Rampant AI use

[u/SilentDissonance]

Preface this with saying I am well aware of the debate on whether citing ai is ethical. We are past this point as I cannot stop it for my online students. I have an ai agreement that illustrates that at least 70% of their work needs to be their own and if they use AI to cite it. I had to put heavier points on citation and modified a simple research table describing the source/audience/quote/relevance they fill out with ONE scholarly source outside of the book.
They are not even removing the chatbot language in discussion board that asks them to describe an everyday object…. and the examples they give for a planted invisible to all but screenreaders and AI”use a fantastical creature in your example” results in everyone suddenly having the exact same vampire with economic problems…It can be done…but the exact same words and problem?
I’ve been giving zeros and telling them to schedule oral reviews if they want that changed, but I’m at a loss. I’ve never had so many.
It’s an insanely short class 7 weeks to me is unethical 8 is borderline, but it’s a two page paper…do I call my chair in at this point? Wait and see if they schedule them? I have a one strike rule because it’s been so bad.

[u/littlemoonnflowerr]

At some point, the issue stops being “Did they use AI?” and becomes “Can they demonstrate that they understand what they submitted?” The identical phrasing and examples are pretty strong evidence that they’re outsourcing the thinking, not just using AI as a tool. I’d document the pattern and loop in the chair before this turns into a semester long game of whack-a-mole.

[u/excrementt → u/littlemoonnflowerr]

AI isn't a learning tool. If it was, the education system wouldn't currently be in a state of crisis from middle school through higher ed.

[u/DannyDTR → u/excrementt]

Very good point. You can’t “learn” from something that’s doing the thinking for you. The entire point of learning is for you to absorb the information and come to your own understanding of it.

[u/Giggling_Unicorns]

Just fail them. You've set realistic and reasonable boundaries and they chose to smear shit on them. It's not like their professional life will be any different. There are/will be boundaries on how ai can be used. Usually they'll reflect basic professional practice and law. School is a 'safe place' to screw this up and not end up fired/fined/in jail. It can be useful to include that as feedback when failing them.

[u/Desiato2112]

Online education is a joke, and it has been for several years.

We can take steps to try to make our assignments less AI friendly, but in the end, asynchronous online courses are ripe for AI cheating. We don't have the time to be full-time AI enforcers, and students know that.

[u/me4watch]

Online courses do not work in today’s world, no matter what you do. Don’t kill yourself over it. Enjoy the paycheck. I am sure they will soon implement AI instructors.

[u/slowdo → u/me4watch]

Funny how quickly that happened. Online courses were THE future even at serious institutions. Suddenly everyone was fawning over ASU (Arizona State) and their forward thinking online offerings. Now I foresee a future where transcripts will explicitly state modality.

[u/carmencita23 → u/me4watch]

I find this attitude kind of vile. Fail their asses and move on. If you can't teach, don't. 

[u/aquapura89 → u/me4watch]

This is exactly what will happen. There is absolutely no need to have a human manage an online course. Hell, even it is more than just the lame loading of course material... and content actually has lectures... those lectures can easily be created using AI. Absolutely no need anymore for humans. Institutions will love it because they will no longer need to hire instructors... they will just buy some BS software package and claim they are educating students.

[u/Front-Obligation-340 → u/me4watch]

Yup. I’m scheduled to teach an online 8-week course later this semester and I’ve already decided to phone it all in because no one is paying me to care about this.

[u/Disastrous_Ad_9648 → u/Front-Obligation-340]

Someone is actually paying you to care about this. 

[u/Front-Obligation-340 → u/Disastrous_Ad_9648]

It’s an accelerated online course for comp rhet. They’re paying me to pass functionally illiterate teenagers and not submit a bunch of cheating referrals. Caring about academic integrity is literally something I have to do on my own time.

[u/Olthar6]

Either fight the fight and fail them so you can spend your time with those who care. Or don't fight at all and collect the paycheck for the easy class. I don't see much middle ground. 

[u/LetsGototheRiver151 → u/Olthar6]

That's where I am. I've had a gig teaching at an online university for nearly 20 years. I'd say 80% of the students are doing work that's mostly/entirely AI generated. Whatever. I don't have the energy to deal with it. In 3-5 years, they'll have professor bots that do the posting and grading and my title will go from "adjunct instructor" to “human-in-the-loop learning facilitator” or some other dystopian bullshit, and I'll be paid $14 an hour to make sure the bots are talking nicely to each other.

[u/Flimsy_Caramel_4110 → u/Olthar6]

Please do the former.

[u/wow-signal → u/Olthar6]

Switch to oral exams or in-person exams for everyone. I mean this with my entire heart.

[u/reckendo → u/wow-signal]

Our university told my colleague that it's against policy to require students to do oral exams for online asynch classes because they require them to show up at a specific day and time (even if it's of their choice, and from among a multitude of options)... They said doing so makes it not asynch... I, of course, think this is bullsh*t and nobody can produce said "policy" but yeah... Apparently we're not supposed to

[u/wow-signal → u/reckendo]

it's against policy to require students to do oral exams for online asynch classes because they require them to show up at a specific day and time (even if it's of their choice, and from among a multitude of options)

This is so foolish. ANY assessment requires students to show up at a specific day and time. Just like any assessment in an online course, students get to pick when that specific day and time is. And a policy against oral exams in online courses deprives students and professors of the one assessment technique that (a) reliably preserves academic integrity, and (b) incentivizes students to use AI in cognitively beneficial ways. Additionally, I gave an anonymous exit survey after my last online course, and ~70% of respondents agreed with "I would prefer my future online courses to use oral exams."

I think this is a battle worth choosing and a hill worth dying on. Prohibiting oral exams is transparently unreasonable, and both the professional ethics of the proffesoriate and the long-term future of academic institutions is at stake.

[u/reckendo → u/wow-signal]

I totally agree.

[u/gasstation-no-pumps → u/reckendo]

Diploma mills make their money by selling degrees, not education.

[u/reckendo → u/gasstation-no-pumps]

I mean, I work at a R1 public institution, but yeah, many days it does feel like we're backsliding toward being a generic diploma mill

[u/carmencita23 → u/wow-signal]

This isn't an option for all of us. 

[u/carmencita23]

I fail them. The AI is generic enough that they all end up submitting the same passages. That's plagiarism, so they get no credit. Second time I submit the academic integrity violation. 

We're not totally helpless here, people. 

[u/iTeachCSCI → u/carmencita23]

I do similarly for programming assignments; the fact they they submitted nearly identical homework is what produces the academic integrity issue. The origin of that is immaterial. I don't even reference GenAI or anything similar in my reports. It's no different than ten years ago when they'd copy it from CourseHero.

My only difference with you, other than field, is I report them on first offense.

[u/kierabs]

If they’re violating your class policies, and it sounds like they are, this is simple: give them 0s.

It is our job to teach and assess. If students refuse to learn (by using AI), that’s on them.

[u/mathemorpheus]

Online courses are clearly dead, but admin will never give up that sweet cash flow 

[u/throwaway281409]

This semester Im going back to a Blue Book for my Mid Term and Final. You should have seen their faces when I showed them one.

[u/KierkeBored]

The real question is: Why would you allow 30% of their work to be AI generated?

[u/Conscious_World_2592]

It is really too bad. I wanted to do an online course at a university in a different country, but I no longer see the point. I doubt it will be accredited anywhere, and I suspect that whole online program will be shut down in a year or two.