Zak's Weekly Musings (January 18, 2023)
Who is Scared of Chat GPT? Not Us! (Part II)
The potential for Chat GPT to transform education is vast and varied, but ultimately its impact will depend on how and whether we all choose to introduce this technology in our classrooms. It’s possible that Chat GPT’s impact will be more sound than fury, similar to B.F. Skinner's Teaching Machines, or, perhaps, it will have a transformative effect, akin to the calculator. Alternatively, it may surpass all previous educational technologies in its impact. But one thing is for sure, we’ll never know its capabilities if we don’t begin to experiment with it.
And experimentation is truly the operative word. Under normal circumstances, we’d have data -- research, meta-analyses, experience -- to tell us what works. Unfortunately, there is a gap in the research right now -- we simply do not know what best practices are in using Chat GPT. This leaves us in a storm without a compass. And, as with a storm, we can’t just wait around for the research to catch up; we each have to become learning leaders in pursuit of figuring out what Chat GPT’s benefits and limitations are in our subject-area and grade-level.
To do so, we have to be willing to embrace a culture of experimentation – that being a culture wherein we encourage, even celebrate, appropriate risk-taking, mistake-making, reflection, and iterative growth. Of course, this is a BIG ask!
Experimentation requires us to do something incredibly difficult – to accept failure. It’s one thing to intellectually understand that experimentation is needed right now, but it’s another to actually take that risk knowing that failure is a distinct possibility. I mean, none of us wants to feel we are “failing” our students.
And so, for the second week in a row, I am using the Midweek Musing to slow down and set the stage before sharing practical and operational ways to integrate Chat GPT into our instruction. Specifically, I want us to reflect on the culture we are cultivating in the Middle School – a culture of risk-taking, mistake-making, and mistake-learning in pursuit of figuring out what works for our students.
To further emphasize the importance of a culture of experimentation, I want to share a podcast interview I recently participated in, which focused on normalizing professional failure. In listening to the podcast, I hope it reinforces the message that experimentation is not only acceptable, but necessary for our professional development. My job as a leader is to provide the support and resources needed for experimentation to take place, and for all of us to feel comfortable taking risks and learning from our mistakes.
Click here to listen to my podcast interview, Normalizing Failure, with Dr. E. Scott England.