The students were asked to write popular science texts about the historical background for Great Prayer Day for different media platforms and target groups. They were asked to use chatbots to get suggestions for the content and structure of the text.
This was during the time of the Great Prayer Day controversy, and the topic was therefore a relevant case study for the course.
ChatGPT was hot news at the time, and I therefore decided to use it in my teaching, so that the students could learn how to use ChatGPT as a writing tool and become aware of its limitations.
THE PROCESS | |||
Student preperation | The students worked in groups with texts they had read as preparation. The texts were on the topic of written communication of history-related content. They also read a short academic text about the story behind Great Prayer Day on Danmarkshistorien.dk. | ||
Individual analysis(15 min) | The students were allocated a specific media (e.g. the Danish children's newspaper Børneavisen, Twitter, Facebook, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s online media site, an article for a tabloid, a theatre sketch) and were asked to prepare a short analysis of the relevant media's target group and typical content/style of communication (if the target group was very broad, they were allowed to narrow it down). | ||
Drafts in groups(15 min) | The students were asked to write a first draft popular science text about the historical background for Great Prayer Day for their specific media. | ||
Feedback from ChatGPT(15 min) | After this, the students asked ChatGPT for different approaches to the content and structure of their text. For example:
| ||
Reflection in groups(30 min) | Then each group was asked to write a short text in which they reflected on the usefulness and limitations of ChatGPT in this type of work. | ||
Group presentations(5x6 min) | The activity ended with each group doing a brief presentation before the rest of the class. | ||
RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS | SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS |
| I showed them an article that I had written for the Washington Post and explained how I used ChatCPT to overcome writer’s block during my writing. |
| The teacher | Helle Strandgaard Jensen |
| Faculty and Department/Institute | ARTS, School of Culture and Society |
| Discipline | History |
| Study level | Master’s degree, second semester |
| Course/subject | Cultural-historical dissemination and governance |
| Number of students (approx.) | 17 |
| Extent | Activity |
| Teaching Format | Classroom |
| Implementation | Spring 2023 |
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