“Write me a 1000-word essay on the literary work of Gabrielle Roy. »
On ChatGPT, words follow one another quickly. “Gabrielle Roy is a French-Canadian writer known for her literary work that is both poignant and realistic,” he wrote. He continues on Second-hand happiness and the author’s desire to represent disadvantaged backgrounds.
ChatGPT, a conversational interface with artificial intelligence, answers a variety of questions. The tool also writes texts that are generally well put together using a few simple indications. The possibilities offered by the platform arouse fears in the world of education in Quebec and could force a change in evaluation methods, but also generate positive reflections.
The platform has been accessible for barely a week, and the news is spreading “like wildfire” among students, notes Sylvain Duclos, math teacher.
This prompted him to post a video on TikTok to alert his colleagues and give them advice on redefining classic tasks and assessments. “I saw the capacity for plagiarism, says the secondary school teacher. Secondary school assignments can be easily generated. » The creations are original. It is impossible to confirm on search engines that the student has copied and pasted from an existing text. The tool, which will be called upon to evolve, however, has limits and sometimes makes errors.
“We also have to ask ourselves questions about the ways in which this tool can be used in teaching,” explains Sylvain Duclos. And for an education in digital ethics for young people, who will have to work with tools like that. »
ChatGPT makes react on Facebook groups of teachers. The high volume of information circulating prompted Simon Duguay, a computer teacher at De Rochebelle high school in Quebec City, to create a group a few days ago that now has more than 500 teachers and people interested in discussing possibilities of the tool. “I didn’t think it was going to lift as much as that,” he says. This is a subject that comes to seek people. »
We have the same questions as everyone else, but we won’t fall on the side where we don’t want to use it
Like others with whom The duty discussed, he feels like the platform won’t be a fad. “There was a certain fear at the beginning in our discussions, we are all surprised by its effectiveness, says Simon Duguay. But we also see a lot of potential. »
“I have already seen several teachers use it to make examples to present in class, adds the teacher, enthusiastic. Others to mount documents, or to have several versions of the same exam in class to prevent students from cheating. »
Debate in schools
Not everyone considers ChatGPT to be a positive step forward. Concerned teachers have written to the IT department of their school service center (CSS) to check whether the site will be banned from the Internet, believing that it will make things less for them to manage in class.
Sylvain Duclos, he wrote to his CSS to ask him “to act differently than usual” and to ask educational questions before blocking the site. The debate is ongoing, and the establishments will have to decide. The demands of To have to addressed to various CSS remained a dead letter on Tuesday.
ChatGPT, however, does not scare the private college Sainte-Anne, located on the island of Montreal, which rather has the philosophy of preparing its students for the “real world” and “to be part of the advancement of society”. “We have the same questions as everyone else, but we’re not going to fall on the side where we don’t want to use it,” says Yannick Dupont, director of the Laboratory for Innovation and Action Research. We are going to try some experimentation to see what students will say about it and how it will be used in a school context. »
Secondary school assignments can be easily generated
The risks of cheating could lead the institution to question how to conduct evaluations. “It’s not the first time that a tool like this will shake up practices and allow us to think about what we’re doing,” he says. We see it as a great opportunity to question ourselves and see if there are not practices that we should perhaps transform or abandon. »
Concerns at CEGEP
ChatGPT arouses concern among CEGEP teachers, even if they see its flaws. “For the winter semester, we should think about it now, it gives us time to modify our lesson plans,” says Ariane Boivin, who teaches psychology at Cégep Garneau, in Quebec.
She gave a personal reflection to her students, but will skip it because “the tool is way too good”. She asked ChatGPT for two concrete examples of bullying as a child and how it affected him as an adult. “I had empathy for him, it looked like he had undergone great therapy,” she drops.
Literature professors have noticed that the platform “knows” certain novels very well, and are considering having their students work on subjects that it does not master.
The tool can also generate computer code. Pierre-François Léon, who teaches programming at CEGEP, found that thanks to ChatGPT, a student would have a mark varying between 60% and 80% in some of his evaluations. However, he does pass his exams on paper, which limits the possibilities of cheating.
Blocking ChatGPT “is useless”, he believes, and he doesn’t want to “demonize the tool”. He rather advocates its integration, and he did tests in class. “Pedagogically, beyond generating code, the tool provides elements on the code that are interesting for the student. »
The father of the family also had an open discussion with his 2-year-old daughtere secondary about the possibilities ChatGPT offers, after finding that, in theory, she could use it to do several homework assignments. “We must teach [aux jeunes] critical thinking in relation to artificial intelligence,” he concludes.