Addressing AI Writing Tools in Education from Teachers' Perspective
There is probably no other field that is so much concerned about using AI than education. Various writing tools which keep upgrading daily scare instructors to death, at the same time giving hope for effortless studies to the students. The wave of panic has covered schools, colleges, and universities, and teachers ask a good deal of questions about AI to figure out if they can somehow benefit from this technological miracle which ruins the fundamentals of giving knowledge to the students. Still, it would be wrong to claim that AI tools have opened the gates of heaven to the students. They still cannot get the ready-made answers and use them fearlessly, pretending that they do the assignment’s themselves. For sure, there are still a lot of critical questions about artificial intelligence which require immediate attention and corresponding transformations in the system of assessment and evaluation of students’ knowledge, but the situation is far from being stalemate.
Is It Possible to Detect AI Writing?
Every day, more and more AI-powered chatbots, learning platforms, virtual organizational tools and tutors appear and they bring nightmares to teaching staff all around the globe. They do worry about cheating, equity in class, fair assessment, and quality learning, but at the same time most of them are optimistic about the role of AI in classroom. According to Forbes, the AI-related methods of cheating include the following (in descending order of popularity):
- composing texts and ready-made answers on demand
- using voice assistants during tests and exams
- applying translation tools
- completing coding assignments, etc.
Good news! Not only AI tools keep developing, but AI detection tools as well. For instance, PlagiarismSearch.com keeps upgrading the AI-detection algorithms and approaches to be among the top assistants for the teachers.
World Economic Forum refers to five case studies with evident benefits AI brings to the students and teachers:
- In South Korea, the level of education went up owing to AI-powered textbooks.
- In UAE, AI falitated personalized learning.
- In Brazil, AI helps to raise the level of literacy.
- AI contributes to inclusion of education.
- AI mentors provide support to West African learners.
Still, there are a lot of concerns about actual integration of AI into education.
What do Teachers Ask about AI?
There are, actually, five major questions to ask about artificial intelligence.
- How far cheating with artificial intelligence can go?
Who of the students did not dream about sitting back and hitting just several buttons to get all the writing assignments done at once? So, the teachers are terrified that it has become a reality. Giving just a few prompts to the AI engine, the students get the research papers, essays, and various answers to the questions just in a second. Still, this is only one of the solutions AI suggests which is the easiest and the riskiest for the students.
With AI tools, students can look for sources they would not be able to find otherwise. Another valuable option is correcting the mistakes and reviewing the content for mismatches. So, the students make use of the benefits of AI, but they do not cross the boundary of things forbidden in studies.
What do the schools do to prevent AI cheating? Some of them opt for banning the use of AI altogether, while others do not take any decision yet, waiting to see what will happen next and which disciplinary measures will be the best.
- How should the teachers change evaluation of students’ works?
Everyone realizes that there is hardly any question that AI cannot answer. Thus, when the teacher is reading through a response, discussion post, essay, or any short answer in the student’s assignment, it is natural now to wonder whether this is a result of human effort of just an AI-generated answer. For sure, it is more challenging to make sure that every student follows the rules of academic integrity than to change the approach to giving tasks. With more in-class assignments or creating two or three drafts to every paper, it is possible to eliminate AI contribution, but the teachers get lots and lots of extra work. It is high time to change the way students’ papers are assessed but there is no clear answer to the question how it is possible to do that.
- What should the teachers present the idea of AI in class?
It is no longer possible to hide from the truth. Our lives are not going to change back, so we cannot ignore the fact the AI is going to the stay in the field of education and most likely it is going to be even more powerful. Thus, what we need is a new ethical concept of using AI tools and the teachers should create the boundaries which will be acceptable for all parties involved.
- Should students’ papers get into the database for the AI tools?
It is not a secret that AI uses boundless amount of information available online for training, but the question is whether it is legal and appropriate to add students’ essays and posts to that learning pool. It is forbidden to use the works under copyright protection if no special permission is granted. On the one hand, it makes sense to add the students’ papers to improve the system of plagiarism check with AI tools, but on the other hand, it is a rather controversial matter which can lead to lawsuits and collisions.
- What should be the punishment for the AI cheaters?
One of the good questions to ask about AI is how the schools should handle the cases with AI use. If there are certain proofs that the student has submitted the paper generated by ChatGPT, there is no difference between this cheating and buying the paper from an essay mill or sharing the paper with a peer. All the rules of student behavior and honor codes at schools need updating so that the punishments were fair and there was no uncertainty about the consequences of being dishonest in doing school assignments. Still, the process is extremely slow.
No doubt, schools have a lot of challenges because of AI which teachers mostly view as their mortal enemy. There are a number of risks associated with cheating, but there are even more potential concerns to go. If we have to say when the best time for making decision is, the only answer is now as what is happening is serious. This new threat should be addressed with due care and educators need to be extremely mindful.
