Students seeking shortcuts on schoolwork is as old as time, but the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years has taken "shortcuts" to a whole new level. AI is now the study aid of choice for most students, with a 2023 survey from Study.com revealing 89% of college students had used ChatGPT to do a homework assignment, and more than half (53%) had used AI to write an essay. Even younger students in junior high and high school are doing the same thing. This has prompted some college professors to call for drastic actions to rein in student use of AI, such as eliminating all online courses and banning all screens in the classroom.
Other education experts believe those actions may be a bridge too far. Jean Burk, president of College Prep Genius, tells KTRH that ending all online classes or banning technology would punish good students for the sins of the bad ones. She believes AI can be either good or bad for education, depending on how it is used. But she does agree that AI is moving faster than schools and instructors can keep up. "I think the technology is way ahead of the detection," she says.
To that end, Burk supports a roadmap for schools to deal with AI. "There have got to be some protocols put into place to demonstrate that the student did the actual work, and some sort of accountability," she says. "Every student needs to know the rules, what is the code of conduct when it comes to AI, what are the consequences?"
Beyond that, there is no way for schools to truly put this genie back in the bottle. Ultimately, Burk says it comes down to the students themselves. "Students really need to think ahead beyond graduation, because if you get caught cheating that's going to follow you, that's going to follow you into your job and into your future," she tells KTRH. "So I think every student needs to take their own responsibility...it goes back to the idea of self-government."
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