Chat GPT and GPT-4 for Instructional Design

Karen.M.955

You’ve no doubt heard of Chat GPT, a natural language processing tool that provides human-like conversations to prompts you provide. GPT-4 is Open AI’s latest large multimodal model available to those paying for Chat GPT Plus, which provides their best results yet. This is the result of Chat GPT’s ability to learn from the more than a million users who teach it by using it every day. I thought it was a great approach to these models to put them to work and ask about their own capabilities. Here are my findings about how they can help us do our job.

When I asked Chat GPT how it could help Instructional Designers do their work, it responded:

"As an AI assistant, I can help an Instructional Designer in the following ways:

1. Provide research assistance: I can conduct research on a particular topic and gather relevant information for the designer.
2. Generate ideas: I can generate ideas for learning activities and assessments.
3. Provide feedback: I can review and provide feedback on instructional materials such as lesson plans, assessments, and activities.
4. Create visual aids: I can create charts, graphs, and other visual aids that can be used in presentations and instructional materials.
5. Automate certain tasks: I can automate certain repetitive or mundane tasks to save the designer time and effort.
6. Provide insights: I can analyze learners' data and provide insights that can be used to improve instructional materials and learning outcomes.
7. Offer personalized learning: I can use machine learning algorithms to provide personalized learning experiences that meet the needs of individual learners.

Overall, I can be a supportive resource to help Instructional Designers achieve their goals and create effective learning experiences."

Intrigued by visual aids, I asked it to make me a visual aid for learners to understand what a SMART goal is. It said sure and provided me with:

"[Image of a SMART Goal Template]".

However, it did also provide a solid description of what a SMART goal is.

This did not surprise me since I recently asked it to provide a specific image and it gave me a fabricated link that sent me to a non-existent page.

(In its defence, it is meant to be a text-based tool. There are many other AI text to image AI generators such as Open Ai’s DALL·E (paid) or free options like picsart.com, so try one of those out for this purpose. The image included here is one that I generated with picsart.com to represent ai working in tandem with an instructional designer’s brain.)

So, I asked the same question to the May 24 version of the GPT-4 app in research preview, Open AI’s most advanced system, this time there was no reference to visual aids:

1. "Content development: I can help generate instructional content, including lesson plans, course outlines, assessments, and learning materials. By providing me with specific learning objectives and requirements, I can generate written content that aligns with instructional design principles.
2. Review and feedback: Instructional designers can share their work with me, such as instructional materials, e-learning modules, or assessments. I can provide feedback on the clarity, organization, and instructional effectiveness of the content, helping to identify areas for improvement.
3. Research and references: I can assist in gathering information and references on specific topics related to instructional design. Whether it's learning theories, instructional strategies, or emerging trends in the field, I can provide relevant information to support the instructional design process.
4. Creative ideation: If an instructional designer is looking for fresh ideas or approaches, I can assist in brainstorming and generating creative solutions for engaging and effective instructional design. By providing prompts and criteria, I can help generate innovative ideas to enhance the learning experience.
5. Answering questions and providing explanations: Instructional designers may have questions about various aspects of their work, such as learning theories, multimedia integration, or assessment strategies. I can provide explanations, definitions, and examples to help clarify concepts or provide insights into best practices.
6. Collaboration and collaboration tools: I can provide suggestions and recommendations for collaboration tools and platforms that instructional designers can use to collaborate with colleagues, stakeholders, or subject matter experts. I can also assist in providing information on effective collaboration strategies.

It's important to note that while I can provide assistance and information, the expertise and judgment of an instructional designer are still essential. They play a crucial role in synthesizing information, applying instructional design principles, and adapting the content to meet the specific needs of learners and the learning context."

While these models are becoming more precise and working on the disclaimers that accompany responses, we have time to think about how best to integrate them into our daily work. Do any of the above suggestions seem pertinent to you? Are you eager to test something out? Leave a comment if you do. We’d love to hear from you.