Read: Addressing AI or Artificial Intelligence

Lori Halverson-Wente; Mark Halverson-Wente

13 Read: Addressing AI or Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity

“The key is that even though people can relinquish full or partial control to artificial intelligence apps, allowing the technology either to write for them or to write with them, humans remain responsible for the result. It is important to prepare young learners and university students for this reality, which is not a distant future, but already the present” (Eaton, 2023).

*Under Construction – but WELCOME CTAM FRIENDS!

LEARNING outcomes

Students will:

Define Artificial Intelligence
Apply the academic integrity statement from your institution to the use of Artificial Intelligence
Understand how to use Artificial Intelligence as an academic tool
Understand the limitations of using Artificial intelligence as an academic tool
Develop strategies to avoid academic dishonesty when using Artificial Intelligence

NOTE to CTAM friends

This video describes how I used this in the class:

Link to resources:

Follow Up Questions:

How do the topics generated by Chat GPT compare to your list?
What topics do not meet the assignment (on your list and the AI list)?
Does the Chat GPT outline meet the assignment?
How does Shara adapt in ways the AI outline did not?
1. How can Shara adapt even more to our own class?
2. What can you gain for your own need to research, adapt, etc.

CHAPTER Introduction:

To prepare for this chapter, we asked ChatGPT to write an essay about Artificial Intelligence. This was the response:

Sample AI Generated Essay

arm and hand extended that is robotic to symbolize Artificial Intelligence. — photo: pexel.com

Prompt: Please write an introduction to what is “AI” or artificial intelligence, the consequences of college students using artificial intelligence to write an assignment, essay, or speech, and how you can use artificial intelligence as an educational tool when writing an essay or speech.

Use five academic sources with parenthetical references and works cited. Include standards from Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

Did the AI tool correctly attribute sources? Check out the Works Cited page to see.

Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science that involves creating intelligent machines that can perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and natural language processing. In recent years, AI has become increasingly prevalent in various aspects of our lives, including education. One of the most significant consequences of college students using AI to write assignments, essays, and speeches is that it raises questions about academic integrity and the authenticity of the work. However, AI can also be used as an educational tool to improve students’ writing skills and enhance their learning experience.

Consequences of College Students Using AI for Writing

Using AI to write assignments, essays, and speeches can have both positive and negative consequences. One of the most significant negative consequences is that it can lead to academic dishonesty. As a result, academic institutions may need to invest more time and resources into detecting and preventing plagiarism. According to a study by the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI), over 50% of college students surveyed admitted to plagiarizing written material using the internet (ICAI, 2021).

On the other hand, AI can also have positive consequences for students using it to write. Some AI writing tools can help students overcome writer’s block and generate ideas for their assignments. They can also help students identify and correct grammar and spelling errors in their writing, which can improve the overall quality of their work (Bernhardt, 2021). Additionally, using AI can help students learn how to write more efficiently and effectively by providing them with instant feedback and suggestions for improvement.

Using AI as an Educational Tool for Writing

AI can also be used as an educational tool to enhance students’ writing skills and improve their learning experience. For example, some AI writing tools, such as Grammarly and ProWritingAid, offer personalized feedback and suggestions to students as they write, helping them learn from their mistakes and improve their writing skills (Bernhardt, 2021).

Moreover, some AI-powered writing tools, such as EssayJack, provide students with structured frameworks for writing essays and speeches, guiding them through the writing process step-by-step. This can be especially helpful for students who struggle with organizing their thoughts and ideas and need extra support to complete writing assignments (EssayJack, 2021).

Conclusion

While the use of AI for writing assignments, essays, and speeches raises concerns about academic integrity, it also has potential benefits for students. AI can be a valuable educational tool for improving students’ writing skills and enhancing their learning experience. As educators and academic institutions grapple with the challenges of integrating AI into the writing process, it is essential to consider both the potential benefits and drawbacks and to ensure that students receive the support they need to learn and grow as writers.

References

Bernhardt, D. (2021). AI Writing: Can Artificial Intelligence Create Better Content? Retrieved from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ai-writing-can-artificial-intelligence-create-better-content/411472/

EssayJack. (2021). EssayJack: AI Writing Assistant. Retrieved from https://essayjack.com/

International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI). (2021). Plagiarism in Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.academicintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Plagiarism-in-Higher-Education.pdf

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. (n.d.). Academic Standards. Retrieved from https://www.minnstate.edu/board/policy/academicpolicies/aca030.html

Attribution

GPChat, generated on 3/27/2023 from https://chat.openai.com/chat

Ethical Considerations

Just because you can, should you? This age-old question can be applied to AI for college-level work or other types of work. In a review of academic integrity and dishonesty statements of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, the following is stated:

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At the same time, the Pew Research Center reports, “A new Pew Research Center survey finds that many Americans are aware of common ways they might encounter artificial intelligence (AI) in daily life, such as customer service chatbots and product recommendations based on previous purchases. At the same time, only three-in-ten U.S. adults can correctly identify all six uses of AI asked about in the survey, underscoring the developing nature of public understanding” (Pew Research Center, 2023).

Chart of AI users — (Pew Research Center, 2023)

Colleges and universities are quickly discussing the use of “natural language processors” by students. Courtney Cullen (2023), the Program Coordinator in the Office of Academic Honesty at the University of Georgia, shares in her blog:

I would liken this to a moral panic. That is not to say there are not some legitimate concerns, but one must ask how practitioners and instructors did not see this coming. We have issues with students using online translation tools in foreign language courses and paraphrase mixers in writing intensive courses. Contract cheating is equally insidious, though perhaps more cost-prohibitive. In other words, dealing with ChatGPT will soon become just another day at the office. Already, private individuals have developed AI-generated text, such as GPTZero, AI Writing Check, CrossPlag, and OpenAI itself.Before we know it, plagiarism detection² providers, like TurnItIn, will have their own AI-writing checks (Riordan, 2023).

How AI Tools Can Be Educationally Beneficial

Eaton (2023 gives insight into AI’s educational benefits: s.“When students use tools or other people to complete homework on their behalf, that is considered a form of academic dishonesty because the students are no longer learning the material themselves. The key point is that it is the students, and not the technology, that is to blame when students choose to have someone – or something – do their homework for them. There is a difference between using technology to help students learn or to help them cheat. The same technology can be used for both purposes.” Eaton continues, “In many cases, the text itself is completely original – sometimes to a fault. ChatGPT, for example, can fabricate details and the resulting text is not only original, it can be completely untrue” (Eaton, 2023). For example, consider the following:

Harvard Business Publishing:

(Cano Venuti & Martinez, 2021)

Yvette Mucharraz Cano, Francesco Venuti, and Ricardo Herrera Martinez note how “AITGs can be used in a participant-centered learning process” in their Havard Business Publishing article:

Text generators like ChatGPT can boost our collective familiarity with AI and how to use it, a critical competency for our students and their futures. Industries move quickly, and new technologies push them to continue innovating. We must be the first facilitators of new technologies as they emerge and teach our students how to use them appropriately (technically and ethically). If not us, who?

AITGs can assist educators in preparing and reviewing sessions by providing them with additional resources or helping them create engaging educational content that can lead to a better learning experience for students. Educators and students already use search engines, citation and research management apps, spellcheckers, and data collection tools; the addition of tech like ChatGPT has the potential to develop written materials previously validated including scripts, examples, tests questions, or even cases analysis to be discussed in class.

AITGs can save educators time by automatically grading students’ assignments or doing educators’ repetitive work—for example, preparing announcements and instructions for assignments or exams; or providing feedback to students when making “recurrent” or common mistakes in solving their exercises; or preparing basic but customized guidelines for activities, such as how to structure a research thesis or how to solve an exercise. AITGs can also be effectively used to give students automatic feedback on their essays and texts.

AITGs can be used for training purposes. For example, students can use ChatGPT to emulate conversations and develop their language skills and abilities through conversational interactions with the chatbot.

ChatGPT could be used to improve engagement in online learning by increasing students’ motivation in asynchronous sessions or activities. Students will find using an innovative tool to be exciting while discovering its potential use in day-to-day tasks, for example to write emails, send text messages, or even prepare a draft of a contract. It can also send automatic but customized feedback and instructions in online courses to help students stay on track (further increasing their engagement in the course).
(Cano, Venuti & Martinez, 2021)

Ethical and Practical Concerns

AI is not always correct. Ironically, I found blatant errors when asking ChatGPT how to generate the citation for the above Harvard Business article:

Mistake by ChatGPT

Given the shortcomings of AI-generated citations that I discovered, it is wise to heed Gino’s caveat: “Our warning to users is that just because this tool can generate a coherent response that follows the syntactic, grammatical, and structural rules of many different languages does not mean it is true or complete. As humans, we tend to take a basic approach to accepting an argument—the more coherent a speech or text is, the more likely we are to take it as valid. Confusing coherence with truth can lead to disastrous mistakes. Since some of the information from the original source can be biased, invalid, or unreliable, and, since it is not reviewed for validation, AITGs can generate coherent answers that have wrong or biased responses” (Gino, 2021)

Another error can occur when asking for information, such as citations. This image shows how many times Lori had to ask ChatGPT to rewrite the citation correctly. Checking for accuracy is essential. *I will add a better image.

Demonstration of Chat GPT

Slow Down Artificial Intelligence?

These errors are not only an issue of accuracy of fact, but errors may perpetuate racial and other biases. Please listen to stories from National Public Radio’s Marketplace Tech. https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381443930/future-tense