The Points Don't Matter

Struggle is a critical component of the learning process, according to a wealth of research in the field of educational psychology. Studies have shown that students who experience cognitive struggle during learning tasks, such as solving complex problems or grappling with challenging concepts, tend to retain information better and develop more robust mental models of the material (VanLehn, Siler, Murray, Yamauchi, & Baggett, 2003). Struggling also helps students build resilience and develop a growth mindset, which can lead to improved academic and workplace performance (Dweck, 2006). Overcoming obstacles, allows us to gain a sense of accomplishment and confidence in our abilities. Our current generation of students need that confidence. “Zoomers” or “iGen” (born approximately 1995- 2012, currently 13-27 years old) are dominated by safety concerns and intimidated by risk taking. These are not students who like to “take a shot” at something and struggle. They don’t mind hard work, bu...

It's here, so let’s just talk about it. Are you reading robot essays? When you ask students to paraphrase, are they secretly laughing? Maybe, but maybe not completely…yet. Change is happening fast though. The elephant in the room is ChatGPT and its peers. ChatGPT was released for public use as a prototype on November 30, 2022. It is a large language model trained artificial intelligence (AI). It is the newest, flashiest, text-generating AI around, but there are many other AI text-generating tools out there that have been here for a while. ChatGPT finally grabbed the attention these tools deserve. ChatGPT is going to get better fast with the improvements gained through opening up use of this tool to the world. Articles and podcasts are now popping up daily about AI writing tools, and people are worried about the next generation’s ability to write. But hold on, let’s learn a little more about these tools before we go there. According to Nick Duncan on ContentBot.ai “An AI writer is...