Why Banning ChatGPT in Class Is a Mistake
Artificial intelligence can be a valuable learning tool, if used in the right context. Here are ways to embrace ChatGPT and encourage students to think critically about the content it produces.
- By Thomas Mennella
- 01/18/23
If you're an educator and you haven't lived under a blanket for the past couple months, you have likely heard of ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence based jack-of-all-trades. You can ask it a question and it will give you a thoughtful, clear, and impressive answer (better than Google!). You can prompt it to write a poem, research paper, book proposal, script, or short story and it does so with ease. I asked it about the protein that I studied for my doctoral research and ChatGPT taught me two things that I didn't previously know. I asked it to write a short story about two people who develop a deep friendship over flipped learning and, by halfway through, I was engrossed in the plot — forgetting that it was written by a computer. If you haven't given ChatGPT a try yet, pause your reading of this article right now and give it a whirl. ChatGPT is amazing, terrifying, awe-inspiring, troubling, and just simply fascinating all in one go.
What did you think? Crazy, isn't it? ChatGPT is remarkable in the cogent flow of writing that it can produce, the accuracy (mostly) of the information it provides, and the granular stipulation of prompts that it can accommodate. It's the ideal student, writing well and effortlessly on any topic that we throw at it. After first seeing what ChatGPT could do, my mind began racing for possible applications in the college classroom.
As I began looking online to see what other educators were saying about ChatGPT, I was initially surprised and then reminded of the predominant mindset of education. Despite our preening of the opposite, educators are often anti-tech (when that tech is new and different). At the time of this writing, all schools across the huge system of New York City public education are officially banned from using or having access to ChatGPT; it has been firewalled. Students at Princeton University have already begun petitioning their administration not to ban ChatGPT, and English teachers at my own daughters' high school have already announced that all essays will now be written in class in real time. Are we serious, fellow educators? Are we really trying to delude ourselves that we'll be able to keep this technology away from our students? We've made these mistakes before.
Education's compulsion to keep new technology out of the classroom only hurts education and the students that we serve. Technology evolves, and education must evolve with it.
Here are some phrases that people my age (45 years old) or older might remember: "The use of calculators is not allowed on this exam." "Your textbook must be brought to class each day." "Wikipedia is not a source!" To each of these proclamations, I ask: why? Calculators are ubiquitous; a common tool that allows anyone to compute fairly routine mathematical calculations accurately and rapidly. Textbooks are available online as e-texts (and they weigh a lot!), often with superior and interactive figures and other elements. And Wikipedia is not a source? C'mon …. I'll bet anyone $25 that the instructors who say that in class are the same people who look up Dustin Hoffman's birthday on … wait for it … Wikipedia. Education's compulsion to keep new technology out of the classroom only hurts education and the students that we serve. Technology evolves, and education must evolve with it.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating for a blind allegiance and a surrendering of thought to calculators, e-texts, Wikipedia, or technology. Calculators will spit out the wrong answer when used improperly. Textbooks offer true learning gains when students can tactically and physically interact with a book, and Wikipedia is inaccurate at times. The trick here is that we should be teaching our students how to use the tools and aids that technology provides. Teach math with calculators in the room, coach students on active and critical reading in class with physical texts, and give examples of good and bad Wikipedia entries, allowing students to recognize each for themselves. Far too many times, education has been slow to adopt and embrace new technologies and then we've played catch up. Let's not make the same mistake with what is likely to be the most revolutionary development in technology this century: ChatGPT and the AI writing tools it represents.