ChatGPT VS Schoolwork: Friend Or Foe?

Based on an interview with Mélissa Canseliet, an expert in cyberpsychology

The school year has begun, and now more than ever, we’re faced with the question of how artificial intelligence (AI) applications such as ChatGPT will impact students’ work.

An advanced, and publicly available form of artificial intelligence, ChatGPT is able to write entire essays, summarize books and draft oral presentations.

But does this mean that young people will no longer need to reflect and work hard?

In New York, public schools have decided to ban ChatGPT on all devices and school networks. Jenna Lyle, a spokesperson for New York City’s Department of Education, insists that “While the tool may be able to provide quick and easy answers to questions, it does not build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for academic and lifelong success.”¹

The downsides of these technologies seem obvious, but is the outlook really so bleak? What opportunities can AI create? Mélissa Canseliet, an expert in cyberpsychology and founder of Humanet, breaks down the situation.

IS PLAGIARIZING CONTENT ONLINE TO COMPLETE HOMEWORK A NEW PHENOMENON?

For as long as the Internet has been around, many students have learned how to take advantage of the content available to them online to complete their homework. From pre-written essays to book summaries, there’s no shortage of ways to cheat. Schools have had to adapt accordingly by acquiring software to detect plagiarized content in their students’ homework. So what’s changed?

With its ability to generate sophisticated content and give it a personalized style, ChatGPT offers today’s students a number of unprecedented tools. In Québec, some teachers have set up the Facebook group “ChatGPT and AI in education” to flush out cheating, and ChatGPT itself has created a tool to help teachers spot plagiarism. But despite all these attempts to control students’ use of AI tools, it’s easy to think that users of AI will simply get better and better at taking advantage of flaws in the system, especially since these new technologies are constantly improving and enabling them to do so.

DOES THE USE OF CHATGPT IN SCHOOLWORK RISK CAUSING ACADEMIC DISENGAGEMENT?

When we’re talking about academic engagement, we’re talking about motivation. According to Mélissa Canseliet, “Motivation is an impetus which derives from the perceived reward you get from making an effort. The greater the perceived reward, the greater the motivation and the more likely we are to make an effort.” However, an adolescent’s brain is especially quick to react to rewards.

In fact, the different parts of an adolescent’s brain develop at different rates. Thus, the limbic system, which is responsible for processing emotions and feelings of gratification, develops before the prefrontal cortex, the part responsible for judgment and planning, is fully developed. However, the prefrontal cortex controls the limbic system.²

So, we can easily see why young people prefer having access to AI to do their homework as it easily provides them with a reward (the all-important good grades). But won’t this affect their academic engagement as time goes by? Well, how can someone continue to be stimulated when the game is rigged? When working loses its meaning and when the rewards don’t stem from your research efforts, your ability to reason or your ability to create something unique?

Therefore, continuing to teach and to assess schoolwork with the current system seems doomed to failure, which is in line with New York City’s position and Québécois teachers’ calls for AI regulation.

But isn’t there an opportunity here to use these technologies to develop other skills amongst young people? Our world is changing and the know-how we once needed is also destined to change.

HOW CAN CHATGPT PRESENT AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN SCHOOL?

According to Mélissa Canseliet, “In the realm of education, there is an opportunity to make the most of very human skills, which have not yet been replicated by AI. Working on these skills would enable adolescents to be in tune with the cognitive functions that they are in the process of developing. We can also think about critical thinking, emotional intelligence and communication, all of which develop greatly at that age. These would give them a framework for understanding what they are experiencing.

What’s more, with technical knowledge becoming more and more automated, soft skills* are going to become increasingly important in the rapidly evolving world of work. By basing education more on these skills, we would create a clear bridge between academic learning and what’s valued in a professional environment. All this would result in keeping schoolwork meaningful and increasing young people’s engagement.”

But how can we do this?

Changing teaching methods is a significant project that requires reflection and effort, but it can also represent a real opportunity to enable future generations to adapt to the world of tomorrow.

With this in mind, various organizations have tried to identify a list of necessary qualities for 21^st-century citizens. According to the P21 Framework³, undoubtedly the most comprehensive framework, there are 12 essential skills divided into three categories:

👉 Learning skills (the 4Cs ): Critical thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, Communication.
👉 Literacy skills: ability to sort through information and use media and technology.
👉 Life skills: flexibility, initiative, social skills, productivity, leadership.

Faced with the rise of artificial intelligence, these inherently human skills are difficult to computerize, at least for the foreseeable future.

HOW CAN WE CONCRETELY INTEGRATE CHATGPT INTO SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHING?

Limiting ourselves to reorganizing skills evaluations to be in-person when faced with ChatGPT would mean missing out on all the opportunities AI has to offer.

In fact, why not start nurturing students’ critical thinking and ability to express themselves by asking them about this new tool?

What do they think about this tool? What has their personal experience been like?
What has the tool helped them with, and what were its limitations regarding problem-solving?
How do these new technologies impact their outlook on life, their way of managing their workload or their personal or academic development?

It could also be interesting to review the assignment and assessment of homework. Rather than limiting student’s oral presentations to a mass of information to organize and reformulate in an in-class report, why not also get them to organize a discussion surrounding the theme of the presentation? Their grade would therefore be largely determined by the student’s ability to convince their classmates to take part in the conversation by coming up with an appealing topic that invites sharing ideas, then leading the discussion with their peers in an interesting and constructive manner.

In the meantime, it’s possible to think that, even if it does not make future generations lazier, AI will undoubtedly make them less motivated to work if the education system does not make some serious changes. By giving soft skills the respect they deserve, we give ourselves the opportunity to keep young people engaged in schools and to build a generation which knows how to face the specific challenges of our ever-changing world.

*Soft skills: this concept regroups behavioural, relational and transferable skills. Unlike hard skills, which are related to technical and academic skills, soft skills are more linked to an individual’s personality and to social skills. They are thereby related to human qualities.

Sources

¹https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/new-york-city-public-schools-ban-chatgpt-devices-networks-rcna64446
²https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_jayne_blakemore_the_mysterious_workings_of_the_adolescent_brain?subtitle=fr
³https://www.competencesdu21emesiecle.com/decouvrir/qu-est-ce-que-les-competences-du-21eme-siecle/