I asked readers to share if they had found ways to address cheating. This is from Tim Moran, an associate professor of teaching in the Irvin D. Reid Honors College at Wayne State University. He writes:
“I’ve had to address AI-based student cheating in our Honors College freshman seminar, and I find it tends to come from three different angles.
1. The students were outstanding at their high schools, but find themselves mixing with a class that includes much more outstanding students from better high schools, and in desperation at keeping their A-level grades resort to AI text for their essay.
2. The students are new to time management without the rigor of high-school staff and curricula, lose track of deadlines, and in desperation swap in AI text to complete their essay on deadline.
3. The students do not have the research skills we used to expect of them and resort to AI to make up for being unable to actively find, read, vet, and synopsize scholarly sources.
What I’ve had to do is to change my assignments, change my grading rubrics, and scaffold the major assignments throughout the term.
1. Students need much more information about what is important in the assignment; I make it clear that spelling, punctuation, and grammar are not areas where they can lose major points, that their own writing style is preferred over smoothness (please don’t use Grammarly or other smoothing programs), and that having a good argument, using sources well, and thinking critically are where the most meat is for their grades.
2. Students need to know why the assignment is relevant to their performance in the course, so explaining the process of the assignment and how it marches with the goals of our large lecture/small discussion-section course is important for them to see the assignment as pragmatic, not an arbitrary hurdle for them to stumble over.
3. It’s important for students to realize that their “voice” is being listened to at several points along the way to the final product, and that the professor is familiar with their normal style and voice — this makes the idea of borrowing something from an AI source less appealing to them.
4. If a student is caught using AI, the discussion moves to an interview with them in which they need to explain their ideas and their research sources personally, without a copy of their work in hand. If it becomes clear that they don’t recognize their own sources or cannot explain where complex knowledge or ideas seem to have come from, they get a chance to correct that problem with an explanation and a do-over. When the penalty is more work, the temptation to use the AI resource going forward is significantly reduced.”
I asked Moran whether these strategies have been effective. Does scaffolding assignments reduce the pressure to cheat, and does his encouragement increase students’ motivation to do their own work? He said yes.
“When students are reassured that their own skills are adequate, and that the big assignment is divided into several smaller lumps over time, some of them lose the fear that they need to be capital-P “perfect” on deadline. When the grading is set up so that depth and use of research is prioritized over glibness and slickness in writing, they seem more willing to do the work that counts (and to learn from doing that work). AI generates material that looks good on the surface but is recursive to the prompt and tends to read like press releases and website text, and pointing that out to them also seems to help.”
Does Moran’s experience resonate with you? Have you tried something similar in your classes, and have you seen a difference? What works? What doesn’t? Write to me at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com and your story may appear in a future newsletter
Seeking advice
Longtime instructors, here’s an opportunity to share your hard-earned wisdom with people entering the profession.
I heard recently from a regular reader, Brett Palmero, a Ph.D. candidate in biology at Northwestern University who is pursuing a career as a faculty of instruction. He writes:
“As I read more about the news and literature in teaching, it feels very daunting to start this journey. Given the recent shifts in students’ perspectives on education with COVID and the rise of AI, I am constantly intimidated by the lengths I’ll have to go as an educator to ensure I am teaching my students and helping them grow. There is a battle in my mind as I try to balance pushing students and being mindful of their situational factors (such as pressure to get As to be competitive and not enough time to do so, leading to cheating).
“In the Human Genetics class I am teaching, many students informed me during a pre-course survey [they had] feelings of fear and anxiety. Some were nervous about the class as it is a distribution course and many of them are non-biology majors. Others harbored fears about their futures, and I realized how much an instructor may be relied on as an emotional and academic pillar for students. I recall how much I leaned on my instructors, and so I was happy to help students where I could. At the same time, it made me realize how ineffective campus services were at alleviating these fears for students.”
Palmero would love for the Teaching newsletter to include advice from veteran instructors to their more junior colleagues. So here’s your chance. What would you say to someone just starting out, facing the challenges Palmero has seen among his students? Do you have guidance on addressing student anxiety around academic performance and their futures? What are your strategies for encouraging hard work without creating pressures for students to cheat?
Write to me at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com and your insights may appear in a future newsletter.
ICYMI
- In this Chronicle Advice piece, Flower Darby describes five small steps AI skeptics can take to help students (and themselves) better understand AI.
- If you’ve ever used an AI note-taking tool in a virtual meeting, you’ll want to read this troubling Chronicle article by our colleague Taylor Swaak.
- In College Matters, the Chronicle’s new podcast, our colleague Alex Kafka discusses the rise in student loneliness and how colleges are trying to help.
Thanks for reading Teaching. If you have suggestions or ideas, please feel free to email us at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com or beckie.supiano@chronicle.com.
— Beth
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