When a chatbot does homework and writes exams
The Hindu
Technology is here to stay in schools and colleges. But the extensive use of ChatGPT by students to do academic work of various kinds has raised a larger debate on how much of it is too much
“I confiscated an ID card from a student as he was not following some rules in the college. So I told him to write an apology letter to get it back. When I received his apology letter, I found that he had written it so well and professionally that I appreciated him. That’s when he revealed he had used ChatGPT to write the letter,” said Kiran Jeevan, Placements and Public Relations Officer at St. Joseph’s University.
ChatGPT has taken the academic world by storm in the last few months by delivering essays and project reports and even passing MBA and medical examinations of prestigious universities. Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT) is a chatbot launched in November 2022 by OpenAI. With its optimised language models for dialogues, it takes prompts and instructions and delivers detailed responses.
Recently, a few educational institutions in Bengaluru announced a ban on using ChatGPT in assignments and projects. This begs a larger question: What are the pros and cons of using technology in education?
Flashback to 2020, when COVID forced the whole world into a lockdown. The saviour was technology which ensured that students did not miss out on education. Online classes became the new reality with the emergence of multiple platforms. Assignments, project reports and examinations moved online. The use of technology in education had begun much before the lockdowns, but COVID made it an inseparable part of learning.
“Technology is necessary in education as the world is changing, and we must keep pace with it. However, the biggest worry with Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools is that they will keep students from reading, analysing, critical thinking and researching, without which they will lose a lot. Hence, we need to think about how much technology to use and where to draw the line,” said Mr. Kiran. He added that the crux of higher education lies in learning, relearning and unlearning, which might be hampered through the use of AI.
Most educational institutions have incorporated technology into the curriculum for functions like assignment submissions, digital libraries, bio-metric attendance and interactive learning. Elaborating on the importance of it, Sanjay Chitnis, Dean, School of Computer Science and Engineering, R.V. University, said, “The use of technology is always welcome in education as it can enable productivity. With it, we can make better use of e-learning and get access to the best quality content from all over the world.”
He further said, “Tech platforms and tools are helpful. For instance, we need cloud computation in Computer Science, for which we need good AI/ML platforms. Even in rural areas, they can access good platforms through technology. In classrooms, Powerpoint presentations and interactive panels can enhance the learning experience.”