Unlocking the Power of AI: Empowering Students in overcoming mental health issues

My post contentThe time for AI is upon us whether we like it or not. There is no doubt it is a powerful tool that many of the younger generation are already embarrassed about. AI might be considered as any other tool and as any other tool it can be used to leverage the efficiency of the work that we do and to overcome our weaknesses or shortcomings.

The most talked about and publisised AI tool out there is ChatGPT. When I ask my students how they use ChatGPT the most constructive answers are:

• To get ideas for projects

• Overcome thought blocks

• Get ideas for topics

• To summarise written information

• To spell check and grammar

My own thoughts are that AI can be used by students who have dyslexia related to writing, neurodiverse students who might be on the spectrum and by students who’s command of the English language is not strong.

Quite often when it comes to writing there is hesitation and procrastination when past experiences of writing might not have been quite positive. This includes getting poor grades in language or being labeled as a poor language ability. It can result in thought blocks due the fear of making mistakes with the writing and diverts energy from laying down the information related to a topic which you might already have a clear grasp of.

One way of dealing with this might be not to think about what you are writing and write about the topic and concentrate on the topic and information that you want forward.

You can research and get ideas for your writing topic through AI and expand the search to books and other online resources. Be mindful that ChatGPT does make false research references so you always have to fact check any references to research or papers that it sites.

There still has to be structure to what you write. What you could do is create the framework of how you are going to present the information in point form and then expand on those points as you go along.

You can then input what you have written into ChatGPT to “polish” what you have written. It is important that you read through the output to ensure everything is in order.

The entire process if done correctly should be faster, less stressful and overtime should be enjoyable. Over time this should lead to less procrastination.

This experience can be quite liberating. You should be aware that most schools and universities use tools that detect work that is generated by AI. It is always better to update and adjust what has been written by an AI program to make it your own.