AI in Education: A Deep Dive into ChatGPT's Student-Friendly AI Applications

Leveraging AI in Education: Insights and Innovations, Continuing the Conversation with Christian Jackson

Christian Jackson delve into the various ways AI and tools like ChatGPT are transforming students' learning experiences. They explore ten distinct areas where AI aids in education, including homework help, tutoring, writing assistance, language learning, research, study tools, scheduling, career exploration, personalized learning, creative projects, and mental health support. The discussion highlights anecdotes, practical applications, and the potential of AI to tailor education to individual needs, improve efficiency, and foster skills such as critical thinking and effective communication. The episode is part of a series examining the impact of AI on education, with promises of further exploration into the precautions and best practices for utilizing AI tools in future episodes.
00:00 Welcome and Introduction to AI's Impact on Students
01:07 Exploring AI in Homework Help and Tutoring
02:14 AI's Role in Writing Assistance and Creativity
04:42 Leveraging AI for Language Learning and Accessibility
06:48 Utilizing AI for Research and Information Gathering
07:57 Study Tools and Revision Aids Powered by AI
09:11 AI in Scheduling, Time Management, and Repacing
11:54 Career Exploration and Planning with AI
16:02 Personalized Learning and Project-Based Education
18:51 Mental Health Support Through AI Tools
21:35 Recap and Preview of Next Episode

For more information, visit the Sage Oak website at www.sageoak.education.

Thank you for listening to the Sage Studio podcast presented by Sage Oak Charter Schools and hosted by Tiffiny Webster, M.A.Ed. We invite you to follow the show and leave your review below. Sage Oak Charter Schools is an independent study nonclassroom based TK-12 personalized learning public charter school serving students in Southern California. Visit sageoak.education for more information.

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Transcript

0:14

Welcome to another episode of a Sage Studio I'm Tiffiny Webster and Christian Jackson is back. Part two. Let's get into it. It's so good. And today what we're going to dive into is really about how AI is impacting our students. And so I thought I'd have a little fun with this. I went to the source, I went to chatGPT and I decided, okay, let me put it in a little prompt to see what chatGPT would say about how students are being impacted and can best utilize chatGPT and AI tools. So I thought maybe we'd go through the list and I could get your feedback and compare it to what chatGPT had to say about that. What do you think? I'm very curious to know what it says. Okay. I always feel like whenever I ask for it to give me examples for help me, I'm always like, you can't do that. So let's see what it says. Okay. All right. Let's dive in. All right. So number one, ChatGPT said that one of the best ways that students can utilize AI is for homework help, and tutoring. So talk to me a little bit about how you've seen students capitalizing on the power of AI to help them with tutoring and homework support. I've heard some anecdotes and I've heard some really good stories about, Hey, I was a high school student. I had a really tough class. I really wasn't understanding the curriculum as instructed from my professor or my teacher. I asked ChatGPT to help me on the homework, and it would always get the math wrong, but because it listed out the steps, I was able to do it myself. Which is enormous, that's huge, it's like just learning how the steps work, having it explained to you at a level that you would understand, it's extremely helpful, I think that is an obvious and great use case it's just all about knowing exactly how to get what you want and not do a disservice to yourself by taking the easy way out. Yeah, and I like the guidelines you put in there. Am I using this to help me better understand the process of how to do something? Or am I using this as a way to get out of completing an assignment on my own? Exactly. I think that's a good distinction. Good distinction. Okay. Number two ChatGPT says that AI can really support students in writing assistance. And we did touch on this in our first episode in talking about those English teachers and the utilization of AI in the writing process when it comes to brainstorming and outlines. it's a tough question to answer because at the end of the day, it comes down to, it's less of what I think about a student using AI to go write an essay. It's more about how has that been embedded into the larger aspect of curriculum? Because if it's a shortcut and that's all it is. Obviously, that's to the detriment of the student. They're not going to learn, but if the teacher is going to have the good student go write the essay with AI and then come back into class and then redline the essay about where they think they can improve it. That's a completely different story. Right? There's something to be said about the thought process that goes into that, how we train to get those lightbulb moments, and to have students synergize different concepts. And then what about AI as far as some of those assistive practices, like we were talking with grammar with spelling you know, Grammarly Google docs, some of even the parts that are in Magic School which is a An AI software that I know some of our teachers are looking into and that really allows students. to utilize some of these tools to support them in their writing. Grammarly has been around for me over a decade now, right? Helping people clean up their essays before they submit it. There's nothing wrong with spell check that we've had a Microsoft Word for all this time. If a student can learn prior to getting feedback from the teacher, how they can improve their essay. Would anybody disagree? That's fantastic. It's great to speed up these feedback loops. With these tools that students are going to be interacting with in the future, how do we make sure that we have safeguards built into them so that students aren't allowed to just go get the answer to the question that they're looking for or supposed to answer and instead have to iteratively think and problem solve to get to the end goal. And I think there's tools out there that do a good job of that right now. And it's only going to get better. in the best case scenario, if we have a world where we have good digital citizens with our students, and they know how exactly these tools are being made, and how they should be interacting with them. I think that's a net positive for the world, instead of just having a few people know how to use them, in most. Yeah, I love how you worded that. I think that's perfectly said. Totally. Okay, moving on to area number three. ChatGPT suggested that students can use AI for language learning. Learning other languages, communicating with others in other languages. Where are you seeing this in education? That is One of the most interesting examples, I think, in California as well, because we're seeing a lot of influx of students who may not be literate in being able to read English or Spanish, right? And we have to really tailor a lot of the, say for English class, we're learning how to read. Tailor our readings. So I just had an example told to me yesterday, a teacher is taking her reading materials for her fourth grade, fifth grade classes, and then uploads them to GPT and says, rewrite this at a second grade reading level. And she can hand that out to the couple of students in the class that need a second grade reading level. A step up from that, translate the same reading to Spanish at a second grade or eighth grade reading level. And then you have an even more integrated and refined coursework for that particular student. So I think AI does a great job of allowing us to fine tune our curriculum and our coursework to better tackle this needs of each student Yeah, I think that's so true. And, you know, my teacher brain is going a mile a minute here and it makes me think back to when I was working directly with students, I would work oftentimes with students who were developing the English language, but they might be like fifth graders, sixth graders. So to give them reading material that is equivalent to "See Jane run". It's it's hard for them to get interested in that. Right. But if you could write something about something that they were interested in, maybe basketball or football or whatever it might be, and then ask chatGPT to translate that into a language and at a reading level that fits for them wow, that would be highly impactful, I would think. It's impactful and who doesn't want to see a student that's actually engaged with material, right? I think that's a real. Big benefit that we're going to see in the world of AI when it comes to learning is that the languages and being able to communicate with other people and translate things in different languages. So awesome. Okay, number four, research, using ChatGPT or AI tools to do some research. The old give me 10 websites on the gold rush, right? Those types of things. Where do you see that fitting in? I think it's very important for students to know where, how to source information. I think that comes back to the whole digital literacy and digital citizen aspect that I touched on a little bit prior. I use tools like Perplexity, for example, to help me do research before I have conversations with people, just so I can better understand their background and where they're coming into the conversation at, right? Great for information, but a good qualm there is you should probably know to click on the sources that it's giving you so you can double check to make sure that it's accurate It's like asking is the internet helpful with research. Answer is yes. But again, the internet was also very harmful with misinformation and hiding some of the truths, right? Yeah. I like that back checking is huge, I use it literally every day to help me research every day. And there's always those one or two times where I go, good thing I clicked on the source. Cause I would have said something completely inaccurate in this call. Yes, for sure. For sure. Okay. Number five. Study and revision tools. Creating things like flashcards or vocabulary lists we've seen there's some like study. com or Quizlet, some of these other softwares that they can generate some flashcards and things for you based on a topic. How do you see AI playing a role in student study tools? Is a pretty quick and easy one. I mean, we have Quizlet. They just introduced some AI tools. I could easily take my notes from class, take pictures of each of them, and upload them to ChatGPT and say, make this into a slide deck. I remember, goodness gracious, I remember being in high school and having those 100 plus Spanish vocabulary words I had to study up on. The biggest time suck for the class is me uploading all the words to Quizlet. If I could just take a picture now and then have the Quizlet make the flashcards for me, oh my goodness, I would have had an extra another two hours of study time. That's a big plus right there. And that's a really good point, is you take some of the weight out of the actual task of doing the prep. On the study materials, and you actually pour that extra time into studying. That sounds like a pretty smart idea. It did straight up. Yeah. I like it. I like it. I think that's really good. Okay. Number six. I think this is a good one. Scheduling and time management. So using ChatGPT to help you maybe plan out your study schedule, put things on the calendar. What do you think about students using AI to help them with that? I'd love to actually hear your input first. Cause you said you love this one. I'm sure you have some use cases already top of mind. Here's what I love is I love automation because I don't have to think twice about something. if I don't put it on my calendar, it doesn't happen. So it's I like to make sure that when I'm in the moment that I can put in a date with something I need to remember. And I love to if I'm just putting in, a place where I have to be and then the address automatically populates and then it generates directions and like all of that is so efficient. I know this is something that actually LAUSD is looking into right now as well. I think they're going to build this into their ed tool. But, they're going to be sending reminders to students on, Hey, you have practice at this time, you also have these assignments due, So it's almost like a buddy that helps them set up their schedule and their time. I think those are all really good points. And from a teacher perspective, and specifically you know, coming from Sage Oak where it's an independent study program, I've noticed that sometimes the black hole that people get sucked into, my students got sucked into, was that they would forget a due date, then they would get behind, then it would become so overwhelming that they just would want to just block it out and the assignments aren't going away. They're just like stacking up in the background. And so that was really something that I was always trying to improve and look for new ways where I could help my students before it got. too far down into the black hole that they could be like, Hey, okay, I am a week behind. How can I repace my schedule to make sure that I could get caught up with these five assignments while also doing these new five. And then that way you're like, okay, look, it's not. You're not too far gone. Okay, you're going to have to double time it for three days, but by, this day, you're going to be back on track. So I think that would be tremendously helpful for them to utilize some AI to support them in repacing. And that's not even a use case I'd considered before because my brain didn't even go to the students who are behind schedule and have to catch up and helping you build a plan to get back on track. That's a phenomenal use case because a lot of times students just go out. Yes. Far gone. Yes. I guess it's not happening. Yes. And then they don't want to talk about it. Then they're like, I don't want to say how far behind I am now because I don't know what to do about that. No one does. You don't want to ever tell your boss you're not going to get that assignment in on time, right? Right. Right. So yeah, so I think that could be a good one. Okay. Number seven, exploring career paths. How is AI supporting students in exploring career paths and, I mean, let's even talk about the AI jobs, so talk to me about those things. This is very apt. I always feel like timing is just perfect in a lot of these education conversations that I have. Just yesterday I was helping a teacher build out a school AI space. To act as a chatbot to help her students dive deep into potential careers that they're interested in. And she set one up herself, had some questions around how to better refine the prompting so the system actually did what she wanted it to do. And we ended up with a tool where a student could go on there and give very uninterested inputs, right? Hey, what's a career that you want to do? Back flips. So that goes, okay, so it seems like you like athletics and maybe a little bit of gymnastics. Have you thought about anything in these spaces? Boom boom. And then started to go and get that conversation rolling. So there's tools that can help you just explore careers.. I think it's a lot easier now to just learn about a space. Take for example, if you wanted to get into sports. But maybe not as an athlete, you want to get into maybe the managerial side, or the professional side, lawyer, law, whatever you wanted to do, you can now go to the AI and say, Hey, where are the accreditations and certificates that I need to be able to get into this role? Where can I go do that or go learn that? Are there any free resources online that I can start taking classes to be able to do it? Again, going back to your research question earlier, helping you with your research. Yeah. We don't have to get into the conversation about what jobs are around with AI, right? but I think it's imperative that we get our students prepared now to be able to be better critical thinkers, better big problem solvers, better communicators with themselves, peers, and this technology so that they are better equipped for the jobs that are going to be arising and to come in this new digital age for sure. And utilizing these skills, these AI skills to conduct their business whether it's marketing or communications or other things, using the AI as a tool. I'm not sure if we'll get into this later on, but I have to add one point to this about just how important communication is, right. And how these tools really do help you hone in on your communication. Again, talking to a teacher, And she's seeing the students interact and prompt AI, And the students, now get frustrated with its technology, and she's the one helping teach the students. If you look at what you asked the AI to do, you didn't communicate exactly what you wanted from it, so it gave you what you asked for. It's just not what you wanted, right? The reason I mentioned that, When we talk about those skills and working with these tools, a lot of it's just communications abilities and communication skills, managerial skills. And it's a great silver lining that I don't think a lot of people have identified yet. But if you work with these tools and you start to be frustrated with them because they're not giving you what you want, reread what you asked for and see if you could have communicated that better. Because at the end of the day, it's a stranger that you're talking to. Yeah, it's true. It's a stranger out of context. Then you're not going to get what you want. So I think that's like a very beautiful silver lining. It's like almost using the technology helps you communicate better with people in your real life. So anyway, I really like that. And I think that's so true. I think that is one of the components of it that gets overlooked a little bit is that it's not just instant buttons. Like you do have to put in the prompts. To generate the kind of results that you want to get from AI, and if you aren't clearly communicating what it is that you're looking for in the way you want the AI to generate those results for you, you're right, you're not going to get what you are expecting. So learning how to communicate. In these prompting ways is really important and it does, help you to not only be a better communicator with AI, but with people as well, because you're, you start to get clarity on how you communicate your ideas or thoughts or questions, expectations, all those different things. So good. Okay. Love that idea. Okay, let's talk about number eight, which is personalized learning. And we've touched on this, and I think this is one of the things that makes Sage Oak so excited to bring some of this technology in to the learning is because the personalization features. So what do you think about how you're seeing that benefit students? I think Sage Oak is doing a great job being a pioneer in this space. Personalized learning and increased feedback loops will be the biggest. Imagine how much faster they're going to learn. Every student will get stuck on different parts of standards and curriculum than everybody else. But if this tutor that's built into the device that they're practicing the coursework on knows exactly the standards that they're already good at and knows how to communicate with that student, can you imagine how much more refined that communication and those teachings are going to be for that student? Oh, it's just exponential. Exponential growth. So personalized learning is super important. I mean, a one on one tutor for every student, no matter the income level or area or region of the student is immensely powerful. I agree. I think it's very powerful. I think it's going to be one of the biggest things that impacts and changes the landscape of education, that personalization side. So exciting. That leads us to number nine, which is creative projects, and we've talked about this a little bit, and I had a really great conversation with our high school principal, Traci King, and, she was sharing with me about some of the ways that they can already start to envision utilizing these AI tools for students to be creative with the projects they are working on how are you seeing creativity kind of change and projects change as a result of AI integration? We want it to have more goal based and project based curriculum and coursework. Why don't we have semester or trimester long projects where students groups are put together. And you have an end goal that you look to accomplish over the course of the semester. And it's a lofty one, and you're going to go back and forth for a couple weeks with the teacher to make sure that it's a lofty enough goal. And then you're going to have to figure out what the tasks are that you have to complete to accomplish that goal. And if AI is a tool that you use to get it done, fantastic. But it's not going to be just a completion goal. It's not going to be, I'm going to write a 200 page essay. That's not going to work. But if you set a big lofty goal, and you accomplish it. And if you tackle state standards along the way, and you tie that goal into the learnings that your teacher already knows they're going to tackle over the course of the year. mean, talk about getting students bought into curriculum. So that would be just my favorite use case of how I, I hope teachers and educators take this. That's just a beautiful implementation to me. Totally. Agreed. All right. And number 10, which I think is really great, is that students can really use some of these AI support tools for some mental health and some well being and support in that regard. How are you seeing students use AI in that way? Do you use AI as a counselor or a therapist, right? there's a lot of considerations there about data. Yeah. And knowing what to share with computers and what not to share with computers and also human relationships and human connection, right? You know, when I think about mental health support or just overall wellbeing and self care for our students, I think about not necessarily talking to a computer or talking to a AI generated therapist. Cause like you, I feel like there's some things there that. That could go awry and that we need to make sure that our kids are in a safe place. But where I have seen to be really beneficial is things like the calm app, where you just need something to like, bring you down when you're feeling a little bit anxious, or, you know, if you were using either software or GPT to be like, Hey, what are 10 steps I can take when I'm feeling overwhelmed to refocus and recenter, right? I think that those types of tools could be really helpful. And I've seen other apps that are reminders of Hey, here's your reminder to breathe, every 20 minutes or every 50 minutes it's, here's your reminder to go outside and get some fresh air Right. And so that is AI generated, but I think those are some tools that can just help students to take a deep breath. What do you think about those types of tools? We are going to see very soon a lot of progress in terms of, take Apple for example, with the Apple Watch. They're already getting so much information about how long you're sedentary through the day, how much exercise you're getting, what your blood pressure rate is, all the other bits of information about you. I could imagine there being like a AI breath coach. Let's say you have the heart monitor, heart rate monitor, and it's tracking what your heart rate is and says, Hey, would you want to do a breath exercise? And then you have the AI breath work coach walking you through a calming one, or maybe an energizing one or solitude inducing one. So all those different aspects, a lot of very interesting to me. I think for students it's very much so about teaching students how to take care of themselves and not get too anxiety ridden. And we're seeing such a big spike with that in the youth right now. Tools are going to get better at being able to service that. shoot, I'd be surprised if Apple isn't leading the way on that by the year. To be continued on that conversation, but I think it'll be interesting to see where it goes. Takes us there. Okay. So we have so much still to cover, but I want to save some for our episode three. Just a quick review of what we talked about in episode two today was the 10 ways that according to chatGPT students can utilize chatGPT and AI So number one was using it as homework help and tutoring help. And we're seeing that taking place. Number two was as a writing assistant, maybe supporting students with some of that generation of ideas or outlines, but still we're saying, let's keep some art in the writing to and don't let GPT or AI do all the work. Number three was learning different languages. Number four was using it as a research tool. Number five was using it to revise and edit work. And also as like a study assistant, those flashcards, vocabulary lists, things like that. Number six was for scheduling and time management. And we said, we'd love the automation side of that, or even the repacing. That's really going to be a great way to utilize the AI. Love that. Okay. Number seven was the exploration of career paths. Number eight was personalizing learning. Number nine was creating projects with the AI tools. And number ten was that mental health and being application. So good! I'm pretty impressed with this list from ChatGPT, I have to say. I think those are ten really great ways that students can use AI and ChatGPT into their learning. that, that was a very in depth discussion about all the ideas that it gave, what implementation looks like now, what it could look like. So now I'm curious to know what the next chat is going to be about. All right, so coming up in episode three, we're going to break down some of the things ChatGPT suggests students should be cautious of when it comes to using ChatGPT in AI. And then we'll also get into some best practices for parents when it comes to supporting your kids with the security and efficiency of using AI. All right. So stay tuned. Ready for episode three. Yeah, this is funny. It's almost like we're doing an audit on Chad GPT interviewing. I know. I love it. I love it. All right, stick around. We'll see you in the next episode three.