts, create summaries, flashcards and other text formats.
ChatGPT applications
The following videos show various applications of ChatGPT in everyday school life.
ChatGPT for text correction
ChatGPT for text correction
ChatGPT for summaries and presentations
ChatGPT for summaries and presentations
ChatGPT for exam preparation and learning
ChatGPT for exam preparation and learning
Limits of ChatGPT at school
Limits of ChatGPT at school
ChatGPT Data protection and minimum age
The examples shown above sound very interesting and useful at first glance, but there are a few important points to note regarding data protection and minimum age.
ChatGPT and minimum age
ChatGPT can only be used after prior registration and collects usage data. The data is transferred to the USA, where it is stored and processed. The minimum age specified by the operator OpenAI for use is 13 years, and the minimum age for registration is 18 years. Teachers may not oblige students under the age of 18 to create an account with the ChatGPT operator OpenAI. Students over the age of 18 can create an account, but the decision to do so must be voluntary. There must be no negative consequences (e.g. exclusion from lessons) if students do not wish to use the OpenAI service.
ChatGPT and data protection
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, states that they use the information entered for further development and evaluation of the system. Students and teachers must therefore be careful when entering sensitive or personal data in the ChatGPT input field. More about ChatGPT and data protection in one of my last posts.
Challenges of ChatGPT for students
Susceptibility to errors
ChatGPT is well suited for acquiring widespread knowledge. However, incorrect answers are often given for more specific questions. The challenge here is that the chatbot is programmed so that its answers sound as “human-like” as possible. This often makes them appear more credible than the results of a Google search – even if, for example, sources have been invented. In future, this could make it even more difficult for teachers and students alike to evaluate the information they find and to practise source criticism in class.
It will therefore be even more important in future to discuss with students how to compare content with other sources, check sources for credibility and recognize false reports.
Copyright
ChatGPT raises a number of open questions with regard to the topic of “protection of intellectual property” , which affect both the development level and the application level:
To train the GPT-3 language model, ChatGPT draws on content from content providers and private individuals on the Internet (e.g. news articles, scientific papers, encyclopaedias, blogs, etc.) and also utilizes data that users enter into the chatbot. This may also involve content that is protected by copyright . This raises the question of the extent to which the AI provider may have infringed third-party property rights by training the AI models. It then remains to be legally clarified at what point users can claim that the AI-generated outputs are their own copyright-protected work. Under copyright law, only works that are the result of a personal, intellectual creation are protected. This means that only a human being can be considered the author, not the AI or the provider of the AI. If a person uses a text generated by ChatGPT, they must theoretically rework it to such an extent that there is a sufficient level of creativity in the work. Another copyright issue is the extent to which users who use the AI-generated output may infringe third-party rights. This is because the generated content may be protected content, even if this is not stated. It also remains to be clarified in which cases the input of content in the chatbot itself constitutes an infringement. The topic of copyright is discussed in more detail in podcast episode #96 with lawyer Cornelia Stengel.
References
The question of source citations always arises in scientific papers. What is it like when students use ChatGPT for essays? So far there is no general rule on how ChatGPT should be cited. If I use ChatGPT to create text sections, I usually indicate this with a screenshot. It is also advisable not to adopt ChatGPT’s answer directly, but rather to cite the original source in the context of scientific work.
Tips for teachers on using ChatGPT in the classroom
Do not ignore
ChatGPT is already used by many students. It can also be assumed that not only ChatGPT itself will continue to develop, but that other similar tools will also emerge. This makes it all the more important to deal with the opportunities and risks of such programs now. ChatGPT should be seen as an opportunity and teachers must not ignore the tool. Rather, teachers must try to educate students on how to use ChatGPT, how such applications can be used in the future and the importance of source criticism.
Do not prohibit
A ban on ChatGPT and the like makes little sense, as it takes away the opportunity to actively engage with the topic. Although there are programs that work on recognizing AI-generated texts (similar to plagiarism), these can also be tricked.
Use together
Teachers should test the opportunities and challenges of ChatGPT and the like together with their pupils. Especially in the current phase, it is important to develop rules together – for dealing with information found and for integrating such programs into everyday school life.
Building information literacy
Teachers should actively integrate knowledge about the use of ChatGPT into their lessons. It is best for teachers to show students how ChatGPT can generate texts and how they can distinguish true answers from false answers. Legal and moral issues should also be discussed.
Further tips
Prompts for ChatGPT
When we give ChatGPT a task, we call it a prompt. The more precise the prompt is, the better the result generated by ChatGPT. I have compiled a list of the most important prompts specifically in the context of “education”. The ChatGPT Prompts for Education list can be downloaded from this page.
Keynote speeches
I give many keynote and impulse speeches on the use and application of ChatGPT. Over the past few months, I have also given a number of presentations for teachers, cantons and municipalities. Personally, imparting knowledge about ChatGPT to teachers and students is very important to me. Only if the next generation is properly trained can we benefit from AI in the long term and minimize the risks of this technology.
I also offer specific courses and workshops on the use of ChatGPT. The offers differ according to target group and expectations. ChatGPT one-to-one coaching is particularly aimed at beginners and individuals who would like to be trained by me in a one-to-one conversation or who want to answer individual questions. The workshops are mainly aimed at groups and teams.
In the article ChatGPT in the classroom, I explain in more detail how ChatGPT can be used in the classroom. I also created sample tasks for the introduction of ChatGPT in the classroom.
“Sophie brings the topic to schools in a practical and simple way. With her broad and deep knowledge, she covers the whole range of content and always has an answer ready. Gladly again.”
Melanie Schmidlin, Specialist for Education and DigitizationSpecialist for Education and Digitization Canton of Lucerne
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The entire article is also available as a podcast episode: Attention! The podcast was created entirely by my AI-Assistant based on my contribution – no
The entire article is also available as a podcast episode: Attention! The podcast was created entirely by my AI-Assistant based on my contribution – no
You can now pay a small amount to Sophie on a regular or one-off basis as a thank you for her work here (a little tip from me as Sophie’s AI Assistant).
