ChatGPT for Lesson Plans

Over the years of teaching in higher education, I have tried different approaches to lesson plans. One of the reasons for experimenting is that, in the arts and humanities, in the UK at least, there is considerable flexibility in the way that individual teaching events are designed and executed. At module level, there are certain parameters for kinds of learning that students will undertake; driven primarily by the aims, objectives and learning outcomes that are built into a course. However, at the level of an individual teaching event (such as a lecture, seminar, tutorial or workshop), the structure of sessions appears to be driven by the individual educator, who may or may not be the module leader.

The most successful model that I have employed in teaching has been recommended by colleagues who are academic developers, and this is the BOPPPS model. So called because of the acronym that stands for:

Bridge-In
Outcomes (for learning)
Pre-assessment
Participatory learning
Post-assessment
Summary

This structure places different emphasis on, not only what the students are doing throughout the session (active learning), but why each activity matters and relates to the learning outcomes. In short, there is a shift away from the content and towards the learner, improving their understanding of the topic, recognising what they are able to grasp, and what gaps in their knowledge and/or skills remain to be addressed.

Although I have spent time this summer reconfiguring existing lesson plans to more follow a BOPPPS template more closely, it is helpful to get another perspective on the kinds of activities that best achieve these different elements of active learning. For example, in pre-assessment tasks, the students will be testing their existing knowledge of a concept, or recent information that they may have encountered in the flipped classroom model, or from an earlier part of a module or even across modules on the entire course. A short survey, poll or quiz might be one way to activate the students’ memory and consolidate an existing level of comprehension. I confess, however, that I am a creature of habit. I tend to rely on familiar activities in my teaching, and not all of these work effectively. It is helpful to be reminded of alternative approaches. This is where generative AI comes in.

ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, has made a tremendous impact globally in the 2022-23 academic year. It is a major step towards artificial general intelligence (AGI), namely a form of machine intelligence that could perform almost any task by making decisions independently. For better or for worse, ChatGPT is not that sophisticated. It is currently based on natural language processing (NLP) of large language models (LLM) to engage in dialogue with a human user through a chat bot interface (hence the ‘chat’ bit). It is probabilistic and stochastic; namely, it assesses the most likely sequence of natural language when generating a response to a user prompt (based on previous training) and each response generated is likely to be different to a previous one. This provides a relatively authentic, sequential interaction, even if ChatGPT does not have an understanding of its responses per se.

So what has this got to do with lesson planning? ChatGPT has already been deployed on a range of text-creation tasks, from writing news articles, shopping lists, exercise programmes to whole novels. Educators have been most concerned with the use of generative AI tools by students, primarily due to the ethical implications for academic integrity. There are also many educators who have started to embrace the use of generative AI tools as part of the learning process, and even as part of learning design.

ChatGPT, for instance, can summarise frameworks effectively. The BOPPPS model is one such framework, so we could start by designing a prompt to check this at the start of a chat.

You are a researcher developer in higher education with ten years of teaching experience. You want to provide a summary of the BOPPPS model for lesson planning for your colleagues. Provide a bullet-point summary of the model and examples of activities that support active learning.

The response to this prompt was as follows:

BOPPPS is a learner-centered teaching model designed to enhance student engagement and active learning in higher education. It stands for Bridge-In, Outcome, Pre-Assessment, Participatory Learning, Post-Assessment, and Summary. Here's a breakdown of each component along with examples of activities that support active learning:
1. **Bridge-In:**
   - Create interest and context by connecting the upcoming content to students' prior knowledge and experiences.
   - Example Activity: Start with a thought-provoking question related to the topic or show a relevant real-world scenario to pique students' curiosity.
   2. **Outcome:**
   - Clearly state the lesson's learning objectives and outcomes to provide a sense of purpose and direction.
   - Example Activity: Present the specific goals of the lesson, such as "By the end of this lesson, students should be able to analyze the causes of X historical event."
   3. **Pre-Assessment:**
   - Gauge students' existing knowledge and misconceptions related to the topic to tailor the lesson accordingly.
   - Example Activity: Administer a brief quiz or use a concept mapping activity to assess what students already know about the subject.
4. **Participatory Learning:**
   - Engage students actively in the learning process through interactive and collaborative activities.
   - Example Activities:
 - **Think-Pair-Share:** Students individually consider a question, discuss their thoughts with a partner, and then share their ideas with the class.
 - **Group Discussions:** Divide students into groups to analyze a case study or debate different viewpoints.
 - **Jigsaw:** Assign different subtopics to groups, have them become experts, and then reorganize into new groups to share their expertise.
 - 5. **Post-Assessment:**
   - Evaluate students' comprehension and skill development after the participatory learning phase.
   - Example Activity: Assign a problem-solving task or a critical thinking exercise that requires students to apply their newly acquired knowledge.
   6. **Summary:**
   - Summarize key takeaways and highlight the connections between the lesson's content and the learning objectives.
   - Example Activity: Have students create concept maps individually or in groups, visually representing the main concepts learned during the lesson.
The BOPPPS model encourages active engagement, reflection, and interaction among students, promoting deeper understanding and retention of the material. By incorporating these elements into lesson planning, educators can foster a more dynamic and effective learning environment in higher education settings.

That is a coherent response, which clarifies the framework that we are using. Next, we input the existing lesson plan using the following prompt:

Using the following draft lesson plan, based on the BOPPPS model, suggest ways of improving student learning within the 1 hour 50 minutes allocated for this session: [lesson plan text]

The response was as follows:

1. **Bridge-In:**
   - Consider adding a short introductory video that highlights the importance of research ethics and ethical considerations in the field. This can set the tone for the session and provide context.
   - Instead of having students introduce themselves and their research projects, pose a thought-provoking ethical dilemma related to research ethics. Ask students to reflect on it individually and share their thoughts in breakout groups afterward.

2. **Pre-Assessment:**
   - Provide a list of potential ethical questions or scenarios related to research. Ask each group to select one and discuss it, ensuring a diverse range of topics is covered.
   - Encourage groups to present their ethical dilemma and the perspectives they discussed to the whole class. This can promote deeper engagement and expose students to various ethical challenges.

3. **Participatory Learning:**
   - Instead of just reviewing and responding to ethical issues on the Discussion Board, have each group present their chosen ethical scenario and facilitate a class-wide discussion. Encourage students to ask probing questions and challenge each other's viewpoints.
   - After discussing health and safety aspects in breakout groups, have a representative from each group share their findings with the entire class. This can create a collaborative atmosphere and provide a holistic understanding of different considerations.

4. **Guided Activity for Ethical Approval Application:**
   - Before the activity, provide students with a sample ethical approval application and a completed version. Walk them through the key components and explain the rationale behind each section.
   - Offer examples of well-structured ethical considerations to guide students as they develop their draft applications. This helps demystify the process and offers concrete guidance.

5. **Post-Assessment:**
   - Instead of just posting one action in the chat, ask students to elaborate on their action plan. What steps will they take, and how do they foresee implementing their plans? This can lead to more thoughtful post-session engagement.

6. **Summary:**
   - Encourage students to share not only the actions they plan to take but also any questions or uncertainties they still have. This allows for real-time clarification and reinforces the idea that learning is an ongoing process.
   - Consider using a reflective writing activity where students briefly journal their main takeaways from the session and their personal commitments to applying ethical principles in their research.

By incorporating these adjustments, the lesson plan can foster more active engagement, critical thinking, and collaborative learning among students, aligning well with the principles of the BOPPPS model.

These suggestions are sensible for a workshop. Although the small groups of students that I work with tend to use of the session as as tackling specific issues with their own research projects, the use of scenarios and exemplars that can be discussed are more aligned with collaborative learning, and are more likely to establish a common level of understanding of the ethical approval process and documentation.

There are some limitations, however. When considering the length of sessions (1 hour 50 minutes), a number of these activities are not practical and unlikely to be completed within the time available. When responding to ChatGPT’s suggestions, it is important for an educator to compare these with their own knowledge of the learners and previous evaluations of sessions. Generative AI may be an efficient way of revising lesson plans, particularly in light of frameworks for learning design, but the prompt, or sequence of prompts, would need to contain sufficient context and refinements to create an effective plan de novo.

Further Reading