Most of our comments so far have focused on mitigating or disrupting the use of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools. But since these tools will only proliferate and will be a part of our students’ educational and professional careers, consider ways of actively addressing and embracing them as part of your work with students.* Here are some suggestions:
Have students use AI to generate a response to a key question in your class or field, and then have them analyze it for accuracy and quality. Their ability to spot flaws in the AI’s output can be a valuable learning experience and indicator of their knowledge, often forcing them to understand subtleties in a concept or argument, propose better solutions to a problem, or find better sources or citations.
Create a prompt that draws on the texts, interviews, speeches, etc. of a particular figure in history, author, professional, etc. to have the AI act as that person. Have the students debate or ask questions of the AI acting and wrtiting in that person's voice. Have the students turn in a transcript of the discussion along with a write up of their thoughts.
If students are having a problem understand a course concept, use AI to as Socratic questions to have the students think about the concept and to draw out their understanding. Have them turn in the transcript and put the discussion into their own words.
AI can be used for the invention stage of writing, helping students get started. Using Track Changes in Microsoft Word can be used to show how they have revised and improved that text.
One of the interesting aspects of ChatGPT is the ability to continually refine a question. Consider having students utilize AI as a heuristic tool, helping them learn how to ask iterative questions in order to refine a response. Sometimes knowing how to frame a question can demonstrate understanding of complex task, and "prompt engineering" skills are becoming valuable for those wanting to explore issues with AI.
Having discussions about the evolving power of AI within your discipline can be a valuable career tool. What are the types of things AI tools like ChatGPT or DALL-E (Open AI's image generator) can do for professionals in your field, and what are the potential pitfalls of using or relying on such tools? Matching such discussions with hands-on practice with the tools can be a powerful professional development practice.
* Note: ChatGPT is currently available for free, but it is expected to eventually go behind a paywall, so be aware of costs associated with incorporating this or other generative AI tools into your teaching. (The Plus version costs $20/month and gives more consistent access during peak times and provides access to the newer GPT-4 version.) There may always be new tools becoming available for free, but that might take some work to keep up with. Further, access to paid tools may be an equity issue worth considering.