Chatbots for Online Education

White robot with screen
Challenges of Chatbots for Online Ed

Many of us have probably engaged with chatbots without realizing it. You may be on a retailer’s website and a window appears asking if you need help. Or if you’ve used the Uber app to arrange a ride and communicate with your driver. In these scenarios, you could be interacting with a chatbot! In fact, we have our own chatbot, Westly that pops up on when you visit our website!

Put simply, a chatbot is a computer program that simulates and processes human conversation (either written or spoken). This allows us to interact with digital devices as if we are communicating with a real person. Chatbots are used mostly in businesses to assist customers with 24/7 support.

Sources

"What is a chatbot?," oracle.com, nd.

"What is a chatbot? Everything you need to know," Kelly Main Schweta, forbes.com, Aug. 21, 2022.

So how do chatbots impact my teaching and my classes? Last Spring, some WVC online teachers encountered instances of “students” posting into assigned discussion forums…but upon close inspection, the content of the posts did not accurately reflect the discussion prompts or simply did not make sense. These may have been instances of an AI (artificial intelligence) chatbot being used to simulate the student submitting into the discussion assignment.

To further add to the challenges of teaching online, just this past November 2022, ChatGPT was released. This program quickly gained attention for its ability to answer test questions, write papers, compose music and poetry, write computer code, and even play games. Since then, there have been numerous reports of students using ChatGPT to create essays in a matter of minutes across a wide spectrum of topics, and of ChatGPT passing exams. Here are some examples:

What are we as teachers to do?

At one end of the spectrum is the view that ChatGPT is providing another means for student cheating, and educators will need to clamp down on use of this technology. As one example, the New York City’s Dept. of Education announced a ban of ChatGPT on NYC public schools’ devices and networks (though it isn’t clear if the ban also applies to state universities)…but this doesn’t address use of ChatGPT outside of the school.

Another approach is to counter with use of new apps and technologies to identify AI-generated essays. For example, a student at Princeton University has built an app to “sniff out” AI-written essays and Turnitin is working on technology to detect AI writing of essay assignments.

But there is another perspective offered that ChatGPT can be an opportunity for promoting learning and critical thinking. As noted in a Jan. 9, 2023 article from Brookings, “used in the right way, ChatGPT can be a friend to the classroom and an amazing tool for our students, not something to be feared.”

Similar to how calculators have become an important tool in learning of math concepts, ChatGPT can be a tool to promote deeper learning and more critical thinking. For ex., it could be used to develop the outline of an essay with students then working to fully develop the arguments within the essay. Teachers could also use it to generate examples of writing for their students, and could be a tool for improving basic writing skills of ESL students.

Rather than viewing ChatGPT as a threat, it does provide faculty with an opportunity to examine the purpose of an assignment and how learning is being assessed. For ex., does an assignment require more than just memorization of definitions and explanation of concepts, and instead promote deeper learning, synthesis of concepts and/or application of problem-solving skills? As teachers, AI tools such as ChatGPT point to the growing need for deeper and higher-level questions and assignments that not only assess the students’ understanding of a concept or model, but also engages students in applying their knowledge.

What IS clear is that AI chatbots and tools like ChatGPT are not going away. In fact, Microsoft recently announced it is investing $10 billion into ChatGPT!

Use of ChatGPT is growing exponentially, including use by WVC students. Faculty may choose to address use of AI-tools in their syllabi. Faculty can also share with students the limitations of AI tools. For example, it has been reported that ChatGPT-generated essays have included incorrect or misleading information, and at least thus far, the essays reflect at best C+ level work. Perhaps more importantly, students need to understand that ChatGPT cannot replace one’s own thinking, and that reading and writing are not only essential to learning and doing well in their courses, but are skills that employers expect from their college-educated workers.

As WVC faculty engage in conversations across campus about how chatbots will affect their own teaching, they need to support one another in responding to this new landscape and experimenting with new approaches. Ultimately, we want to do what is best for our students’ intellectual growth and learning, so let’s keep the conversation going and engage in this journey together.

For more on ChatGPT:

Last Updated 2/3/23