Technology in the Classroom - Digital Communication

        The most recent tool that has taken the internet by the storm in the education and professional world is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology such as ChatGPT (OpenAI, 2023). This tool allows husbands to write a Valentine's Day poem to their wives in the style of Langston Hughes (from my personal experience). ChatGPT is also capable to writing lyrics that is a parody of the style of Jay Chou, a Taiwanese mandopop star, followed by a prompt entered by a Malaysian band who then added melody to the AI-generated lyrics (SteadyGang, 2023). As rightly pointed out by the book titled Ready Player One written by Earnest Cline, "I know the future is scary at times. But there's just no escaping it." (Gonzalez, 2022).

        In my school, my administrator has started a group chat as a form of ongoing professional development for educators to discuss the ramifications of ChatGPT, what we think about the tool, and how we can respond to the students' use of this tool in the classroom. As one can imagine, this is an extremely powerful tool. Students can simply ask a question with a prompt and the AI can scour the web for answers in a matter of seconds. With information at the tip of their fingers like never before, how should we teach these students? With ChatGPT, how can educator use this tool to effectively communicate with parents and guardians to improve relationships and engagement?

        Monica Burns @ClassTechTips on Twitter recommended teacher prompts that can be used on ChatGPT to improve relationships and engagements through templates and nicely-worded responses that can be used in communications with parents and guardians (Burns, 2023). For the beginning teacher, or a teacher who is ill-confident of his/her word sense, using this tool would significantly reduce the time taken to craft a well-thought out response to a parent question or template for a congratulatory note. Perhaps this is the reason why it is even more important for face-to-face interactions to build rapport with parents. They need to know that teachers are not only eloquent (with words in writing), but that teachers also care for their charges.
        
        Digital communication today connects people all around the world. Now educators and students can connect in class and outside of class hours online, and even continue teaching and learning from home. This allows learning to take place anytime and anywhere, as long as the student and teacher has a mobile device. However, what is the quality of the communication made possible by digital means?

        The teacher must take extra care to plan what must be shared and communicated to both parents and students for most effectiveness. With the flood of information, as brought about by access to digital communication, Moore (2016) suggests that when sharing content, one is most effective when doing so online, but when dealing with issues, it is important to talk face-to-face. If one is not able to meet with the parent in person, instead of calling a parent over land line, one can increase the effectiveness of the communication by going onto a video-calling platform such as Whatsapp video call, Skype, Zoom meeting, or Google Meeting.

        Many people write using emails and sometimes end up with a war of worlds when a disagreement ensues. It is very easy to misread one's tone when it is only written in words. Moreover, with the use of social media, what is sent using digital communication is increasingly shorter in length and sometimes bereft of explanation. It is also very easy for a teacher to over-extend themselves when digital communication blurs the boundaries of office and personal time.

        As Christian educators, we must be cognisant that parents play an important role in teaching their children (Deut. 11:19; Isa. 38:19) according to Scripture. Teachers must engage parents by building relationships or rapport with them because educating the child is ultimately the parents' responsibility. With the affordance of digital technology, while there are great benefits to being able to connect with parents easily, teachers must do so with care and wisdom. Should anyone need wisdom, we should ask God for it because He will give generously without finding fault (Jas. 1:5-6, NIV).

References

Burns, M. (2023) 60+ Must Try ChatGPT Prompts for Teachers. Class Tech Tips. https://t.co/zU9totEHam

Gonzalez, L. (2022, March 1) 20+ of the Best 'Ready Player One' Quotes About Life, Honesty, Faith, and Reality. Audible Blog. https://www.audible.com/blog/quotes-ready-player-one

Moore, M. (2016). Communication In The Digital Age. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WN8Eqzyg-c

NIV (2011). THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®, Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/niv/jas/1/5/s_1147005

OpenAI (2023). Introducing ChatGPT. Open AI. https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt

SteadyGang (2023, March 10). SteadyGang【周懂嗎?】Official MV - 用ChatGPT AI写一首歌给周杰伦[Video] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIjDD7VsaZ4


Comments

  1. Karey StaufferMarch 21, 2023 at 6:31 AM

    I agree that for any form of communication to be effective, teachers must build rapport with families. Both digital and in-person communication can be perceived wrongly if parents do not first know that the teacher cares for the child and has their best interest in mind. Therefore, digital communication can be a great tool because it allows teachers to easily communicate with families regularly to build trust and familiarity. However, I also agree that in-person communication is a necessary component of teacher-family partnerships. As you mentioned, tone is often misinterpreted in digital communication. Body language, facial expression, and voice inflection make the practice of face-to-face communication invaluable for healthy relationships. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Becoming a Better TeacherMarch 22, 2023 at 6:05 AM

    Angel,
    Whenever I have heard people discussing ChatGPT, it is always in the context of students turning in work that is plagiarized. But I had never thought of it being used by teachers! While teachers who are insecure about their writing may turn to a platform like this to help them, it actually hinders parent-teacher communication. You rightly note that this relationship and communication is vital when education children and part of a relationship is getting to know the other person. While we should not be sharing every aspect of our lives with parents, we aren't even giving them a chance to get to know us if we use a robot that writes our emails. And if we don't allow them to get to know us, how will they trust us to teach their children?
    ~Caroline

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nancy KocherspergerMarch 24, 2023 at 9:23 AM

    Chat GPT is absolutely frightening! Not only for the plagiarism issue as mentioned above, but for the authenticity of the individual. If correspondence can be created that has wording selected and school term papers that are written by prompts, we are creating the "cancel out" generation. AI now has claims that they can digitize a person based on internet searches and other personal details so much so that a person need never die! He can go on living as a digitized person complete with an aggregate guess on appearance and future choices. Now, if they begin with today's first grader collecting data, and that first grader masters ChatGPT, who exactly will AI create? How authentic is this digital person? Future teachers will be tasked with weeding out "borrowed" works from their students and creating real life opportunities to teach expression without helps. Sounds like oldschool.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nancy KocherspergerMarch 24, 2023 at 9:24 AM

    Here is my reference: https://bigthink.com/the-future/ai-twin-immortality/

    ReplyDelete

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