ChatGPT has become somewhat of a staple in education after only being out for such a short time. It’s able to explain complex concepts, solve math equations, and many other things found on most students’ homework assignments. This begs the question, are there any in which ChatGPT cannot be used a guide or provide direct assistance? The short answer to the question is yes, but class application may vary and there are some things that cannot be avoided. These include the use of a ChatGPT created outline, or other means of writing assistance. Certain assignments here will be discussed in the context of the class CORE 456 at Roger Williams University.
One of the main assignments that defeats ChatGPT is any kind of reflection or experience prompt towards the student. This is a simple yet effective way to provoke thinking from only the student because ChatGPT is incapable of having any sense of experiences or the ability to reflect on its past in the same way a human does. In the same way as many assignments, however, the student can also input a general experience into ChatGPT and instruct it to write something satisfactory for the assignment. In this case, there should be an indication of whether or not the student actually wrote what they submitted based on the structure, word choice, and other potential factors that ChatGPT generated text usually has.
Another option is based upon an in-class discussion. Carrying over the main points of the discussion into an assignment that requires the student to summarize them and share their opinion towards it. In the same way ChatGPT can’t reflect or relate to experiences, it also cannot possibly know what happened in a class on a given day unless specifically told by the student. Even then, it is most likely to either miss something, or not explain it right because of the context of the discussion. And if ChatGPT is used, similar to the first assignment, it will be relatively easy to tell where the content came from. Additionally, the opinion aspect strengthens the assignment because it has to come from the student. There can be ways to further verify if the opinion is actually held by the student rather than simply being created by ChatGPT.
I feel that both of these kinds of assignments can be applied to the CORE 456 class. This is majorly because I believe much of the class is based on personal thoughts, opinions, and in-class content. Many of the assignments we have are discussed first in class and then are expected to be written about in a blog-like post on our personal websites provided through the school. Although, even with all of this in mind, ChatGPT can still be used as more of a tool, than guidance. An example of this is proper punctuation and spelling check. When done correctly, ChatGPT does not alter the actual content other than what is specified. This is as far as I have personally gone in using ChatGPT within the class, with exceptions where it was explicitly permitted by the instructor.
In conclusion, I personally feel that much of the class is already ChatGPT proof. When constructing a post, there can be signs of who actually wrote the content of it, through the previously mentioned things like patterns of words, word choice, and context to name some. Content coming from a student will most likely be very different than that of ChatGPT. However, it is also nice to know that the use of ChatGPT as a tool is encouraged in the class, and that it is not completely shut out. Now, this does not mean that ChatGPT should write entire posts, but to have it construct an outline, proofread a post, or change some wording on a sentence or two (not a paragraph or full post) can be very helpful for many students. Additionally, it can make for a stronger assignment submission.