Generally speaking, GenAI assistants like ChatGPT are designed to answer user questions quickly and accurately. While this is helpful in many situations, it is not always ideal in an educational setting. To develop students' critical thinking skills, it is important not to simply hand them the answers.
To solve this problem, ChatGPT has launched a new feature called "Learning Mode". When students use ChatGPT in learning mode, they receive guided questions customized to their goals and skill levels, helping them gain a deeper understanding of the topic.
OpenAI works with teachers, scientists, and education experts to develop custom system instructions that support learning models.
ChatGPT learning mode has the following features:
Interactive Prompts: A combination of Socratic questioning, prompts, and self-reflection prompts to guide understanding and promote active learning rather than providing direct answers.
Scaffolded responses: Information is organized into easy-to-understand sections that highlight key connections between topics, keeping information engaging with appropriate context and reducing confusion around complex topics.
Personalized support: Tailor your course to the user's level based on questions that assess skill level and memory from previous chats.
Knowledge Checks: Quizzes and open-ended questions, along with personalized feedback to track progress, support knowledge retention and the ability to apply knowledge in new contexts.
Flexibility: Easily switch between learning modes during a conversation, giving you the flexibility to adapt to your learning goals in each conversation.
While the new Learning Mode feature is just a custom set of system instructions on top of existing AI models, OpenAI plans to train this behavior directly into our main models in the future based on feedback from students and educators.
This new Learning Mode feature is available to all logged-in ChatGPT Free, Plus, Pro and Team users. The feature will also be available for ChatGPT Edu users in the coming weeks.