AI has rapidly become part of our daily lives, without a lot of time for everyone to catch up or to make some guidelines. Check out this article excerpt about introducing AI into the classroom. (Read the whole thing here.)
“Faculty members and administrators are struggling to stay ahead of disruptive AI progress, a new report suggests.
A few short months after OpenAI released ChatGPT—a large language model with an unusual ability to mimic human language and thought—the company released an upgrade known as GPT-4. Unlike the earlier product, which relied on an older generation of the tech, the latest product relies on cutting-edge research and “exhibits human-level performance,” according to the company.
GPT-4 is a large multimodal model, which means that it produces natural language in response not only to words but to visuals such as charts and images. This latest version largely outperforms the earlier model. For example, GPT-4 scored in the top decile on a simulated bar exam, while ChatGPT scored in the bottom decile. There are noteworthy exceptions. Both earned grades of 2 (out of 5) on a simulated Advanced Placement English Language and Composition exam, for example.
As the pace of artificial intelligence accelerates, administrators and faculty members continue to grapple with the disruption to teaching and learning. Though many are at work updating their understanding of AI tools like ChatGPT, few have developed guidelines for its use. But by OpenAI’s own admission, humans are susceptible to overrelying on the tools, which could have unintended outcomes.
“When ChatGPT appeared to be the most sophisticated AI writing tool in the college-writing landscape—only a couple of weeks ago—faculty were abuzz with conversation about how to design assignments that could evade the software, how to distinguish machine writing from human writing and how to protect students from AI’s sometimes disturbing replies.
Then came GPT-4.
“The old version from a few months ago could be a solid B student,” said Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy, an American nonprofit focused on creating online educational content for students. “This one can be an A student in a pretty rigorous program.” Khan’s nonprofit is working on an AI assistant that seeks to ensure students do most of the work. (The tool’s name, Khanmigo, is a pun on con amigo, or “with friend” in Spanish, which echoes the company’s name.)
Primary Research Group’s survey considered the views of 954 instructors from colleges that grant associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and specialized degrees. The poll took place between Jan. 28 and March 8, with most (87 percent) responding in February.
Few college administrations (14 percent) have developed institutional guidelines for the use of ChatGPT or similar programs in classrooms, according to the faculty respondents. Smaller colleges and public colleges were less likely to have developed guidelines than larger or private colleges.
Further, few instructors (18 percent) have developed guidelines for their own use or that of their students, according to the report. Community college instructors were the most likely to have developed guidelines. The likeliness to have developed policies was inversely related to age. That is, younger instructors were more likely to have developed policies than were older instructors.
Faculty respondents were split about whether they should integrate ChatGPT into educational strategy or encourage students to use it. Approximately one-quarter (24 percent) felt that they should. A slightly larger group (30 percent) felt that they should not do either. Close to half (44 percent) had no opinion.
Many professors are in a wait-and-see mode concerning AI writing tools in the classroom, though some are waiting for guidance, according to the survey. Most (63 percent) have no opinion on their colleges’ efforts to deal effectively with the educational consequences of AI writing tools’ availability. But some (22 percent) are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Those who are satisfied or very satisfied (6 percent) are the smallest population.”
Read the whole article here.
