A fifth grade teacher in Lexington, Kentucky, has decided to embrace and use ChatGPT to enhance learning in the classroom and allows students to use it as well. The educator, Donnie Piercey, has been teaching for 17 years and was voted “Teacher of the Year” just two years prior, per Good Morning America. The artificial intelligence tool he is using has been a controversial topic among educators.
Although other states and institutions have tried to limit or ban the use of this tool altogether, Piercey believes it has positive benefits for learning and creativity.
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ChatGPT uses large amounts of data to put together words, sentences, and paragraphs.
It's all based on predictions and uses human prompts to create intelligent responses, per Insider. What separates ChatGPT from other similar programs or tools, however, is that the public has access to use it.
Open AI, the company responsible for creating this tool, describes it as “interacting in a conversational way,” and says that this format enables it to “reject inappropriate requests and answer follow-up questions."
Piercey believes it can be used for good in education.
Despite concerns and controversy surrounding this artificial intelligence tool — specifically its potential to be used for cheating — Piercey still has chosen to use it in his classroom.
"Like every other educator, I had that concern. Is this something that students are only going to use to cheat? So I started to think about like, 'OK, what role is AI — artificial intelligence — going to play in the classroom?" he said, according to Good Morning America. "And the more that I thought about it, I realized that there's a lot more good that can come about through AI as opposed to negative things that can come in the classroom.”
He has used the ChatGPT tool for creating reading and grammar exercises for his students as well as for creative opportunities.
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Other educators have voiced concerns about using it.
Other educators have not felt as positively as Piercey about ChatGPT in an educational setting and have voiced worry about students using it. "It is scary because as school teachers, we want kids to write in full paragraphs but we want it to be their original work," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, according to Good Morning America.
Other states and school districts have even gone so far as banning the tool. The department of education in New York City blocked the tool on its school devices and networks, reported NY Chalkbeat.
Students in Piercey's class have shared their feelings about using the AI tool.
"If it keeps on expanding, that's basically typical for what this generation is doing right now," student Isabella Whitice said, according to Good Morning America.
Student Caleb Roberts added, "If you keep AI like, safe, it's going to be really helpful."
Regardless of how educators and students view the tool — as either helpful or harmful — many predict that ChatGPT is here to stay and will be an important part of their future.
