THE BATTLE AGAINST CHATGPT MISUSE IN EDUCATION

“ChatGPT Is A Plague Upon Education” (Inside Higher Ed)

“Don’t Ban ChatGPT In Schools. Teach with It.” (The New York Times)

The use of ChatGPT in education has been a subject of controversy and debate recently as shown by the above two banners. To-ban side of the argument believes that ChatGPT should be barred from classrooms due to concerns over cheating. Educator and author Cathy N. Davidson argued, “AI writing tools can be used to produce endless copies of the same text, with little originality or insight.”

Not-to-ban side sees the potential benefits of using ChatGPT to help students improve their writing skills and promote creativity and critical thinking. Elon Musk asserted, “AI can enable students to learn more effectively and efficiently, and can ultimately lead to a brighter future for everyone.”

This debate is not new. The calculator and the internet had similar debates surrounding them in the past. But as the use of ChatGPT becomes more prevalent in classrooms, finding a balance between the potential benefits and risks is worth the effort.

The real battle, however, lies in preventing the misuse of ChatGPT in education. Teachers must carry out measures to deter cheating of students inside the classrooms. How? Well, I thought I’d take a crack to solve the dilemma with my two cents’ worth.

Looking back, I started writing my ATABAY blog with a natal article “What’s In A Name?” where I tapped into the following three quotes:

“Writing is the most disciplined form of thinking.” (Donald M. Murray, Write to Learn)

“[T]hinking is difficult… complex… laborious… painstaking process.” (M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled)

“I think, therefore I am.” (Rene Descartes, Discourse on the Method)

A textbook on my shelf defines writing, alongside thinking, as a process – a series of steps taken over time and directed toward a particular end, expressed on paper what the writer feels or thinks about a subject. Writing occurs in three stages: prewriting, writing and rewriting.

Prewriting gets our ideas down on paper and develops our topic using techniques like freewriting. Writing turns our plan into an actual essay. Rewriting revises and edits our essays for clarity, coherence, and effectiveness.

The bone of contention of the ChatGPT to-ban-or-not-to-ban issue is thinking – critical thinking, to be exact. The banners below say it all:

“ChatGPT and the Decline of Critical Thinking” (insights iedotedu)

“Are AI Tools Like ChatGPT Destroying Critical Thinking For The Future Of Work?” (gigsterdotcom)

I figured out that if we could preserve critical thinking in the classroom we may not have to ban ChatGPT after all. We could safeguard critical thinking in the prewriting stage crafted through freewriting -- a technique that freely and creatively jots down every random idea, notion, thought, or opinion that pops into students’ minds about the subject.

Here are excerpts of a student’s freewriting sample, excerpted for brevity, taken from a textbook about this typical assignment: Write a classification essay about a force, a group, a system, a ritual, or an emotion.

“What is a force? What is a system? Do I want to write about a force, a system, a group, or an emotion? What emotion? Rituals, rituals, what are rituals? I picture religious robes and candle burning in various church nooks and crannies… I like the word ritual, though. Hmmmm. What group? I’m stuck. I’m stuck. Name some emotions? I don’t want to write about groups. Rituals? What rituals? Who has rituals? There’s the ritual of the lecture, of grading, of classroom interaction.

I feel stuck. Keep writing! Keep writing! It will come. Ritualistic hand washing. Lady Macbeth washed her hands constantly, trying to get the blood of her victims off. It would not come off. Definitely neurotic. Closer to home, more ordinary ritual: Every time my father walks past the kitchen sink, he tightens the faucet and wipes it off with a dishcloth…” (Taken from From Idea To Essay: A Rhetoric, Reader, and Handbook)

Eureka! This is it! Just as a math student solves a problem and shows his or her detailed solution, so too does a writing student pre-writes and shows his or her jotted freewriting thoughts as proof of the critical thinking process working inside his or her brain. I theorized freewriting could stand in the way of the cheaters.

Out of the blue, just for kicks, I asked ChatGPT to write a freewriting example on the same assignment and in seconds delivered its concoction excerpted for brevity.

Oh, boy, time to write a classification essay about a force, a group, a system, a ritual, or an emotion. Let’s see, which one should I choose? I could write about a force like gravity, or a group like boy bands, or a system like digestive system, or a ritual like my morning cup of coffee, or an emotion like…hmm…I don’t know, hangry?

Yeah, hangry. I mean, who doesn’t love a good classification essay about being hangry? I could classify different types of hangry based on their severity, like low-level hangry where you just need a snack, or full-blown hangry where you turn into a monster…

But then again, maybe I should write about a group instead… I could classify them based on their hair, like spiky hair boy bands or floppy hair boy bands…

I’m feeling inspired and a little bit wacky. Let’s see where this essay takes me.

Gosh! Anyone reading ChatGPT’s freewriting random thoughts above would have mistaken it as fashioned by a critically thinking student’s mind that could be turned to good use by any cheater as his or her own.

My, oh, my, I’ve presumed, freewriting – created in student’s mind – is a big idea of preserving the critical thinking process crafted in the brain factory that produces creative and original products of one’s imagination. Fantastically, ChatGPT could even mimic, if not worm into, such a supposedly shrouded domain. Gee whizz!

At this point in my quest, feeling to have come to nothing and thrown in the towel, I asked Chat GPT the key to the AI issue as befits the saying: “It takes a thief to catch a thief.” Wow! ChatGPT handed me the following general outline edited for brevity:

I can provide you with a general outline of how an essay writing lesson on freewriting can be conducted inside the classroom while discouraging cheating and promoting critical thinking skills using the book “The Sun Also Rises” as the essay assignment topic:

INTRODUCTION

Discuss the context and significance of “The Sun Also Rises” as a literary work. Explain that freewriting explores different ideas and perspectives related to the book.

DEMONSTRATION

Write a sample prompt on the board and conduct a timed freewriting session. For example, “What are the major themes in ‘The Sun Also Rises’? What do you think Hemingway is trying to convey through these themes?”

GROUP FREEWRITING

Divide the students into small groups and assign them a prompt related to the book. For example, “What are your thoughts on the character of Jake Barnes in ‘The Sun Also Rises’?” Set a time limit of 10-15 minutes for the freewriting session. Encourage students to share their ideas and thoughts with their group members after the session.

INDIVIDUAL FREEWRITING

Assign students a prompt related to the book to write individually. For example, “How does the portrayal of masculinity in ‘The Sun Also Rises’ reflect the societal norms of the time?” Give them 15-20 minutes to complete the freewriting session. Encourage them to explore their ideas freely without worrying about grammar, spelling, or structure.

REVISION

After the freewriting session, have students revise their writing and develop a more polished piece. Emphasize the importance of original thought and critical thinking in their revisions. Encourage them to incorporate new insights and ideas that came up during the freewriting session.

PLAGIARISM PREVENTION

Remind students that using AI writing technology like ChatGPT to generate their outputs is cheating and goes against the principles of academic integrity. Explain to them that their final output should be their original work, not a product generated by a machine.

FEEDBACK AND EVALUATION

Provide feedback and evaluation on the students’ final outputs, emphasizing the importance of original thought, critical thinking, and academic integrity.

“ChatGPT will be brutal in classrooms where writing is ‘assigned’ rather than ‘taught’,” wrote Brett Vogelsinger of Education Week.

By the standards of ChatGPT’s general outline on freewriting conducted inside the classroom to discourage cheating and promote critical thinking skills, we may refashion the above statement as follows:

“ChatGPT will be a valuable asset in classrooms where writing is taught rather than merely assigned.”

Head still photo courtesy of freepikdotcom