What Does ChatGPT Have To Do With It? Technology and Today’s Math Classroom

The public release of ChatGPT by OpenAI late last year has captivated, if not terrified, certain sectors of public education. A simple interactive screen allows users to create a range of “authentic looking” documents. ChatGPT essays are either free or fractional in cost.

Some have called ChatGPT the “calculator moment” for writing assignments. Is there a similar, potential effect in math? Should we be welcoming or fearful of this technology?

This podcast will explore programs like ChatGPT and what they mean for mathematics instruction. We’ll discuss other current technologies used in math education today, and reflect on potential, near-term improvements and how upgrades like the “intelligence assistant” now being developed by Microsoft using ChatGPT might be used in math classrooms. 

Dr. Woodward will discuss:

• How simple uses of technology today can add value to mathematics instruction and how it helps with assessment, instructional decision-making, and accountability
• How assessment information can be synthesized across a classroom of students to help teachers make critical instructional decisions about grouping
• How to use technology to assist teachers and save time
• Key issues of concern for systems like ChatGPT, including that they do not rank or evaluate the quality of the information captured from the web, and ways to confront those issues
• Ways to use ChatGPT to solve math problems, improve instruction and student engagement, and the program’s limitations and benefits

We hope you’ll join us!