ChatGPT in the Classroom: 5 Strategies for K-12 Educators

Note: This article was originally published by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) on February 16, 2023, under the title “ChatGPT for Educators”. It has been republished here with their permission, and the author’s permission. You can read the original here.

In my three decades in education, I’ve come to learn many things. One is that change moves at a snail’s pace until something steps in to challenge the status quo.

Enter ChatGPT.

As you’ve no doubt heard, since this artificial intelligence program became freely available to the public, ChatGPT has made educators nervous, excited and curious about the impact it will have on our field.

Once resources became available, I curated a list of the pieces I felt educators should engage with to gain an understanding of ChatGPT. I shared this list with a small professional learning network I belong to. One of the members of the PLN took the resources and created an easy-to-read detailed slide deck, which was then publicly shared throughout our networks, including the ISTE community forum ISTE Connect.

While I encourage you to look through our guide in its entirety, these five highlights are a great place to start:

In addition, it gives examples of how AI can enhance learning.

Find this deck on the ChatGPT Collections & Presentations slide of the resource document.

The podcast covers seven activities educators can use to speed up productivity and complete everyday chores more efficiently. These activities are easy to implement and can be adapted in various ways to meet individual needs.

The podcast also shows ChatGPT’s potential as an educational tool and offers educators wishing to incorporate AI into their daily practices a place to start.

Find this resource on the Podcasts slide of the resource document.

Input a standard and grade level, and it will auto-create editable, ready-to-use instructional resources.

The Norwegian founders of the company offer a Slack channel for direct access to the Curipod team and for teachers who use Curipod to connect and share resources.

Find this tool on the Educator Uses slide of the resource document.

Of particular interest is the section on How to define “cheating” and “plagiarism” with AI.

With ChatGPT and other AI tools roaring onto the scene, teachers need to think about what is considered cheating and plagiarism, especially if we want education to be and stay relevant for our students.

Find this post on the ChatGPT Collections & Presentations slide of the resource document.

With just a few inputs like subject area and standard number, ChatGPT can create a lesson plan that includes objectives, introduction, direct instruction, guided practice and closure. A teacher can ask ChatGPT where 6-year-olds have trouble with a specific concept.

Additionally, teachers can also ask ChatGPT to generate tasks that help address any gaps in knowledge before teaching certain concepts and even create extended lessons for deeper learning to save teachers time and energy creating the content themselves.

Find this resource on the Educator Uses slide of the resource document.