Can ChatGPT change education for the better?

By: Frank Yunker

Date: 2024-03-13

Will ChatGPT change the nature of education? The answer could be "Yes."

Why the optimism? Actually, I don't think it will, but the answer could be yes… if we teachers change and adapt.

Years ago, I served on a "Essay Award Committee." The purpose was to have faculty submit some of the best essays they received during the year and the committee would judge the best. The committee judged, voted and awarded. Everybody was happy.

And then I did something I shouldn't have done. I took one sentence from the award winning paper, put it into Google and hit "Search."

Lo and behold, there was the exact essay written by someone else and proudly displayed on the Internet. Why did I do it? Because I'm cranky old teacher Mr. Grumpypants? Nope.

I remember President Reagan saying "Trust But Verify."

The real reason was I'd been burned before. I'll never forget the greatest final exam I ever gave. It was an elaborate case-study scenario based on international trade. It was an online course that I was teaching at a University in England, so the exam was effectively a "take home final." The students submitted phenomenal papers. I read one student's paper that had a whole page just describing tariffs alone, complete with charts. It was a flawless description, and I couldn't have been prouder. Funny how when you read those exact same words two papers later they don't feel so uplifting. I googled and, sure enough. There it was on Wikipedia. A flawless description, complete with charts.

The second student made me feel bad, but not as bad as the third student, who didn't include the charts… despite his paper referencing "Figure 1" and "Figure 2 (above)."

ChatGPT is great because it will generate a full essay in seconds. And if students are too lazy to eliminate words like "Figure 1," they won't have to worry if the newly generated essay doesn't have graphs. I entered "Please describe the different types of grass native to Florida" and the essay was written before I could finish describing what would happen when I pressed .

So, won't ChatGPT eliminate the copy and pasting of Wikipedia? Sure. That'll mean a teacher can't just enter a sentence and find the original source on the web. Right again.

But it might make teachers evaluate a little differently. If you don't want students using ChatGPT, then force them to print sources when they submit an essay.

Or here's a better idea. Bring back oral exams. Sometimes they're called the "elevator speech" or the "Neighborhood Backyard BBQ." It doesn't matter what you wrote or who wrote it? Wikipedia or ChatGPT? Who cares? If you're at the neighbor's house for a barbecue and they heard you did an essay on Florida grasses, can you explain the 4 different types, and which seed to use when over-seeding in winter? Which grasses are most common on golf courses? If you can't answer those questions (and remind me that there are really five types of grass), then did you really learn anything?