Physics professor reviews what he’s tried and learned during the past year in working on STEM education and experimenting with the use of GenAI (GAI).

• Calculator analogy seems apt to him. New tech that changes what we need to learn of the mechanics of calculations. (However, he suggests: “We all learn about long division at some point in our lives.”)
• So many initial responses to ChatGPT were about plagiarism Now the emphasis is on leveraging the coaching a chatbot can provide to a student. Now the emphasis is programming a custom app to give focused feedback. You can create custom GenAI apps that refuse to “write”, but only provide structure/outline.
• How do we change our assignments in response to this technology? Teach students how to engage with the technology in a productive, ethical way.
• Has ChatGPT evolved to the point to pass the Turing Test? ”If not all the way, it’s immanent.” Response from the physics professor.
• Presenter outlined uses he did not resort to due to ethical reservations. (I was unable to transcribe the long list of uses/non-uses.) Below are examples…
  • Auto-grading
  • Research/Knowledge
• Proposed - Using ChatGPT to summarize student responses to a question. Using it to highlight “outlier” responses and elicit more detail from a student.
• There is a website recommended to keep up with developments in GenAI and education.

Conclusions

• Objective ultimately is to encourage critical thinking.
• What the teacher is free to spend time doing is changing.
  • Less time developing homework exercises/scenarios for problem solving.
  • More time speaking with students vs. writing to them.

Written by Notion AI GenAI can be used to create innovative and engaging homework exercises. By leveraging the power of GenAI, teachers can design custom apps that provide structure and outlines for assignments. This allows students to receive focused feedback and coaching, promoting a more productive and ethical use of the technology. With GenAI, teachers can also use it to summarize student responses to questions, highlighting outlier responses and prompting further discussion. The use of GenAI in creating homework exercises aims to encourage critical thinking and enables teachers to spend more time interacting with students rather than solely writing assignments.

For more information and to stay updated on developments in GenAI and education, you can visit the recommended website.