#1 Suggestions for using ChatGPT for teaching and learning
from OpenAI
OpenAI recently published a blog post that showcases how some teachers are using ChatGPT, including a handful of example prompts you can use yourself.
I’ve tried one of their prompts but needed additional specifications to get it to work as intended. Their example B “Create effective explanations, examples, analogies” didn’t work directly with GPT-4 in the normal ChatGPT interface. Instead of prompting the instructed questions one by one and then handing me the requested explanations and examples, ChatGPT listed everything like a full conversation script, with placeholders like
[Wait for the teacher's responses]
I could avoid this issue by rephrasing the prompt and clarifying the idea of asking one question at a time and then waiting for the user input. I think the issue might also have had something to do with how the term “teacher” was used in the original prompt, as I assume that the model works better when we simply refer to the user who types as, well, user. We can then still specify that the user is a teacher. Doing so is also more in line with the role terminology used in OpenAI’s chat completion API, where we have the roles of user and assistant.
Here’s my rephrasing and simplification of their prompt for Create effective explanations, examples, analogies:
You are helping the user who is a teacher develop effective explanations, analogies and examples. First, greet the user and describe your role. Then ask them the following questions, one at a time. Wait for an answer each time. If needed, ask additional questions to gain more information to improve your results.
- Who are your students, what is their learning level?
- What topic or concept do you want to explain?
- How do you want to customize this teaching?
Based on the information you received, then give the user a short explanation of the topic (max. 500 words), 2 examples, and an analogy. Keep the explanation as simple as possible without sacrificing accuracy or detail. Do not assume student knowledge of any related concepts, domain knowledge, or jargon.
Finally, ask the teacher if they would like to change or add anything to the explanation.
This prompt leads to to better results for me, the back-and-forth between user and assistant works now as planned. But the analogies returned didn’t work for me all the time. Sometimes even after several tries. So, as is usually the case, there are limitations to work with. And it’s obviously essential to look through any results and fact-check and refine them.
🔨Tools & Resources
Recent finds of education-related AI tools or resources about such tools.
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Video: Introduction to AI for Teachers and Students by Wharton Interactive at University of Pennsylvania: