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Students use Chatgpt more than ever – and Chatgpt knows.
Last week, Openai launched the “study mode” in his chatbot, intended directly for the student market. He is supposed to behave more like a tutor than a machine that spits answers; He uses the Socratic method, built quiz and creates study plans. The same day, Google announced a series of tools focused on the study.
So how does the generator compare himself to old-fashioned tools like manuals and online homework aid like Chegg and Quizlet? Do they still have a place?
I first asked Chatgpt: “Do you want me to use you as a study tool? How do you compare yourself to Edtech manuals and companies?” The answer: “Yes, I can absolutely be a useful study tool, but the best results come from how and when to use alongside the manuals and the Edtech platforms.”
Then I spoke to people who directed some of these platforms and certain students who use them (or once used). As a generative AA, his interest in education, they all do what they can to acclimatize.
How companies adapt
Chegg sells manuals and offers a list of digital services, such as the generation of flash cards and practice questions. In May, the company dismissed around 250 employees, or 22% of its workforce, in part because of the students who turn to a generative AI, she confirmed at NPR. But rather than trying to expand his scope, he zooms in.
“We were trying to be everything for each student in a pre-a world,” said CEO of Cheg Nathan Schultz.
Several generative AI platforms, including chatgpt, have free plans. Chegg hopes to reach students who will pay $ 19.99 per month for tools that encourage long -term use and definition of objectives.
“If you think of the world of fitness, these applications and these services tend to be much more guided to get you to your goal,” explains Schultz. “They give you:” Each week, we are going to do so many kilometers or as many rides or as much work “, and this is how we have designed our service.”
Chegg also envelops AI models in its platform. A new feature shows subscribers of side by side panels with Chegg’s answer to a question alongside the answers of other platforms, including Chatgpt, Google Gemini and Claude.
Macmillan Learning sells manuals and electronic books, and offers quiz and study guides. Like Chegg, he incorporated an AI tool in his paid plan and started to deploy it at the end of last year.
Macmillan’s tool does not give students direct responses; Instead, he guides them towards the solution through open questions that expose imperfect thought (alias the Socratic method).
“He supports them in a society so that they have this learning experience that they can use … when they have to do it themselves on the exam,” said Tim Flem, product director of Macmillan Learning.
Flem claims that the tutor AI of Macmillan is more precise than the AI chatbots, because it is based on the manuals of society. The platform also reduces “content switching”, he says.
“If you switch between this tab and this tab, you notice how much you still like:” Wait a minute, what did he say here? “,” Said Flem. “Thus, our tutor AI is there next to the problem on which the student works.”
How students adapt
Some students mix and combine AI and traditional tools. Bryan Wheatley combined Chatgpt with quizlet and Socratic (another AI tool) to study. Recent graduate of Prairie View A&M University in Texas, he first approached Chatgpt with apprehension.
Last year, Bryan Wheatley graduated from Prairie View A & M University with a diploma in sociology.
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“Something that is really adaptive is a little crazy in one way,” he said, although he continued to use it to describe the tests and for other tasks. He says that Chatgpt is right about half of the time, and he had to do a lot of crossed references.
He was one of the 66% of students in baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral programs regularly using Chatgpt, according to July 2024 research from Digital Education Council.
The survey also revealed that more than 50% of students thought that too much dependence on AI would have a negative impact on their academic results.
Sally Simpson tries to hold the line. Georgetown’s university student, who works on a doctorate. In German literature, does not use generative AI. In her first cycle days, she used websites like quizlet and Sparknotes to strengthen the information she has processed.
Now she sees undergraduate students using a generative AI to finish duties and summarize the workforce they have not read. “It goes beyond people’s education,” she said. “I think it is an important competence to be able to read an article, or read a text, and not only to summarize it, but think about it critically.”
Sally Simpson studies for a doctorate in German literature at the University of Georgetown.
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Dontrell Buders, a senior student social work at Kentucky State University, was a passionate user of Quizlet and always uses it to study for tests. With Quizlet, he must look for answers. The generative AI does not provide much challenge, he says.
“You just put something on a computer, had to type it, and just like,” let’s go “,” he said. “Are you going what you remember after typing it? You are not.”
How the teachers adapt
Amy Lawyer, president of the department of equine administration at the business school of the University of Louisville, says that some students still use online study guides like Chegg and Sparknotes. “Students are at a point where they will use resources at their disposal,” she said.
Among these resources, Chatgpt had the most important impact on his class. She uses it for publishing herself and encourages her students to do the same. To prevent them from plagiarizing or overputing AI chatbots, however, it now emits more work which must be handwritten or completed in class.
Ayelet Fishbach, professor of marketing and behavioral sciences at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, says that students will always find shortcuts, no matter how technology is evolving. “The cheating has not been invented recently,” she said.
“What is different now is that the line seems, for many people, more vague,” she said. “If before you know that you trich, now you feel:” Maybe I always do what I am supposed to do, only I am more effective. “It’s confusing for students, and we are trying to support them.”
