Russell Stannard is a British educational technologist who has been awarded by the British Council, the University of Westminster and Times Higher for his work on the use of ICT tools in education. On his YouTube channel and his website, Russell teaches teachers and students how to incorporate new technologies, including artificial intelligence, into teaching and learning in general, but especially languages.
Do you think that ChatGPT can become better than other search engines like Google?
ChatGPT is probably not the tool you would use to search for very specific information. There are other artificial intelligence tools that would do a better job than ChatGPT if you want to find information on a specific topic. However, if you're looking for more general or summary information, then I think ChatGPT is a great tool. On the other hand, we must remember that the information provided by ChatGPT is not always reliable. Especially when it comes to information that deals with historical events, it is influenced by all kinds of information found on the internet, so we must be very careful with ChatGPT in this regard. I certainly think it can be part of our research process, but it should not be our only source of inquiry. We must consult other sources to verify the information. It is a very complicated subject at the moment.
Do you think it's fair to use ChatGPT for academic work?
The problem is that we need to learn how to use this tool because it's going to be around for a long time. It's not going anywhere. I don't think it can be avoided. What happens today with ChatGPT is what happened with the advent of calculators four or five decades ago. They tried to ban them in schools and it didn't work. I don't know if it's really possible to ban the use of ChatGPT in schools, but of course it's going to be very difficult to do so. On the other hand, we must remember that ChatGPT is just one tool among many others, there are many more tools on the market that do similar jobs. That is why I think it will be difficult for them to eliminate it from educational centers. What we really need to do is find a way to use this technology for the benefit of students (and teachers!). It wouldn't make sense to ban it.
How can ChatGPT affect the quality of academic papers?
One of the things that worries me the most today is that ChatGPT is not being used in a constructive way. For example, it would not be good for students to use it to write essays, but they could use it to plan them, for example. Of course it is true that in this way students could lose the ability to plan their texts, to think about how they are going to organize their argument (or arguments) throughout their writing. The skill of planning a text is a skill that is very important to develop in our students and I am concerned that ChatGPT may diminish some of our intellectual abilities and make us lazier in certain aspects. Furthermore, ChatGPT is based on texts that are available on the web, and if no new information is added, you will always have access to the same texts. In that case, it is important that things change, develop. However, if ChatGPT was used as a source of inspiration and idea generation, it would be perfect. In this way, we could choose the most relevant ideas -of all those that are provided- and organize them appropriately. You need to have adequate cognitive ability to perform this task. If students could be trained to use ChatGPT effectively, they could learn a lot of new things. Personally, I use it every day in my Polish classes and sometimes even to practice my Spanish. This tool can greatly help students in their studies, but what I think is going to happen is that many are going to use it incorrectly. This is one of the aspects of the so-called 'digital divide' and I think a lot is happening, unfortunately there are many people who lack basic digital skills today. If you are a person who likes to learn, I am a fan of learning, and it is an incredible tool.
Do you think academic institutions can benefit from ChatGPT?
Sure! There are many ways in which universities can benefit from this tool. For example, they can use ChatGPT to create marketing content, perform administrative tasks, or design online courses. In this way, they can save a lot of time (and money!). ChatGPT is generating a great change in the way of doing things for society in general.
What do you think is the best way for the next generation, and even the current generation, to adapt to this technology?
Undoubtedly, the best way is to embrace this technology, adopt and adapt to it, learn to use it, experiment and discover what and to what extent it can be used. From the moment ChatGPT came out, from day one, I used it to learn Polish and other things that interest me like history. It would be very useful if teachers knew how to use ChatGPT to guide their students. This is precisely what I try to do through my YouTube videos. We have to be creative with this technology, because it can be used in so many ways.
Do you think that society and academics should feel threatened by the introduction of ChatGPT?
ChatGPT should be considered a friend, an ally. Nonetheless, it is an issue that needs a lot of consideration and there may be some action to be taken in the future, but overall I think it is going to be a positive thing. This is how the world progresses. Progress cannot be stopped. It would be foolish to do so. There are other tools that seem much more dangerous, such as voice cloning tools, which are really worrying. If we go back in time and think about when the internet emerged, has it been something positive or negative? I would say that overall, if we weigh the negatives and the positives, the introduction of the internet has been a very positive thing. The same can be said about artificial intelligence. I think ChatGPT still needs a lot of discussion. We have to think about it a lot. But what seems to be clear is that we have to adopt it: we have no other choice.
Article prepared by students of the UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER (LONDON).
