We are seeing an uptick in people using artificial intelligence to write their papers. This is an issue because very often, students are not actually reading what they are turning in.

 

Here are some things we have seen:

  • A student turned in a discussion board post that covered a lot of ground. When quizzed on the material, he knew nothing and failed the quiz.

  • Some students have turned in essays that contain completely nonsensical sentences. 

  • Students are taking other peoples discussion board posts and running them through paraphrase machines, or AI generators. 

     

The consequences of these actions should be clear. 

  • The first student does not have the knowledge to pass the class

  • The students who don’t read the work they turn in are likely to cut corners in such ways that they will not be responsible employees

  • The students who use other peoples posts are being caught BY STUDENTS before the faculty members even grade their work. Do not anger your fellow students!

All of these instances have been really obvious. I believe it is possible to use AI large language machines to create essays and discussion board posts that don’t read like nonsense, but that requires almost as much work as writing the essay yourself. 

 

We have a lot to learn ourselves, as an institution. We will need to figure out a way to help you learn, even while we adapt to new technologies. We have noticed that Grammarly often shows up as 100% AI generated when it was used as a grammar checker. We are hoping that is as the technology improves, we will have the ability to use a grammar checker that doesn’t want to rewrite everything to sound the same. 

 

And isn’t that what it boils down to?  AI generated text often sounds so soulless and alike, it is easy to determine when it is being used.  It is better to turn in a paper with some errors and a unique voice. 

The SLC has writing support and ideation support. Rather than turning in computer genertated work, just to check off a box, spend some time to make your work as unique as you are.