Since general artificial intelligence platforms became widely accessible to the masses two years ago, AI has become for many students a valuable learning tool that streamlines answers and sifts through incalculable amounts of information within a few seconds — but some educators still consider it more of a threat than an advantage. The newer AI model is trained on more websites than its November 2022 release, which improves its accuracy substantially, makes it more reliable and, many people believe, a better tool to cheat.
English teacher Mark Krewatch emphasized that the English department’s recently added policy requires students to show the process of their English assignments. Essentially, if a student submits a piece of work that strikes their teacher as questionably sourced and they can’t show their process work, they’re on the hook for cheating.
“What’s sort of implied, if not explicitly stated, is that if I give you an assignment and you don’t show me the work, then I think it’s not your work,” Mr. Krewatch said.
Junior Isolde LaCroix-Birdthistle used ChatGPT along with the rest of her English class in a translation exercise during their “Beowulf” unit, a teacher-approved activity designed to explore the different ways to translate the poems from Anglo-Saxon to modern speech. She said it was an interesting look into the use of AI for language.
“It was definitely easier than going through and finding every translation word by word,” Isolde said, “but it was definitely wrong at some points, so most of the work was done by taking contextual bits from the book and using our own interpretations.”
Jeremy Birnholtz, a Northwestern University communication studies professor who specializes in human-computer interaction, said that he’s observed an overwhelmingly negative response to ChatGPT being used in school settings for any reason. Professor Birnholtz believes that a combination of AI’s sometimes inaccurate information and the impression that any use of it constitutes cheating are the main contributors to its bleak reputation.
“It kind of reminds me a little bit of the attitudes around Wikipedia, but sort of on steroids,” Dr. Birnholtz said. “Where, you know, 10 or 15 years ago, the conversation was about how nobody should use Wikipedia for serious education and how the fact that anybody could edit it meant that it was never accurate.”
Dr. Birnholtz said that while there are many risks and drawbacks associated with the use of AI platforms within education, it can often act as a really useful helping hand to students who want help with mundane tasks or bits of research as long as policies are clear for when it is OK to use.
“I don’t think it’s good to be in a world where students think that ChatGPT knows everything and faculty think that ChatGPT is just a way to cheat,” he said, “because neither of those things is true.”
Nina Wieda, an associate professor of instruction in the Chicago Field Studies program at Northwestern University, has students who use ChatGPT for small parts of academic progress or to take bits of work off their shoulders that have little or no educational value.
She says her students use ChatGPT to brainstorm for presentations, get ideas for new angles, for case studies or examples, while some professors are having students write papers in class in real time by hand, so that they still practice their skills. She said in preparation for that, ChatGPT is a good way to generate counterarguments to your ideas and find the best objections.
Dr. Wieda said she has also observed her students discuss ChatGPT’s merit for more personal assistance, like relationship advice, motivational conversations and more.
“Not everybody has a friend available all the time for that kind of support, and ChatGPT can be that friend with whom you develop ideas in dialogue,” Dr. Wieda said. “Recreationally as well, I know that my students use ChatGPT for relationship advice. Some even report to me that they sometimes find ChatGPT to be a better friend than actual physical friends because it’s always available, never asleep, and always willing to provide you with feedback and advice to cheer you up or anything like that.”
