How are we going to use generative algorithms to improve higher education?
Incorporating technology into education has always been a challenge. This article, which I am afraid is going to be long, tries to reflect on the current situation and in my personal context, that of higher education.
Older readers will remember the discussions generated by the use of pocket calculators, Google or Wikipedia in the classroom, and how absurd we see the opposition at the time: despite several generations using pocket calculators, no one has really forgotten basic mathematics, and teachers who forbade their students to use Wikipedia or cite it because “anyone could edit it” are now seen as Neanderthals, given that Wikipedia is already by far the best and most complete encyclopedia ever.
We’re now seeing the same debate about ChatGPT, particularly in higher education. The first wave of universities that, after the appearance of ChatGPT in November last year, decided to ban its use, block it in their proxies and equip themselves with detection tools are already beginning to see that this is futile: students can easily connect via their smartphones outside the institution’s network, while detection software is far from infallible.
It is increasingly evident that trying to ban such tools will do more harm than good: faced with a resource that students will…
