ChatGPT in the classroom: Savior of Education or the Worst Thing Ever? with Spencer Burrows

“Oftentimes when a technology is released that relates to education or could be, it immediately divides the education world into two camps. Either this is going to be the savior of education, or this is the worst thing ever and we need to ban it. And I don't think it's any of those two ends. It's somewhere in the middle. And then I think with any kind of technology, you need to view it as a tool and use it when it's useful and don't use it when it's not.”

Spencer Burrows is the 11th Grade Dean at Pacific Ridge School in Carlsbad, California, as well as Teach Plus of California policy fellow and Coro Lead LA alumnus. Burrows serves as education adjunct faculty at National University and on the Board of Directors of TEACH Public Schools in South Los Angeles. Two recent articles that Spencer has written appeared in Chalkbeat and Education Week.

Three years after the great pivot into remote teaching due to the Pandemic, teachers are now facing a technology revolution in the classroom once more. ChatGPT, released to the world in January of 2023, is changing the way students write, research, study and think.  The AI technology impacts the way teachers are designing, assigning, and grading assessments. Yet the advent of ChatGPT has created in many situations a cat and mouse game that no one wants to play — particularly as we still struggle to form trusting bonds in the classroom. Join us for a deep look into the impact of AI in the classroom as it stands today, and learn strategies to help integrate ChatGPT smoothly into your classroom. You may well decide that this new technology actually serves as a boost to your instructional delivery. Or not. Yet if one thing is certain, ChatGPT is here to stay.

We asked Chat GPT to summarize this podcast episode in limerick form, and here is its answer:

There once was a model named Chat,

Whose skills were really quite pat,

It predicted with ease,

And would do as you please,

But it's not quite Terminator, don't fret!

Some folks fear it's a doomsday device,

And want to ban it in a trice,

But it's just a tool,

Not a rogue AI ghoul,

Everything it does is already online, nice!

Sure, ChatGPT may be quick,

And can make your papers slick,

But plagiarism's a sin,

And it's always been,

So let's not get too hung up on the trick.