{"id":6840,"date":"2023-03-23T00:23:40","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T00:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learningaloud.com\/blog\/?p=6840"},"modified":"2023-04-28T21:38:55","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T21:38:55","slug":"chatpdf-as-tutor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningaloud.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/23\/chatpdf-as-tutor\/","title":{"rendered":"ChatPDF as tutor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Educators concerned about AI and unable to generate productive ways their students could use AI tools need to check this out. The tool is called ChatPDF and is available using a browser or an<\/a> iPad. At this point, it is free and available without an account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once connected you upload a pdf.  I wanted to give it a significant challenge and something I could evaluate easily for accuracy so I took a chapter I had written (the chapter on learning as applied to technology from the textbook I wrote with my wife (Integrating technology for meaningful learning<\/a>) and uploaded it as a pdf file. I then began to ask for explanations, examples, and questions relevant to that chapter. I responded to the questions the AI tool generated and had my answers evaluated. What I have long thought potentially valuable AI was the role AI might play in functioning as a tutor. How can learners get flexible assistance when studying that they can shape to their needs? How can students discover what their needs are and then have their challenges addressed? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the system did require that I restart a couple of times, perhaps because I was working from a coffee shop with a sketchy connection, I was very impressed with the quality of the system. By quality, I was primarily interested in the accuracy of the content. Were the explanations accurate and different enough from the wording in the chapter to offer a reasonable opportunity for a learner to achieve a better understanding? Were the questions posed more than simplistic keyword vocabulary checks? Was the system flexible enough to understand me even when I got a little sloppy? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any educator should evaluate similar issues for themselves using material they might assign. I understand that content they might like to evaluate may not be available in pdf format, but as I understand the developers there is already a Google docs version and soon to be a Word version. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a few differences between the browser and app versions I observed. The app version references short segments following its replies and the browser version gives a page number. I guess my preference would be the page number as I see value in a learner being able to go back and forth between the book (PDF) and the AI tool. As I have read about this tool there was a warning about the difficulty of the system making connections across different sections of a document and this must apply to transfer\/applications external to the document as well. I make no claim that using this AI tool as a tutor is the equivalent of being able to work with a knowledgeable human tutor, but I would argue few students have the advantage of a knowledgeable human tutor at all times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a look. Some example questions and responses the system generated are included in the following images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The following image may be a little difficult to read, but I was trying to show the text segments the system tells you it primarily used to generate the content it displayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Educators concerned about AI and unable to generate productive ways their students could use AI tools need to check this out. The tool is called ChatPDF and is available using a browser or an iPad. At this point, it is free and available without an account. Once connected you upload a pdf.  I wanted to … Continue reading ChatPDF as tutor<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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