Chatbotting with the Future: AI Infusion in Content Development.
Artificial intelligence has the potential to significantly change the way training providers create course content.
AI-powered tools can analyze data on learners' interests, learning styles, and progress to personalize educational content and improve learning outcomes. Additionally, AI can be used to generate new learning experiences and to provide instant feedback to learners, enabling providers to create a more interactive and engaging learning experience.
It can even be used to write articles — as you’ve seen it do in the first paragraph of this blog.
Over the last few weeks, ChatGPT has been hailed as everything from an educational savior to the end-game of a subject matter expert’s final days. It’s been one of the most talked about topics across multiple news stations, helped pen doctoral dissertations, and even resulted in the phasing out of written examinations from several institutions. And yet, at the end of the day, ChatGPT is still just a tool, albeit a very powerful tool. It — like so many other AI-driven applications — acknowledges that information may not be correct, let alone politically correct, all while growing and learning from the questions and responses of users across the world.
In fact, with the emphasis upon group learning, it’s not a total stretch to see ChatGPT as the modernized version of an article’s “Introduction” and “Resources” sections, providing learners with information and key points they need without digging deep into the meat of content. The twist, of course, is the aggregation of these points in a simple, easy-to-use chat box functionality that voids references and connected points for ease of content digest. But even with this information missing, it’s not impossible to reverse engineer suggested sources of collateral, such as incorporating a secondary, AI-driven plagiarism checker to identify the location of key statements that might be repeated.
So, what’s the role of the human contributors in an AI-driven paradigm? Simply put, we’re the content originators, feeding our knowledge, experiences, skillsets, and competencies into the world’s greatest encyclopedia — the internet — through which digitized programs sift the data for future use. It’s not out of the box to imagine a future where assessments, essays, case studies, and more can be generated through the use of AI software; it’s also not hard to imagine a future where learner’s adapt the programming to their own needs for assessment answers and homework fulfillment.
And yet, with all of that said, it's important to note that AI is still in its early stages and is only starting to be used in course creation; the full extent of its impact is yet to be seen. But I didn’t write that last sentence — ChatGPT did — and so long as we continue to innovate, the lines between what’s artificial and what’s not will continue to become a little bit more … pixelated.
About the Author
Bradley A. Davis is the Strategic Business Development Manager for the International Accreditors for Continuing Education & Training (IACET). A cross-functional collaborator and instructional project manager, he has worked over the last decade in the non-profit association space, bringing innovation, intentional data management and usage, and content strategy to shape organizations supporting the Military History, Government Service, Education, and Cross-Enterprise Healthcare spaces. His leadership philosophy — emphasizing equitably meeting SMEs, contractors, staff, clients, members, and prospective personas where they are, wherever they are — has ensured strong connections across his various work environments, promoting life-long value throughout constituent’s tenure with his various employers. Bradley graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University with a B.A. in History in addition to earning both a Master of Military History and Certificate in Teaching and Learning from Norwich University.