Introduction

Josh Thorpe is an Academic Skills Advisor in the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Stirling in Scotland. Josh has been an academic advisor and writing instructor for over 15 years. He is the author of a new book, AI for Students. It is an illustrated guide to practical strategies for working with AI tools in education—without cheating or outsourcing creative human thought. In the blog post, Josh shares a flipped model of using AI.

Book cover for AI for Students by Josh Thorpe

What’s the most interesting thing about AI?

In the book, “AI for Students”, I claim that the most interesting thing about artificial intelligence is in fact human intelligence. In other words, let’s place the student at the centre of it all. This is how I’m working with faculty and students in my job, and it’s an exciting way to encourage learning while respecting academic integrity.

Like many people, the first thing I did with AI was to make it do stuff for me. On day one with ChatGPT, I requested: “Write me a joke about chickens in the style of Jerry Seinfeld.” The result went something like this: What’s the deal with chickens? They’ve got no sense of urgency. I mean what’s with all this milling around?

Not bad for a chuckle, but not the best joke in the world, not even that Seinfeldian, really. And because I didn’t document the thing, I am 100% sure I’ve tidied it up and improved it here. So, this use of AI tools leads to mediocre results at best. And this use, as an instant content producer, is what results in a lot of the rather disappointing student assignments we sometimes see today.

Prompt design

I kept thinking about that first joke experience I had, and started looking for a better way. I discovered prompt design. It turns out that there is a lot you can do with how you prompt AI chatbots, and this makes all the difference in the world.

So I flipped my approach entirely. Instead of asking the chatbot to tell me a joke, I told the chatbot a joke. And I asked it to critique that joke. And then I tried to improve the joke. And on we went. 

This led me to a whole new view of AI and learning.It wasn’t that the chatbot was brilliant at critiquing my jokes. It was the interaction that was brilliant. This technology simply provided a space within which I could work creatively. And it was much more exciting than any bot-authored quip about chickens.

Flipped model of using AI

This flipped model has now become my chief approach to working with students and educators around AI. Here, AI is not a tool, but an interactive space. This model places the student’s intelligence and creativity in the centre of an activity. 

So I’m thankful that AIs are not, at least for now, great at telling jokes. This apparent weakness becomes a strength when we see there’s a better use of the technology. Instant gratification isn’t on the table; space for creative learning is.

If anyone would like to connect on this, please be in touch. And to learn more about AI for Students, please check out promptlybooks.com and help spread the word.

It goes a bit like this

Image from AI for Students showing active use of AI chatbot (Thorpe, 2024)

Some extracts from the book on how students can engage with AI in a creative way

References

Jerry Seinfeld is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Learn more at Wikipedia.org.

About Josh Thorpe