You’re heard some buzz about generative AI, but you’ve also heard about some of the concerns. Specifically, you’re worried that students in your courses are going to use generative AI to cheat on your assignments. A 2023 survey showed that students using generative AI to cheat is the #1 concern of higher education instructors.
Well, the good news is that the research shows that using generative AI has not increased cheating at U.S. universities. The bad news is that is partly because many students were already cheating: Stanford University research shows that 60% to 70% of students at universities report that they cheated on a college assignment within the previous month.
So why are students cheating? We know some of the reasons and how to mitigate them: as James Lang’s research (reported in his book, Cheating Lessons) tells us, students are more likely to cheat on exams that they feel have high stakes. So if a student might not get into their major if they fail a test, for example, they would be more likely to feel an inducement to cheat. We can therefore take steps to mitigate cheating by reducing a pedagogical reliance on high stakes exams (which also improves learning outcomes for all students).
Similarly, students will “cheat” on low stakes classwork that they feel that it is busy work. Our students are busy: the demands on their time are constantly increasing. Students may have extracurricular work or labor or care responsibilities, they may have health or financial issues, or personal or familial relationship issues that can demand their time and attention. So our goal as instructors should be to be transparent and demonstrate to students why the coursework we are asking them to do is worth their time by being beneficial to their learning.
We can use generative AI to help us with this. It can help us create meaningful and impactful assignments within a backward design course structure. For example, in our Generative AI Faculty Learning Community last semester, one of our faculty participants used generative AI to design an escape room that she uses in her classes. Research shows that escape rooms are proving to be an innovative way to adapt to remote learning, facilitate skills training, and promote collaboration and team-building skills.
To learn more about using generative AI in your classroom to design classroom assignments, sign up for our March 7th 1-2:30 workshop, Faculty Showcase: Generative AI Assignments, or contact CITL with questions or for a consultation.
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