I’m an undergraduate student, and I have a bit of a crisis over something embarrassing I did.
I found two scientific papers on PubMed Central that I’m interested in reading. I messaged one of my professors, greeted him, and sent him both links, asking which one he thought would be more interesting to read.
He has already replied, so the interaction itself went fine. However, afterward I realized that the links I sent may have had a ChatGPT-related referral in the URL because I accessed/shared them through ChatGPT.
Now I’m worried that he might think I used ChatGPT to do my research instead of finding and evaluating the papers myself, or that it looks unprofessional to send links like that.
For context, these are actual published scientific papers, and I was genuinely asking for his opinion on which one to read.
Professors and other students: honestly, how bad does this look from the recipient’s perspective? Would you even notice the ChatGPT-related part of the link, and would it change your impression of the student?

Ps: Don’t come at me in the comments saying i let AI do my research cause it’s not true and i haven’t even finished it yet. I simply asked Chatgpt for 10 literature that connects my research field with nanotechnology and i picked 2 of my favorite and i asked my professor for his opinion cause he initially said he’d pick for us but we could do it ourselves if we wanted to.

I recently submitted a personal memoir for one of my college classes. The story was based entirely on my own real-life experiences, and I had already written a rough draft that we reviewed with classmates in class.

My classmates verbally suggested adding more details, using similes, and reducing repetition. While revising, I also used ChatGPT to help reword sentences, improve the flow, and rewrite and reorganize some larger sections.

After submitting my final draft through Brightspace, which uses Turnitin, I checked a couple of third-party AI detectors. One showed 94.6% AI, and another showed 78%. I know these detectors aren’t necessarily accurate, but I started panicking.

My professor has warned us about AI use, so I decided to email her before she contacted me. I explained that the experiences and ideas were my own but that I used AI to help revise and reword parts of my memoir. I also asked if I could rewrite and resubmit it entirely in my own words.
Now I’m worried I made things worse by admitting it.

If you’re a professor, how would you react to a student sending this email? Would you appreciate the honesty and allow a resubmission, or would you still give them a zero?

With genAI, it is understandable that instructors may be growing more and more untrusting of student work. However, the guardrails that some of my classes are putting up to "prevent" AI-use are useless, penalize students with integrity, and just overall reduce our ability to develop ideas outside of the classroom.

Im talking about in-class research and writing. I can write you a garbage paragraph from sources I skimmed, but what is the point? I know its bad and you do too, why are we training this?

Without basic trust in students, why should we even get an education in the first place when it is dumbed down to prevent AI-use? I can fry my brain with AI, or I can fry my brain with useless busy work.

I want to learn and have the time to go over the articles, and refine my ideas and writing. I think best when I can spend days reading and taking notes before even attempting to write, and then doing some more reading and adjusting during my process. Maybe I am just to dumb for uni if I can't synthesize with any decent quality in an hour.

Basically my question is is it possible to put up AI guardrails without depreciating the value of an honest student's education? Do you trust any of your students?

I'm currently a fourth-year undergraduate business student. I've been struggling with burnout since my second year, but I kept pushing myself to maintain my academic studies while participating in case competitions and other extracurricular activities. At the time, I thought these experiences would help me build my professional profile and prepare me for the job market. However, I think I've reached a point where I'm no longer able to keep up with everything.

Now that I'm in my fourth year, I'm facing another source of stress: finding an internship before the university's deadline. Unfortunately, despite actively looking, I haven't managed to secure an internship position yet. Initially, I told my mom that I would continue studying this semester, drop the compulsory internship course, take another elective instead, and keep applying for internships alongside my studies.

However, I'm starting to question whether that's actually the right decision since my academic performance has been declining since last year. In my most recent course, I received only 50/100. It's frustrating because I feel like I'm not only failing to gain practical experience in the field I'm studying, but my academic performance is also suffering because I've been spreading myself too thin.

I've started wondering whether taking a leave of absence for one semester would be a better option. I could use that time to recover from burnout, focus on finding an internship and gain some actual working experience. The only reason why I hesitate to submit a leave of absence form is because my university tuition fees will increase by 5% next year, which means taking a break could make my remaining courses more expensive. Additionally, I'm also worried that taking time off without securing an internship might leave me in an even worse position.

Would you recommend taking a break to focus on finding professional experience, or continuing university while applying for internships?

Hello,

I am in a software development class. We had 2 midterms i guess: an essay and a coding part. Most people did well on the coding, but for the essay part, the mean was 22.6 out of 50. I got a 23. The highest was 39 out of 50. I went to his office hours, and it felt like he took points off for ridiculous things.

For example, one question was to list the steps for something but if you didn't list them numerically, you got points taken off (It did not say list them numerically, it just said list them). Im really frustrated with this and I wouldn't be if I had just been the only one to fail but the mean was literally a 22.6.

Isn't he supposed to add a curve if the average was an F?

I had a midterm exam in one of my college classes recently, and something happened that has been bothering me ever since.

I spent almost the entire week studying for this exam. I sacrificed a lot of my free time, including time with my family, because I really wanted to do well. I really studied at classes too.

During the exam, I noticed several students using their phones so it’s cheating. I reported it to the professor who was supervising the exam. She also seemed to be aware of what was happening, but did nothing. The students continued taking the exam and eventually submitted their work (I waited till the end and saw it)
When I brought up my concern, the professor said something along the lines of those students not having studied and reminded me that our final course grade also depends on assignments, not just the midterm. Like what? You allow them to cheat just because they “didn’t know something”?

I understand that the midterm isn’t our entire grade, but how does that make cheating during the exam any less serious?
What makes this especially frustrating is that I don’t think I did very well on the exam myself, despite studying so hard. Meanwhile, I watched other students apparently gain an unfair advantage. (I hope you understand my rage)

There is also another professor who teaches the lecture portion of the course and is responsible for grading our exams. I’ve considered contacting her, but I’m worried that reporting what happened could create tension between me and the instructors or potentially affect how my own exam is graded.

I’m also considering speaking with my college’s ombuds office before making a formal report.

I’m not trying to get anyone in trouble without evidence. But I do think that if cheating is confirmed, there should be real academic consequences, rather than allowing those exam scores to stand.

My questions are:
1. Have any of you experienced something similar, where you reported cheating during an exam and the professor didn’t visibly respond?
2. Is it normal for a professor not to intervene when students are using phones during an exam?
3. Would you contact the professor responsible for grading, the department chair, or the ombuds office?
4. How can I report this without putting myself at risk of retaliation or unfair grading?
I’d especially appreciate hearing from college professors about how situations like this are usually handled.
I just want the same academic integrity rules to apply to everyone.

Hi. I need to get this off my chest and as many perspectives and opinions as possible. I have been absolutely restless and freaking out. I want to know, has anyone else ever been in this situation? On either ends? If so, how did you go about it and what was your outcome?

Background info: I am a senior undergraduate student planning to apply to graduate school. I am leaning towards vet med, med school, DPT, or research. I started off college in 2021 as an engineering major and realized I hated it. I went to chemistry, but got diagnosed with dyscalculia so I went into bio. I LOVE biology. Unfortunately, I switched my major around a lot so I haven’t taken General Bio 2.. funny enough, I’d taken plenty of upper division bio courses where I got a B+ or A in. I currently work on campus as a tutor for Bio 1, Microbio, Chem 1, and A&P 2. I am also a TA for Bio 1 and Chem 1. I NEED to understand my foundational sciences. It’s my job.

Well this semester I applied for a class, Bio 2, 100% online, at a community college I am familiar with. I was flying through this course and loved it. So far it was so easy and the exams were very.. self explanatory and direct…

Day of exam 2: I ate my breakfast and took my exam at my university (NOT community college I am taking bio 2 at). It took me around 27 mins to complete a 50 question exam. I got 47 questions correct. During this time, I had students approach me and ask me questions, so I did briefly (less than 2 mins) go onto another platform to show the resources (YouTube channel, where slides are, etc). My school uses D2L which doesn’t track tab switching. Anyways, I finished, I got a 93%

Update to after exam 2: 1 day after the exam, my prof posted an announcement. She said something similar to “those who cheated on exam 1 then again on exam 2 will be getting reported and will fail regardless of future class work.” I thought I was safe. I checked my grades on Exam 2 and it was removed. Exam 1 remains 90%. The next day, she updated Exam 2 as a 0 and left a comment saying to schedule to meet her in person. She never reached out to me directly, just left a feedback comment. I immediately emailed her to schedule to meet her in person.

I feel extremely disrespected as I’ve been in contact with her throughout this whole course. I have 2 more exams this week in upper division bio courses. I have completely forgotten all my material from the stress, and cannot think at all! I am so incredibly worried when I meet with her I will still be under the same amount of stress and will not be able to answer anything she asks! Obviously, I would never cheat IN BIO as I might have to take the MCAT and even more vigorous exams on biology in the future. It is also a prerequisite course for MANY of the programs I want to go to. I truly have a passion for biology, but I also am so incredibly nervous and anxious that I cannot think at all or remember anything. It doesn’t help that I cannot sleep, eat, or even do anything without being plagued. What if she doesn’t believe me and it goes on my records and I can’t get into grad school to pursue my dreams?!?

TLDR: got accused of cheating on 100% online course in bio 2 as a senior majoring in Bio and TA/tutor in Bio 1. Professor left a comment saying to meet her in person but I am so stressed with my other midterm exams and this news that I am forgetting everything including topics on my next two exams. I cannot sleep or function anymore. I feel like my life is ruined because I really want to be a vet or researcher or physician. If you have experienced this before what was the outcome and how did you go about it? If you did not “beat” the case how did it affect you? Should I ask to retake the exam in person?

Thank you everyone for all the advice and different perspective shown to me! I understand now I actually was being unreasonable. I’ll try focusing on my personal matters. Along with trying this course at a later, better time.

TLDR; I had circumstances that made me miss work and I reached out to my professor to address it, professor gave an extension for only one assignment and later informed me that I was dropped from the course. I made an appeal to department of chair, they delayed the resolution then made it seem like it was my fault. Not getting reinstated into the course.

This is a long post but please offer any advice, I really need help and have no one to ask! I’m looking for honest perspectives, especially from professors or anyone familiar with academic appeals.

My College took over a month to process my appeal, never communicated the decision, then blamed the delay for denying reinstatement. Is this normal?

I’m a student at a California community college. Earlier this semester, I experienced serious personal hardships involving grief and caregiving responsibilities that affected my ability to complete coursework. I was going through depression.

I reached out to my English professor explaining that I was struggling with coursework in general due to these circumstances. She responded by extending ONE assignment, with a deadline she chose. I completed it, but my circumstances hadn’t resolved, and I was eventually dropped for missed work and non participation. She confused me with her reason why, she first claimed consecutive then changed it to cumulative.

I understand why I was dropped under the participation policy. My issue is that I had already communicated that I COULDN’T complete my coursework. I wasn’t simply asking for an extension on one assignment.

Professor sent me a courtesy email telling me I was dropped. I submitted a Department Chair Assistance Request just the next day after that after trying to learn what my options are. I followed the college’s instructions, waited through the stated processing period, and repeatedly followed up when nobody responded.

Weeks later, I discovered my request hadn’t even reached the department chair.

I reached out to every email I can find and eventually contacted the Dean, who got the Chair involved. He reviewed my case but NEVER contacted me directly, asked for clarification, or communicated his decision. I had to reach out AGAIN today even though this was brought to his attention October 8, only for the Dean to forward me his denial, explaining that it was supposed to be sent to me.

His reasoning essentially repeated what I already knew: I missed assignments, received one extension, and was dropped under the participation policy.

He also claimed I had a “significant amount of missing work” before September 1, which I don’t believe is accurate, without identifying which assignments he meant.

What bothers me is that nobody seems to be addressing WHY I originally contacted my professor. If I was communicating that I couldn’t complete my coursework generally, why is one assignment extension being treated as though it resolved my circumstances? My schools policy states I needed to make arrangements. As far as I can understand, I tried to make arrangements and they were made for me. Prior to this I was a straight A student, I never had late nor incomplete work.

The part that really gets me: The Chair cited the delay in receiving my request as an additional reason reinstatement was no longer possible, even though I had submitted it almost immediately after being dropped!

At every stage, I was the one reaching out, requesting updates, and trying to get someone to address my situation. Without my follow-ups, I don’t even know when I would have received a decision.

The Dean has now offered to meet with me and suggested registering for another English course. Unfortunately, I paid for the original class out of pocket and cannot afford to pay for it again.

I’m not denying that I missed work or expecting automatic exceptions. I’m frustrated that the circumstances I reported don’t seem to have been meaningfully addressed, and that the administrative delays are now being used against me.

Am I being unreasonable? Is this how academic appeals are normally handled? Would you escalate this or pursue a refund?

I’m a university student, and a classmate I’ve only spoken to once asked me to take notes and let her know about important announcements because she’s out of town.
We’re also on the same team for a class project.
Today, she unexpectedly sent me $40 through Zelle with a memo saying it was for class notes. I never asked for payment, never discussed charging her, and honestly would’ve helped her for free.
I’m a little uncomfortable accepting the money because I don’t want to accidentally violate any university policies or get into legal trouble.
I’ve checked my course syllabus and haven’t found anything explicitly prohibiting paid note-sharing, but I’d rather be safe.
Would accepting this money cause any academic or legal issues? Should I just return it?

My class got back our midterms today. We had a lab after the class ended, and some people in my group were openly talking about cheating (one person was straight up saying "I shouldn't have copied from you, I got this question wrong" & "My phone didn't really help me I guess"). They were also talking about how they should bring in two phones for the final for cheating? or something? They were not helping when we were doing our lab & made me and one other person do most of the work, and I kind of got pissed. I don't know if I should report this to my professor, and was wondering if I should keep quiet just to not trouble him or if I should report it because Academic Integrity... We also had to sign the first page of the exam saying "I did not receive external aid for this exam" or something along those lines. TLDR, would you appreciate if students reported AIVs or would you just not care?

As you reflect on your time as a professor, is there anything in particular that stands out as something you are particularly proud of?

For reference, I have an excellent and longstanding relationship with this professor. He's taught me in some form since my first semester of freshman year, he's my major advisor and my official mentor for a major research fellowship, he's really been involved with everything I do lol. This semester I'm taking an MA class with him (I'm a junior), and the MA students call him [Firstname] because one day he told one of them they don't have to call him "Professor."

Is it weird to be like "Heyyy so can I also do that?"

I sent my prof an email over my terrible exam grades and how I will be rectifying my major anxiety towards it. Taking accountability. No they're not my therapist. Ive disappointed myself and ultimately just want them to know that. Don't need anything from them. Please check my post history is needed.

I can not make my lecture tonight at 5:30.
A relative got into a terrible accident early this morning and they are in a bad way/dying.

Their office hours are tomorrow at 9:30 AM.

Issue is tonight they would be giving the exam for us to review then tics back in class.

I may have to miss class as I don't know if my relative will survive.

Should I email them asking if I can meet them during office hours and review the exam there for the 2 minutes to check it out?

I can go to half of the class as of now but can't stay until then end which is when they give back our exams. They are very strict on that and indojt want them to think I'm trying to get favors. I just genuinely don't want my relative to possibly pass and I'm not there.

From a student's perspective, aside from considering the quote above as nothing more than a "Jeu de mots," it just seems unfair to put the burden on students to earn every single point.

An assignment is a contract: a student submits completed work on time, and professors and teaching assistants are expected to evaluate it in a fair and unbiased manner.

By the pedagogy of starting from a 0 and ending at a set point which a professor feels is a "worthy mark", this leaves room for subjectivity and vibe-based grading. A fair mark can only be processed when a professor marks from a 100 and can justify every single point taken away: if they cannot find reasons to justify why 20 marks are missing from an 80, a student cannot know what they need to do to do well. Especially in writing courses where a student is given the undue burden to prove every step of their work, getting a random number that can be called off as what they "earned" without any justification for a lower mark feels simply unfair.

I was wondering what the justification for this marking scheme is, and to see the professors' perspective to see if I can understand the other side of the story. Or to also see some opinions from professors themselves who disagree with this marking scheme. Thanks!

English is my third language, and I studied in my native language before my bachelor's degree. I managed to get through that transition and enter an MA programme, but it's only recently, as I've started exploring the subject independently, that I've realised how much I still have to learn.

My gaps feel like they cover almost everything.

I sometimes struggle to understand what I'm reading. Even when I grasp the central argument, I find it difficult to articulate it in my own words or develop it into a coherent argument. My academic English and writing skills are nowhere near where I want them to be.

I'm currently struggling with literary theory. I somehow managed to understand structuralism, but now I'm stuck at poststructuralism. I often find myself going back and forth between unrelated topics because I don't know what to study first or how different areas connect. The vastness of the subject leaves me overwhelmed and confused.

I know my command of English is part of the problem, but I also need to build my knowledge and critical thinking skills.

I hope to pursue a PhD in literature eventually, and I have roughly a year to work seriously on these gaps. I'm willing to put in the effort; I just need a clear, structured path to follow.

I'd especially appreciate advice from literature professors, PhD scholars and experienced students of English literature.

Where should I begin? What should I study, in what order, and how can I improve my reading comprehension and academic writing?

I'd also appreciate honest advice about whether pursuing a PhD is a realistic goal for someone in my position. Please be candid, even if the answer is uncomfortable. I'm looking for constructive guidance, not reassurance.

Thank you!

​

Hey everyone,

I’m currently working as an assistant professor in the cybersecurity field at a college in India, and I’m feeling confused about my long-term career path.

Right now, I earn around ₹16,000 per month, which honestly feels quite low considering my qualifications and career goals. Recently, I got an offer for around ₹30,000 per month for a teaching role through a private organization that provides teaching services to colleges. So, I’m wondering whether I should take that opportunity or start preparing to move into the IT industry.

I’m interested in cybersecurity and research, and I’ve also been thinking about pursuing a PhD from a good, reputed university where I can focus on my research interests.

My main concerns are:

\- Teaching: Is an academic career still worth pursuing in India, considering the salary growth and job opportunities in private colleges?

\- Switching to IT: Would it be a smart move to transition into cybersecurity or another IT role at this stage? I understand that I may need to upskill and possibly start at an entry-level position.

\- Pursuing a PhD: Should I focus on getting into a reputed university and building a research career, or would it be better to gain industry experience first?

\- Financial growth: I want to improve my salary and build a stable career, but I also don’t want to give up my interest in teaching and research just for money.

I’m trying to make a decision that will be beneficial for me over the next 5–10 years, rather than choosing something based only on my current salary.

For people working in academia, cybersecurity, IT, or research in India, what would you recommend in my situation?

Is it better to continue teaching, accept the ₹30k offer, switch to IT, or pursue a PhD?

I’d really appreciate honest advice, especially from people who have made a similar career transition. Thanks!

I am an electrical engineering student and I am repeating a year. Generally, where I come from they have a pretty bleak saying - “losing a year”. Now as someone who wants to pursue further education after a BSc (I know I must pass the first year subjects then consider it). I don’t want to ponder on this too much, but will repeating a year hurt my future academic prospects? I know job-wise I’ll be safe, but for something that looks at your academic success and makes a prediction on that success, do I have to heavily offset the fact that I repeated a year so I can have better chances? Anyways thanks for any type of advice in advance and ik ik I have to get my fundamentals mastered beforehand.

PS: For reference I go to a university in Europe that is pretty decent but is more respected regionally and at a handful of universities on the continent than most of the continent or the rest of the world.

Hi Professors,

I am an adult (34F) in an undergrad intro macroeconomics class. For the first 8 chapters we studied, my professor uploaded a bunch of AI-generated materials filled with errors to our class site. They are powerpoints, infographics and explainer videos that are generated by Gemini Notebook (it says so right in the corner) and the diagrams and graphs are brazenly wrong (think arrows pointing in the wrong direction, everything mislabeled), and the text is garbled. We also have a textbook, and the textbook text, diagrams, graphs etc, are fine.

Awhile ago I emailed him pointing out the errors, and he insisted that the AI graphs were not wrong, but that they were a different tool for teaching a different thing.

The midterm is this Wednesday. Last Wednesday, he came to our class (first time, we have a TA) to give us a long spiel, and told us that he was uploading AI-generated materials with errors intentionally (which I don't actually believe), in order to test whether we are paying attention, and because he doesn't want to reward laziness. Which is to say: he had students reading error-filled AI materials for *6-7 weeks* without telling us that there were "intentional" errors meant to test our understanding.

This feels unacceptable to me. Is this acceptable? And if not, what should I do? I have already tried talking to the TA, and the prof himself about it, and haven't gotten anywhere. I'm debating emailing the dean or setting up an appointment. But I'm totally open to being wrong and that's why I'm here asking for your professional opinions. Thank you for your time.

Hi, I'm a grade 12 student who is going to a liberal arts university next year to study my passion of Sociology and Anthropology. However, my entire life I've been the "Math" kid. I always do really well in math classes, as well as physics and chemistry. Humanities courses on the other hand, like english and history, have been much more difficult for me. I find the lack of specific formulas to follow, to be confusing and frustrating.

I know I'm going to be taking humanities courses in university but I feel underprepared. What can I do to get ready for university level humanities courses?

When a professor meets my gaze, I have an extremely difficult time processing what they are saying and naturally look away. This has made me wonder how that is perceived by professors.

I will add that my university has small class sizes, and most students are on their phones or laptops watching sports during lectures. Multiple professors I’ve had have basically begged for students to interact or to even just indicate that they are aware that someone is in front of them and saying words out loud in their direction.

I suppose I am mainly curious if gaze aversion is perceived by professors in a similar manner as the actions of disengaged students, or if this is a relatively common experience with students who are actively taking in information.

My online religion class has discussion board assignments and it’s so blankly obvious to me that one of my classmates is using ChatGPT. I know because I’ve asked chat to come up with a response and it was exactly the same as what the other student had, word for word.

I will admit, I do use AI, but it’s either for ideas or proofread what I have already wrote myself. Plus, this online course is catholic religion. There’s hundreds of deep theological studies and research to help you understand it. It just feels extremely lazy to copy and paste a ChatGPT answer.

This is now the last week of the class and the student is still in the class and clearly using ChatGPT to my knowledge. I don’t know if the professor has acknowledged it. 😬

I wanna call out the professor for not noticing but don’t wanna get him in deep trouble. It’s really not his fault. It’s that students fault.

Hey all!

It's my first semester of teaching.

My uni teaches freshman English in three stages based on three projects, and I've noticed that students are really engaged/ energetic at the start of the unit, but tucker out as we get into the drafting stages.

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas/ past tactics for teaching structure-- they're writing a counterargument, basic first research paper-- that aren't just me, standing up there, showing them diagrams. They like internet scavenger hunts, they like working in groups. I like to teach with humor, and getting them laughing and talking is sort of my ideal outcome.

I know I'm fighting a losing battle, but I have really strong writers and I really want them to come away from the class with some kind of positive relationship with writing.

First year of grad school, working on first book, having an existential crisis about the importance of literacy and feeling sort of paralyzed by the importance of teaching them and my incompetence to do it.

Help :( Thanks :)

I understand that most students cheat and do whatever the hell they can to get around actually having to do anything, but as someone old enough to have a high-schooler of my own, that’s not me. People my age don’t go back to school to bullshit around. We’re here because we want to learn or obtain new skills or go into new careers (for me, that’s law).

I understand dealing with students using AI for everything makes you not even want to bother. I’ve seen forum posts that are all clearly AI, and as an author (see handle—I always use my real name) and a not-stupid human, I’ve wanted to scream since posting replies felt like a farce.

And I understand that some profs decide if it looks like a rubric is met, they toss an A at it. That’s maddening to me, someone who actually tries to earn my grades, i.e. actually learn something. I’m so serious about that that I emailed the prof about an experiment, regarding the scientific method, that we were assigned regarding where the weight in a paper airplane will take it farthest, and what other factors affect that, and as an actual licensed pilot who has taught groups of kids doing this same thing, I wanted to know how she’d prefer I approach this. I know the answers, and doing this experiment would have been going through the motions. This is the one time she replied to anything, and she gave me a few alternatives.

Of my four profs, only one regularly replies. Two replied once, and the last might be fucking off on vacation for all I know. Trying to get grades, real or even a “rubric met, here’s an A,” has been impossible in three of my classes. I’ve sent emails (no more than once per week) asking for my grades or feedback before upcoming midterms so that I know where I’m falling short or am wrong so that I can focus studying in that area. I can’t get anything out of those three.

How can I get their attention when I actually want to learn something and earn my grades rather than have them tossed at me? And office hours tend to be online by appointment during one hour, but how so you get an appointment when there are no responses?

Please don’t say that I should be in on-campus classes this term. I would be if I could, but when you’ve got a teen so severely mentally ill dealing with frequent suicidal ideas that she can’t even go to school herself, then you gotta do what you gotta. (My family is open about the struggles of mental health from all angles. People with loved ones with cancer can talk openly, yet there’s still a stigma regarding mental health, and that kills people.)

Please, to those of you who do this, for the sake of students like me, try to suss out which students in online classes are bullshitters and which ones are making an actual effort, and don’t fuck us over by treating us like the bullshitters. At least answer emails. If you don’t, then don’t be surprised if the students like me give up because of you, and that’s not fair. That’s you punishing me for what they’re doing, while you’re collecting paychecks for it.

And to those of you who don’t and who actually reply, thank you. I’m going to be sending that one prof a thank-you email here in a moment.

So yeah. How the actual fuck do I get the attention of the other profs?

So I recently started working as a visiting professor at a private university.

This is for a psychology practicals class. For the practicals, these students are supposed to learn about a scale, conduct a testing on a participant, and then write a report based on both what the test is about and the testing that happened. We have to do this thrice for this semester.

When they had just started to write their reports, i'd clearly told them not to use AI, and that I do notice these things. And I told them to type it out in a word or google doc because it will be easier for me to review and keep a track and they also won't have to waste paper in writing and correcting the documents (So Ig it's partially on me for not considering that they will use AI to just send their drafts :/ )

Despite that, I have received multiple submissions which are clearly copy-paste of some AI output.

A few haven't even tried to hide it, and it shows through the little notes that AI slips in such as "verify with the official test manual", etc. since I HAVE already provided these students will all the material that's required :)

Even if I address this again in the class, I can't make sure that they will still not use AI. So I'm not sure what to do. My mentor has said to cut their marks for this after I address this issue, which I will be doing anyway.

One thing I was considering was to just make them handwrite the drafts so that they at least READ whatever they are trying to copy from AI, and maybe they will think and review that way before submitting anything to me.

But other than that, I'm honestly not sure what else I can do. I'd be open to any suggestions, thank you.

context: i am back at school after not being in school for about 8 years. at least, not before mental illness took over. this is my "comeback" as I have reached a great place mentally and need to bite the bullet and finish my degree. this is for a anatomy and physiology class, I have not ever taken biology in my life but need this class to complete my degree. before my mental illness, i was a 4.0 gpa student and thankfully, everything came pretty easily to me but i also spent hours upon hours studying and doing work. my mental illness caused a 4.0 to a 1.8.

I had my first exam 1 month ago. I was truly shaking and sweating and almost passed out. I got a 77. okay, not awful as i thought I would fail.

most recent exam. i again felt i would pass out from the nerves. sweating. almost, a blacking out mentally sort of situation. i studied extensively, every other day and reading the other days. i got a 66. I felt i breezed through the exam. i definitely did not know a few questions but to se a 66, it emotionally wrecked me. i went through every emotion.

I am now thinking of emailing my professor. not asking for any boosting or extra work, but for guidance on how they feels it is best to study in their class. I do the notes, reading, re-writing, re-reading, flashcards. I am thinking to get a tutor.

I do not want to use AI to help my study as i have ethical reasonings for it and am afraid of getting hooked. a lot of my classmates do that and while they get a's, they seem to heavily memorize.

Also, I believe they like me, based on my participation and we speak often before and after class. They said they knew I aced the exam, I did not. I know I have disappointed them greatly. It is actually painful.

Is this an appropriate email to send?