As technology continues to change daily, a new development in artificial intelligence (AI) could change how students learn and teachers teach in the near future, especially at Shippensburg University.

Artificial intelligence, specifically ChatGPT, has been in recent conversations across college campuses and media outlets.

What is ChatGPT? Is it plagiarism if it is used in an essay? How does this change the directory path of learning in higher education systems?

According to OpenAI, the official site of the tool ChatGPT, “ChatGPT is a sibling model to InstructGPT, which is trained to follow an instruction in a prompt and provide a detailed response.”

One primary concern about the use of ChatGPT is the misuse of it. For example, some students may use it to write their essays and homework, and particular tools professors use like Turnitin. com to detect plagiarism do not detect it. But could it be used as a tool for professors to incorporate in the classroom?

According to “What is ChatGPT and Why are schools blocking it?,” an Associated Press article released earlier this year,  “OpenAI said in a human-written statement this week that it plans to work with educators as it learns from how people are experimenting with ChatGPT in the real world.”

ChatGPT could be an excellent tool for professors on our campus to use. Professors could create writing prompts, create challenging math problems or use them in lesson plans. It can be used as a fruitful tool to expand knowledge in the classroom rather than be used as a tool for students to cheat. This could further widen the gap between students who have to work harder than most and potentially hinder students when they start working at jobs within their major. 

ChatGPT has many benefits to help students learn. It can be a quick alternative learning tool for students to have easy access to clarification on certain subjects that may be challenging for them.

According to an article published by the American Psychological Association, “How to use ChatGPT as a learning tool,”  "ChatGPT offers fast and easy access to information, which you may deem inappropriate in certain learning scenarios. But finding ways to incorporate AI tools in your course could actually help prepare students for the real world, where they’ll need to apply concepts rather than simply recall facts.”

For students, this could be a refreshing new way to fully immerse themselves in their learning toward their major, potentially propelling them in their careers or endeavors for years after they graduate from college.

“I don’t see it as a tool to be used for cheating; I see it as a tool to help, preservation for the mind,” Shippensburg University business accounting major Makir Compton said.

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