ChatGPT in education — a boon or curse
The ChatGPT tool has been in use for a couple of months now and is making waves in various industries with wide-ranging application/use cases. I have personally experimented with it and is intriguing indeed. I have also spoken to individuals/companies who have tested with debugging of codes, content ideation, and much more.
The use of the tool in an academic environment has found a lot of traction. It has been helpful for students who have a good amount of tasks due and are struggling against tight deadlines.
The use cases range from employing the platform as a research assistant to receiving help in understanding various topics to exploiting it and, in some occasions, even cheating. The interface’s conversational style is user-friendly and, in many cases, more effective than a standard Google search.
Of course, there are arguments on both sides of the aisle. Certain schools in New York are even banning the platform from their servers. The key argument being that it is impeding the development of critical-thinking and problem-solving abilities. In India, few of the institutions are switching back to the pen-and-paper method for assignments, as a short term recourse.
If we look at the learning value chain, we have multiple touchpoints that are hybrid in nature. It begins with the teacher introducing the concept that is further reinforced by tuition classes and coaching centres. Students also use various online platforms and forums that are coupled with peer-to-peer learning to further develop an understanding of the concept — the DIY approach.
I see ChatGPT as another, more powerful tool that changes how people access information. The problem needs to be redefined by the educational institutions with a focus on the approach/pedagogy rather than focus on eliminating the tool altogether.
To sum up, Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, that has created the ChatGPT tool, recently tweeted that -
ChatGPT is “incredibly limited, but good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness”
P.S. I also asked a couple of questions to ChatGPT. Have shared the screen grab of the responses. The questions were:
- Are you helping students cheat on assignments?
- How can you and the academic institutions work together?
What are your thoughts? Would love to hear them. Join the discussion here.
Until next time!
~ Sajid
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Sajid is a Strategy Consultant who works at the intersection of human behaviour, business design and innovation strategy. He blogs at sknotes and tweets @sajidkhetani.
