The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) programs in the last year has impacted almost every part of the global economy, and education is no exception. Conversations at Linfield have swirled – is this the equivalent of the graphing calculator, which gained popularity in the 1990s and led to widespread concerns about cheating and equality? Like calculators, should students use AI as a tool? What constitutes plagiarism? Is there a policy for this, and a way to fairly regulate it? Linfield Magazine asked members of the College of Arts and Sciences – including its dean and faculty members in education and chemistry – to share their thoughts on AI, its impact and its current and future applications in higher education.
Note: All images were created with Fotor’s AI tools and selected by the writers.
Implementing AI in the classroom
As a former middle school language arts teacher, my absolute joy remains hearing my students’ voices in their writing. It should be no surprise, then, that I found the conversations about AI tools and how they are being used to augment, replace or edit those voices of utmost importance.
AI forced itself to center stage of academic conversations in January 2023. At that moment, panic about the ChatGPT-gateway-to-plagiarism was high, and information about how to handle it was low. In January, I sent to faculty the best article I could find at that moment that summarized strategies for professors to use in the classroom: “ChatGPT Advice Academics Can Use Now.” Since then, more recent resources present basically the same key points:
- It is impossible to ban AI. Don’t even try. Talk with students about AI, including when it is appropriate (even helpful) to use it and when it is not. This leads to #2…
- Consider the purpose of your writing assignments and how to best structure them to meet student learning goals and to be difficult to replicate using AI.
- Help students understand that AI-generated text can be biased and incorrect. It is not a trustworthy reference tool.
- Utilize in-class writing opportunities, including writing-to-learn strategies. Writing is a key tool in developing critical thinking — but it does not need to look like a traditional essay.
- Do not trust anti-plagiarism software to detect AI. These programs have spotty performance histories and are likely to discriminate against non-native English speakers.
Yesterday it was the graphing calculator, today it is AI, tomorrow it will be something else. What remains the same is that teachers and professors will respond to technological advancements and harness them to promote learning and connection with students.
As a teacher educator, I delight in hearing about the unique solutions to today’s challenges in schools that my Linfield students (and our future teachers) generate. Their creativity and cunning will set the bar for decades to come. ChatGPT has nothing on that!
