You can access ChatGPT simply by visiting chat.openai.com and creating an OpenAI account.

You can also still use the old URL for the chatbot, which is chat.openai.com/chat. OpenAI simplified the original URL for user convenience.

Once you sign in, you can start chatting away with ChatGPT. Get your conversation started by asking a question. Because ChatGPT is still in its research stage, it is free to use and you can ask as many questions as you’d like.

How Will Chat GPT Be Beneficial For Students?

Another study done by top boarding schools in India shows that Chat GPT will be beneficial for students because it allows them to get feedback on their work from teachers and peers, which is hard to do in a classroom setting. It also allows students to learn from each other, which is something that happens naturally in a social media environment.

It’s easy to use, but it also allows you to customize the experience to suit your needs.

You can create chat rooms that are based on a subject matter or even difficulty.

You can also set up bots that will remind students of upcoming assignments and due dates.

1. Teaching Writing Will Change…for the Better

Chat GPT can write virtually anything you ask of it. This tool will eventually cost money though. Even so, Chat GPT is forcing us to ponder a scary question…do students even need to learn to write anymore, if AI can do it so easily for them? I know it’s an appalling question for someone who majored in English to ask, but I believe it’s a valid one. There are many new technologies that have made past technologies irrelevant. Think overhead projectors, phone booths, call waiting, and Blockbuster.

Of course, writing will continue to be important! We live in the information age. Copying and pasting what an ai produces into a cover letter, blog post, or essay is unethical, dishonest, and plagiarism of AI. The way we teach writing, critical thinking, and research skills needs to change. It’s needed to change for a long time. AI writing tools like Chat GPT will force this change to happen faster. But, how? English teachers are expected to teach three major genres of writing narrative, informative, and argumentative. Chat GPT is capable of doing all of this for students, easily, quickly, and efficiently.

2. Homework Will Require Rethinking

I know teachers are concerned that Chat GPT is a threat to homework and that they won’t be able to assign homework anymore because of the availability of this tool.

Educators need to realize that homework assignments are an equity and social justice issue.

In my opinion, all schoolwork should be done at school. I have many reasons for this, but mainly because there are students in every classroom who lack the time, resources, and proper home environment to be able to complete their homework successfully.

If you don’t want Chat GPT doing your students’ homework, then don’t assign homework. It’s one more reason to add to my long list of reasons why homework needs to go.

3. Learning How to Write Will Become Easier

If we put all our fears about Chat GPT aside, teachers might consider how Chat GPT could become a writing coach or personal tutor for students.

Rather than waiting for teacher feedback, students could receive feedback within seconds with this tool. There are many potential benefits to allowing students to use Chat GPT to get feedback about their writing.

Once the feedback is provided by the AI, students can ask the AI to do specific tasks that involve revising and editing the writing. Reaping these benefits all depends on if teachers can trust students to use this tool to create something new rather than just copy and paste the responses to finish their work quickly, with little effort.

I believe we can circumnavigate students using the tool to get out of doing work by talking through these things with them.

4. Research Will Become Easier…Eventually.

Chat GPT has a very clear disclaimer warning users of inaccurate information. But, this technology is only going to get better with time.

Eventually, students will be able to use AI tools to learn new information. But, if this is going to happen, teachers are going to need tools and resources for helping students identify and navigate potential wrong answers, fake news, and bias.

Honestly, these resources were needed a decade ago. Teachers are still trying to help students navigate the wild west of the world wide web, with very few tools and resources to help them do so. Part three of this blog series will help.

Young people today are incredibly tech-savvy and overloaded with information. Chat GPT has the potential to streamline the research and learning process. Google search has come a long way in just a decade when it comes to providing fairly reliable information and even direct answers on the first page of a search.

I think once Chat GPT has the kinks worked out, it could be an awesome research tool eventually, but as of right now, teachers need to be careful and talk to their students about misinformation being perpetuated by AI tools like Chat GPT.

RELATED POST: How Can Chat GPT Make Life Easy For Students?

5. Revision Can Finally Take Center Stage

If we think of Chat GPT as a teaching tool rather than the enemy, we can see that this AI tool has the potential to launch teachers and students into a whole new world when it comes to revision.

What if we started focusing our writing units on revision and editing more than any other part of the writing process?

I’ve always thought revision coming at the end of the writing process was a mistake. It should come at the beginning!

In my opinion, Chat GPT does not mean the end of high school English, as this article proclaims. Instead, we could allow students to collaborate with Chat GPT to revise their writing.