I have written a textbook with ChatGPT. More specifically, I have guided ChatGPT through the process of creating a combination textbook/syllabus for an entrepreneurship class focused on creating a SaaS business.
This entrepreneurship textbook
I created this book in 6–8 hours. I’m amazed that this is even possible, let alone at the writing quality that it achieves. This book is more of a self-contained set of instructional materials that relies on the student to get additional information as needed from the Web, ChatGPT itself, or an instructor, mentor, or coach.
ChatGPT did the following in creating the course:
- Wrote the course outline for the 13 module course, defining the topic of each module and the learning objectives for each topic
- Created the course project, defining the tasks and deliverables for each module
- Wrote a persuasive essay for each module’s topic
- Wrote explanatory and instructive text to enable the student to achieve the learning objectives
During each module, I assume that the student uses ChatGPT and the Web to answer any questions that he or she might have in addition to the text of this book.
The course contains no tests or assignments other than the continual work of creating the course. I assumed that this would be enough work for the course.
In short, this book is more of a self-contained textbook for the student to learn from and the instructor to rely on than the previous book (described below). I do not assume that ChatGPT can provide all of the information that the student might need for the course or the term project.
The humanities curriculum
As just mentioned, this book is my second experiment in creating a learning resource with ChatGPT. My first one (described here) involved creating twenty courses for a two-year humanities curriculum. In the process of creating those courses, ChatGPT did the following in creating each course:
- Wrote a persuasive essay as to why the student should take the course
- Wrote a course description for the course guide
- Wrote the course outline for the 8-week long course, defining the topic for each week, the learning objectives for each week, and writing an essay for each topic that explained what it was and why it mattered
- Wrote the guiding questions that the student is to keep in mind that week
- Defined a set of readings and videos for the student to go through — all of this had to be re-done by me since ChatGPT has little understanding of “URLs” and “articles”
- Wrote an essay question that the student have to respond to at the end of the week
- Wrote a set of essay questions for a final exam.
ChatGPT also had plenty to do during the course:
- Answer questions about the readings
- Answer questions about any concepts raised during the readings or videos
- Discuss the guiding questions (in the manner of a Socratic tutor) with the student in order to help him or her learn the material
- Evaluate the student’s response to the weekly essay question and discuss the response
- Evaluate the student’s responses to the final exam questions.
Conclusion
ChatGPT is amazingly powerful. Professors who open their minds to the possibilities will be able to be innovative and highly productive in their teaching. As you can see, writing a textbook—or at least a very good starting point—is possible using ChatGPT. Teaching in many subjects will never be the same.
