Artificial Intelligence writing tools are easily accessible today. Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, the use of AI has created worries for those working in the Higher Education sector.
Academics and lecturers have been concerned that such tools would encourage academic dishonesty and plagiarism. In the article below, we shall explore several ways to promote academic integrity.
What is academic integrity?
The concept covers a range of values including honesty, responsibility, fairness and trust.
In order for academics to give an accurate assessment of assignments, students need to create and submit work which genuinely reflects their knowledge of the subject area and their skills.
Universities and educational organisations have different policies for the use of AI. Some may allow students to use AI tools for correcting spelling, for brainstorming ideas, or to create a list of citations to use.
Depending on the faculty, a university may allow students to use AI tools with few limitations (e.g. in the subject area of business) or may prohibit any use of AI (e.g. in humanities).
A key objective of an assignment is to help students ‘digest’ the information they have learnt through their academic studies.
The assignment questions frequently encourage students to use their problem-solving skills, to apply academic knowledge, to demonstrate evidence of research and to showcase their critical thinking skills.
The assignment is a tool to measure the student’s progress. However, it can also be used to develop the student’s understanding of the subject area and to work through complex issues.
Understandably, many lecturers are concerned that students will use AI tools to create their assignments.
When students work through assignments without the use of AI tools, they are actively participating in the process. However, the use of AI tools could undermine this process and make them passive receivers of information.
Reconnect thought processes
Some lecturers remove all technology during specific lessons. Then, they show students a paper which has been written via AI. They would encourage students to look at ways to improve the AI paper.
This process would allow the students to reconnect their thought processes, to explore new writing techniques and to be more aware of the limitations of AI tools.
Students need to be aware of the many shortcomings of AI.
A paper written with AI could include incorrect facts and information.
It may be descriptive, with limited critical thinking demonstrated.
One may also see repetitive phrases and descriptive expressions.
The references could also be worth looking at. Often, the reference list includes sources which do not exist, or the sources may be drawn from an entirely different subject area.
The sentence structure could be overly complex using broad, generalised and vague words.
The AI-written assignment may include too many subheadings.
If students understand that the use of AI can be detected by lecturers and markers, they would be less likely to submit AI-written papers.
As an example, the below text has been written using ChatGPT:
‘Digital marketing is the use of digital tools and platforms to promote products and services online. It includes methods such as social media marketing, email campaigns, search engine optimisation, and online advertising. These strategies allow businesses to reach a wider audience and measure their success using data and analytics. Digital marketing is faster and often more cost-effective than traditional marketing methods. As technology advances, digital marketing continues to evolve, making it important for companies to stay updated. Overall, digital marketing plays a key role in modern business strategies and helps improve customer engagement and brand visibility in the digital space.’
As you can see, this text is very descriptive, and no evidence is provided to support the statements.
The expressions are generalised, e.g. ‘faster’ and more cost-effective’.
The term ‘overall’ is often used in AI-generated text.
There are no examples provided, e.g. what are these companies which are being referred to?
And whereabout are they based?
The text is broad, generalised and descriptive, without sufficient evidence provided.
Explain the consequences
If students are aware of how and when they can use AI, it is less likely that they will commit academic dishonesty.
Many students, however, do not understand the consequences of committing academic dishonesty.
International students, who are not native speakers of English, may feel increased pressure to submit well-written assignments in English.
Others may be pressured to achieve high marks to secure the approval of their parents, friends or tutors.
At times, students are simply not aware of the university’s policy on the use of AI and commit an academic offence because of a lack of knowledge.
Many students do not realise the significant consequences of committing plagiarism.
It is essential that students clearly understand how and when they may be allowed to use AI and the consequences of not complying with university policies.
In-person assignment writing
Some educational organisations require students to write their papers in an examination room where no use of technology is not permitted.
Students write their assignments by hand while they are monitored.
Although this can be an effective approach, the implementation could be complex for the organisation and may require significant resources such as large exam halls, cameras, and exam invigilators to recruit.
Change the assignment
In order to respond to concerns over the use of AI, some universities revise their assignments and change the tasks.
As an example, they introduce tasks which focus on personal reflections, group work, presentations, discussion forum questions and using audio/ video to accompany coursework.
It is not uncommon that some assignment tasks may require the use of AI for research.
Some lecturers have embraced the use of AI by asking students to create a piece of work via AI and to make improvements to it.
Use AI detector tools
Universities may use a range of tools to detect the use of AI via Turnitin and Quillbot.
However, detection could be complex, and at times it may result in false positives.
Some lecturers may also use the student’s previous work to make comparisons regarding their writing style and use of language.
Explore more articles from jobs.ac.uk on AI:
- How do recruiters use AI?
- Using AI for job applications
- AI in higher education – where are we now?
- Exploring AI Careers in Academia: Opportunities in Teaching, Research, and Innovation.
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