The promises of artificial intelligence make teachers dizzy. A guide circulating in CEGEPs suggests that teachers use the ChatGPT tool to write their lesson plans, produce extremely specific exam questions or manage “boring” students who disturb the group.
Barely two months after its appearance in the public space, this so-called “intelligent” application seems to be on the way to upsetting the teaching profession. Professors observe with a mixture of fascination, amazement and concern the almost limitless possibilities of ChatGPT and its emerging clones, including that of Google.
“It makes me more than dizzy: I find it staggering, because it calls into question the whole meaning of my profession,” sums up Marijo Demers, professor of political science at Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe.
Education thinkers first seek to prevent students from having their assignments edited by ChatGPT. Beyond the risks of cheating, a guide intended for teachers circulating in CEGEPs pushes the reflection further: this nine-page document recommends that teachers make extensive use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of their work.
Out of curiosity, Marijo Demers asked ChatGPT to suggest a plan for a course in political and international economy that she is teaching for the first time. With a touch of skepticism, the professor even asked him seven times rather than once to test the alleged intelligence of this computer robot.
The result blew her away: “I had seven separate lesson plans, and they all passed the ramp with flying colors. I wouldn’t have been ashamed to introduce them to colleagues,” she says.
The teacher eventually devised her own lesson plan, but ChatGPT’s prowess gave her pause. “What is the meaning of being a teacher if you outsource your thinking to artificial intelligence? There is a certain stupidity in letting technology do the thinking for us. I feel joy in producing a lesson plan. It is intellectual property. It is part of our professional autonomy,” says Marijo Demers.
She fears a “standardization of thought” with the emergence of conversational robots. “ChatGPT will produce what is most likely, but will not sweep the field of possibilities,” says the professor.
Help for teachers?
The “field of possibilities” of AI, in any case, is widening day by day in education. A guide intended for teachers arouses astonishment in the college network in Quebec. This collection was produced by Andrew Herft, an Australian technology educator. A French version of the document is circulating in CEGEPs.
The expert suggests that teachers run a series of tasks in ChatGPT, and some of them are very complex. He proposes to ask the robot to create an immersive story “in which you are the hero” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to help students immerse themselves in the complexities of this thousand-year-old episode. “Keep asking me to choose an option before moving on to the next part of the story,” he suggests asking ChatGPT.
Artificial intelligence can also facilitate the creation of teamwork that requires the participation of each member of the group and therefore ensures that no student takes it easy while their peers do all the work. Just ask ChatGPT.
Andrew Herft proposes to entrust ChatGPT with the mandate of creating questionnaires, classroom management strategies, works in biology, in history, on the French Revolution, on the industrial revolution in Europe, on photosynthesis… Imagination is the only limit, can we understand.
The Australian guide also recommends using AI to “generate an example of a well-written essay on [tel sujet] that meets the criteria for an “A” grade, with a detailed annotation explaining the criteria for passing”. Students will know what kind of work they have to deliver — if they don’t have it written by ChatGPT too, some teachers would say.
A tagging tool
Stéphane Chalifour, professor of sociology at Lionel-Groulx College, is “not at all excited” by the promise of this technology in education. He describes himself as an “old professor” closer to retirement than to his years of university training. “ChatGPT is a steamroller, we can’t avoid it”, however recognizes the professor.
He quotes in the same breath Hannah Arendt, who said, in The cultural crisis, that we must “preserve the school from all influences”, make it impervious to fashions. Students first need to learn to make an effort, to engage in their studies, says Mr. Chalifour. Technologies may have many qualities, but not necessarily that of giving young people a taste for learning, he believes.
All players in the college network say they are challenged by the consequences of artificial intelligence on teaching. The Fédération des cégeps has asked its “communities of practice” (partners from all walks of life in education) to reflect on these entirely new ethical questions.
The exercise aims to determine if ChatGPT and applications of the same type can be useful in education, and under what circumstances, it is indicated.
Public debate
The National Federation of Teachers of Quebec (FNEEQ-CSN), which represents 85% of CEGEP teachers, has also appointed a committee “to examine the impacts [de l’IA] — positive or negative — on teachers and students”. “Pending the recommendations of this committee, we reiterate the importance of a public debate on the issues relating to digital technologies and artificial intelligence,” repeats the union group.
For their part, teacher Marijo Demers and one of her colleagues will call for a broad reflection on artificial intelligence in education during a union meeting scheduled for Wednesday at the Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe. Their draft resolution aims to “raise awareness in the entire college community [aux] upheavals caused by artificial intelligence in teaching practice, from the preparation of lessons to the passing of assessments”.