4 ms·

"say what you're hoping to get out of this class" is an invitation for bullshit, something LLMs are good at and at least this human (me) is bad at. This makes a

"say what you're hoping to get out of this class" is an invitation for bullshit, something LLMs are good at and at least this human (me) is bad at. This makes a lot of sense. Who's taking that class for a reason other than "it fulfills the required credit"? I'm sure it's not enough to expect a wide range of creative responses the instructor seems to have been expecting.

kaonwarb 2y ago
The teacher notes in the thread (https://x.com/freganmitts/status/1828796730634330593 https://x.com/freganmitts/status/1828796730634330593) that this is not a GE class, and as it's peer-conversation based, so there was some basis for helping students get to know each other. I definitely took many classes in college for reasons other than getting credit, and I hope you did / do too!
- readthenotes1 2y ago
  If it's a peer conversation class, perhaps it would have been more appropriate for them to report what another student told them what they hoped to get out of the class...
- throwup238 2y ago
  > The teacher notes in the thread (https://x.com/freganmitts/status/1828796730634330593 https://x.com/freganmitts/status/1828796730634330593) that this is not a GE class, and as it's peer-conversation based, so there was some basis for helping students get to know each other. Then why make it a written assignment? If it's a peer-conversation based non-GE class, why not ask them to stand up for two minutes and do the awkward intro thing in person on their first day? Then the professor could have had a dialog about what students hope to get from her class, if she really cared. This was pointless busywork through and through, the kind I'd expect ChatGPT to create for a lazy educator.
- cpitman 2y ago
  Exactly, I was CS, but took Psychology classes for my own interest. It was fun bringing a different point of view and only realizing it once we started discussing the reading material. One time in a small seminar class on mental models the professor asked us to each draw a tree. Only once we were done and everyone started sharing their tree did I realize that I had gone straight to a directed acyclic graph. I completely forgot about the green leafy things. Everyone had a good laugh, and it was actually a good example for what were talking about. Asking ChatGPT for what I should say during a class is just play acting at education. Really feels liek a waste of time and money.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- cosmotic 2y ago
  I took zero that didn't fulfill a requirement. I presume anything else would have been cost more in time and money than value I'd get from it. It would almost certainly delayed graduation and sucked up free time and added stress.
PhasmaFelis 2y ago
I'm not sure why you (and, apparently, several students) are assuming that a simple, straightforward question is actually a trick that demands a complex, rambling answer.
- cosmotic 2y ago
  I was asked this numerous times I college and it gave me anxiety every time I had to answer it. I simply could not understand why anyone would be interested in my response, so I couldn't synthesize anything to my audience (the person asking).
  - PhasmaFelis 2y ago
    It sounds like the trouble is that people are putting a lot of effort into trying to come up with a detailed lie that will flatter the professor's expectations, when (as I read the OP) the professor has no expectations and actually wants the simple truth. So everybody loses. Maybe teachers need to start putting a "there are no wrong answers" disclaimer on these things.
- yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
  Experience, I assume; IME, one of the more annoying things about school was that prose questions expected you to ramble on for pages and pages about something that really deserved about a paragraph.
pseudo_meta 2y ago
From the article: > "A lot of students who take philosophy classes, especially if they're not majors, don't really know what philosophy is," she said. "So I like to get an idea of what their expectations are so I can know how to respond to them." Sounds very reasonable to me.
pyridines 2y ago
I agree - if I was a student, I would be very tempted to use an LLM for this sort of coursework-irrelevant busywork assignment, especially if I had other work on my plate. It's not so hard to rationalize using it for this type of thing vs. an "actual" assignment, all due respect to the professor, who I'm sure means well
- beej71 2y ago
  As an instructor, I suppose I'm happy to tailor the class to the AI's wishes. ;)

kaonwarb 2y ago

The teacher notes in the thread (https://x.com/freganmitts/status/1828796730634330593 https://x.com/freganmitts/status/1828796730634330593) that this is not a GE class, and as it's peer-conversation based, so there was some basis for helping students get to know each other. I definitely took many classes in college for reasons other than getting credit, and I hope you did / do too!

readthenotes1 2y ago
If it's a peer conversation class, perhaps it would have been more appropriate for them to report what another student told them what they hoped to get out of the class...
throwup238 2y ago
> The teacher notes in the thread (https://x.com/freganmitts/status/1828796730634330593 https://x.com/freganmitts/status/1828796730634330593) that this is not a GE class, and as it's peer-conversation based, so there was some basis for helping students get to know each other. Then why make it a written assignment? If it's a peer-conversation based non-GE class, why not ask them to stand up for two minutes and do the awkward intro thing in person on their first day? Then the professor could have had a dialog about what students hope to get from her class, if she really cared. This was pointless busywork through and through, the kind I'd expect ChatGPT to create for a lazy educator.
cpitman 2y ago
Exactly, I was CS, but took Psychology classes for my own interest. It was fun bringing a different point of view and only realizing it once we started discussing the reading material. One time in a small seminar class on mental models the professor asked us to each draw a tree. Only once we were done and everyone started sharing their tree did I realize that I had gone straight to a directed acyclic graph. I completely forgot about the green leafy things. Everyone had a good laugh, and it was actually a good example for what were talking about. Asking ChatGPT for what I should say during a class is just play acting at education. Really feels liek a waste of time and money.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
cosmotic 2y ago
I took zero that didn't fulfill a requirement. I presume anything else would have been cost more in time and money than value I'd get from it. It would almost certainly delayed graduation and sucked up free time and added stress.

PhasmaFelis 2y ago

I'm not sure why you (and, apparently, several students) are assuming that a simple, straightforward question is actually a trick that demands a complex, rambling answer.

cosmotic 2y ago
I was asked this numerous times I college and it gave me anxiety every time I had to answer it. I simply could not understand why anyone would be interested in my response, so I couldn't synthesize anything to my audience (the person asking).
- PhasmaFelis 2y ago
  It sounds like the trouble is that people are putting a lot of effort into trying to come up with a detailed lie that will flatter the professor's expectations, when (as I read the OP) the professor has no expectations and actually wants the simple truth. So everybody loses. Maybe teachers need to start putting a "there are no wrong answers" disclaimer on these things.
yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
Experience, I assume; IME, one of the more annoying things about school was that prose questions expected you to ramble on for pages and pages about something that really deserved about a paragraph.

pseudo_meta 2y ago

From the article: > "A lot of students who take philosophy classes, especially if they're not majors, don't really know what philosophy is," she said. "So I like to get an idea of what their expectations are so I can know how to respond to them." Sounds very reasonable to me.

pyridines 2y ago

I agree - if I was a student, I would be very tempted to use an LLM for this sort of coursework-irrelevant busywork assignment, especially if I had other work on my plate. It's not so hard to rationalize using it for this type of thing vs. an "actual" assignment, all due respect to the professor, who I'm sure means well

beej71 2y ago
As an instructor, I suppose I'm happy to tailor the class to the AI's wishes. ;)