Innovative Online Ideas- Debate activities using ChatGPT

ChatGPT has been a big point of contention among educators over the past few months. Many instructors are concerned about issues related to academic integrity and the potential for plagiarism. However, there are some who believe the tool could actually benefit students and faculty alike. In today's blog post, I will discuss one such strategy to incorporate ChatGPT into a course assignment.

A while ago, I stumbled upon a video from my favorite gamification Instructional Designer, Marie-Jo Leroux. She shares excellent tips about gamification and how to design effective and enjoyable activities online. One of her videos had to do with ChatGPT and was called Using ChatGPT to gamify e-learning. In this video, she held a debate with ChatGPT after asking it a question about gamification in e-learning. I found the debate to be fascinating and it gave me the idea that this could be an excellent way to help students learn more about how this AI tool works and why they can't simply rely on pressing a button to have it write their papers for them.

Some of the lessons learned from this video revealed that:

1. ChatGPT is often just regurgitating content found on the internet- no deep thought or critical thinking has taken place
2. There are often a variety of nuances that are not captured when ChatGPT is providing a response
3. The response received is very dependent on the question asked and this question may need to be tweaked to really arrive at an accurate answer
4. Oftentimes, the response ChatGPT gives is surface level and more in-depth questioning is needed to really understand the content
5. The responses can be helpful, but should not replace traditional methods of research and critical thinking. 
6. It's important for students to understand the limitations of ChatGPT so they don't fall into a false sense of security that it will always provide an accurate answer when asked a question. Instead, it's important to use the response from ChatGPT as a starting point for further research and critical thinking. 
7. It is also beneficial to double check any information received from ChatGPT against other sources to ensure accuracy and get different perspectives on the topic being discussed. By using multiple sources of information, students can better form their own opinion about a topic. 

As you can see from this list, ChatGPT can be used in a variety of ways to strengthen students' knowledge on a topic. You might be able to ask questions such as :

1. What might you add to the response you received? 
2. Which response may not be completely accurate?
3. Find 3 sources to support this response.
4. Find 3 sources that refute this response.

One thing is for sure and that is that AI is here to stay and we must show students how to use tools responsibly rather than being afraid to address it in the classroom. I believe that there may be ways that instructors are able to promote critical thinking skills by teaching students how to evaluate multiple sources of information and come up with their own opinions on a subject matter. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic.Share them in The Online Educator Facebook Group!