Spring Staff Forum : Exploring ChatGPT

Friday, March 10, 2023 - 12:30

In excess of 100 Maynooth University colleagues, from across a range of departments, units and functions met both in-person and online on 28 February to discuss ChatGPT – challenges and opportunities.
 
As the University community is aware, ‘ChatGPT is a language model or chatbot which “interacts in a conversational” way; it is trained to “follow an instruction in a prompt and provide a detailed response” (OpenAI, no date). ChatGPT can produce different types of text (academic papers, poems, essays, advertisements, rap, speeches, stand-up comedy scripts, presentation outlines, learning outcomes), computer code and art’ (CTL, 2023, p. 1). The recent emergence of ChatGPT has prompted conversations across higher education institutions, locally and globally, about its potential impact on teaching, learning and assessment. A key theme in these conversations is academic integrity.
 
At the MU event, which was a collaboration between CTL and the University’s Associate Deans for T&L, colleagues learned from international expert Dr Thomas Lancaster (Imperial College London) and from the University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering Associate Dean for T&L Dr John Keating. A digest of the Padlet contributions from the day suggests that ChatGPT and similar technologies offer a variety of opportunities and challenges, and that there is a need to respond to the technology in the short and longer term.
 
CTL has written a short insight document on ChatGPT which will continue to evolve as our understanding grows. Recordings of the presentations from Dr Lancaster and Dr Keating will soon be available in the CTL Assessment and Feedback Hub. Students and staff can also access a variety of resources on Academic Integrity and Artificial Intelligence in the hub.
 
References
 
Maynooth University Centre for Teaching and Learning (2023). ChatGPT, academic integrity, and teaching, learning and assessment, Maynooth: Maynooth University. Available at: https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/sites/default/files/assets/document//ChatGPT%20insight%2021%20Feb%2023%20final.pdf
 
OpenAI (no date). About OpenAI. Available at: https://openai.com/about/