Enhancing Classroom Learning with Chat GPT : A Teacher's New Ally

The modern classroom is a dynamic environment that demands innovative approaches to engage and educate students effectively. With the advent of artificial intelligence, teachers have gained a powerful new ally in the form of Chat GPT. This advanced language model, such as OpenAI's GPT-3.5, has the potential to revolutionize the learning experience by providing personalized assistance, instant feedback, and facilitating creative problem-solving. In this blog post, I will explore how teachers can harness the power of Chat GPT to enhance learning in their classrooms, supported by real-life examples. Some of these examples may need to be adapted depending on the amount of technology available in your setting. 1. Encouraging Research and Exploration:

Chat GPT can empower students to delve deeper into a subject and undertake independent research. When faced with a complex question or topic, students can seek guidance from the model, which can provide relevant information, suggest credible sources, and offer insights. For example, during a history class, students can consult Chat GPT to obtain additional details about a historical event, gain different perspectives, or discover related primary sources. My class have recently been researching the importance of the river Nile in Ancient Egypt, and the text provided by Chat GPT was a great overview of the areas we were focused on. This supported the pupils completing independent research on additional websites and the engagement level when pupils see Chat GPT come up is remarkable. Equally, teachers can be supported in finding credible resources online. A simple search for "What websites can a year 4 pupil use to find out about Science" can up with this response:

No more spending hours finding the correct websites!

2. Instant Feedback and Assessment: One of the most significant advantages of Chat GPT is its ability to provide instant feedback and assessment. Instead of waiting for teachers to grade assignments or tests, students can receive immediate feedback on their work. For example, a language teacher can use Chat GPT to evaluate written compositions, checking for grammar errors, suggesting improvements, and offering alternative word choices. Here is a simple example of a correction of this type:

This prompt feedback encourages students to learn from their mistakes and make necessary adjustments on the spot, reinforcing their understanding of the subject matter acquisition process. This should not be used as an alternative for pupils learning to self assess their own work in totality, but could be used as an additional support structure such as 'self assess, peer assess, teacher assess or AI assess'.

3. Generate Reading Passages and Questions Chat GPT can be harnessed to create reading comprehension exercises for teachers and generate corresponding questions. This can be levelled for each class for each year group by clearly defining the age range or year group e.g. "Write a 250 word reading passage for year 4 pupils about the rainforest and include 10 questions using VIPERS'. Teachers can also input passages of text into the Chat GPT interface. These passages can be excerpts from books, articles, or any other form of written material relevant to the curriculum. Chat GPT analyzes the text and generates a set of questions that assess students' understanding of the material. Alternatively, it is also aware of the chapters within books in its database (which is anything before 2021) and then can generate questions related to this. For example, 'Can I have 5 questions using VIPERS related to chapter 1 of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'.

4. Quick and Easy Plenary Quiz / Check for Understanding After a lesson or input on a particular subject Chat GPT can be used to generate different types of questions related to that topic for the pupils to complete a low stakes assessment to check their understanding. Here are some multiple choice questions about the solar system.

This can work equally well for Maths questions, or questions related to English grammar, or questions on multiple other subject areas.

5. Learning a Language

Learning a language can indeed be challenging and occasionally frustrating. However, having a variety of different approaches at your disposal to support and motivate pupils can greatly support pupil engagement throughout the process. ChatGPT can be a useful tool to aid in language learning by providing translations for various words, helping pupils build vocabulary and become familiar with them before using them in a classroom setting. For instance, you can utilize ChatGPT to learn the colours in Welsh.

It's important to note that Welsh (or any language) pronunciation can be quite different from English, and the written approximations provided above may not capture all the nuances accurately so pupils will require extra support with this area. Nevertheless it provides an option of a place to start. These words could then also be used in example sentences or in a dialogue to be practiced in pairs.

6. Lesson Planning Chat GPT is able to provide a structured outline and ideas for a lesson on any given topic that matches the standards you set for it in terms of age and stage. This may not be usable straight away and should definitely be treated with caution - but to start with it may give some ideas to new teachers or those drawing a blank that day regarding how to teach a topic in a different way. It's like joint lesson planning, but with AI rather than a colleague - for those in one form entry schools this could generate a lot of additional ideas and methodology. This could also be used at the beginning of a unit to consider what areas can be covered and linked the the curriculum requirements. 7. Consult for Advice (rather than using Google for everything) The Chat GPT model is a bit of an advice monster if you ask it to be. This can be greatly beneficial if for example there is a pupil in your class that you are not sure how to support and you want to start your research on the matter. For example this simple search asking how to support a pupil with ASD gave some clear pointers

or it can also support with ideas for something like a child whose parent's are going through a divorce.

Consulting experienced staff and professionals on the matter is clearly a good approach, as is reading and researching appropriate websites from related organisations, but as a starter Chat GPT gives a very clear overview and is a quick and easy place to start that gives detailed support and guidance.

8. Report Writing

The big one! Firstly, Chat GPT does not know your pupils, so it cannot create an individualised report for each pupil in your class without the input you provide. However if you provide it enough information relating to the child including the core areas that you want covered then it will generate a report comment of good standard. Often these can be overly verbose, or excessively positive, but this can be corrected by asking it to change the elements you are not happy with or by editing it yourself. But overall it's a great support if you want to use it. For example asking for this;

Results in this...

I've been given permission by SLT to use AI support for reports this year so long as they are personalised and overall I have found that as long as I provide sufficient and specific details (more than the above example) then Chat GPT has been a great tool to ensure the reports are individual, well written and avoids issues with proof reading or sounding like a broken record. Overall about 15 minutes for an entirely personalised, proof read and professional sounding report. As educators strive to create engaging and inclusive learning environments, the integration of advanced technologies like Chat GPT holds immense promise. By leveraging the model's capabilities, teachers can provide personalized learning experiences, deliver instant feedback, support language acquisition, and encourage independent research. While Chat GPT is not a substitute for human instruction, it acts as a powerful tool that enhances the teaching and learning process. With careful integration and guidance from teachers, Chat GPT can pave the way for an exciting future of education, where students can thrive and reach their full potential and teachers have access to personalised AI support and guidance whenever required. Thanks for reading, Laurence