Direct AI Updates for School Leaders: 4/15/2024

Welcome to the first official edition of “Direct AI Updates for School Leaders.” I want to keep these nice and short (2 to 3-minute reads).

What you will find in this newsletter:

• AI Use Case For You

• AI Use Case For Your Staff

• Should School Admins Invest in ChatGPT-4?

• Should I purchase ChatGPT-4 for my entire staff?

AI Use Case For You

Leveraging ChatGPT for Request for Bids (RFB) Campaigns

This use case was created by the superintendent at Fargo Public Schools. It takes you through how to use ChatGPT throughout the whole RFB process:

1. RFB Advertisement: Writing an advertisement requesting bids.

2. Scoring Rubric: Creating a scoring rubric in table format for bid evaluation.

3. Acceptance and Rejection Letters: Writting letters for selected and non-selected bidders.

4. Memo to School Board: Outline of the bidding process. Also, a recommendation for the award recipient.

5. Draft Contract: Drafting the contract for the selected bidder.

Here are the prompts you can use: Leveraging ChatGPT for RFB Campaign Prompts.

See the example ChatGPT feed here: Here is how I used these prompts inside of ChatGPT.

This specific example uses an RFB campaign for snow removal services. Of course, it can be applied to any RFB campaign.

To request use case examples, reply to this email with what you want.

AI Use Case For Your Staff

Recently, the most used AI platform for teachers introduced a safe way of using AI with students. If I have been to your school, you know I am big on Magic School AI. Magic School recently released Magic Student. This is brand new and very beneficial for your staff to know about.

Video tutorial you can share with your staff: Video tutorial.

Magic School Link: Sign up here.

Should School Admins Invest in ChatGPT-4?

ChatGPT-4 is currently $20/month. It is absolutely worth it. It is a night and day difference. You will immediately see more applicable and useful responses. If you have been using the free version, you will never want to go back.

Also, it is a look into what may soon be free to use for your staff and students.

Below, I will walk you through what you, as a school admin, will get out of ChatGPT-4.

Data analysis:

The biggest selling point of ChatGPT-4 is its ability to analyze data. You can feed it any document or Excel file and ask it to do data analysis. (You cannot feed the free version of ChatGPT documents or Excel files.)

The best part is that it is incredibly easy to do. Check out the example below:

To attach a file, tap the paper clip button that will appear after you purchase ChatGPT-4. Then, select the document you want to send with your prompt.

Incredibly more accurate outputs:

The free version of ChatGPT is not anywhere near as reliable as the ChatGPT-4. Here is the difference in a few test scores:

See more test scores here.

You can feed it large sums of text:

The fancy word that AI companies like to use when it comes to how much text you can send in a prompt is “tokens.” I don’t know why they use that word. A token is, on average, ¾ of a word. ChatGPT-4 can handle 128,000 tokens or 96,000 words.

To put that in perspective, a double-spaced document has around 250 words per page (12-point font). That means you can feed ChatGPT-4 up to 384 pages of double-spaced text.

Here is an example use case:

This barely scratches the surface of ChatGPT-4. It simply understands what you want as an output much better than the free version. It is something you have to experience yourself to get a grasp on how powerful it is.

Should I purchase ChatGPT-4 for my entire staff?

I would not recommend purchasing ChatGPT-4 for your whole staff. Here is why:

1. It is not FERPA and COPPA compliment

2. It is more expensive at the organization level: $25 per person/month

3. It is overkill. Most would not use all of the features it comes with.

4. Platforms like MagicSchool AI and Eduaide.ai are more user-friendly for teachers.

Given this, I still think it is essential for you as an admin to have and will completely change how you work.

ChatGPT-4 came out over a year ago (March 14, 2023). So, you can expect a much better model soon. I would talk more about what to expect from ChatGPT-5 and when. But that would make this newsletter far too long. If you would like to hear about that, I would be excited to write about it (I keep close tabs on it), but vote on what you want below.

As always, feel free to respond to this email with suggestions on topics you want covered.

I look forward to getting you the information you want weekly.

Have a great week!

Kind regards,

William Grube

Side note: I will be attending a free virtual event this Wednesday (4/17) about “The Future of Assessment Leveraging Artificial Intelligence.” If you're interested, you can register here for free.