MCEF-CNDLS Forum on Chat GPT

Event Overview

The Main Campus Executive Faculty (MCEF) and CNDLS-hosted forum focused on artificial intelligence tools and their role in higher education. Georgetown faculty across departments shared how they’re engaging with artificial intelligence tools like Chat GPT in their courses, as well as how such tools are currently used in their disciplines. Two student representatives also offered their perspectives on how students are—or aren’t—using Chat GPT.

Panelists included: Andrew Zeitlin (McCourt School of Public Policy), Susanna Lee (French), Nick Lovegrove (McDonough School of Business), and Nathan Schneider (Linguistics and Computer Science) offered their faculty experiences, while Camber Vincent (GUSA President and SFS Class of 2024) and Eric Saldanha (GradGov Senator) spoke to the student perspective.

To hear more details on this robust discussion, view the recording of the forum below. Our panelists shared examples of assignment alterations, how faculty are communicating with students, what students use Chat GPT for in classes, and more about how Chat GPT serves as a catalyst for our consideration of AI in higher education.

Watch the Forum

Key Takeaways

Before hearing from faculty, CNDLS' Executive Director, Eddie Maloney, shared the following framework for thinking about Chat GPT’s possibilities in course design:

• Regulate: Be clear with your students about when the use of tools like Chat GPT are allowed, and when they’re infringing on academic integrity. (See sample syllabus statements below.)
• Adapt: Create assignments/activities that avoid responses that are currently answerable by AI tools such as Chat GPT.
• Integrate: Incorporate AI tools into your pedagogy, taking advantage of its affordances to your course’s dynamic.
• Reimagine: We may need to rethink what it means to create and communicate across the board.

We asked the panelists: “How does Chat GPT work in conversation with assignment design, learning objectives, and academic integrity?” Some key takeaways included:

• Building fundamental knowledge and skills remains important, as is teaching students how to both generate and evaluate academic work. Thus, consider exploring ways to integrate Chat GPT into your teaching as a tool to leverage these fundamental skills.
• There's an opportunity to view AI tools as core components of effective work practices after college—teaching students to do the core functions of their jobs more effectively is an asset.
• Chat GPT, and other tools like it, aren’t foolproof. They make errors and aren’t trustworthy to create full replacements of student work. Notably, students at Georgetown aren’t using them that way.''

Resources

• Chat GPT and Artificial Intelligence Tools, CNDLS
• MCEF-CNDLS Forum on ChatGPT and AI Tools slides
• Maloney, Eddie. (2023). "The 4 Stages of AI," Inside Higher Ed.