Tech Tips and News for January 13, 2023

ChatGPT at capacity page w/example of what it does

Chat GPT has become a dominating, recurring topic of conversation in education circles, and needs to be on every teacher's radar as the latest and more refined way to gather information and perform actions. Not sure what it is? Click this link for a brief overview video. It was described as "Google on steroids" and a "blessing and a curse in the K-12 space" in this article by April Murdock CISSP of Seattle Public Schools. Basically it's a new, free, service using Artificial Intelligence to answer questions or perform actions in a normal, conversational way, which of course, lends itself to students using it to do their homework. This is the main concern of educators, and it will definitely shake up education in the next few years. That being said, it also will help teachers write lesson plans, create writing examples in any style imaginable, or anything you can think of. I've included blog posts from John Sowash and Matt Miller with both pro and con opinions, as well as ideas for teachers to use to navigate it going forward. Keep learning more about it, try it out yourself, and form your own opinion as to whether it's more blessing or curse. Either way, it's the future, so don't ignore it. In fact it's so popular, every time I try to access Chat GPT, it is at capacity and cannot be accessed - and I've been trying multiple times a day for several days. After 3 days, I was finally able to create an account, but by the time my account was verified it was at capacity again. Later on the third day I was actually able to login and use it. See the results below in the ChatGPT in Action post.

I've blocked the interface URL for students at ASA for now, but not for adults - it's important that teachers areable to play around with it to see what it can do, and be aware of how it can be used for both good and bad. Keep in mind, this will only block students from using it while at school or while using their school account. Once they are home they can access it all they want from another online account or by not logging in at all. We can reconsider blocking it for students (assuming the privacy policy is appropriate for our students), but I wanted to give teachers the opportunity to come up to speed with it before opening it to students. 

• Data Privacy Day is Jan 28:  10 Data Privacy Lessons for All Ages
• Teachers:  Read These Articles to learn About ChatGPT
• ChatGPT, Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence in Education
• ChatGPT in Action
• A Cool Tool for Uncluttering and Saving Online Articles
• Google Slides Photo Words - How to Place an Image Inside of Text
• Create a Snowman Word Game

Data Privacy Day is Jan 28:  10 Data Privacy Lessons for All Ages

10 Data Privacy Lessons for All Ages, from Chromebook Classroom by John Sowash

Did you know that Data Privacy Day is January 28th? This is the perfect opportunity to review online data privacy with your students. The Protect Young Eyes curriculum will have a lesson or two on this as well.

Teachers:  Read These Articles to learn About ChatGPT

Teachers:  Read These Articles to learn About Chat GPT, from Chromebook Classroom by John Sowash

John Sowash's post contains links to several articles written by teachers about applications or concerns for education. 

ChatGPT, Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence in Education

ChatGPT, Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence in Education, from Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller

Here's an alternate stance that promotes changing the way we teach to accommodate AI and bots, much like we did with calculators and Google search. AI is definitely not going away. Matt also offers some suggestions for teachers. See what you think.

ChatGPT in Action

I was finally able to access ChatGPT. I asked it to explain ChatGPT in non-technical terms. Here is what it wrote:

ChatGPT is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) model that is trained to understand and generate natural language. It is specifically designed to generate human-like text and can be used in a variety of applications, such as language translation, text summarization, and conversation. In layman's terms, ChatGPT is a computer program that can understand and write sentences in a way that resembles human writing or speech.

Then I asked to write the information as a children's story. Here's the charming result:

Once upon a time, in a far-off land, there lived a clever computer program named ChatGPT. ChatGPT was special because it could understand and write sentences just like people do.

One day, ChatGPT's creators gave it a very important task: to help people talk to other computers and machines in a way that was easy to understand. To accomplish this, ChatGPT read lots and lots of books and stories, so it could learn how people talk and write.

After working hard for a long time, ChatGPT became very good at understanding and writing sentences. People were amazed at how well it could understand them and respond in a way that was just like talking to another person.

ChatGPT's creators were very proud of their clever program and used it to help people in all sorts of ways, such as translating languages, summarizing long articles, and even having friendly conversations.

And so, ChatGPT lived happily ever after, helping people to communicate better with the world around them.

 Finally, I asked it to write it as a nursery rhyme:

ChatGPT, ChatGPT, clever and bright,Understands and writes with all its might.Reads lots of books to learn and know,Helping people communicate, as they go.

ChatGPT, ChatGPT, so smart and sly,Translates languages and summarize, oh my!With friendly conversation, it's always game,Helping people talk, just like its name.

ChatGPT, ChatGPT, our language friend,With it, communicating, is never the end,Always helping, until the end of the day,ChatGPT, ChatGPT, always here to stay.

Then I asked it to explain Transubstantiation to small children. It tackled that task pretty well:

Transubstantiation is a big word that refers to a belief in the Catholic Church about the Holy Communion, or the bread and wine that are shared during Mass. Catholics believe that during Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus, instead of just symbols of them.

So it's like a magic trick but with real bread and wine. Priests say special prayers, and the bread and wine change into the body and blood of Jesus. Even though it still looks like bread and wine, it has become Jesus himself, so that people can receive Jesus in a special way.

It's important to understand that, this is a belief and a sacrament that Catholics hold, and other religious groups may have different beliefs about the Communion.

This belief is important to Catholics because they believe that it brings them closer to Jesus, and they are thankful to be able to receive Jesus in this special way.

You get the idea, but this is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, of what ChatGPT can do. It can write code and solve math problems, although I've read it's not always completely accurate yet at either of those things. I've seen people use it for gift giving advice or to debate philosophical questions - yes ChatGPT will debate with you. The limits are ChatGPT has now knowledge of information after 2021, it blocks anything profane or inappropriate, and your imagination. As more people use it, the service will continue to evolve, gather more data and improve. What do you see it doing for you as a teacher? How do you think you could use it in your classroom? 

A Cool Tool for Uncluttering and Saving Online Articles

A Cool Tool for Uncluttering and Saving Online Articles, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne

This is a handy feature for both removing ads and saving articles to read later.

Google Slides Photo Words - How to Place an Image Inside of Text

Create a Snowman Word Game

Create a Snowman Word Game, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne

This is another customizable game offered by Flippity. You enter your own words and hints, students then guess the correct word to keep their snowman from melting.