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University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Ethan Mollick, an Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, has been recognized and highlighted by prestigious sources like Harvard University (1,2) and Business Insider (3) for his endorsement of using ChatGPT in education.
In the article published by Ethan Mollick and team, they described five important strategies (4).
Here we are going to discuss the five different strategies implemented by the team using ChatGPT to create an interactive classroom.
Strategy 1 : Example 1
To enhance the student learning experience, the team at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania developed an outline of generating interactive examples to create a desired outcome (4).
The instructions for data generation includes (4):
- Pick the concept to study
- Connect to the AI source (ChatGPT, Bing, etc.) and prompt it with questions about the concepts
- Provide examples on the concepts so that the output has a foundational understanding of the topic of interest
- Describe the writing style of the desired output (clear, concrete, dynamic, engaging, straightforward)
- Have the outputs evaluated by the instructors under set criteria to ensure the accuracy of the information.
Prompt
I would like you to act as an experienced educator and an example generator for students to better understand the concept. I would like you to generate a result for university level students on the topic of academic integrity. You will provide me with two different and varied accurate examples of the concept in action.
ChatGPT Response
Example 1: Proper Citation and Avoiding Plagiarism
Scenario: Emma is a diligent university student working on her research paper for a history class. While conducting her research, she comes across an insightful analysis of a historical event written by Professor Johnson in an academic journal. Emma wants to include this information in her paper to support her argument.
Demonstration of Academic Integrity: Emma acknowledges Professor Johnson’s work and expertise by properly citing the source in her paper. She uses quotation marks and provides a full reference in the bibliography according to the required citation style. By doing so, Emma demonstrates academic integrity by giving credit to the original author and avoiding plagiarism, which is a serious academic offense.
Example 2: Group Project Collaboration
Scenario: A group of students is assigned a challenging engineering project that requires innovative solutions. Among the group members, Tom is exceptionally skilled and comes up with a groundbreaking idea that could significantly contribute to the project’s success. However, implementing the idea requires in-depth technical knowledge that the rest of the group lacks.
Demonstration of Academic Integrity: Rather than completing the project separately and claiming full credit for his idea, Tom practices academic integrity by actively collaborating with his group members. He shares his idea openly and takes the time to explain its implementation to others, ensuring that everyone in the group understands and contributes to the project. By working together, the group produces a remarkable outcome that showcases their collective effort and individual strengths, while also upholding academic integrity.
In both examples, the students exemplify academic integrity by respecting the intellectual property of others, giving credit where it is due, and working honestly in their academic pursuits. These instances showcase how academic integrity is not just a set of rules to follow but a fundamental value that should guide every student’s approach to learning and research at the university level. Upholding academic integrity not only leads to personal growth and ethical development but also contributes to the overall academic community’s advancement.
Example 1: Following the suggested steps, in this section, ChatGPT was trained to act as an example generator for the given concept.
Strategy 2 : Example 2
Prompt
I would like you to act as an experienced educator and an example generator for graduate University students registered in the Human physiology course.Provide a clear, brief explanation of the concept using specific examples and give me two analogies I can use to understand the concept in different ways. And provide references in the latest APA style format.
ChatGPT Response
Concept: Action Potential in Neurons
An action potential is a rapid and transient electrical signal that travels along the membrane of a neuron, allowing it to communicate with other neurons and transmit information. This process is fundamental to the nervous system’s functioning, enabling the transmission of signals over long distances. Let’s break down this concept with a clear explanation and an example, followed by two analogies to enhance your understanding.
Explanation:
An action potential is a process that involves a change in the electrical potential across a neuron’s cell membrane. Neurons have a resting membrane potential, which is a stable negative charge inside the cell compared to the outside. When a neuron receives a strong enough stimulus, such as from sensory input or other neurons, it triggers a rapid change in membrane potential. This change occurs due to the movement of ions, specifically sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+), across the cell membrane through ion channels.
Example:
Imagine you’re in a crowded room (neuron at rest). Everyone is calmly sitting in their chairs, representing the stable resting potential. Now, a sudden loud noise occurs (stimulus), causing some individuals to stand up and rush toward the exit. This represents the opening of ion channels and the rapid movement of ions across the membrane, resulting in the depolarization phase of the action potential. As more people rush to the exit, the commotion spreads down the room (propagation of action potential), symbolizing the transmission of the electrical signal along the neuron’s membrane. Finally, once everyone has exited and the room returns to its initial state, it signifies the repolarization and refractory period of the neuron.
Analogies:
- Highway Traffic: Think of the neuron as a highway. At rest, the highway is calm and free of traffic (resting potential). Suddenly, a surge of cars enters the highway (stimulus), causing a rapid increase in traffic (depolarization). As the cars move down the highway, the traffic spreads (propagation of action potential). Eventually, the road clears up, and the traffic returns to normal (repolarization and refractory period).
- Dominos Falling: Picture a line of dominos set up (neuron at rest). You give a gentle push to the first domino (stimulus), which sets off a chain reaction as each domino falls (depolarization and propagation). Once the dominoes have fallen, you need to reset them before they can be pushed again (repolarization and refractory period).
References:
(Note: As of my last update in September 2021, I don’t have real-time access to the internet for the latest references. Please use these as general examples and ensure you find the most current and relevant sources for your needs.)
- Kandel, E. R., Schwartz, J. H., Jessell, T. M., Siegelbaum, S. A., & Hudspeth, A. J. (Eds.). (2012). Principles of neural science (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
- Bear, M. F., Connors, B. W., & Paradiso, M. A. (2016). Neuroscience: Exploring the brain (4th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Example 2: ChatGPT was trained to ask questions and create multiple explanations of concepts in a structured format.
Strategy 3: Creating low-stakes tests are an effective teaching strategy to help students recall, remember and retrieve information (6). Instructors might find it hard to develop different low stake tests for different courses as it could be time consuming. This strategy was developed to overcome this issue by providing comments on the AI model. Some of the important comments to create a test would consist of prompting the chatbot about the topic that we want to teach users about and the teaching strategy.
We can also customize the types of questions that we need by mentioning either multiple choice, short answers or fill-in-the-blanks, according to Ethan Mollick. Later, these questions would be evaluated by the instructors to ensure the content relevance and accuracy of the tests (4).
Strategy 3 : Example 3
Prompt
You are a quiz generator. The topic is academic integrity and the audience are University students. Using the information, I want you to create 3 quiz with answer key and explain why the answer is right. Further the quiz should be of multiple choice and should not include “all of the above option.”
ChatGPT Response
Sure! Here are three multiple-choice quiz questions on the topic of academic integrity for University students:
Quiz 1: Academic Integrity Basics
- What is academic integrity?
- a) A set of rules enforced by professors to make students’ lives difficult.
- b) A code of conduct that governs fair and ethical behavior in academic settings.
- c) A way for students to cheat without getting caught.
- d) A method to skip studying and still get good grades.
Answer: b) A code of conduct that governs fair and ethical behavior in academic settings.
Explanation: Academic integrity refers to the ethical principles and values that guide students’ conduct in their academic pursuits. It involves honesty, trustworthiness, and respect for the intellectual property of others. Students are expected to produce their work without cheating or plagiarizing and to uphold the standards of their institution.
Quiz 2: Understanding Plagiarism
- Which of the following actions is considered plagiarism?
- a) Paraphrasing a source and providing proper citation.
- b) Using someone else’s work without permission and without giving credit.
- c) Quoting a source and including the citation.
- d) Referencing a source in a bibliography at the end of a paper.
Answer: b) Using someone else’s work without permission and without giving credit.
Explanation: Plagiarism is the act of using someone else’s ideas, words, or work without giving proper credit or permission. It includes copying and pasting directly from a source, not properly citing the original author, or presenting someone else’s work as your own.
Quiz 3: Avoiding Academic Dishonesty
- What should you do if you’re unsure whether something constitutes academic dishonesty?
- a) Ignore the doubt and proceed with the questionable action.
- b) Ask your friends for their opinion and follow their advice.
- c) Consult your institution’s academic integrity policy or ask a professor or academic advisor.
- d) Rely on online forums to determine if it’s dishonest or not.
Answer: c) Consult your institution’s academic integrity policy or ask a professor or academic advisor.
Explanation: When in doubt about whether an action might constitute academic dishonesty, it’s essential to seek guidance from reliable sources. You can refer to your university’s academic integrity policy, which typically outlines what is considered dishonest behavior. Additionally, professors and academic advisors can provide clarification and guidance on any concerns you may have about academic integrity matters.
Example 3: Trained ChatGPT to perform as a quiz generator, and ask the user to provide the topic of the quiz and audience education level.
Strategy 4: Assessing the learning of the student(s) will help the instructors to focus on the specific topics or concepts that need more attention. To assess the student outcomes, questions can be created such as “What is the most important idea or concept covered in class today?” with responses being collected using Google docs. This information from the responses can later be compiled and analyzed using ChatGPT to get a better understanding of the overall feedback of the class (4).
Prompt Example:
“I am a teacher who wants to understand what students find most important about my class and what they are confused by. Review these responses and identify common themes and patterns in student responses. Summarize responses and list the 3 key points students found most important about the class and 3 areas of confusion: [Insert material here]” (4).
This provides a detailed result on the impact of the student’s feedback on the question in a short duration. This saves time for the instructor by generating instant responses and helps them develop a better understanding of the student view on their class (4). Furthermore, using this ChatGPT generated feedback we can assess which topic needs more clarification and which topic interests the students more (4).
Strategy 5: Distributive practice on developing ideas could be implemented depending on the two concepts of “What do you want students to know?” and “What topic do you want them to remember?” Based on this, instructors can create a brief topic overview along with the questions related to it. This would help instructors test the students’ knowledge, and later on, gain insight about the course outcomes.
Prompt Example:
“You are an expert teacher who provides help with the concept of distributed practice. You will ask me to describe the current topic I am teaching and the past topic I want to include in distributed practice. You will also ask me the audience or grade level for the class. Then you will provide 4 ideas about how to include the past topic into my current topic. You will also provide 2 questions I can ask the class to refresh their memory on the past topic ” (4).
References
1) ‘Ethan Mollick’. Management Department, https://mgmt.wharton.upenn.edu/?p=18813649/. Accessed 20 June 2023.
2) ‘Unlocking the Power of AI: How Tools Like ChatGPT Can Make Teaching Easier and More Effective’. Unlocking the Power of AI: How Tools Like ChatGPT Can Make Teaching Easier and More Effective, https://he.hbsp.harvard.edu/unlocking-the-power-of-ai.html. Accessed 20 June 2023.
3) Mok, Aaron. ‘A Wharton Business School Professor Is Requiring His Students to Use ChatGPT’. Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/wharton-mba-professor-requires-students-to-use-chatgpt-ai-cheating-2023-1. Accessed 20 June 2023.
4) Mollick, Ethan R., and Lilach Mollick. Using AI to Implement Effective Teaching Strategies in Classrooms: Five Strategies, Including Prompts. 17 Mar. 2023. Social Science Research Network, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4391243.
5) Atkinson, R. K., Derry, S. J., Renkl, A., & Wortham, D. (2000). Learning from examples: Instructional principles from the worked examples research. Review of educational research, 70(2), 181-214.
6) Kirschner, P. A., Hendrick, C., & Heal, J. (2022). How Teaching Happens: Seminal Works in Teaching and Teacher Effectiveness and What They Mean in Practice. Routledge.
Last Updated November 20, 2024
