Exclusive Insider Tips for College Professors: How to Work with ChatGPT in the Classroom
Academic Twitter and the news media are buzzing over an innovation sure to change writing: ChatGPT.
Some commentators believe ChatGPT is the end of student writing, others think they can teach students how to use ChatGPT ethically. Some are calling for AI-plagiarism detection technology. And, others aren’t sure how to approach ChatGPT.
As someone trained in rhetoric and composition/writing studies (you know, the either universally loved or hated college writing teacher), I have some thoughts on how educators can approach ChatGPT.
Whether an educator uses ChatGPT in the classroom or not, in the end, it’s all about strong instructional design and teaching methods.
This read gives an overview of ChatGPT, some benefits and constraints, and a few strategies for (re)developing strong instructional design and teaching methods to support student writers.
What is ChatGPT?
According to a response generated by ChatGPT:
“GPT stands for “Generative Pre-training Transformer.” It is a type of artificial intelligence model developed by OpenAI that is trained to generate natural language text.
GPT models are trained using large amounts of human-generated text data, such as books, articles, and websites.
Once trained, the model can generate new text that is similar in style and content to the training data.
GPT models have achieved state-of-the-art performance on a variety of language tasks, including language translation, question answering, and text summarization.
They have also been used to generate original text, such as news articles and stories, by prompting the model with a short piece of text as a “seed” and allowing the model to generate additional text based on the seed.
There have been several versions of the GPT model, including GPT, GPT-2, and GPT-3.
Each successive version has been larger and more powerful than the previous one, with GPT-3 being the largest and most powerful GPT model to date” (ChatGPT, 2023).
If you are interested in an auditory description of ChatGPT, the Wall Street Journal Podcast has a good explainer:
Wall Street Journal Podcast (On ChatGPT): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqxdsooKggE
How Do I Get an Account with ChatGPT?
Sign-up on the following link: https://chat.openai.com/auth/login
What are the Benefits and Constraints of ChatGPT?
ChatGPT offers pros and cons for instructional use in the classroom.
While the benefits may help with demonstrating features of some genre expectations, the current constraints limit how writers engage with the entire writing process, including conducting secondary research, validating sources, and writing for specific audiences.
If you decide to use ChatGPT in the classroom, provide an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of ChatGPT and/or have students determine the pros and cons.
Benefits
Generates language text for use in emails, reports, articles, papers, creative work, etc.
Generates responses in different registers (technical, semi-technical, non-technical).
Generates basic information to the prompt and organizes the information around a set genre.
Generally, follows the directions of the prompt provided to the ChatGPT.
Demonstrates basic paragraph structure with a topic sentence, body sentence, and concluding/summary sentence for an essay.
Demonstrates paraphrasing of sources.
May provide a balance of views on a topic.
Provides students with a potential model for what an essay or paper may look like.
Demonstrates basic genres such as an essay, proposal, report.
In the free research trial, ChatGPT uses data from users to refine its language processing text to make ChatGPT better.
Constraints
The training database stops at 2021.
May deviate from the directions and provide less or more information from the request (e.g., “write a five-paragraph essay” may result in six paragraphs.
Does not accurately convey appropriate registers for target audiences (i.e., may use technical terminology in a non-technical response intended for a general audience).
Does not help identify and write to the information needs and/or cultural background of the primary and secondary audiences.
Does not use sentence-level transitions to show source synthesis nor does it elaborate upon a body sentence with nuance or deep engagement with the idea(s).
Does not accurately cite sources and inaccurately uses in-text citations (e.g.: “source: Abortion and Mental Health: Evaluating the Evidence, American Psychological Association” instead of citing the author in an accepted citation style).
Does not conduct research or inform the user on how the research can guide thinking and writing on a specific topic.
Does not evaluate the validity, credibility, assumptions, and any bias(es) in the source material.
Does not teach students how to edit the paper for conciseness, clarity, or tone.
Does not provide information on accessible document design, navigational aids, use of visuals and text with appropriate captions, cultural considerations.
Surveillance and Privacy Considerations
OpenAI does collect end-user data, including name, contact information, messages sent to ChatGPT, social media contact details, log data (IP address, browser type and settings), usage data (time zone, country, computer/device type, connection type), device information, cookies
OpenAI will not respect Do Not Track technology and will continue to track all you do on its site
Open AI will share personal information to third parties including hosting and cloud services, marketing services, and web analytic services; business transfers; local, state, and federal agencies; affiliates; and other OpenAI users
California Privacy Rights apply to OpenAI and you may request personal information and deletion of personal information
You must verify your credentials before you can submit a request to review and/or delete personal information
OpenAI is not for use for children under the age of 13
Source: https://openai.com/privacy/
Note: There is no way for OpenAI to determine if a child under the age of 13 has used ChatGPT or OpenAI’s website
Conducting a Values Assessment
Faculty may face concern about ChatGPT and uncertainty about how to adjust to AI writing within the classroom.
Before rushing to update the syllabus with pro, con, or neutral AI writing policies and changing assignments and activities, take some time to think about the course, assignment, and activity learning outcomes along with assessments.
What are the most important aspects of the course? What makes a successful student? How do you measure student mastery, competency, or not meeting expectations of content?
A values assessment can be a helpful start to thinking about the course.
The values assessment helps you consider the skills and abilities you want students to achieve and learn from your course independent of ChatGPT and AI writing.
Values Assessment
In the context of the classroom, values are the beliefs or motivating forces that determine the actions for the learning community. Values may include commitment, creativity, curiosity, honesty, integrity, originality, etc.
Prompt 1: Most Important Aspects of the Course
· What is most important in your class you teach?
· What is the purpose of the class?
· What drives you teach the material the way you do?
Prompt 2: Traits of a Successful Student
Take a moment and imagine the successful student. He/she/they sit before you and embody all the traits and behaviors you think make a successful student. What are those traits?
Prompt 3: Measurement of Student Learning
· What methods do you use to assess student learning for assignments and activities in the class?
· What evidence do you need students to demonstrate for mastery, competency? How do you know when a student is not meeting expectations?
Prompt 4: Figuring Out the Themes
Look over your responses from each prompt and find themes that show what you value in the course. It’s okay if you have a long list.
Prompt 5: Five Core Values
Take the list of values and narrow the values down to five core values for the course you offer.
Let those values guide your teaching and any revision activity you want to take in the course in response to new teaching strategies, technologies, readings, and scholarship/research.
How Can I Use ChatGPT in the Classroom?
There are any number of educators with commentary on how to use ChatGPT in the classroom, including activity prompts and revision of syllabi policies. See the “Resources” section at the end of this read for more information.
For now, if you are interested in using ChatGPT in the classroom with students, in a 7-minute read on Medium, Ryan Watkins provides ten ideas on how to use ChatGPT in the classroom: https://medium.com/@rwatkins_7167/updating-your-course-syllabus-for-chatgpt-965f4b57b003
How Can I Limit ChatGPT in the Classroom?
As someone trained in writing studies, I want to share some tips on strong instructional design and teaching methods informed by my pedagogical training and by scholarship in rhetoric and composition/writing studies.
Academic Honesty, Cheating, and Plagiarism
Provide students with one- or two-class activities that engage the university’s academic honesty policy.
Some ideas include:
Activity 1: Share with students the university’s academic honesty policy. Have students talk in small groups about the policy and report back to the class on what they learned from the policy.
Activity 2: Provide students with a brief reading for a general audience. In small groups, assign each group brief written responses to the brief reading. Each group gets the following brief written response: 1) A fully cited response, 2) A partially cited response (perhaps with some unattributed paraphrasing from the brief reading, 3) a fully plagiarized response, 4) a ChatGPT response with ChatGPT sources. Have the students analyze each response to determine if the writer engaged in academic honesty or dishonesty.
Activity 3: Share with students videos from YouTube on “Why Students Plagiarize” that frame plagiarism on the underlying blocks that students face when writing. Discuss with students as a class how to ask questions about citations, paraphrasing to instructors and peers.
Activity 4: Provide students with a sample paper that has elements of plagiarism. Have students determine if the writer plagiarized and the penalty (using the university academic honesty policy and the syllabus policy) for the plagiarism. Discuss with students considerations of intentional and unintentional plagiarism.
Activity 5: Talk about the methods students can use to avoid plagiarism, including asking for an extension, working with the university’s writing center, attending office hours, asking for resources online to help work through citations, etc.
Implement and Model Positive Reinforcement in Teaching and Learning
Students respond well when course policies and assessment practices are fair and not overly strict or lenient and thereby reduce barriers to student success in your class. Students also respond well to positive reinforcement of good behaviors while learning material, which includes giving summative and formative instructor and peer feedback at each stage of the writing process.
Course Policies
Review the course policies to determine if students have the support needed to be successful in your class. Attendance, tardiness, late work, extra credit, device usage, participation, and decorum are all policies that effect how students perform in the class.
Attendance and Tardiness
If attendance and lack of tardiness is important to you, then consider instructional methods to help support students to attend class and be and leave on time. For example, assign a reading quiz or check-in at the top of class, vary the activities in each class session so students keep engaged, and use exit cards at the end of class to help perform informal assessment of student learning.
Extra Credit
Depending upon how you design the grading structure in the course, you may opt in or out of extra credit. Think carefully if any of the attendance, tardiness, or late work policies prevent students from having an additional opportunity to demonstrate competency of the course material.
Device Usage
If having students off their personal devices while class is in session, consider some students may be using a smartphone to take notes, look up reference information. Other students may be using health apps to monitor their body. Rather than limiting device usage, teach students how to use personal devices responsibly, e.g., when transitioning from one activity to another as a brief check-in.
An example pro-device policy (by Estee Beck):
Smartphone/Texting/Social Media/Earbuds:
I encourage the use of smartphones, texting, and social media use in our class, if you do so in a responsible, respectful, and non-distracting manner. However, if you are using these digital tools at the expense of holistically paying attention and engaging in the material, and the use affects your learning and work, we will talk privately about discontinuing usage during class. Additionally, please bring digital devices fully charged as plugging in devices with cords is a safety concern. I will ask you to [re]move any cords that are potential safety hazards to yourself and/or others.
Provide feedback to Students Early and Often
In writing, students need formative feedback early and often during the multi-staged drafting process. Consider using EliReview: https://elireview.com
EliReview is a student-to-student peer review system that helps students get feedback in chunks at a time.
For a strong overview on how EliReview works: https://elireview.com/learn/how/
In addition to peer-to-peer feedback, consider giving students brief spot-check instructor feedback with one overall comment focused on global (structure, organization, argument/thesis/main idea) revision during the multi-staged drafting process.
Provide a Range of Feedback Styles to Students
In the field of composition/writing studies, instructor feedback is well researched and some good sources on providing feedback include: Anson, Sommers a, Sommers b, Straub, Straub and Lunsford [1].
It is useful to think of feedback styles in terms of scale. According to Straub and Lunsford, feedback falls into six general styles:
· Authoritarian (corrects): Indicates what is wrong and must be fixed in the text
· Directive (directs): Tells the writer where something is wrong in the text
· Advisory (guides): Provides suggestions on how to improve the text
· Socratic (prompts): Gives questions of clarification, of assumptions, of reasoning, of implications in the text
· Dialectic (questions): Leads the reader through a process of back and forth questioning to reveal opposition/contradiction
· Analytical (reflects): Engages students in metacognitive reflection upon the audience, purpose, context of the text
Underdeveloped comments (Lunsford) such as “vague” “do we?” “tense!” “tone” (p.92) do not help students understand the intent of the comment or how to make appropriate revisions. Developed comments with complete sentences that focus on the writer and his/her/their development with the text provide students with specific direction. Example developed comments include:
1. I think I see what you are describing in this paragraph; however, the evidence to support the description is missing. What kind of evidence is needed, and where is the best place for the evidence in the paragraph?
2. The paragraph-level transition is strong here because readers have a moment to take a break from the previous main idea and focus on the next main idea in this paragraph. In other locations in the paper, paragraph-level transitions could use some additional revision. Can you find those and figure out how to strengthen the transition for your audience?
Focus on giving the most important feedback in order of priority, and try to limit multiple comments on one page.
Assignment Design
When revisiting or developing assignments, first determine if the assignments align with your course core values. Make any necessary revisions to align the assignments with the course core values before moving into revision or development with AI writing in mind.
Second, focus on the course and assignment learning outcomes as a guide to determine how the prompts align with the outcomes.
Third, in (re)development of assignments, look for opportunities for students to draw upon their personal experience, compare/contrast, research, describe, or reflect upon a current event, and/or integrate class readings, videos, social media posts into the assignment prompts.
Go beyond common essay prompts and consider specific prompts, e.g., instead of “write a 2,000-word argumentative essay on whether college athletes should be paid” revise the prompt as “write a 2,000 word argumentative essay on how the university can or cannot pay the women’s soccer team” and ask for students to use sources from the university.
(Re)develop assignment prompts creatively, perhaps asking students to integrate multimodal print or digital material — and use the opportunity to teach students on accessibility. Consider asking students to develop a short audio or video file response, podcast, website, and/or social media campaign.
Spend time with students sharing features of document design navigational aids for various genre expectations. There are great resources on the topics in the sub-field of professional and technical writing.
Some Final Thoughts
The important takeaway from this read is intentionality in teaching. Alignment of core values with course and assignment learning outcomes. Thoughtful course policies and practices. Sound assignment design that fosters engagement with thinking and writing.
While AI is here for now and is evolving, decades of scholarship in various fields that focus on pedagogy and sound classroom practices can help us make evidence-based decisions for how to teach students effectively.
Resource
Anna Mills has developed a list of sources on AI text generators: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V1drRG1XlWTBrEwgGqd-cCySUB12JrcoamB5i16-Ezw/edit#heading=h.y7vlxxluoxbv
Estee Beck, PhD is the director of the Karen Merritt Writing Program at the University of California Merced.
Licensed Under: CC BY-NC-SA, Estee Beck
[1] I give gratitude to Christina Montgomery, PhD (The University of Texas at Dallas) for her research into feedback practices, which helped inform this section.
