ChatGPT, being so new, requires predictions to be made about how the tool will change industries and fields as a whole. This MIT review project that ChatGPT will become integrated into schools and will partner up with educational resources to provide multi-modal support. Heaven argues that based on current trends with AI, educators will need to adapt and adopt rather than resist. Alternatively, AI will present new opportunities for learners to gain curated support and personalized tutoring. Further, Heaven argues that due to current trends with other platforms, there is a rising demand for curated educational content.
Heaven further outlines, “some educators think future textbooks could be bundled with chatbots trained on their contents. Students would have a conversation with the bot about the book’s contents as well as (or instead of) reading it. The chatbot could generate personalized quizzes to coach students on topics they understand less well” (MIT Technology Review).
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/04/06/1071059/chatgpt-change-not-destroy-education-openai/
Hi Helena, thank you for sharing this article. I appreciate the fact that educators and administrators are slowly shifting away from the fear of ChatGPT, or chatbots and AI in general. The fear has been that it is excellent at tests, and it is an automatic essay generator. Shifting away from this fear means educators are realizing the changing landscape of the world, and therefore – changing landscape of education.
While it is excellent that teachers are starting to realize they need to teach students how to use ChatGPT to improve their academics, and even use it to improve their critical learning skills, I found a new and very interesting source here: https://www.christenseninstitute.org/blog/3-education-innovations-to-watch-in-2024-hint-its-not-just-about-skills-and-ai/. The Christensen Institute focuses on the research of disruptive innovations. One interesting prediction or trend they have for ChatGPT (or any AI chatbots really), is that AI will not replace human conversations in education. In fact, it will increase human connection. Because of AI’s ability to have “well-resourced conversation” with us, it does not just increase academic rapport, but also “simulated intimacy”. In a time where young people grew up with the internet, and may feel more lonely or isolated, future use of AI in education will not just be about increased efficiency, but also forming and maintaining connections. I especially appreciated the fact that they hope investment in AI will not just be around teaching and learning alone, but also explore new ways for AI to scale and improve conversations with humans.
This article provides a range of new educational applications of ChatGPT, offering insights and perspectives from teachers in the field. One such perspective comes from a biology professor who emphasizes the importance of assessing prompts used in ChatGPT for written assignments, considering them even more significant than the written essays themselves. As a teacher, I find this concept particularly exciting and have frequently found myself coaching students on generating better prompts when using ChatGPT. I am convinced that it is essential to develop assessments and corresponding rubrics that evaluate the quality of students’ prompts. These assessments should focus on an iterative approach, assessing the improvement in prompts as students continue to receive output from ChatGPT. While managing a vast range of prompts for assessment may present challenges, I believe such assessments would provide valuable insights into into students’ thinking patterns and problem-solving approaches.
This market projection general topic (GPTs role in Education) is extremely relevant, in its infancy and moving fast! This specific article explores the forward thinking ideas from some teachers on how to embrace the GPT technology in education. I would tend to agree, GPT models are not going anywhere and will be all pervasive within a few years. When this article was written, there was only ChatGPT (and a few others like Bing and Bard to speak of). There are now thousands of public GPTs available through upgrading to plus (ChatGPT4). These GPTs have focused functions to my understanding. It makes sense to me then, building on the ideas of educators in the featured article that there will be specific student- co-pilot GPTs for educational functions.
I do expect to seek out future updated versions of this report. This is just the beginning of the conversation that needs to take place in the workplace and in the classroom.
When I asked ChatGTP what kind of market place ventures can come from Chat GPT in education, it gave me 10 areas:
1. Custom Content Creation Platforms
2. Virtual Tutoring Platforms
3. AI-Enhanced Homework Help Services
4. Adaptive Learning Platforms
5. Assessment and Grading Services
6. Language Learning Apps
7. Professional Development Platforms
8. AI-Powered Student Support Services
9. Accessibility Solutions
10. Collaborative Learning Environments
This is a highly debated and fast-evolving topic, and despite being two years old, the article still feels timely and relevant. As with many disruptive technologies, large language models (LLMs) and chatbots have sparked fear in education—but like the author, I increasingly see them as catalysts for the transformation our systems urgently need. That perspective is what led me to explore this space further; it’s only going to grow.
A key takeaway is that tools like ChatGPT can support—not replace—teachers and students. I recently saw an LMS using an AI tutor trained in the Socratic method, not to make learners passive, but to strengthen their critical thinking through guided questioning.
I believe LLMs will become central to various EdTech domains—from LMSs to AI teaching assistants, adaptive assessments, and language learning. This shift is not a trend, but a long-term evolution. It must be reflected in how we design tools and train educators. What is the teacher’s new role? What are they seeking? These are essential questions for shaping the future of learning.
The topic of using ChatGPT in education is an important debate that has been ongoing since it has been released. The article highlights how many teachers were worried early on about the potential for students to cheat using this tool. However, they have slowly started to realize the potential for using AI as a study tool. This review is helpful and I would recommend it to others as I have seen the impact of AI in my own classroom. I have a student who prefers to spend all their time on technology and doesn’t typically like to study from his notes or textbook. However, he told me that he recently started using ChatGPT to study by asking it to write practice questions and tests for whatever topic he is studying. I have seen the improvement in his knowledge and would recommend this strategy for any students looking to review for a test.
ChatGPT is a powerful tool that has the potential to revolutionize education if used ethically. Not only can it be used by students to generate material to help them review, teachers can use ChatGPT to create or tailor lesson plans for the needs of individual students. ChatGPT is here to stay and resisting its implication into education only hinders progress.
This market projection is very useful and timely because this is something that educators everywhere are dealing with. Even if students are not using ChatGPT for school assignments, they are likely getting information from AI when they look for information on Google since Google’s AI (Gemini) is the first result in many searches.
This report is valuable because it offers examples of how teachers are working with AI and instead of against it or pretending like it doesn’t exist. I appreciate how teachers like Emily Donahoe, who was quoted in the article, explained in detail how she restructured an assignment to incorporate AI into it and support students in developing a critical lens on ChatGPT’s writing. There were also strong points made about the potential for personalized learning through using AI chatbots and how it allows students to focus on the core skills needed for an assignment, instead of getting stuck on another aspect of an assignment if they might struggle with another skill that is less relevant to the assignment.
This line in the report stuck out to me “what educators must now do is show students not only how to find it, but what information to trust and what not to, and how to tell the difference”. I wholeheartedly agree with that, but I thought the report’s analysis of the criticisms around AI was somewhat surface-level because it understates just how difficult it will be for students to find out what information to trust and how to tell the difference due, in large part, to AI. For example, we might teach students to double-check the results of a ChatGPT inquiry, but in a culture and world where we have shorter attention spans and where we are used to immediate gratification, how many students, or people for that matter, will be following up on every single inquiry that they put into Google? What’s more, even if they do find other sources, we have no guarantee that the author of that report did not source some of their information from AI.
As people grow increasingly reliant on AI, the extent to which AI will embed into, and shape, our collective knowledge and understandings feels understated in this projection. That said, this report is 2 years old, so I would be interested in reading an updated projection which follows up with the educators they interviewed or quoted in this report.