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 Activities Mythbusting and chatbots

Mythbusting and chatbots

Short description

Although chatbots can help us produce text, research and translate, we can't always count on their answers to be correct. Chatbots can give wrong answers with great confidence. When a chatbot does this, it’s ‘hallucinating’. In this activity, students learn about the chatbot’s strengths and weaknesses through a critical approach.

              

Objective

THE OBJECTIVE

UNDERSTANDING TECHNOLOGY
  • The activity contributes to the development of students' digital skills as well as their ability to use technology in their field of study. 

CRITICAL THINKING
  • Being able to critically assess a source is essential for developing critical thinking skills. Students learn to be critical about technology by questioning the reliability, relevance and bias of the information, which contributes to a deeper understanding of the topic.

Execution

IN CLASS

IN PLENUM

(15 minutes)

  • Present the activity and the objective to the students 

  • Discuss how chatbots work, their practical applications, and which chatbots are available. Discuss the limitations and ethical implications of the technology. You can find inspiration on AU Educate. 

  • Discuss how to prompt a chatbot by asking questions that elicit accurate answers. 

  • Brainstorm which academic test questions it could be relevant to ask the chatbot – either ones that relate to academic content the students feel confident with or ones that relate to content they know less about.  The questions can also relate to typical misunderstandings that occur in the field. 

INDIVIDUALLY

(10 minutes)
  • Students prepare 1-3 questions for the chatbot. They may have to repeat or rephrase a question to get a well-written response.

IN PAIRS

(20 minutes)

  • Students fact-check the chatbot’s answers in pairs. If it turns out that the chatbot gave an incorrect answer, the students can keep trying to elicit a correct answer. 

    • Ask the chatbot “You said that XX. Is it true that XX...?” - Does it change its answer? 

IN PLENUM

(10 minutes)

  • Ask students about the performance of the chatbot.

    • Did the wording of the questions affect the quality of the answers?

    • How did it respond to corrections? 

    • Did it answer correctly? What type of questions is the chatbot best at answering? 

  •   Ask students what they have learned from the activity.

Considerations

CONSIDER

DO THE STUDENTS ALREADY USE CHATBOTS?
  • Even though some students already actively use chatbots, it’s still a good idea to have an open discussion about the chatbot’s strengths and weaknesses. Feel free to draw on the students’ own experiences with chatbots during the session.

DATA PROTECTION
  • Chatbots learn from the inputs they receive. Do not use sensitive personal information to test the chatbot.  

Options to vary the activity

OPTIONS

QUESTION BANK
  • Collect all the useful questions in a question bank. Students can later use them as a starting point for creating good prompts or to test new chatbots.

COLLABORATION
  • If students are new to the subject or do not have experience using chatbots, the individual part of the exercise can be done in pairs, to provide them with more support.

Overview

Time frame 1 hour
When will the activity take place? In class
Format Pair
Form of instruction Classroom instruction
Main type of activity Investigation and analysis/Exercises and experiments
How will the activity take place? In person/Online
Technology Chatbot

Contact

Please contact the editors at AU Educate if you have any questions about the content of the platform or if you need consultation on your teaching from one of the many skilled professionals at the Centre for Educational Development. 

Revised 31.05.2024
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Jacob Nyborg Nielsen