NSWEduChat: The Perfect AI Chatbot for Teachers and Classrooms

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Introduction
Why ChatGPT Was Banned From Schools
A Chatbot Not for Students but for Teachers
Why Was This Chatbot Created?
NSWEduChat: When and Where to Expect It
Will This Chatbot Cost Teachers Their Job?
Closing Thoughts on NSWEduChat

NSWEduChat: The Perfect AI Chatbot for Teachers and Classrooms

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cdteliot

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According to reports from the NSW Department of Education, NSWEduChat is a custom-built generative AI app designed specifically for the NSW education system, offering teachers and students a secure, privacy-focused alternative to commercial AI chatbots while aiming to enhance teaching efficiency and student learning experiences.

Why ChatGPT Was Banned From Schools

linkedin.com

Artificial intelligence proves to be a huge hindrance to proper education. Since the emergence of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, many students have used these technologies to cheat their way to schoolwork submissions and good grades

. With just simple-worded prompts, ChatGPT can finish assignments, compose projects, and even write entire academic papers

. If a school uses devices such as tablets or computers with access to the Internet, learners can easily log into the AI tool and ask it for the correct answers to exams

. Since AI can't be regulated at scale yet, no one can stop students from leveraging ChatGPT for school activities. Instead of learning and doing things on their own, they let artificial intelligence step in to complete their requirements

. This goes against the purpose and essence of education, so most states have deemed it necessary to shut ChatGPT out of classrooms

6 sources

A Chatbot Not for Students but for Teachers

niallmcnulty.com

ChatGPT may be used in the wrong way by students, but teachers also use it for their jobs. However, since the application is already restricted, teachers can no longer turn to AI for help. That is until the introduction of NSWEduChat.

NSWEduChat is a chatbot that works much like ChatGPT, but it has more limits to its system. This may seem like a bad thing but it's actually not. NSWEduChat is designed for teachers so it can help them create resources for their students and assist them with any administrative tasks.

However, since it's available to the whole campus, students may get ahold of it and try their usual tricks. To deter this behavior, the chatbot can detect questions that seem suspicious— flagging certain queries that a student will likely ask to cheat. When this happens, it won't give a complete, detailed answer. It would rather ask follow-up questions to force the learner to think and come up with an answer of their own.

5 sources

Why Was This Chatbot Created?

Instructing and handling plenty of students in a day is draining. Add to that some extra tasks like creating learning materials, scoring schoolwork, calculating grades, and attending to paperwork. With everything that goes into a teaching job, the main goal of NSWEduChat is to lighten the overwhelming load of public school teachers

. Since AI can streamline and aid in numerous teaching tasks, the local government wanted to develop a chatbot that can be an assistant to exhausted teachers who have a lot on their hands

. It has become a necessity since there is an ongoing teacher shortage in New South Wales with only 1,700 job vacancies for teachers in August.

3 sources

NSWEduChat: When and Where to Expect It

education.nsw.gov.au

Prue Car, the NSW education minister, announced that public school teachers can expect access to NSWEduChat on October 14, which is the start of term 4.

Its release is statewide, covering all public schools in New South Wales.

This enables the widespread local use of the chatbot, but it's still unfortunate that this innovation isn't used in more academic institutions— not just across the country but also all around the world.

2 sources

Will This Chatbot Cost Teachers Their Job?

theguardian.com

The firm answer is no. NSWEduChat was made to assist teachers, not to replace them. Even Car confirmed this, stating "NSWEduChat does not replace the valuable work of our teachers, it helps them to save time, tailor their resources, and focus on their critical work in the classroom. The expansion of this trial to all teachers is part of our work to reduce the admin burden and get more teachers in front of our students."

In fact, during the chatbot's testing phase, it was noted that the tool cut down the time teachers spent on their regular tasks, giving them back over an hour a week.

4 sources

Closing Thoughts on NSWEduChat

Rolling out an AI chatbot for educational settings is a brilliant idea that must be replicated and adopted by all countries. NSWEduChat shows that it's possible

. With its features and restrictions, it's a great partner for teachers who are burned out from their everyday responsibilities in the classroom and the office

. NSWEduChat lets educators maximize a regular chatbot's attributes but prevents any kind of cheating from students

. It's the perfect addition to any school's resources. Teachers can use it to make their chores manageable, giving them the opportunity to focus on the most important duty: teaching their students as well as they can