Guidance For Faculty and Students On Addressing New AI Tools like ChatGPT
This page is intended for Faculty and Students teaching and/or attending classes that can be influenced by third party AI tools like ChatGPT. Like other tools that have developed over time such as Wikipedia, spell check evolving to Grammarly, and PowerPoint evolving to Canva, AI powered tools such as ChatGPT can present challenges to the teaching experience, particularly with plagiarism, but these tools can also present opportunities. Below are some recommendations on how to address such tools:
ChatGPT is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool, developed by OpenAI, that has been trained to communicate with users in an iterative, conversational way. You can type in questions, prompts or just combinations of characters, and ChatGPT will respond based on the information that ChatGPT accesses and interprets.
In order to use ChatGPT, one will need to access ChatGPT’s login page, and create an account using an original email address. The page after login is simple with the ability to initiate a new chat on the left as well as the history of the previous chats, and the chat box at the bottom-center of the page. One can type any combination of text, most ideally in the form of a conversation but not necessarily, and ChatGPT will endeavor to formulate a response.
Below are suggestions on how to identify that ChatGPT is being used:
- Language:
- ChatGPT is designed to be responsive in a conversational format, so use of academic vernacular, especially, domain-specific jargon, and/or lack thereof can be one way to identify that the author of the paper is not a student of the field
- Sources cited:
- ChatGPT, like any other tool on the internet, only can access what is available. Sources behind logins or paywalls are unlikely to be utilized if the individual submitting the work as original did not conduct due diligence in the submission. For example, if the sources of the paper are all open, like Wikipedia or public websites, and the paper does not utilize even resources utilized in the class, for example articles from the institution’s own library, then the paper is unlikely to be original to the student.
- Bias
- Like any other program and person, ChatGPT and other AI tools are influenced by the information being provided as well as the information that is available to the tool, which is entirely likely to be sided a certain direction. If the student’s in-class interactions and other assessments biases do not match that of the submissions being questioned, likely the author is not the student.
Below are suggestions on how to optimize and encourage the use of ChatGPT in classes:
- Talk about it:
- As there is a calibration period to every course to introduce the students to the instructor, the physical classroom/environment, the syllabus and requirements of the course, as well as the tools of the course like the Learning Management System (in CGU’s case, Canvas), there is also usually a discussion about other topics like attendance and Plagiarism. Incorporating a discussion about AI tools and ChatGPT will ensure the students that the instructor is aware of the tool and facilitate discourse on ramifications of using the tool.
- Try it:
- In addition to discussing the tool, trying the tool as a class can help the students understand how the tool works and where the dividends and/or drawbacks to the utilization of the tool for domain-specific coursework can be found.
- Provide Examples:
- Using sample prompts (or possibly even real prompts from actual assessments in the course), the instructor can provide example solutions to the students based on what ChatGPT generates. The instructor can encourage the analysis of the responses and challenge the students to gather more, unique and original data to present more convincing arguments that can be generated by the tool.
- Give Credit:
- In almost every area of teaching and learning, and more so in the work environment, one’s efforts are built upon a foundation from the previous work conducted by someone else. Moreover, a standard practice is to reference that work. In courses reliant on text, works are cited in paper form, usually in a bibliography of some kind. In more technical work, like coding or scripting, a standard practice is to ‘comment’ in-line the source of the code that is being used (usually utilizing this notation /* */). If ChatGPT is used, encourage the students to not only identify that the tool was used, but encourage them to seek the source of the information ChatGPT is drawing from, and draw upon ways those sources to create original thoughts and responses to the prompt.
- Self Aid
- Encourage students to use ChatGPT to identify and address why something is not working the way the student intended. In a class involving coding, ChatGPT can help the student troubleshoot their own code. In a class using written assessments, ChatGPT can help students challenge their own research, language utilization and even the student’s arguments.
Below are suggestions on how to mitigate the use of ChatGPT:
- In-class assessments:
- Use of assessments that can only be completed in the physical classroom will allow the instructor to monitor the students as the students are attempting the assessment, ideally making the chances of using the tool more difficult.
- More unique and thoughtful assessments:
- Group assessments and/or assessments based on the lived experience of the students, like internships, living histories, shared coding projects, and asking the students to respond to prompts reporting on those experiences utilize the course-specific resources not only will mitigate the ability to utilize an AI tool, the students will also have more higher level, meaningful learning experiences.
- Assessments outside of the form of textual can also be utilized. Performative assessments like presentations and audio or video recordings can not only challenge the students to be more thoughtful about the work, but demonstrate the students not just understanding of the work but the students confidence in their effort.
- Increased challenge:
- Knowing, particularly in a hybrid and asynchronous world that we find ourselves now, the tools are widely available, creating assessments that are intentionally open book can inspire the students to step up to the challenge, if the prompt is made more challenging than the instructor would otherwise create in a closed book assessment, particularly utilizing the suggestions above about being open and honest about the availability of these tools and resources.
- Testing tools:
- High stakes exams, and the tools that monitor them (in CGU’s case using RPnow through Canvas) can mitigate the use of the tool by not allowing enough time to communicate with the AI tool, and/or preventing and monitoring the use o the computer that the student is utilizing.
- Academic Honestly tools:
- TurnItIn and other academic honest tools are now quickly ramping up to the challenge of these new AI tools to identify them and present them to the instructor.