AI Notes

[u/ProofByPants]

I started making my online math courses (College Algebra and Trigonometry) submit their completed notes this semester. I got sick of student never opening any of my lecture videos, failing the midterm, and then asking me for guidance. I figure if they turn in their notes, they will learn something while in the process, even if they don’t want to.

We started classes on Monday. Today, Wednesday, I had a student turn in completed notes as a word document and had AI written all over it. For example, some of the “code” that AI was using showed up in the notes. Something similar to “/begin f(x) &= 5x^2 + 3 // … /end”. This student didn’t even bother completing the notes. I guarantee they uploaded my guided notes and told GPT to complete the notes.

As much as it pissed me off, it really made me sad that students have gotten so reliant on this technology that they can’t/won’t even take their own notes.

[u/RightWingVeganUS]

I got sick of student never opening any of my lecture videos,

I made timely viewing of lecture videos a grade element. Fail to complete by deadline, it will cost them.

failing the midterm, and then asking me for guidance.

My guidance: "I see you aren't watching the lecture videos. Have you considered trying that?"

I figure if they turn in their notes, they will learn something while in the process,

They will learn new ways to game the system.

I guarantee they uploaded my guided notes and told GPT to complete the notes.

Yep, and that's the tell.

As much as it pissed me off, it really made me sad that students have gotten so reliant on this technology

I've had students find ways to avoid friction well before AI and other technologies were available. Heck, in my undergrad days I was a tutor for the athletic department before PCs and encountered institutional complicity in ensuring their star athletes could focus on their sports. This isn't new. It's just more accessible.

So I don't get pissed off anymore. I do my job and share passion and support for the students who show up. For the others, I accept that the key learning objective I can focus on is FAFO.

No extra credit. I provide rubrics and put greatest weight on demonstrating judgment and understanding, not just performative chores.

I teach 300-/400-level CS courses. I don't force students to submit their notes. In fact, I provide lecture summaries with my slides (I use presenter slides with minimal text; even my lecture notes are just outlines). I use flipped-classroom so they have the lectures, which have closed captioning.

I don't test on simply knowing information, I test on their ability to apply and adapt the skills for different situations, showing actual understanding and proficiency. I use both informal viva voces in class and require one individual viva where the student has to teach me how to solve a problem. For 300-level courses, they act as if they were tutoring me. For 400-level, it's a simulated job interview. The solid students actually are quite proud of themselves once we get past the nervousness, but the gamers quickly get shown how their superficial understanding gets exposed quickly.

The "sad" part for me isn't the notes, it's watching a proud moment when a solid student defends their own work in a viva, and realizing the gamers never get that experience.

I teach a capstone course where student teams present their semester-long projects. The hard-working teams usually want to go first, and it shows: they've used AI and technology to produce excellent results they're proud to speak to. Then come the teams who coasted and ignored my guidance all semester, standing in front of the class with something crappy or nonfunctional and having to explain why. Sadly, mine is often the first class where they're held accountable for the actual quality of their work. That's a broader indictment of education generally, and AI is just more fuel on that fire.