The increasing prevalence of chatbots like ChatGPT has lead to difficulties in schools and colleges as professors try to figure out how to balance students’ use of AI with their need for learning. Now, Anthropic is rolling out a new tool it hopes will be a positive step in the use of AI for both students and teachers: a version of the Claude chatbot specifically designed for use in educational environments.
Claude for Education, launched on April 2, features a Learning mode which encourages users to reason their way through a question rather than just giving them an answer. The tools works in the Projects format, where students can look through their previous research arranged by particular assignments.
The Learning mode flips the script on how most AI assistant technology works: instead of the user asking the AI to summarize a document or give an answer to a factual question, in this mode Claude will ask the user questions like “How would you approach this problem?” or “What evidence supports your conclusion?” The aim is to mimic the kinds of questions that a teacher might ask a student, in order to guide the student to develop their own critical thinking skills rather than just regurgitating material that a chatbot has provided to them.
As well as the features for learners, Claude for Education also has tools to help faculty with tasks like providing feedback for students and to help administrators to analyze enrollment trends or send email responses to common queries. Anthropic says it has partnered with institutions including Northeastern University, Champlain College, and the London School of Economics (LSE) to make Claude available to both students and faculty.
“Since our founding, LSE has been at the forefront of understanding social change and seeking solutions to real world challenges,” said LSE President and Vice Chancellor Larry Kramer. “This new partnership is part of that mission. As social scientists, we are in a unique position to understand and shape how AI can positively transform education and society.