Interview someone — a friend, another blogger, your mother, the mailman — and write a post based on their responses.
Well, today is the day after the end of my Pre-Sessional teaching and I have been thinking about AI a lot! So I decided to interview ChatGPT and ask it how best to prevent my students misusing it. Here’s the highlights.
What are the best ways for students to use CHATGPT to help write an academic essay in the art and design field?
ChatGPT said:
Great question! Students in art and design can use ChatGPT as a supportive tool for academic essay writing — not to replace their own thinking, but to help research, structure, and refine their work. Here are some of the best ways to use it effectively:
Research and Idea Generation
- Brainstorming topics: Ask ChatGPT to suggest possible essay questions or angles within art and design (e.g., “How does Bauhaus influence contemporary graphic design?”).
- Contextual overviews: Use it to get quick summaries of movements, artists, theories, or design principles before diving into academic sources.
- Comparisons: Prompt it to outline differences or connections between two artists, movements, or approaches.
⚠️ Tip: Always follow up with peer-reviewed sources (journals, books, exhibition catalogs). ChatGPT gives you a starting point, not the final word.
✅ Example Workflow for Students:
- Brainstorm topic ideas with ChatGPT.
- Draft an outline with headings and subpoints.
- Collect and read academic sources.
- Write a rough draft in your own words.
- Use ChatGPT for refining thesis, polishing language, and checking flow.
- Add final critical insights, citations, and formatting.
What is the best way for students to avoid just copying your ideas?
ChatGPT said:
That’s such an important question — and it’s great you’re encouraging your students to think critically about how they use AI tools. Here are some practical strategies students can follow to avoid simply copying ChatGPT’s ideas and instead use it to develop their own voice and arguments:
🔑 1. Treat ChatGPT as a “thinking partner,” not a source
- Use it for brainstorming (e.g., “What themes are common in Bauhaus graphic design?”), but then decide which ideas matter for your essay.
- Don’t copy outputs directly — instead, rewrite them in your own words and test them against your research.
📚 2. Always go back to primary and academic sources
- Take any outline or claim from ChatGPT and verify it in books, journal articles, or exhibition catalogs.
- For example: if ChatGPT says “John Berger argued that images reinforce power structures,” the student should look it up in Ways of Seeing and use a direct quotation.
✍️ 3. Use ChatGPT to question, not to answer
Instead of asking for “an essay,” students can ask:
- “What are three different perspectives on surrealism and politics I could research?”
- “What kinds of evidence would strengthen a thesis about Bauhaus influence today?”
This shifts ChatGPT’s role to scaffolding independent research.
🛠️ 4. Rewrite + Reflect
- After getting suggestions, students should summarize them in their own words without looking at the screen.
- They can then add personal insights — linking ideas to their coursework, studio practice, or artworks they’ve studied.
🧭 5. Keep a “research log”
- Students should note how they used ChatGPT:
- “I asked ChatGPT for examples of feminist art historians; it suggested Linda Nochlin. I looked up her essay Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? and used a quotation.”
- This creates transparency and shows that AI was a step in the process, not the final product.
It was a really useful interview and I will definitely use the full version when putting my next set of lessons together.
Used correctly, then, AI can be the solution not the problem.
How are you feeling right now?
I am feeling really relieved right now. Yesterday I went for an appointment at the hospital regarding my prostate. My previous blood test had shown enough of a spike for my Doctor to refer me for possible early cancer. I had been for a second blood test to check my PSA at the beginning of the month and yesterday I got my result. My PSA had gone down by a whole point! Now I know, and the consultant reminded me, that the PSA is nothing more than an indication of your cancer risk, but after an examination he said that the prostate felt fine and that he would see me in six months after another blood test.
I have been carrying this in the back of my mind for quite a while so I was really pleased that I had my Pre-Sessional teaching to take my mind off things. I have really enjoyed the challenge of the last 8 weeks and I hope it’s going to be a regular summer gig for the next few years. The students have been brilliant, the lessons fascinating to prepare for, with loads of art and design concepts that I loved learning about and new ways of doing things. Everything that teaching should be and often isn’t.
Anyway, as a final thought, we men are often very bad at looking after our health. Go and get those tests, particularly PSA and blood pressure, and if something may be amiss it will be spotted and acted upon. Yes, it’s a worry, yes the examination is uncomfortable, although not especially so, but the alternative is far worse.
What daily habit do you do that improves your quality of life?
OK, so the title is a sardonic take on a prompt that recycles two others in the past month! However, there is something in that approach to daily life if you really think about it. It is boredom and each day being just like the one before and the one after that kills quality of life. What happens when this is the case and what can you do about it?
Well, life goes, or appears to go much more quickly. There are a number of reasons for that, but one of the main reasons is that you do the same thing on each day, each week, each month and each year. When that happens days blend into each other. Childhood goes much more slowly as each day contains new experiences. This is why Christmas appears to come round faster every year. If that seems to be the case you need to get off the treadmill and start running on the open road, metaphorically speaking. How do you do that?
Well, for me, it’s the avoidance of daily habits where possible. Don’t do the same thing at the same time every day. Now, obviously there are routines such as school and work that have set routines. Having worked in education I have been in that routine for a good 50 years of my life so I can speak with expertise on both sides! However, I tried to take on different tasks, try new lessons, develop new skills and, even in the last year of year round teaching, take an interest in new ideas and new technologies such as AI. My last year has seemed to move more slowly as a result.
Take up different hobbies or learn something new. I took up German 130 days ago and it has been a struggle at times, but I have learnt something new every day. Happy Colour gives me a new picture every day. Some are straightforward, some are much more tricky, but every day contains something new to do. Those two apps tend to be ones I go to when I have time so it’s not a case of doing the same thing at the same time every day. People who have complex morning routines stretching for hours are speeding their life up and, I would suggest, not really gaining much in return.
Now don’t get me wrong, I know that routine is necessary in certain areas of your life, but it mustn’t become routine. You should always try to find a different way to follow that routine. If you do, your life will be more varied, more interesting and it will seem to go more slowly. Avoiding repetition may not be easy but we should try it.
What was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it?
There are four main reasons I look for things online using a search engine. First, I saw someone on a film or TV programme and wanted to find out more about them. Second, I want to find a resource for my teaching. Third, I am looking for a recipe. Fourth I am on Duolingo and need some help with German.
The last film/TV star I looked for was Sofia Carson who stars in two films I have watched and thoroughly enjoyed recently, My Oxford Year and The Life List. The last teaching resource I looked for was an article about branding that was relevant to my art and design students. It was about the return of 90s branding and the reasons behind it. The last recipe I looked for was how to make Harissa Paste at home because I figured it can’t be too complicated. Turns out it isn’t so I look forward to adding it to my home made repertoire. The last piece of German I looked up was the German word for street. This was not because I didn’t know it, but because my phone keyboard doesn’t have any special characters that I can find and if I spell the word phonetically it is marked wrong. So, I went to Bing and asked What is Street in German. It is Straße by the way, and I don’t know how to get the fifth letter on the keyboard. Maybe that should be my next search as there must be a shortcut I can use!
What TV shows did you watch as a kid?
As a child I was something of a telly addict. I lived in a household where both parents went out to work, relatively unusual in the 1970s, and where, as long as I remembered my key, I was generally left in total charge of the TV after school and during the day when it was holiday time. To be honest I could be here all day reminiscing but I will focus on one of my main reasons for watching a programme, the theme tune.
If a programme had a really good theme tune I would instantly be interested, and even if the show itself was bad, I would often switch on for the theme and then turn over once it had finished! So, what were my favourite themes when I was growing up?
I suppose I should start with the Sunday afternoon line up on ITV. My favourite lunchtime show was The Persuaders starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. What a great theme tune, which is still instantly recognisable 50 years later. Following that, the next show was almost always a Gerry Anderson production. Whatever show was on, you were guaranteed a brilliant Barry Grey theme tune. The standout for me was the psychedelic masterpiece Joe 90. It was a favourite at Northern Soul nightclubs because it was so good to dance to. Then it was Sunday afternoon football with Brian Moore in the Southern TV region and the Big Match. The excitement of the theme tune often outdid the matches themselves! Finally, perhaps the king of theme tunes at the time, the incredible Black Beauty theme tune, Galloping Home. Even now, it’s a piece of music to send shivers down your spine.
The children’s programmes from Monday to Friday had a great range of theme tunes. My favourite tunes were from a pair of ITV Sci fi series. Timeslip had an unsettling theme tune that reflected the very challenging nature of the material, but it was the Tomorrow People that was the stuff of nightmares! If you have never watched it, take a look at the link below.
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 