I heard about this on-line event in the weekly YukonU newsletter and thought I would pass it along. This one hour presentation will argue that ChatGPT aids higher learning and universities need to prepare their students in how to interact with computers. Note the time zone, Alaska time is one hour behind Saskatchewan.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/ai-and-academia-the-end-of-the-essay-tickets-516756993077
I shared the CBC article about ChatGPT with some of my YNTEP students. We also watched the first video from the article and one of the students had a question that I could not answer. The CBC reporter said that the makers of ChatGPT never intended for it to be used for misleading purposes in schools. My student asked what the purpose of ChatGPT in the first place? What did they want ChatGPT to be used for? Does anyone know?
Pedagogy is the art of teaching. It is very different than curriculum which is dependent on where on this planet you and your students happen to be. For example, I don’t think I would teach a lesson on the life cycle of trees to students in Tuktoyaktuk. I would teach that to students in Whitehorse. Yet my pedagogy, or teaching methodology, would be the same for both groups of students.
Educators need to critically reflect on how to use ChatGPT and other forms of AI in their classroom. It is here and if your students aren’t using it yet they will be soon. There is understandably some fear around using this technology. New things are scary. For example, people were scared of the changes the printing press brought to society when it was first invented.
AI can be a very effective teaching and learning tool if used with that end in mind. Take a look at this article as it lists five pedagogical approaches. I can see ways of teaching students how to use AI as a learning tool that fits into each approach. The article also discusses how pedagogy is influenced by the beliefs and culture of the educator. Perhaps concerns with AI lies not in the technology but rather how the educator feels about it.
https://www.iitms.co.in/blog/importance-of-pedagogy-in-teaching-and-learning-process.html