Artificial Intelligence Goes to English Class, with Jennifer Black, John Ladd, and Laura Turchi

Published: Feb. 28, 2023, 9:29 p.m.

b'The Folger: Hey ChatGPT! Could you write a six line Shakespearean monologue in iambic pentameter about an interview with Jennifer Black, Laura Turchi, and John Ladd about the challenges and opportunities that ChatGPT presents in the English classroom? Thank you!\\n\\nChatGPT: Of course, I\'d be happy to write a Shakespearean monologue on that topic! Here it is:\\n\\nOh, how ChatGPT may bring the bard to light,\\nAnd in the English classroom, set things right.\\nWith Jennifer, Laura, John to lead the way,\\nThey\'ll show the world what ChatGPT can convey.\\nFor in its code, a wealth of knowledge lies,\\nAnd students learn, to their great teachers\' surprise.\\n\\nBased on that monologue, Open AI\'s ChatGPT tool obviously believes that it can be a positive addition to the classroom. Should you share its optimistic outlook? Our host Barbara Bogaev talks with Jennifer Black of Boise State University, Laura Turchi of Arizona State University, and John Ladd of Washington and Jefferson College about the challenges and opportunities that artificial intelligence tools offer English teachers.\\n\\nCheck out this episode on our website to see a gallery of Shakespeare portraits "created" by Open AI\'s DALL-E tool, responding to prompts including "Shakespeare piloting a Shakespeare in the style of Cowboy Bebop," "Robot William Shakespeare in the style of John Singer Sargent," "Photorealistic image Shakespeare in cyberspace," and "Shakespeare sitting on a cliffside in a jungle working on a laptop."\\n\\nDr. Jennifer Black is a Lecturer in English Literature at Boise State University, where she teaches a broad range of undergraduate courses in literature and humanities. Her most recent publications focus on teaching Shakespeare online, leadership and ethics in Shakespeare\\u2019s plays, and flipping the college classroom.\\n\\nDr. John R. Ladd is an assistant professor in Computing and Information Studies at Washington & Jefferson College. His teaching and research focuses on the use of data across a wide variety of domains, especially in cultural and humanities contexts, as well as on the histories of information and technology. He has published essays and web projects on cultural analytics and humanities data science, the history of data, and network analysis.\\n\\nDr. Laura Turchi is a teacher educator specializing in English Language Arts. She co-authored Teaching Shakespeare with Purpose: A Student-Centered Approach (Bloomsbury/Arden) with Ayanna Thompson and recently completed Teaching Shakespeare with Interactive Editions (forthcoming from Cambridge University Press ). Turchi is Clinical Professor in English at Arizona State University, where she directs curriculum development for \\u201cRaceB4Race: Sustaining, Building, Innovating\\u201d at the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.\\n\\nFrom the\\xa0Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published February 28, 2023. \\xa9 Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. We had technical help from Shane McKeon, Kristin Vermilya, and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.'