(April Lawyer/ Staff Cartoonist)
Emory University Digital Humanities Professor Daniel Sinykin will tell you that ChatGPT can do a convincing impression of Krusty the Clown, which is something he discovered in his open, proactive use of ChatGPT in a classroom setting.
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chatbot launched by the artificial intelligence laboratory OpenAI on Nov. 30. The technology can generate nuanced text responses to short prompts from students, asking them to answer questions or even create entire papers. It created worry among some educational leaders and professors because of the potential for the platform’s human-like writing capabilities to be used in academic tasks.
Sinkykin does not fall into this category. In his Intro to Digital Humanities course, he used ChatGPT to summarize the broad field of digital humanities in class.
“ChatGPT is very good at summarizing a wide range of topics in short, concise ways,” says Sinykin.
To demonstrate the capabilities of this much-criticized technology, he prompts the chatbot to complete the same task, this time in the voice of Krusty the Clown.
“It’s a very good clown impersonation, actually,” Sinykin said.
Sinykin said his expertise in digital humanities equips him for the rise of new digital technologies like ChatGPT. The program did not confuse him; instead, he said he believes ChatGPT should prompt professors to rethink the way they teach, rather than blaming students for using technology.
“When we create tasks that can be replicated by a computer program, is there something robotic about the task we’re asking students to do in the first place?” asked Sinykin. “Are we really thinking about what kind of learning is taking place in the kind of tasks we’re asking for?”
Sinykin said he believes changing the teaching method is enough to prevent students from cheating.
“Maybe ChatGPT will make us think more about how to give students something they find valuable,” he said. “It’s a part of us designing things that students find valuable for doing in and of themselves, rather than outsourcing to the computer.”
On the other hand, the head of the Emory College Honor Council, Jason Ceijka focused on what ChatGPT means for a classroom setting in relation to plagiarism and honor code violations. Emory code of honor states that, “Whenever any idea is taken from a specific work… the student must give credit where credit is due.”
Ceijka explained that based on this part of the honor code, the only way a student can use ChatGPT ethically is if the program is required for a class project. However, he said the student must “acknowledge that source” and get permission from their professor to use the site.
“Students should not think that they can use ChatGPT to write essays,” said Ceijka.” That is, by definition, plagiarism.”
Ceijka first heard about ChatGPT in December 2022, as it was very widespread in the national media at this time. He observes a lot of press in the education industry, especially within his professional organization, The International Center for Academic Integrity.
He met with Emory colleagues interested in academic technologies and academic integrity on January 17 on Zoom to discuss how academic staff and professors can navigate the challenges posed by this new technology. The meeting focuses on finding “faculty experts” who can help facilitate a conversation with those less familiar with this technology about what’s going on and how they can use it or adapt their tasks to don’t worry too much about students using it as a form of plagiarism. .
While Emory’s Honor Council has yet to deal with any instances of Emory students using ChatGPT as a tool for plagiarism, Ceijka has heard of instances where it has occurred from colleagues at other universities.
To prevent this, there are some public school systems prohibited ChatGPT on their Wi-Fi networks to prevent plagiarism. Across the US, discussions surrounding planning responses to ChatGPT have become a top priority in higher education. Universities try to outsmart the chatbot by CREATING more rigorous assignments, implementation of stricter grading policies, and first in class, and handwritten assignments. Universities like Washington University in St. Louis and University of Vermont quickly modified their honor codes to flag the use of AI-generated text as a form of plagiarism.
Ceijka said that some of his colleagues at other universities shared that their teachers may go back to assigning handwritten papers or giving extra class work. He also mentioned that there are some AI-detection platforms that exist, such as GPT Zero and TurnItInbut he had heard mixed reviews about their reliability.
Ceijka predicts that because the technology is so new, there is no standard approach for University teachers.
“Some will really embrace it and use it actively in their classes and some will be more cautious, but I expect we will see the whole spectrum,” Ceijka said.
Christopher Blake, a professor of economics at Oxford College, expressed concern about the vast capabilities of the technology.
“My concern lies in the fact that such disruptive technology inherently causes some to be worse off and others to be better off, even as society progresses,” Blake said. “The only difference between those effect of the internet and ChatGPT may be the magnitude of the effects, which are certainly not known but are likely to be much greater given the potential of the technology.”
He also said that he fears that the advent of ChatGPT will harm students’ critical thinking skills.
“The internet is too big for one person to digest, interpret, complain, and analyze, but ChatGPT provides additional support that can be used for good or bad,” he said.
Because of his belief in the inevitable staying power of ChatGPT, Sinykin said that our efforts are best spent on learning how to actively engage with this technology in an academic setting, as opposed to in its negative coding as a deception device.
“If students can perform at the same level with this technology, then we need to make students think about how this technology works, instead of immediately thinking that we need to go back to the past or try to stop progress while this is happening,” Sinykin said.
Jacqui Leigh Russell (25C) said that she did not know about ChatGPT until one of her professors clearly stated that it should not be used in the directions of an assignment.
“I’m afraid to use it now,” Russell said. “I don’t really know its capabilities and I don’t want to get into trouble for accidentally using it. So I’d rather stay away from it to be safe.”
Meanwhile, Helen Khuri (25C) expressed optimism about the benefits of ChatGPT, saying it’s not “something to be afraid of.”
“I feel like we have to do it,” Khuri said. “I don’t want to write it off as something ‘bad’ just because it has the capacity to be. Part of success is using resources in smart and responsible ways, and AI is the latest resource.
Sinykin has started actively participating in ChatGPT in the work he assigns to students. In the upcoming assignment, he said he plans to have the students try to create “the strongest essay they can” using the program. By “learning how to participate in ChatGPT,” he said they will “know what the norms of good writing are in this context,” and discover areas where ChatGPT excels and where it fails. human reproduction. writing.
“Visibility is only a small piece of the solution to this,” Ceijka said. “Honestly, how we adjust the faculty is our pedagogy. And, how do we use different forms of evaluation and assessment to ensure that students are learning?”
Ceijka said he is optimistic that the academic industry will rise to this challenge.
“Most of us know that this is a new technology and we have encountered other new technologies that affect our teaching,” he said. “So, whether it’s the calculator, whether it’s the advent of the internet, whether it’s ChatGPT, the faculties and universities have responded to these things in the past, and they will respond to new technologies as they come on the horizon in the future.”
Chaya Tong (25C) from the Bay Area, California, plans to major in English and biology. Outside of The Wheel, he enjoys drawing, music and going to the boba run.
