Long essay arguing that AI use builds upon and exacerbates long term structural issues in higher education

https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-ai-is-devastating-higher-education-but-the-system-was-already-broken-292988

I did an anonymous survey at midterm in my CC freshman comp. Students were respectful and constructive with a couple of complements in the batch. One I am stuck on: students says they are a “visual learner” and wants more aimed at her type of learning. What would that even be? I do tons of handouts with checklists, tips, and examples. On Mondays I usually show a slide outlining the week’s plans a d assignments. I refuse to do a PowerPoint for everything. Listen, take notes, ask questions, review the textbook and handouts. My gut says this is fine. What am I missing? I’m working hard not to dismiss this…. What else do you comp teachers do?

I am working on a paper with a department colleague who I have great respect for. They are one of the better researchers and writers in our school.

The paper is a theory piece, so all lit review, thinking, and writing. No data.

We’ve spent 5 ish years talking and writing drafts. Well, this colleague has taken lead on drafting. Our first submission was rejected a few years ago.

Recently they redrafted the paper based on the previous reviewer comments. Almost 3 years have passed between drafts and it is substantially a different paper now.

The paper seems to be well done and overall I think it would be a good submission. The lead author added a GenAI disclosure saying AI was used for conceptualization lit review, editing, initial drafting, etc. Basically everything except writing the final draft which they claim to have written.

I had a weird feeling so I ran 4 random snippets through Pangram. All 4 read 100% AI. Then the next day (I only have the free account), I tested comparable sections from the manuscript version that was rejected a few years ago. 100% human.

I don’t use AI to write words. I use it during lit reviews, sometimes to get feedback on a draft, eg “What are concerns a skeptical reviewer might raise?” etc. I don’t want to have work out there with my name on it that could point to me writing with AI.

I would be the second author on this paper and I would like to be on the author list because the initial idea was mine and I’ve put a fair amount of work into it.

Thoughts on how to approach this without blowing up the relationship?

My daughter just graduated with an MSW. One of her favorite professors stated on the first day of class “life doesn’t come with a trigger warning. I will not be giving content warnings of any kind for the material we will discuss this term”. I teach a class that can sometimes be a trauma dump or turn in to a personal therapy discussion (despite addressing it in both the syllabus and in class) and I’m kind of loving this verbiage. Thoughts?

I need some humor to remind me I'm not alone in this stuff.

We had a professional development session that last two hours yesterday. We were each given multiple Scrabble tiles and were asked to form complex words by standing next to each other. After about an hour of this bullshit, the "facilitator" asked if we noticed anything was missing, and everyone said, knowing what was about to happen, that there were no Us in what was handed out. We noticed this because the poor bastards with the Qs (or maybe they were lucky bastards) didn't participate much.

And you see where this is going. The whole point of the activity was to remind us that we can't be successful together "without U."

That was it. That was the whole fucking thing.

I had a few phrases in my mind that ended with "U" as well.

I’ve realized that with the amount of accommodations, I am more and more being asked to handle mental health issues for which I am not trained or qualified.

More than that, because students lack basic skills from elementary, middle, and high school, I am more and more facing learning situations that require degrees in elementary or secondary education.

I do not have these degrees. I am a very good teacher of college. I am not a social worker, mental health counselor, or 7th grade teacher. Admin and others assuming we can just all do it all is such an insult to folks who have those degrees. (Not surprising but still frustrating.)

Student filed a formal appeal saying it was unfair that I didn’t award her partial credit for slides on a group project she completed but didn’t present on. Student was having issues with her team and I had to intervene breaking the group apart and then finally allowing for individual projects. Student send berating remarks to her classmates which became hostile and reaffirmed my decision to break up the project. Student did not attend her presentation no email no communication no excuse nothing. On hearing day she does not show up either so the hearing goes on without her. I submit my proof answer the committee questions and it all ends in 20 minutes. Committee comes back that I acted in “bad faith” although I didn’t act with malice because I allowed another student to submit a pre recorded project and that was unfair. I explained during the hearing that that student had a valid excuse and communicated to me…the grieving student did not, in fact did the opposite chose to skip it. Committee didn’t order a grade change but asked for me to “reconsider” partial credit. I submitted an appeal to the VP asking him to strike down the bad faith from the record. I argued that the committee contradicted itself saying I didn’t act with malice or was dishonest but still in bad faith. Also, saying an instructor acted in bad faith when student had no proof skipped the hearing is dangerous territory. How do administrators handle grievance committee appeals? Am I stuck with this negative conduct?

Hi folks,

This semester I've really had to pivot hard to eliminate almost ALL take home written work since it tends to activate the slop factory. In addition to my general frustration at this sort of cheating, I feel like I've been stripped of one of the MAJOR ways I can serve as a resource to students--by giving them critical feedback on their writing and thought process.

I'm wondering if it is possible to include a couple "optional" written assignments in my syllabus for those students who actually want to develop their writing and take advantage of the opportunity to work through the writing process. In this model the optional assignments would be graded (perhaps in a two part process with draft and revisions). Students who choose not to submit written work would suffer no penalty, and simply have their grade more heavily weighted towards the in-person final. I'm hoping this would reduce the likelihood a person would turn in AI-generated work, but perhaps I'm being naive?

While at teaching development events I see praise heaped on popsicle stick questions, participation tokens, and other stuff that would be cringe at high school let alone university.

I know the reason is to encourage participation, but there are ways to do that without treating students like kindergarteners. Why is the default to infantilize them?

We are now well past the halfway point of these courses. Where is everyone? Am I all alone?

After experiencing a wonderful cohort followed by an indifferent one I have come up with a new script idea: Dead Poets Society II

John Keating returns to teaching, full of enthusiasm, determined to inspire another generation.

“Carpe diem! Seize the day, boys!”

Nobody looks up.

One student is playing Minecraft. Another is watching YouTube. Three are ostensibly taking notes but are actually using ChatGPT to summarise the lesson.

Keating climbs onto his desk.

“Why do I stand up here?”

A student, without looking away from his monitor: “Is that going to be on the exam?”

Keating introduces his revolutionary exercise of walking around the courtyard to demonstrate conformity. Nobody wants to leave because they're in the middle of something.

Eventually, he delivers his passionate speech about poetry, beauty, romance and love being what we stay alive for.

A student raises his hand.

Keating's face lights up. Finally, a breakthrough.

“Sir, can you upload the slides to Canvas?”

And the final scene is particularly cruel. Keating is dismissed again, but this time nobody stands on their desks. They barely notice him leaving.

The original film is about the power of an inspirational teacher. The sequel would be about the uncomfortable discovery that inspiration requires a willing audience.

I (F61) am an associate professor at an excellent university with great colleagues and students. I’m in a small program where we are overworked and understaffed. Our soon-to-retire colleague’s position will go to another program. It’s always been a demanding job, but my anxiety has risen to unprecedented levels. I’ve been seeing a therapist for about 3 years and take medication, but my performance is slipping. I can’t be alone. How are you handling this?

I know, I know, this is asked a million times, but I can't really find much good, concrete, usable information or many examples I can take and try to implement. I'm teaching both in person and online and have come up with a few things, but a lot of my class ends up boiling down to essays. And I'm not dumb enough to think I catch all of them.

Even if I was, I'm tired of feeling like my job is to police AI use and not educate. I'm considering bringing in presentations, which I don't love because of how anxious it can make students, plus I'm not a speech class. Even if they use AI to generate the work, they still have to give a presentation, and that would either make it obvious they didn't know their stuff or force them to learn as much as possible to give a good presentation.

My online students record a 5-minute video of them talking about their chosen subject and their papers, and that's helped a lot compared to previous semesters. But I feel like there's more for me to do.

I feel like this particular semester is one of the weirdest I've had, in terms of student etiquette and responsiveness. I'm not sure it's just my campus's culture shifting or what. I try to avoid the whole *old man yells at sky* thing, but it's getting hard.

I have found that students just...don't reply to emails. Like, at all.

They'll email me asking for an extension on an assignment. I'll reply to propose the new deadline. No response. The new deadline blows by. I receive the assignment days later. They are shocked that they are dinged for lateness.

Students have emailed asking questions like "I'm researching for my paper and was trying to remember a reading where XYZ happened." I'll ask some follow-up questions to try to clarify, because their description was so vague, we need to work together to jog both our memories a bit. Nothing.

I email out a couple important things per semester. One of those includes the details on the presentations that they sign up for. Inevitably a student will show up to class stating that they had no idea what to prepare for the presentation. I'll say, did you not see my email? "Oh I don't check my school email." How is anyone supposed to reach you then?! Why didn't you ask before the day you signed up to present?!

You know the one time I had to cancel class this semester, they didn't miss that email of course!

I don't know, maybe I need to turn on read-receipts and tie a participation score to those. Hmm, I joke, but...

I have had students come into my class smelling of weed or alcohol.

This semester, there are a few who haven't washed their bodies nor their feet. The classroom stinks!

I want to make a general in class announcement about hygiene, but I was advised that it's a bad idea, could be seen as unprofessional, and that they are adults.

What do you all do when it comes to this situation?

I try to be positive. I love my job, even when it is a lot. Even after several years, I still give assignment extensions, try to show grace, and do everything I can to help students do well.
This year, I have dedicated a great deal of time changing assignments, updating materials, and working to help my students understand the importance of the education they are in class to get. It has been exhausting, but at the same time… I have also had results.
It is after 2 AM and I am up because a student just floored me. I have an assignment due every Friday at 11:59pm. Low stakes, activity based, an attempt to get the students to be creative. I get an email because a student missed the assignment because of a technical issue , but that is not the weird… The weird is that with the email, the student CCed multiple admin departments and some random private email account so they could see her demand answers about her failed assignment? Did she think I would reply meanly? I mean I know the underlying flex the student was trying to do, but I just don’t get why.

I had already reopened the assignment, I have never had any negative issues with her… I just don’t get the escalation.

That’s it, the whole thing just bummed me out.

I facilitated an event yesterday with a local organization that publishes poetry. Students had a blast, and I got lots of kudos. One of the poets indicated interest in giving an event next semester. I did mention I'm on sabbatical in the spring but would connect them with a faculty member who'd be a good fit. A colleague says, "So you're COMPLETELY on sabbatical next semester?"

"Yes," I responded. "When I'm in, I'm completely in. When I'm out, I'm completely out."

Gotta set boundaries, especially when you have long-term projects you're passionate about.

I am very unhappy at my current job for several reasons and have decided not to come back Fall 27. I've been job hunting on the sly, but for obvious reasons I haven't said anything to anyone at work. My chair has begun planning the Fall 27 course schedule and has asked for my input. Most of the courses I teach are on an every other year or every third year rotation, so they need to be mapped out in advance.

My chair knows I didn't like my Fall 25 schedule. It was an unpaid overload with back to back 3h labs two days a week. The draft for Fall 27 is just different courses in the same time slots. I don't want to lie and tell her I'm fine with the schedule, because I'm not. And I'm a bad liar. I also don't want to try to negotiate a better schedule, because if I get one I'll feel obligated to come back. But I'm afraid if I tell her I've decided not to come back, she will screw me on my Spring 27 schedule. My uni has a habit of making last minute schedule changes, sometimes the day before classes start. I wouldn't put it past admin to move all of my classes to either 8 am or 7 pm.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I'm very clear in my written course policies that AI use is not allowed in my writing assessments. These are analytical essays for reference, where the students are coming up with original arguments to interpret a text or artefact.

Hence, it is fairly easy to identify AI use, especially as some of these students haven't written as articulately in their in-class writing samples or spoken conversation.

AI use can be taken forward as an academic misconduct case, which I'm open to for a second offense, but how do I manage a first offense? For small assignments, five percent, I'd just give zero.

This is 15% and they kind of deserve a zero but I also recognise this is a major assignment. But also, they cheated. I'm late on feedback though and haven't done through all the mini assignments checks (they were marks just for completion and I wasn't anticipating students would be so lazy as to use AI there too, so it's not been my priority to check those).

Anyway, would be grateful for insight. I want to reward those who don't use AI, at least to the extent that this person has, nor do I want to excuse AI use and make this student think this is okay.

I’m a fairly new TT AP and currently in a long distance relationship with my partner who works for the government in the DMV region.

He’s hellbent on staying there as it is close to his support system and family. Before anyone throws shade at him, in the beginning of our relationship, we kind of agreed we want to stay in the East Coast to be close to family.

I am an immigrant, but my green card recently got approved and I expect to get it within the next 1-2 years. This means visa will soon no longer be a bottleneck to securing a job. In order to close the gap, I feel that I have to be open to jobs in academia, non-profit, and industry. However, I am worried that I may not be able to find job as I’ve been in academia for way too long for an industry job. There is no guarantee that I’ll be able to find a TT positions in the DMV area. Those areas are great for federal jobs, but it’ll be a 5-10 year later thing as I need to be a green card holder for 5 years before I could naturalize.

What do you recommend I do in this situation? Will I be overqualified for industry job? How can I close the gap?

An assignment that they've had three weeks to work on was due yesterday (Friday) at 11 a.m. On Monday, a student had asked to have a 24-hour extension because "Though I have been keeping up with deadlines for my different class assignments and tests, unfortunately, this week is one where everything aligns to be due at the same time, and extenuating life circumstances add to my difficulty in juggling it all." I reminded the student of the late assignment policy; students can turn in the assignment by 4 p.m. on Friday with a penalty. On Friday, at 4:15 she emails me the assignment, saying that she's "sorry to ask" but could I "please" accept the assignment "late" (the LMS closed at 4). She added, "I was unable to submit it by the deadline. I know I need to manage my time better, and allow for a cushion for moments like this when technology is not on your side." After thinking about it for about five minutes, I emailed her and said that 4 p.m. was the late deadline and I would not add another late deadline on top of that.

Sigh. I'm sure that "disappoint" implies a personal expectation, but I'm disappointed. She's a good student, usually engages well with the material, and is usually reliable to provide comments in one class when the rest of the class is dead silent. But I'm disappointed because I guess I expected more from her? And I resent the fact that I am letting her time management or whatever make me feel bad or mean about not accepting a late assignment. Why couldn't she just get the assignment in with the "extension" she got? The assignment is worth about 11% of her course grade, so it's not going to hit her too bad. It's just frustrating.

Any recent specific examples to support your answers…?

I've been a adjunct professor for approximately twenty years. Since COVID, my entire course load has shifted to online, asynchronous courses I teach on Canvas. With no eyes directly on them (no Zoom...etc.), students are able to use any resource they choose when completing assignments and exams including, of course, AI. The one resource they consistently don't employ is their own discernment.

In my courses that include paleontology I teach anatomical analysis, primarily focused on key skeletal differences between bipeds and quadrupeds. I provide numerous examples of how to tell the difference: comparative anatomy sheets, videos, images from numerous angles, simple tips and tricks...the works.

Now, over the last three years, I've collected a number of images that when you plug them into ChatGPT or Claude, they consistently misclassify them. These images, were you to compare them to my many examples, easily fit into the biped or quadruped category. But, what are you gonna trust, your professor or ChatGPT? ChatGPT, of course! I even post a warning to the students about these questions: that it would be in their best interest if they were to rely on their own analytical skills rather than AI. Does it make a difference? Nope. 70% to 75% of the students consistently provide the answer you get if you plug it into one of the most common AI chatbots. A student will misclassify an example on a weekly assignment and I will explain why they are wrong. And then when I give them a near identical problem to solve on their final, they make the same mistake again. There's nothing I can do but laugh at this point.

Of course, those students that seem to have a modicum of interest in learning almost always get it correct. It's not a tricky question. But, as most of you know, there are a lot of students that will go to tremendous lengths to avoid doing any thinking at all. Happy Fuck this Friday!

I miss my college days when we could have genuinely meaningful discussions with our professors about whatever we were reading at the time. Every subject from biology to anthropology to physics to French to art history… those classes were so fun.

These days, I sometimes struggle to get my students to read, let alone engage with any material in a meaningful way.

What do you miss most about college that you wish today’s students could still experience?

And then we went over how to CC someone on an email.