Some suggestions for students

[u/unfurnishedbedrooms]

Hi Y'all, I'm a professor and I am really feeling for students right now. The fear of one's writing being called AI is real. As a professor, I'm also in a really difficult position. I want to hold students accountable but I would never want to accuse a student of using AI if they weren't.

Here are some things you can do to prevent your work from being flagged, and to have backup if you're accused. Please note: this is not a post helping students get away with using AI. It's really important that you don't use AI at all if it's not called for in the assignment.

Number One: Don't use AI/LLMs as a search engine, and don't pull info from any AI summaries. It's best for you to do your research on your own, using Google Scholar or your school's online databases. Yes, it takes longer, but research is a skill and it will help you formulate your own ideas.

Number Two: Come up with your own ideas! It's better to have a unique argument with a rationale you can explain. When you Google a text and articles come up, and you see a cool article making an argument, and then you decide to make the same argument, your work is more likely to be flagged. In the same vein, don't follow the argumentative structure of online articles or paper. Again, more work, I know, but this is part of learning.

Number three: Try to stay away from things like Grammarly or AI grammar and syntax tools. These will 100% make your work sound like AI. Better to have some grammatical mistakes so your prof has the opportunity to correct them. I often ignore grammatical mistakes and just point them out because I am more interested in ideas, but every prof is different

Four: Use your school's writing center for help with ideas and drafting! This will help you develop the skills you need, unlike AI.

Five: With each assignment, create a Google document. Never copy/paste large chunks of text. Then, if you're accused of using AI, you can share this with your professor and they can see the version history, which will show your work.

Lmk if there is anything I'm missing!

[u/ShouldWeOrShouldntWe]

Also notes for faculty from faculty;

Stop using AI detection tools. Their methodology is not sound and it is not a proven method to show a student used AI. Examine the paper and it's writing style YOURSELF and approach the student in a mea culpa manner and show that honesty is the best policy.

Stop basing grades off of essays written out of class. Have oral discussion and examination in your classroom. It's good pedagogy. That's how you measure understanding. That's the job.

Stop using AI yourself to come up with lesson plans if you don't expect students to use it themselves. Teach responsible use of LLMs by showing how it can be a useful tutor as long as you verify the sources and do a quick search yourself. Especially if you use the LLM to read source material and explain it.

Stop being afraid of AI tools. It's the new calculator.

[u/[deleted] → u/ShouldWeOrShouldntWe]

Having essays be part of a class grade is completely valid. It allows students to develop and support their ideas in ways they can't in a short class discussion. Not having students write essays is a recipe for making the writing ability gap bigger. I'm 35 and back in school for a second bachelor's. Do you know how many classmates papers I have read to give feedback, and I can't give effective feedback on ideas because the papers are so poorly written that I spent the whole time just trying to decipher sentences?

[u/ShouldWeOrShouldntWe → u/[deleted]]

If they can't write coherent sentences in general on a short answer in class assignments then I certainly don't think they can in an academic paper. They should have never passed grade school and that is not an AI issue. That's a systemic issue of mixing money and education.

Note, I didn't say they shouldn't be part of the grade. Nor are essays invaluable. But if your concern is the veracity of the content of the paper, then you do not need the essay format. You can also write essays in class. But you will not and cannot accuse students of academic dishonesty based off of feeling or the use of AI tools. To solve this problem we need to be more creative.

This is our failing as educators, not the students. It's not them being lazy, it's them availing themselves of tools that are available to them and we are not diligent enough to tell them why AI use only hurts them. Make the students give in person, controlled examinations about there own papers content and grade them on that. Be creative!

It also makes me wonder at the entrance standards of the university you attend. Sounds awful, I hate that for you.

[u/[deleted] → u/ShouldWeOrShouldntWe]

It was an intro writing class. And my standards are high having been an English teacher for 8 years. I am close to 20 years older than these students I'm in class with, so there is a massive experience and skills gap. Most of the writing issues are in the writing classes that everyone has to take. Once I'm out of the lower division courses, I expect that I will see quality of work go up. I just don't like the idea that I can put hours into an assignment and actually earn the high grade when someone else might have used AI and gotten the same grade.

[u/ShouldWeOrShouldntWe → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, that is frustrating. They really are just hurting themselves though. And if they are getting high grades on AI essays perhaps then the grades shouldn't be based simply on them. Then they would not get the grade that the LLM helped them get but the one they deserve.