OpenAI and Wharton Launch Free ChatGPT Course for Educators Amid Growing AI Adoption in Classrooms

Exclusive: ChatGPT is creating "absolute chaos" in education. OpenAI and Wharton are teaming up to educate teachers about using gen AI effectively

Generative artificial intelligence is the elephant in the (class)room at schools nationwide. And while many students have largely caught on to its omnipresence, teachers are lagging behind. OpenAI, the parent of ChatGPT, is hoping to change the dynamic with a new partnership with one of the best business schools in the country. Starting today, learners can take a course from OpenAI and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School: "AI in Education: Leavaging ChatGPT for Teaching." The goal is to empower educators to effectively bring generative AI into the classroom and maximize learning, says Leah Belsky, vice president and general manager of education at OpenAI. "Teachers and professors are an important node in both learning how they can transform pedagogy and transform the way people learn with AI," says Belsky. The new class is co-taught by Lilach and Ethan Mollick of the University of Pennsylvania -- who have dedicated their lives to AI education. They are the co-founders of the school's generative AI lab. While AI and education have tremendous upsides and downsides, Ethan Mollick says the latter has received more attention, with conversations largely focused on cheating and plagiarism. Once people realize the benefits, he says, positive transformation can be endless. "The class is just as much about what you as a teacher can do with AI to make your life better and make you a more effective educator, a less stressed out educator, as much as it is about how do you create assignments for your students?" he tells Fortune. Learn more: Here are 7 free AI classes you can take online from top tech firms, universities. Ethan Mollick says that higher education is in "absolute chaos" because technology is changing faster than the industry is willing to change -- and that students are using AI to cheat, even in instances when it's not conducive to learning. 86% of college students claim to use AI in their studies, and 28% of students have concerns about faculty's insufficient AI capabilities, according to a report released in August 2024 from the Digital Education Council. Separate research from Ithaka revealed that while a majority of faculty say they have experimented using generative AI technology, many are not confident in their abilities. "Higher education is always in crisis, right? Teaching is always in crisis," he notes. "We muddle through because some of the basic principles of teaching, which is, you know, experts in the field who care about communicating knowledge and (being) constructive -- that piece is still there and still important and is going to stay that way." At the same time, Ethan Mollick admits that not everyone has to use AI. Just like how some classrooms don't allow students to use calculators, the same can be done with AI. OpenAI's latest partnership with Wharton indicates a larger effort by the company to connect with the education world. The company recently developed a version of ChatGPT exclusively for colleges and universities off the banks of its successful partnerships with schools like Arizona State University. Just this week, the company also released a free training course, in conjunction with Common Sense Media, targeted at K-12 teachers. Belsky recently joined OpenAI after nearly a decade working at Coursera, most recently as its chief revenue officer. She says higher education has an important role in connecting the dots for students of when and where AI can best be applied to the real world -- and thus be prepared for the workforce. "It's really about helping people to learn the content and also putting AI in the hands of learners to engage the AI as they're learning about it as well," she says. The course can be audited at no cost, but $29 is required for access to graded assessments and certification. It takes about one to two hours to complete, and includes four modules:

OpenAI and Common Sense Media launch free ChatGPT course to teach the teachers

A new initiative from Common Sense Media and OpenAI provides teachers a crash course on AI. Credit: Philipp von Ditfurth / picture alliance via Getty Images OpenAI has announced its latest nonprofit ChatGPT collaboration, a free online course to bolster teachers' AI literacy. The one-hour learning program was co-created and published by Common Sense Media, one of OpenAI's nonprofit partners, and designed for K-12 educators. According to Common Sense Media's description of the nine modules, teachers learn the basics and ethical implications of artificial intelligence, generative AI, and ChatGPT, and are then taught how to "safely and effectively" deploy it in classroom settings. According to OpenAI, the course has already been used by educators across "dozens" of schools, including those in Arizona, California, and across the charter school system Challenger Schools. "We're in the early stages of AI adoption in K-12, and it will take all of us -- educators, technologists, and organizations -- working together to ensure this technology enables teachers and improves learning outcomes for students," said OpenAI general manager of education Leah Belsky. OpenAI released its first guide for educators in 2023, a hub for educators' FAQs, example classroom prompts, and testimonials to encourage the tech's use to "accelerate student learning." The latest resource supports the company's push for greater AI applications in classroom settings, following an initial blowback to students' generative AI use after ChatGPT's initial launch. Since then, more tech companies have gotten behind the integration of AI into primary education, including Canva and classroom tech giant Google. In August, Google announced a partnership with nonprofit open education resources publisher OpenStax to train its AI chatbot Google Gemini on peer-reviewed textbooks. Last month, the Department of Education released its own educators' toolkit designed to help K-12 school districts integrate artificial intelligence in administrative and educational settings. But many educators and their advocates are still wary of generative AI's widespread use in schools and its data privacy implications, expressing continued concern on its impact on student creativity, reasoning, and mental health. At the same time, generative AI is becoming an increasingly impactful part of adolescence, from the threat of nonconsensual deepfakes to companion chatbots. A recent survey of teens from Common Sense Media found that 70 percent were using generative AI for homework help or to stave off boredom, but only a third had informed their parents that they were using the new tech.

OpenAI and Wharton launch free ChatGPT course for teachers. Here's how to access it

ChatGPT can boost your productivity. This course shows educators how they can benefit. When ChatGPT launched, the generative AI tool immediately faced concerns about atrophying children's intelligence and education, with some school districts even blocking access. However, many schools soon decided to unblock the technology and began leveraging it within their classrooms. This new course is meant to help teachers make the most of ChatPGT. On Thursday, OpenAI partnered with Wharton Online to launch a new course, AI in Education: Leveraging ChatGPT for Teaching, available on Coursera for free. The course has been designed to teach generative AI essentials to higher education and high school staff to help them better implement the technology in their classrooms. Also: OpenAI launches free AI training for educators - how to access it The course is self-paced and split into four modules, which take about an hour to complete. The topics covered in the modules include how to use AI in the classroom. create GPTs, build AI exercises and tests, prompt AI, and learn about the risks of the technology. "Wharton Online holds a deep commitment to delivering accessible content from the AI experts here at Wharton that can empower educators to harness this transformative technology and enrich the teaching experience for all," said Eric Hamberger, managing director at Wharton Online. Also: You can now talk with ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode on the web The course features experts in the field, including Wharton professor Ethan Mollick, who was one of the first instructors to find ways to incorporate generative AI into the syllabus and classroom to promote learning. Time magazine named Mollick one of 2024's most influential people in AI. Lilach Mollick, co-director of Wharton Generative AI Labs, also guides the course. Once the course is completed, users will earn a Wharton Online and OpenAI certificate issued by Coursera, which they can share with their networks to show they understand AI. The course, accessible on Coursera, starts on November 21 and users can enroll for free. Also: Google's Gemini Advanced gets a very useful ChatGPT feature - but how does it compare? If you are interested in pursuing other courses, there are many options. On Wednesday, OpenAI launched a free online course called ChatGPT Foundations for K-12 Educators.

OpenAI introduces ChatGPT course for teachers, but concerns persist

The programme has been tested in dozens of schools in California, where 98% of participating educators reported gaining new ideas or strategies for their teaching practices. However, limitations, such as its inability to fairly assess students' work, and inadequacies and contradictions have also been pointed out.OpenAI has introduced a free online course aimed at equipping K-12 teachers with the skills to integrate its AI chatbot, ChatGPT, into classrooms. Developed in collaboration with Common Sense Media, a non-profit organisation, the one-hour, nine-module programme provides insights into the basics of artificial intelligence and its potential applications in pedagogy. The programme has already been tested in dozens of schools in California. According to OpenAI, 98% of participating educators reported gaining new ideas or strategies for their teaching practices. "Schools across the country are grappling with new opportunities and challenges as AI reshapes education," Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at Common Sense Media, said in a statement. Concerns among educators Despite these initiatives, scepticism remains high. Lance Warwick, a lecturer at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, expressed concerns that such courses might inadvertently normalise AI in education without adequately addressing its ethical implications. OpenAI's course does highlight some of ChatGPT's limitations, such as its inability to fairly assess students' work. However, Warwick found the modules on privacy and safety inadequate and, at times, contradictory. "In the example prompts (OpenAI gives), one tells you to incorporate grades and feedback from past assignments, while another tells you to create a prompt for an activity to teach the Mexican Revolution," Warwick noted. "In the next module on safety, it tells you to never input student data, and then talks about the bias inherent in generative AI and the issues with accuracy. I'm not sure those are compatible with the use cases." Privacy and ethical questions OpenAI asserts that it doesn't sell user data and allows users to own generated outputs. However, educationalists remain unconvinced, particularly with the lack of regulatory oversight. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has called for stronger safeguards in AI use within education, but progress remains limited. The future of AI adoption in education A Pew Research survey revealed that 25% of public K-12 teachers view AI tools as more harmful than helpful, and only 18% actively use them. Research findings have been mixed; while ChatGPT improves access to research materials, it may hinder critical thinking. Even though OpenAI emphasises ChatGPT as a supplementary tool, not a replacement for teacher-student engagement, yet, without stronger ethical frameworks, educators remain cautious about embracing AI in classrooms.

OpenAI Launches Training Course For Teachers as Classroom AI Grows

OpenAI and non-profit partner Common Sense Media have announced the launch of a free AI training course for teachers, as the emerging technology becomes increasingly prevalent in modern day classrooms. The move comes amid a shift from the ChatGPT-maker to promote the positive role AI can have in education - but not everyone is convinced. OpenAI Education OpenAI's new free training course is aimed at teachers looking to learn how to use ChatGPT in the classroom. The one-hour course, created with Common Sense Media, acts as a beginner's guide to the company's hit generative AI chatbot. According to the company, the free course has already been deployed in "dozens" of schools and 98% of teachers who took the course said they could apply it to their work. Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at Common Sense Media, said the course takes a proactive approach to "support and educate teachers on the front lines and prepare for this transformation." "Schools across the country are grappling with new opportunities and challenges as AI reshapes education," he said in a statement. Classroom AI on the Rise The launch of OpenAI's training course comes as AI technology is increasingly entering today's classrooms. Released in November 2022, OpenAI's ChatGPT marked a pivotal moment in the rise of GenAI, triggering widespread interest and transformation across multiple industries. The chatbot showcased the immense potential of conversational AI at scale for the first time. Unlike prior AI models, ChatGPT was both powerful and user-friendly, making it approachable for individuals and businesses without specialized technical expertise. GenAI, bolstered by ChatGPT, has transformed healthcare, marketing, advertising, game development, customer service and now is transforming education. According to the National Literacy Trust, the number of U.K. teachers using GenAI increased from 31% in 2023 to 47.7% in 2024. Dr. Robert Harrison, the Director of Education and Integrated Technology at ACS International Schools, said the "next generation needs to understand AI because human-machine interfaces will only become more important." The use of AI in schools is not just for the children's benefit, Harrison noted, teachers can also use it to significantly lighten their workload. "Once teachers know how to work with the prompts, the ideas suggested by AI become far from generic and, over time, can be tailored to specific student classes and cohorts," he said. Educators Against AI However, not everyone is on board with bringing the emerging technology into the classroom. Lance Warwick, a lecturer at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told TechCrunch that he feared normalizing ChatGPT's usage would undermine its privacy issues. After taking OpenAI's online course, Warwick claimed its focus on privacy and safety was "very limited." At the same time, Professor at Weber State University, Alex Lawrence has called the GenAI application "the greatest cheating tool ever invented", according to the Wall Street Journal. As AI gets smarter, some educators are concerned that AI tools such as ChatGPT could enable students to bypass critical thinking and problem-solving.

OpenAI and Common Sense Media launch free AI training for educators

This one-hour course helps teachers learn gen AI basics. Here's how to access it. Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and other assistants have the potential to improve teachers' workloads, especially when it comes to lesson planning, grading, and personalized learning materials. However, knowing best practices is crucial to get the most out of the tech -- and this new free AI course is meant to teach just that. Also: The best free AI courses in 2024 (and whether AI certificates are worth it) On Wednesday, OpenAI and Common Sense Media launched a free online course called "ChatGPT Foundations for K-12 Educators" to help teachers learn how to responsibly and effectively implement AI into their workflows. "We're in the early stages of AI adoption in K-12, and it will take all of us -- educators, technologists, and organizations -- working together to ensure this technology enables teachers and improves learning outcomes for students," said Leah Belsky, VP and GM of Education at OpenAI. The course, which should take less than one hour to complete, covers the basics of AI, including topics such as data privacy implications, ethical usage, AI fundamentals, and ideas for how educators can leverage AI in their classrooms, according to the release. It was designed to be simple and accessible and will help educators understand the basics of AI beyond ChatGPT. The company shared that the course has already been piloted in a dozen school districts and has seen promising early results, with 98% of participants sharing that the course offered them new ideas or strategies they could apply to their work. Several AI tools already exist for students, including college-level reading and studying help. Also: Google and MIT launch a free generative AI course for teachers The course is available for free today on the Common Sense Media website for all educators and school districts. A ChatGPT Edu subscription is not required. This partnership marks the first public collaboration between the companies, with more to come, according to OpenAI.

OpenAI launches free AI training course for teachers

(Reuters) - OpenAI and non-profit partner Common Sense Media have launched a free training course for teachers aimed at demystifying artificial intelligence and prompt engineering, the organizations said on Wednesday. The move comes as OpenAI is stepping up efforts to highlight the positive role in education of its ChatGPT chatbot whose launch in November 2022 kicked off a generative AI craze and made it one of the world's fastest-growing applications. Trained on reams of data, generative AI can create brand-new humanlike content, helping users spin up term papers, complete science homework and even write entire novels. ChatGPT's launch - in the middle of the school year - caught teachers off-guard when they realized it could be used as a cheating and plagiarism tool, which then sparked a backlash and school bans. OpenAI, backed by Microsoft and other investors and valued at $157 billion in its last funding round, has formed a dedicated team to support what it says is the responsible use of AI in education and learning, led by former Coursera executive Leah Belsky. "My goal in this role is to put AI into the hands of every student and every teacher... and also give them the skills to learn how to do it responsibly and effectively," Belsky told Reuters. Belsky said that student adoption of ChatGPT is "very, very high," and parents are generally supportive, viewing AI skills as essential for future careers. The training course, targeted at kindergarten through 12th grade teachers, shows them how to use the ChatGPT chatbot product for various education use cases, such as to create lesson content or streamline department meetings. Available on Common Sense Media's website, it is the first offering in OpenAI's partnership with Common Sense Media. (Reporting by Anna Tong in San Francisco; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

OpenAI Launches Free AI Training Course for Teachers

Partnership between OpenAI and Common Sense Media to support AI integration. Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Common Sense Media launched "ChatGPT Foundations for K-12 Educators," a free course designed to help teachers understand and responsibly implement the basics of AI into their work in the classroom. Free for all educators and school districts, the one-hour, nine-lesson course provides educators with essential knowledge about AI and approaches for ensuring student safety and privacy, Common Sense Media announced on Wednesday. Also Read: ANI Sues OpenAI Over Alleged Copyright Violation by ChatGPT: Report According to the official release, the course has been piloted in nearly a dozen school districts, including the Agua Fria Union High School District and Challenger School, showing promising early results. It covers key topics such as AI fundamentals, data privacy considerations, ethical usage guidelines, and strategies for integrating AI into educators' daily tasks. "Schools across the country are grappling with new opportunities and challenges as AI reshapes education, with our research showing that seven in 10 students are already using tools like ChatGPT for their schoolwork," said Robbie Torney, Senior Director of AI Programs at Common Sense. "With this course, we are taking a proactive approach to support and educate teachers on the front lines and prepare for this transformation." "We're in the early stages of AI adoption in K-12, and it will take all of us -- educators, technologists, and organizations -- working together to ensure this technology enables teachers and improves learning outcomes for students," said Leah Belsky, VP and General Manager of Education at OpenAI. "Our first priority is to equip educators with resources to use OpenAI's tools thoughtfully and set the classroom standard for responsible use. This course, in partnership with a trusted organisation like Common Sense, offers this critical foundation." Also Read: Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Highlights Four Big Challenges Caused by Big Tech The launch marks the first milestone in a broader collaboration between Common Sense and OpenAI, announced in January 2024, focused on creating AI guidelines and educational resources for parents, educators, and young people, the companies said.

OpenAI Launches Teacher's Guide to ChatGPT, But Educators Remain Skeptical

OpenAI's Teacher's Guide to ChatGPT Faces Pushback from Educators Education organization OpenAI has released a new online course to teach K-12 teachers about the Company's ChatGPT AI application. The one-credit course was created in collaboration with the nonprofit Common Sense Media and engages educators with the fundamentals of AI as well as its current and future uses in the classroom. The course is slowly making its way through schools across the United States, and experience has shown that 98% of participants have benefited from it. Nevertheless, these encouraging responses are not loved by many educators due to the raised concerns at large about endorsing AI in classes.

OpenAI releases a teacher's guide to ChatGPT, but some educators are skeptical | TechCrunch

OpenAI envisions teachers using its AI-powered tools to create lesson plans and interactive tutorials for students. But some educators are wary of the technology -- and its potential to go awry. Today, OpenAI released a free online course designed to help K-12 teachers learn how to bring ChatGPT, the company's AI chatbot platform, into their classrooms. Created in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Common Sense Media, with which OpenAI has an active partnership, the one-hour, nine-module program covers the basics of AI and its pedagogical applications. OpenAI says that it's already deployed the course in "dozens" of schools, including the Agua Fria School District in Arizona, the San Bernardino School District in California, and the charter school system Challenger Schools. Per the company's internal research, 98% of participants said the program offered new ideas or strategies that they could apply to their work. "Schools across the country are grappling with new opportunities and challenges as AI reshapes education," Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at Common Sense Media, said in a statement. "With this course, we are taking a proactive approach to support and educate teachers on the front lines and prepare for this transformation." But some educators don't see the program as helpful -- and think it could in fact mislead. Lance Warwick, a sports lecturer at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is concerned resources like OpenAI's will normalize AI use among educators unaware of the tech's ethical implications. While OpenAI's course covers some of ChatGPT's limitations, like that it can't fairly grade students' work, Warwick found the modules on privacy and safety to be "very limited" -- and contradictory. "In the example prompts [OpenAI gives], one tells you to incorporate grades and feedback from past assignments, while another tells you to create a prompt for an activity to teach the Mexican Revolution," Warwick noted. "In the next module on safety, it tells you to never input student data, and then talks about the bias inherent in generative AI and the issues with accuracy. I'm not sure those are compatible with the use cases." Sin á Tres Souhaits, a visual artist and educator at The University of Arizona, says that he's found AI tools to be helpful in writing assignment guides and other supplementary course materials. But he also says he's concerned that OpenAI's program doesn't directly address how the company might exercise control over content teachers create using its services. "If educators are creating courses and coursework on a program that gives the company the right to recreate and sell that data, that would destabilize a lot," Tres Souhaits told TechCrunch. "It's unclear to me how OpenAI will use, package, or sell whatever is generated by their models."lo In its ToS, OpenAI states that it doesn't sell user data, and that users of its services, including ChatGPT, own the outputs they generate "to the extent permitted by applicable law." Without additional assurances, however, Tres Souhaits isn't convinced that OpenAI won't quietly change its policies in the future. "For me, AI is like crypto," Tres Souhaits said. "It's new, so it offers a lot of possibility -- but it's also so deregulated that I wonder how much I would trust any guarantee." Late last year, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) pushed for governments to regulate the use of AI in education, including implementing age limits for users and guardrails on data protection and user privacy. But little progress has been made on those fronts since -- and on AI policy in general. Tres Souhaits also takes issue with the fact that OpenAI's program, which OpenAI markets as a guide to "AI, generative AI, and ChatGPT," doesn't mention any AI tools besides OpenAI's own. "It feels like this reinforces the idea that OpenAI is the AI company," he said. "It's a smart idea for OpenAI as a business. But we already have a problem with these tech-opolies -- companies that have an outsize influence because, as the tech was developed, they put themselves at the center of innovation and made themselves synonymous with the thing itself." Josh Prieur, a classroom teacher-turned-product director at educational games company Prodigy Education, had a more upbeat take on OpenAI's educator outreach. Prieur argues that there are "clear upsides" for teachers if school systems adopt AI in a "thoughtful" and "responsible" way, and he believes that OpenAI's program is transparent about the risks. "There remain concerns from teachers around using AI to plagiarize content and dehumanize the learning experience, and also risks around becoming overly reliant on AI," Preiur said. "But education is often key to overcoming fears around the adoption of new technology in schools, while also ensuring the right safeguards are in place to ensure students are protected and teachers remain in full control." OpenAI is aggressively going after the education market, which it sees as a key area of growth. In September, OpenAI hired former Coursera chief revenue officer Leah Belsky as its first GM of education, and chargefd her bringing OpenAI's products to more schools. And in the spring, the company launched ChatGPT Edu, a version of ChatGPT built for universities. According to Allied Market Research, the AI in education market could be worth $88.2 billion within the next decade. But growth is off to a sluggish start, in large part thanks to skeptical pedagogues. In a survey this year by the Pew Research Center, a quarter of public K-12 teachers said that using AI tools in education does more harm than good. A separate poll by the Rand Corporation and the Center on Reinventing Public Education found that just 18% of K-12 educators are using AI in their classrooms. Educational leaders have been similarly reluctant to try AI themselves, or introduce the technology to the educators they oversee. Per educational consulting firm EAB, few district superintendents view addressing AI as a "very urgent" need this year -- particularly in light of pressing issues such as understaffing and chronic absenteeism. Mixed research on AI's educational impact hasn't helped convince the non-believers. University of Pennsylvania researchers found that Turkish high school students with access to ChatGPT did worse on a math test than students who didn't have access. In a separate study, researchers observed that German students using ChatGPT were able to find research materials more easily, but tended to synthesize those materials less skillfully than their non-ChatGPT-using peers. As OpenAI writes in its guide, ChatGPT isn't a substitute for engagement with students. Some educators and schools may never be convinced it's a substitute for any step in the teaching process.

Why OpenAI's Push Into Classrooms Could be Important For Your Company

But what can we learn from its new guide for teachers, and why is it useful for people outside education and academics? Quite a lot, it turns out. If your company is in the early stages of embracing AI tech, the free OpenAI course could help new staff or managers with poor IT skills come to grips with chatbot tech like ChatGPT. And while it's specifically designed to help teachers "implement best practices for applying responsible AI principles in a school setting," it could also help companies work out how to responsibly deploy AI in a workplace setting -- many of the same privacy and AI reliability issues (like hallucination or deliberate misinformation in its responses) apply in the office as well as the classroom. Releasing the course itself is also a masterclass in "controlling the narrative." While some educators will continue to express worry that AI tech will upset the current educational paradigm in a bad way, in releasing the course OpenAI is implying the "only way out is through" and that the impact AI will have on teaching is inevitable. Further still, OpenAI may be sowing the seeds that create the first AI-native generation. Students who've always used the technology will expect it to be part of their working lives, which could be a profound influence on the look, conduct and technological expertise of the workplace of the near future.