Last night, @S_J_Lancaster suggested we ask GTP4 to:
Say something profound and insightful about the impact of AI large language models in higher education in the style of a @RacePhil collaboration with @ProfSallyBrown #lthechat
Well… I couldn’t help but give it a go! I copied Simon’s tweet and used it as the prompt for GTP-4. Here is the response:
In the harmonious melding of @RacePhil’s emphasis on assessment and feedback, and @ProfSallyBrown’s dedication to transformative learning experiences, the advent of AI large language models in higher education serves as a catalyst for innovation and equity.
As digital companions, these AI models foster an environment where learning transcends traditional boundaries, enriching the educational tapestry with the threads of diverse perspectives and personalized support. Empowering students and educators alike, these models facilitate the co-creation of knowledge, nurturing critical thinking and adaptability, essential skills for the ever-evolving landscape of the 21st century.
However, we must remain vigilant in the face of potential ethical pitfalls, ensuring that the AI-driven future of higher education is built on a foundation of transparency, fairness, and inclusivity. By mindfully integrating AI into pedagogical practices, we can harness its transformative potential to augment human intellect, democratize access to quality education, and inspire a generation of lifelong learners. #lthechat
GTP-4
I was honestly surprised it managed to do it!
This raises a serious question:
What does GTP-4 know about us?
I couldn’t help but test it with my Twitter handle, so I asked:
How would @LeeFallin respond to the proliferation of artificial intelligence in higher education?
Prompt
GTP-4 dutifully responded:
While I cannot predict the exact response of a specific individual like @LeeFallin, given his background in academic support, learning development, and digital literacy, I can provide a general idea of how he might respond to the proliferation of artificial intelligence in higher education.
@LeeFallin might appreciate the potential benefits of AI in higher education, such as:
- Personalizing learning experiences, enabling students to learn at their own pace and receive tailored feedback.
- Supporting the development of students’ digital literacy skills, which are essential in a technology-driven world.
- Enhancing research capabilities through advanced data analysis and processing.
However, he might also express concerns and considerations about AI’s role in higher education, such as:
- Ensuring ethical use of AI, including addressing data privacy, algorithmic bias, and transparency in AI-driven decision-making processes.
- Balancing the use of AI with the importance of human interaction and support in the learning process.
- The need for ongoing professional development for educators to effectively integrate AI tools into their teaching and support practices.
Please note that this is a speculative response, and the actual opinion of @LeeFallin might be different.
GTP-4
…and you know what? It’s not a bad response!
Clearly, it isn’t fully up-to-date with what I do, but it is correct to say I have a background in academic support, learning development and digital literacy. It also gives quite a balanced account of how I approach AI, suggesting an equal number of benefits and concerns that might reflect my thinking. In some creepy way – it’s absolutely right. I see both the advantages and the disadvantages. It’s also pretty accurately predicted my top three concerns and benefits fairly well!
So, while GTP-4 warns it cannot predict what I would say, it hasn’t done a bad job on this occasion.
I should also note this all could probably apply to GTP-3/3.5/ChatGT to some extent, but as this experiment is with GTP-4, it is what I will reference.
A conversation with GTP-4 about me
Well… I couldn’t resist asking more. So this morning, I spooled up a new discussion with GTP-4 and asked
Who is Dr Lee Fallin?
Prompt
…and the response:
As of my knowledge cutoff date in September 2021, Dr. Lee Fallin does not appear to be a widely known public figure. It is possible that he is a professional, academic, or individual in a particular field or community, but without more information, it is difficult to provide specific details about him. If you have more context about Dr. Lee Fallin, feel free to provide it, and I can attempt to provide more information based on that context.
GTP-4
I’m not offended ????
But this is interesting! So it knows my Twitter handle, but it doesn’t know me.
This is where it gets really interesting. So I asked:
Who is @LeeFallin?
Prompt
Considering last night’s reply, I expected an answer. Instead, I got another holding notice:
As of my knowledge cutoff date in September 2021, @LeeFallin appears to be a Twitter handle. Without more context, it’s difficult to provide specific information about the individual behind this account. If the person behind the handle has gained more prominence or recognition after September 2021, my current knowledge would not cover it. You may want to visit the Twitter profile to get more information about the individual or browse their tweets to get a sense of their interests and expertise.
GTP-4
So! This is really interesting. Last night I asked it to surmise how I might think on an issue, and it obliged. When directly asked – nothing!
It gets more interesting. I try to repeat last night’s experiment, so I asked:
What would @LeeFallin think about the use of artificial intelligence in Higher Education?
Prompt
and the reply:
As an AI language model, I cannot predict or determine the specific thoughts or opinions of an individual like @LeeFallin. However, I can provide you with some general perspectives on the use of artificial intelligence in higher education, which they might share, contest, or consider.
GTP-4
Now – it did go on to give a few bullet points in overview, but nothing contextualised to me. It then chased those generic points with a warning:
To know @LeeFallin’s specific thoughts on the matter, it would be best to check their Twitter account or any other public statements they have made on the topic.
GTP-4
I got the exact same blueprint answer (with different topics in the response) when I asked:
What would @LeeFallin have to say about digital equality and inclusion?
Prompt
So. What is going on here?
I realised my mistake – perhaps my initial query about Dr Lee Fallin was influencing the later responses as the model had already stated it did not know me. In fact, it even titled that conversation ‘Unknown Public Figure: Dr Lee Fallin’ (again – I’m not offended…).
So, I started a fresh conversation.
Starting fresh: Asking GTP-4 about my Twitter
In a fresh chat, I repeated my last prompt:
What would @LeeFallin have to say about digital equality and inclusion?
Prompt
and it worked!
As an AI language model, I cannot predict the current thoughts or opinions of specific individuals like @LeeFallin. However, based on his background as an academic and his interests in digital literacy and learning development, it is possible to make an educated guess about what he might say about digital equality and inclusion.
@LeeFallin would likely emphasize the importance of digital equality and inclusion in today’s rapidly-evolving digital world. He may discuss the significance of addressing the digital divide and ensuring that people from all walks of life have access to digital resources and technology. This could include advocating for affordable and reliable internet access, as well as ensuring that educational institutions and public spaces provide adequate digital resources.
Moreover, he might stress the importance of digital literacy and the need to teach people the skills required to navigate and participate in the digital world effectively. This would involve offering training programs and workshops to help individuals of all ages and backgrounds develop their digital skills and gain confidence in using technology.
Finally, @LeeFallin might also highlight the role of policy-makers and educators in promoting digital equality and inclusion by developing strategies and initiatives that prioritize equitable access to technology and digital literacy education for all. This could involve collaborating with community organizations, non-profits, and the private sector to create comprehensive and inclusive digital policies and programs.
GTP-4
Not a bad answer, but is it basing it off of my profile and those three facts (1) academic, (2) digital literacy and (3) learning development? Time to test this further…
How would @LeeFallin approach qualitative data analysis. Is there any software he might use?
GTP-4
Okay. This thing does not know me. I am an NVivo Certified Expert and have pretty much used it for every research project in the last decade. I Tweet about it regularly, and have amassed nearly a million views on YouTube (though, granted, this is mostly via the HullUniLibrary account where I used to work!). The answer:
While I can’t definitively state how @LeeFallin would approach qualitative data analysis or which specific software he might use, I can provide some general insights based on his background in academic research and learning development.
For qualitative data analysis, @LeeFallin might take a systematic approach that involves:
- Familiarization with the data: Reading and re-reading the data to gain a deep understanding of the material and identify initial patterns or themes.
- Coding: Assigning descriptive labels to segments of data (e.g., text, images, or audio) to identify themes, concepts, and patterns.
- Developing themes: Grouping codes together to form overarching themes and refining them as necessary.
- Reviewing themes: Checking the validity and coherence of the themes in relation to the dataset as a whole and the research question.
- Defining and naming themes: Creating clear definitions and names for each theme, which can be used to tell a coherent story about the data.
- Writing up the analysis: Presenting the findings in a clear and coherent manner, often by weaving together the themes and supporting them with direct quotes or examples from the data.
As for software, there are several options for qualitative data analysis that @LeeFallin might consider using, such as:
- NVivo: A popular and widely-used qualitative data analysis software that helps researchers to organize, analyze, and visualize their data.
- ATLAS.ti: Another powerful tool for qualitative data analysis that offers features for coding, querying, and visualization.
- MAXQDA: A comprehensive software for analyzing qualitative and mixed methods data, with a user-friendly interface and robust features for coding, memo-writing, and visualization.
- Dedoose: A web-based application for qualitative and mixed methods research, which allows for easy collaboration among researchers.
Ultimately, the choice of software would depend on @LeeFallin’s personal preferences, the nature of the research project, and the resources available.
GTP-4
Me using ATLAS.ti or MAXQDA. I think not.
Time for one last test.
An analysis of @LeeFallin’s Use of Twitter
So I started a new chat and tried to do something different, using a longer, more detailed prompt. Here goes:
You are a university student studying in the UK. You are undertaking a postgraduate degree in research, and are currently studying scholarly communication. As part of an upcoming assessment, you have to choose a UK academic, and write about their use of Twitter for scholarly communication. For your report, you choose @LeeFallin. Can you write a brief argument that overviews @LeeFallin’s use of Twitter and how he engaged in scholarly communication. Write your report for a specialist audience, and focus on @LeeFallin. You should also include academic references to relate to scholarly communication theory.
Prompt
I was curious to see where this would go. What follows looks really good, but I summarise it as ‘confident £$#!$&!’. This looks very authoritative and impressive. But it provides no detail, context or evidence. It could be writing about any academic. In fact, it gets much wrong – I don’t really use the #AcWri hashtag (I’m not sure I ever have), and I am most certainly not a prominent academic.
Title: Scholarly Communication in the Digital Age: An Analysis of @LeeFallin’s Use of Twitter
Introduction
The digital revolution has transformed the ways in which researchers communicate and disseminate their work. In particular, social media platforms, such as Twitter, have become essential tools for scholars to engage with their peers and the broader academic community (Veletsianos & Kimmons, 2016). This report examines the Twitter activity of @LeeFallin, a prominent UK-based academic, and discusses how he effectively engages in scholarly communication on this platform.
Twitter as a Platform for Scholarly Communication
Twitter offers scholars numerous opportunities to engage in scholarly communication, such as sharing research findings, connecting with peers, and participating in academic discussions (Priem & Costello, 2010). It has been suggested that scholars who use Twitter exhibit a broader and more diverse network of connections compared to those who only engage through traditional channels (Stewart, 2015). @LeeFallin capitalizes on these opportunities by maintaining an active presence on Twitter, where he shares research outputs, participates in academic debates, and establishes connections with scholars from various disciplines.
Sharing Research Outputs
A key aspect of scholarly communication is the dissemination of research findings, which allows scholars to share their knowledge with the academic community (Borgman, 2007). @LeeFallin regularly tweets about his latest publications, conference presentations, and research projects, often including links to open access articles and relevant resources. By doing so, he increases the visibility of his work, promotes open access, and encourages dialogue among researchers (Holmberg & Thelwall, 2014).
Connecting with Peers
Another essential component of scholarly communication is building networks and engaging in collaborative efforts (Nentwich & König, 2014). @LeeFallin effectively utilizes Twitter to connect with other scholars, research institutions, and academic organizations. By following and interacting with these accounts, he fosters relationships that can lead to potential collaborations and enhance his own research (Collins, Shiffman & Rock, 2016).
Participating in Academic Discussions
Twitter allows scholars to engage in real-time conversations on various topics relevant to their field (Gruzd, Staves & Wilk, 2012). @LeeFallin actively participates in such academic discussions through the use of hashtags, such as #PhDchat and #AcWri, which facilitate conversations among scholars about research methods, writing practices, and other aspects of academic life. By contributing to these discussions, he not only shares his expertise but also gains insights from his peers, thus fostering a dynamic exchange of ideas and knowledge (Carpenter, Wetheridge & Tanner, 2012).
Conclusion
In summary, @LeeFallin effectively leverages Twitter as a platform for scholarly communication, using it to disseminate research outputs, connect with peers, and engage in academic discussions. His use of Twitter exemplifies how social media can be integrated into the scholarly communication process, expanding traditional channels and fostering more dynamic and diverse interactions within the academic community. Further research could explore how the impact
GTP4
…as you can tell, this did not fully generate. I couldn’t prompt for the reference list to check if it was accurate because of this. I did, however, re-generate the reply and at that time the references were partially completed before the error.
Perhaps my error was asking for references – and so the report was too influenced by literature?
Here we go again:
You are a university student studying in the UK. You are undertaking a postgraduate degree in research, and are currently studying scholarly communication. As part of an upcoming assessment, you have to choose a UK academic, and write about their use of Twitter for scholarly communication. For your report, you choose @LeeFallin. Can you write a brief argument that overviews @LeeFallin’s use of Twitter and how he engaged in scholarly communication. Write your report for a specialist audience, and focus on @LeeFallin.
Prompt
The response did provide some hope of a better response, including some items of my interest, but the went on to talk so generically, it was hard to justify as it was based on my profile.
What follows is very interesting…
GTP-4 has our tweets
Full disclosure… I forgot to record the prompt. The reply, however, included these nuggets of gold:
4. Public Engagement and Impact
In addition to sharing his research, @LeeFallin uses Twitter to engage with the wider public and contribute to discussions on various topics related to his areas of expertise. For example, he retweeted and commented on a Guardian article about the challenges of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic (Tweet, 2021), demonstrating his commitment to knowledge dissemination and public engagement. This engagement helps to raise awareness of the importance of his research and its potential impact on policy and practice.
5. Professional Development
@LeeFallin shares resources, tips, and opportunities related to academic writing, teaching, and research on Twitter, reflecting his dedication to the professional growth of his followers. For instance, he tweeted about a webinar on effective academic writing strategies, organized by the UK Higher Education Academy (Tweet, 2021). He also engages in discussions around issues such as open access and research ethics, exemplified by his retweet of a post by @LSEImpactBlog on the ethical implications of data sharing in educational research (Tweet, 2022).
GTP-4
These all sound very familiar – though it failed before generating the reference list.
I tried to prompt something similar again, but failed. I tried:
You are a university student studying in the UK. You are undertaking a postgraduate degree in research, and are currently studying scholarly communication. As part of an upcoming assessment, you have to choose a UK academic, and write about their use of Twitter for scholarly communication. For your report, you choose @LeeFallin. Can you write a brief argument that overviews @LeeFallin’s use of Twitter and how he engaged in scholarly communication. Write your report for a specialist audience, and focus on @LeeFallin. Draw specific attention to evidence, relating directly to @LeeFallin’s tweets to demonstrate your claims. You should focus on examples of @LeeFallin’s practice to keep your response contextualised to @LeeFallin’s areas of expertise.
Prompt
What it generated back was strange. Really strange.
It looks like it’s generated corrupted versions of my tweets and anonymised them.
So there is lots of reference to @colleague and [date]. However, the tweets it quotes are all not real – at least, I can’t verify them through Twitter or my own tweet repository. GTP-4 clearly has my tweets to some degree, this is all too close to the stuff I tweet about for it not to have access to some @LeeFallin source material. Yet, it is clearly back to making stuff up on this one. It also quotes what looks like an identical version of my old Twitter bio. It’s safe to say some GTP-X has been trained on our Tweets to some extent.
Title: Scholarly Communication through Twitter: A Case Study of @LeeFallin
Introduction
The advent of social media has significantly transformed scholarly communication, allowing academics to engage with audiences beyond traditional academic circles. This report examines the use of Twitter by UK academic @LeeFallin as a platform for scholarly communication. Drawing on specific examples from his tweets, we argue that @LeeFallin effectively utilizes Twitter to share knowledge, foster dialogue, and build networks in his areas of expertise.
- Dissemination of Research and Knowledge
@LeeFallin consistently shares research findings and academic resources in his areas of expertise, which include academic skills development, library and information science, and higher education teaching. By doing so, he contributes to the wider dissemination of knowledge and makes it accessible to a broader audience. For instance, his tweet on [Date], “Exciting new research on academic writing strategies for #PhD students: [Link to article]. A must-read for #HigherEd professionals!” not only informs his followers of relevant research but also encourages them to engage with the content.
- Engagement and Dialogue
@LeeFallin actively engages in dialogue with fellow academics, students, and professionals by participating in Twitter conversations and responding to questions. This fosters a sense of community and facilitates the exchange of ideas. On [Date], @LeeFallin tweeted, “Thought-provoking discussion on the role of #libraries in the digital age with @academic_colleague. What are your thoughts? #LibraryFutures”, demonstrating his willingness to engage in discourse and inviting others to contribute their perspectives.
- Collaboration and Networking
Twitter provides a space for academics like @LeeFallin to build connections with colleagues across different institutions and disciplines. Through his account, he frequently retweets and shares content from other scholars, thereby promoting collaboration and expanding his professional network. For example, on [Date], he retweeted @colleague’s post on open access publishing, commenting, “Important insights on the future of #OpenAccess in academia. Thanks for sharing, @colleague! #ScholComm”. This interaction demonstrates the collaborative potential of Twitter for academics.
- Personal Branding and Visibility
@LeeFallin’s use of Twitter has also been effective in creating a personal brand as an expert in his field. By sharing research, engaging in dialogue, and networking with other academics, he enhances his visibility and credibility within the scholarly community. His bio clearly indicates his academic and professional affiliations, making it easy for followers to understand his areas of expertise: “Academic Skills Advisor @University | #HigherEd | #Library | #InformationScience | Researcher | Educator | Tweets are my own.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, @LeeFallin successfully utilizes Twitter as a platform for scholarly communication. His engagement in sharing research, fostering dialogue, building networks, and establishing a personal brand contributes to the broader academic community’s discourse and collaboration. This case study demonstrates the potential of social media for academics to transcend traditional boundaries and engage with a wider audience.
GTP-4
Over to you
I encourage you all to experiment with your own Twitter profile to see what you can find.