How ChatGPT can improve writing (and it's not what you're thinking)

There has been a lot of debate about the use of AI in education over recent times, especially around cheating and plagiarism. I am no expert in AI, but I have seen some really good things coming out of it, especially for neurodiverse students.

As many of you know, I work with many dyslexic, ADHD, and autistic students, many of whom struggle with writing. Not handwriting (well, maybe handwriting too), but just getting their ideas down on paper. They can’t seem to articulate what they are trying to describe, or they put so much pressure on themselves to be perfect that they freeze.

Here’s where AI can come in. You know when you’ve read a great book, and then they make the movie, and it’s frankly disappointing? You’ve painted a picture based on your interaction with the author’s words, but the director has painted a very different picture. It’s the same with your own writing. You’re trying to paint a picture or express an idea (or give instructions) with your words. But do other people interpret them the way you do?

Enter AI. Have you ever used ChatGPT to create a picture? It’s an experiment I’ve been using with some of my most reluctant writers. Here’s how. Firstly, we talk about a prompt - it could be a character, or a setting for a story. They describe it out loud, then we enter that description into ChatGPT. Here’s an example: a student was inventing a monster recently. They entered the description “make me an illustration of a monster with long hair, jagged teeth, and huge hands. He walks on his hands and feet and has big muscles.” While we were waiting for ChatGPT to do its thing, we predicted what might be drawn incorrectly. For this description, we didn’t say what the monster’s eyes were like, whether it was friendly or not, nor whether its body was hairy. Here’s what ChatGPT came up with:

The student pretty quickly exclaimed that the image wasn’t anything like what they were thinking. This gave us an opportunity to refine and strengthen our description (which was the point of the exercise in the first place). A new description was produced: “make me an illustration of a monster with long hair, three green eyes on its face, a nose like a pig, jagged teeth, and a drooling mouth. He has ears like an elf, a big, fat belly, and huge hands. He walks on his hands and feet and has big muscles. His body is covered in scales.” ChatGPT gladly assisted, giving us a new illustration.

This was an eye-opening experience for the student, and they learned to make their descriptions more detailed. Another student learned to remove words that were meaningless, such as awesome, great, and boring. Their adjectives quickly became more meaningful.

For some students, making a description of something in their imagination is tough, and it can be more useful to describe an image that is in front of them. Once they have written their description, ChatGPT will draw what is described, and the student can see how close they got. In an image of pirates digging up treasure on a deserted island, my student learned that describing the age of the pirates, what they were wearing, the tools they were using, even what could be seen up a tree, or to the right of the treasure box, were all important pieces of information. I liked the student predicting what the app would produce and then having them take a second turn dictating a description, as it taught them the importance of editing and refining their work. The original, first, and second attempts are below- there is certainly good progress in improving their description in just a short period.

ChatGPT is also useful for students in their senior years of high school. For many essays, there is an expectation to use research from reliable, credible sources, many of which are academic journal articles. ChatGPT is a great way to make long, dry journal articles accessible by highlighting the important information, and even breaking down some of the jargon. It can find those journal articles for the student, reducing the hours reading information that is not directly relevant to what they are studying. I am not advocating for ChatGPT to write essays for students, but as a tool to find additional research and summarise it in a way that is accessible for their abilities, it works.

I know many of us are wary about the many issues surrounding apps such as Chat GPT - how accurate is it, does it lead to cheating and plagiarism, what other things can it inadvertently expose our young rangatahi to, and what about privacy? I believe that the very thing we are worried about could teach a new generation of children the skills that many of them are missing - the power of logical thought and reasoning, the power to express themselves with accuracy, improved comprehension skills, and a healthy dose of cynicism or skill for debate (the ability and courage to say “rubbish”). Many students have already dived into this technology, whether we like it or not, whether we are ready for it or not. As parents and as educators, we can make the journey safe by sitting with them, talking through the benefits and downsides with them, and by being their mentor.