More fun with ChatGPT

Nearly every time I use ChatGPT I come away amazed at its capabilities. Many others have noted ChatGPT's limitations, and they are significant. But that said, check out the prompts I gave it recently (I have not included the responses from ChatGPT for space considerations, but also so you, dear reader, could experience the joy I did when seeing the magic happen right before your very eyes).

I gave ChatGPT just the abstract of an article and these prompts:

• write an informal blog, this time including the catchy title, an interest-generating or attention-grabbing opening, a section to introduce and define the topic you will address, a section with example that clarifies and illustrates the topic that you are presenting, and brief statement that ties together the topic and invites the reader to think about it further. make it 500 words long 
• what profession would benefit from knowing about this article? 
• write a formal letter to a social worker about this article, including suggestions for how they could apply this information in their profession

I co-teach a Psychology of Acting class. Check out these prompts:

• write three scenarios that demonstrate the power of eye contact in theater
• what are the best ways for actors to learn their lines
• what the best ways for actors to get inside the role they are playing
• what are the major theories of acting, and provide examples of famous actors for each theory
• what are the hardest challenges for new actors, and how can they overcome them?

I can't claim that ChatGPT's responses to every prompt were scintillating or even correct. But as a starting place they were fantastic. In one class I really do suggest that students write letters to actual people who the students think would benefit from the information in articles they find. They often struggle with this task. But if ChatGPT can give them at least a first draft of a letter, they should be able to revise, tailor, and strengthen the letter with less difficulty. What if students became adept or proficient or even mastered this type of communication with the aid of ChatGPT? Then the real purpose of the activity could shift from developing those skills to affecting the real world. 

Imagine if AI could help us add more meaning to our assessments. Certainly a better outcome for incorporating AI into education than many others I've recently read about.

Bonus content I want to amplify: I recently found this article that describes how to use ChatGPT to overcome three significant barriers to learning: 

"improving transfer, breaking the illusion of explanatory depth, and training students to critically evaluate explanations."

Kudos to these authors, Ethan R. Mollick and Lilach Mollick.