A UW–Madison School of Education faculty member recently lent his expertise on the role of technology in education to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article on how Wisconsin college students and professors are responding to the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT.
David Williamson Shaffer, the Sears Bascom Professor of Learning Analytics and the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Learning Sciences in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Psychology, said concerns about ChatGPT doing great harm to the American education system are largely overblown. Shaffer pointed out that the introduction of calculators and computers caused a similar furor in classrooms, and argued banning the tool isn’t the best path forward for students and teachers.
“The problem isn’t that we should stop people from using AI,” Shaffer said. “If AI can pass our tests, why can’t we ask more interesting questions on the test? We should be worried about it not because of cheating but because it shows we’re not teaching the right things.”
Shaffer was recently chosen as one of 12 faculty across UW–Madison to receive a 2023 Distinguished Teaching Award.
Read the entire Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article here.