Becoming

22 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection

14 quotes worth reading about AI use in academic papers

13 Quotes worth reading about AI’s impact on College Administrators & Faculty

17 articles about AI & Academic Scholarship

June 13, 2023

13 Quotes worth reading about AI’s impact on College Administrators & Faculty

June 13, 2023/ Stephen Goforth

What about us humble professors? Those of us with tenure have nothing to worry about. Taxpayers and donors will keep funding us no matter how useless we become. If you don’t have tenure, students will keep coming and your job will go on — unless you’re at a mediocre private college with a small endowment. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Colleges need to learn how to rely on technology. While much of the discussion has focused on what generative AI means for teaching, learning, and research, its immediate impact will likely be felt on functions outside of the academic core. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Most colleges accept most students who apply using a selection process that is routine and predictable. AI could be trained to make decisions about who gets accepted — or at least make the first cut of applicants. Yes, colleges will still need humans for recruiting, but even there, AI is increasingly capable of finding and marketing to prospective students. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Colleges have already started to deploy AI-powered chatbots to answer students’ everyday questions and help them show up for classes. Saint Louis University, for instance, added smart devices to dorm rooms that have been programmed to answer more than 600 questions from “What time does the library close tonight?” to “Where is the registrar’s office?” The next iteration of these chatbots is to personalize them to answer questions that are specific to a student (“When is my history exam?”) and bring them into the classroom. Chronicle of Higher Ed

AI can be used to tackle administrative functions from financial aid to the registrar’s office. At Arizona State University, AI is rewriting course descriptions to make them more informative for prospective students and improve search performance on the web. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Officials at companies that provide AI services to higher education tell me that colleges are sometimes reluctant to buy the products because they don’t want them to be seen as replacing people. But until campuses use AI in that way — to take over for people in jobs that involve processing information or doing repeatable tasks — then we won’t reverse or slow down the upward-cost trajectory of higher education, where most tuition dollars are now spent on functions outside of the classroom. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Rolling out AI software that can map prior admissions decisions, assess the performance of current students with similar profiles, and make preliminary recommendations will allow admissions officers to spend far less time reading essays and combing through student activities. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Vanderbilt University's Peabody School has apologized to students for using artificial intelligence to write an email about a mass shooting at another university, saying the distribution of the note did not follow the school's usual processes. CNN

That the same entrepreneurs marketing text generators for writing papers market the same systems for grading papers suggests a bizarre software-to-software relay, with hardly a human in the loop. Who would benefit from such “education”? Public Books

The AI-in-education market is expected to grow from approximately $2 billion in 2022 to more than $25 billion in 2030, with North America accounting for the largest share. Inside Higher Ed

What if we rearranged our universities around departments of critical thinking rather than departments of chemistry? Create a school of applied ethics rather than a school of business? We can create certificates for innovation and creative thinking that challenge our students to think like humans, not computers. We also need to ensure part of higher education is the development of human relationships. Businesses have been clamoring for this for years, but higher education still treats soft skills as a condiment, not the main course. Inside Higher Ed

If those in charge of the institutions of learning — the ones who are supposed to set an example and lay out the rules — can’t bring themselves to even talk about a major issue, let alone establish clear and reasonable guidelines for those facing it, how can students be expected to know what to do? Chronicle of Higher Ed

Institutions will need to have their needs and priorities clear … before buying marking machines or teaching robots or any other such thing. EdSurge

For science and the process of grant writing to be improved, two things have to happen: first, the pointless sections (those that might as well have been written by a computer, and could just as easily be answered by one) need to be removed; and second, the sections that remain need to be changed in scope, to be shorter and action-centred. Nature

Are we going to fill the time saved by AI with other low-value tasks, or will it free us to be more disruptive in our thinking and doing? I have some unrealistically high hopes of what AI can deliver. I want low-engagement tasks to take up less of my working day, allowing me to do more of what I need to do to thrive (thinking, writing, discussing science with colleagues). And then, because I won’t have a Sisyphean to-do list, I’ll be able to go home earlier — because I’ll have got more of the thinking, writing and discussing done during working hours, rather than having to fit them around the edges. Nature

Also:

21 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection

13 quotes worth reading about Generative AI policies & bans

22 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection

14 quotes worth reading about AI use in academic papers

17 articles about AI & Academic Scholarship

June 13, 2023

Businesses Blaming the AI

June 13, 2023/ Stephen Goforth

Bosses have certain goals, but don’t want to be blamed for doing what’s necessary to achieve those goals; by hiring consultants, management can say that they were just following independent, expert advice. Even in its current rudimentary form, A.I. has become a way for a company to evade responsibility by saying that it’s just doing what “the algorithm” says, even though it was the company that commissioned the algorithm in the first place.

Ted Chiang writing in The New Yorker

June 12, 2023

A Work Performance Predicter

June 12, 2023/ Stephen Goforth

Last summer, Gallup released the results of a survey that asked employees whether they had a "best friend" at work. In short, only 2 out of 10 employees said they "strongly agree" with the idea that they do in fact have one.

The idea is "controversial," according to Gallup. "But one stubborn fact about this element of engagement cannot be denied: It predicts performance."

Specifically, Gallup says answering yes to the "best friend at work" question" can help with other specific areas of employee and engagement, including whether employees reported liking their coworkers in general, being recognized for success, and even just whether they "had a lot of enjoyment" at work on a given day.

Bill Murphy writing in his newsletter Understandably

June 09, 2023

13 thoughts on the problems of teaching with AI

June 09, 2023/ Stephen Goforth

There is a reason why educational video games are not as engaging as regular video games. There is a reason why AI-generated educational videos will never be as engaging as regular videos. Brenda Laurel pointed to the ‘chocolate-covered broccoli’ problem over 20 years ago … her point still stands. EdSurge

While the tool may be able to provide quick and easy answers to questions, it does not build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for academic and lifelong success,” said Jenna Lyle, a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Education. Mashable

This tech is being primarily pitched as a money-saving device—so it will be taken up by school authorities that are looking to save money. As soon as a cash-strapped administrator has decided that they’re happy to let technology drive a whole lesson, then they no longer need a highly-paid professional teacher in the room—they just need someone to trouble-shoot any glitches and keep an eye on the students. EdSurge

Some commentators are urging teachers to introduce ChatGPT into the curriculum as early as possible (a valuable revenue stream and data source). Students, they argue, must begin to develop new skills such as prompt engineering. What these (often well-intentioned) techno-enthusiasts forget is that they have decades of writing solo under their belts. Just as drivers who turn the wheel over to flawed autopilot systems surrender their judgment to an over-hyped technology, so a future generation raised on language models could end up, in effect, never learning to drive. Public Books

Some professors have leapt out front, producing newsletters, creating explainer videos, and crowdsourcing resources and classroom policies. The one thing that academics can’t afford to do, teaching and tech experts say, is ignore what’s happening. Sooner or later, the technology will catch up with them, whether they encounter a student at the end of the semester who may have used it inappropriately, or realize that it’s shaping their discipline and their students’ futures in unstoppable ways. Chronicle of Higher Ed

(There is a) notion that college students (can) learn to write by using chatbots to generate a synthetic first draft, which they afterwards revise, overlooks the fundamentals of a complex process. Since text generators do a good job with syntax, but suffer from simplistic, derivative, or inaccurate content, requiring students to work from this shallow foundation is hardly the best way to empower their thinking, hone their technique, or even help them develop a solid grasp of an LLM’s limitations. The purpose of a college research essay is not to teach students how to fact-check and gussy up pre-digested pablum. It is to enable them to develop and substantiate their own robust propositions and truth claims. Public Books

If a professor runs students’ work through a detector without informing them in advance, that could be an academic-integrity violation in itself. The student could then appeal the decision on grounds of deceptive assessment, “and they would probably win.” Chronicle of Higher Ed

We are dangerously close to creating two strata of students: those whom we deem smart and insightful and deeply thoughtful, if sometimes guilty of a typo, and those who seem less engaged with the material, or less able to have serious thoughts about it. Inside Higher Ed

The challenge here is in communicating to students that AI isn’t a replacement for real thinking or critical analysis, and that heavy reliance on such platforms can lead away from genuine learning. Also, because AI platforms like ChatGPT retrieve information from multiple unknown sources, and the accuracy of the information cannot be guaranteed, students need to be wary about using the chatbot’s content. The Straits Times

It seems futile for faculty members to spend their energies figuring out what a current version can’t do. Chronicle of Higher Ed

It is important to be aware that ChatGPT’s potential sharing of personal information with third parties may raise serious privacy concerns for your students and perhaps in particular for students from marginalized backgrounds. Barnard College

How might chatting with AI systems affect vulnerable students, including those with depression, anxiety, and other mental-health challenges? Chronicle of Higher Ed

Students need considerable support to make sure ChatGPT promotes learning rather than getting in the way of it. Some students find it harder to move beyond the tool’s output and make it their own. “It needs to be a jumping-off point rather than a crutch.” MIT Tech Review

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21 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection

13 quotes worth reading about Generative AI policies & bans

22 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection

June 09, 2023

The Wrong People

June 09, 2023/ Stephen Goforth

Stop spending time with the wrong people. Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.

Marc Chernoff, read more here.

June 07, 2023

Explaining Yourself

June 07, 2023/ Stephen Goforth

Never explain yourself: Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe it. -Ziad Abdelnour

June 06, 2023

The Past vs. Possibilities

June 06, 2023/ Stephen Goforth

When I encounter a $2.89 cup of coffee, it’s all too easy for me to recall what I paid for coffee the day before and not so easy for me to imagine all the other things I might buy with my money.

Because it is so much easier for me to remember the past than to generate new possibilities, I will tend to compare the present with the past even when I ought to be comparing it with the possible.

And that is indeed what I ought to be doing because it really doesn’t matter what coffee cost the day before, the week before, or at any time during the Hoover administration. Right now I have absolute dollars to spend and the only questions I need to answer is how to spend them in order to maximize my satisfaction. If an international bean embargo suddenly caused the price of coffee to skyrocket to $10,000 per cup, then the only question I would need to ask myself is:

“What else can I do with ten thousand dollars, and will it bring me more or less satisfaction than a cup of coffee?”

Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness

June 05, 2023

20 quotes worth reading about students using AI

June 05, 2023/ Stephen Goforth

For students who do not self-identify as writers, for those who struggle with writer’s block or for underrepresented students seeking to find their voices, it can provide a meaningful assist during initial stages of the writing process. Inside Higher Ed

Let’s be honest. Ideas are more important than how they are written. So, I use ChatGPT to help me organize my ideas better and make them sound more professional. The Tech Insider

Students could (use AI to) look for where the writing took a predictable turn or identify places where the prose is inconsistent. Students could then work to make the prose more intellectually stimulating for humans. Inside Higher Ed

If you’re a college student preparing for life in an A.I. world, you need to ask yourself: Which classes will give me the skills that machines will not replicate, making me more distinctly human? A.I. often churns out the kind of impersonal bureaucratic prose that is found in corporate communications or academic journals. You’ll want to develop a voice as distinct as those of George Orwell, Joan Didion, Tom Wolfe and James Baldwin, so take classes in which you are reading distinctive and flamboyant voices so you can craft your own. New York Times

Imagine if the platform extracted campus-specific information about gen ed and major requirements. It could then provide quality academic advice to students that current chat bots can’t. Inside Higher Ed

ChatGPT may be able to help with more basic functions, such as assisting with writing in English for those who do not speak it natively. Tech Radar

What if the platform had access to real-time local or regional job market data and trends and data about the efficacy of various skills certificates? It could then serve as initial-tier career counseling. Inside Higher Ed

On TikTok, the hashtag #chatgpt has more than 578 million views, with people sharing videos of the tool writing papers and solving coding problems. New York Times

The student who is using it because they lack the expertise is exactly the student who is not ready to assess what it’s doing critically. Some argue that it’s not worth the time spent ferreting out a few cheaters and would rather focus their energy on students who are there to learn. Others say they can’t afford to look the other way. Chronicle of Higher Ed

It used to be about mastery of content. Now, students need to understand content, but it’s much more about mastery of the interpretation and utilization of the content. Inside Higher Ed

Don’t fixate on how much evidence you have but on how much evidence will persuade your intended audience. ChatGPT distills everything on the internet through its filter and dumps it on the reader; your flawed and beautiful mind, by contrast, makes its mark on your subject by choosing the right evidence, not all the evidence. Find the six feet that your reader needs, and put the rest of your estate up for auction. Chronicle of Higher Ed

A.I. is good at predicting what word should come next, so you want to be really good at being unpredictable, departing from the conventional. New York Times

We surpass the AI by standing on its shoulders. Boris Steipe, associate professor of molecular genetics at the University of Toronto, for example, encourages students to engage in a Socratic debate with ChatGPT as a way of thinking through a question and articulating an argument. “You will get the plain vanilla answer—what everybody thinks—from ChatGPT,” Steipe said, “That’s where you need to start to think. That’s where you need to ask, ‘How is it possibly incomplete?’” Inside Higher Ed

Students can leverage ChatGPT as a tutor or homework supplement, especially if they need to catch up. ChatGPT’s ability to make curated responses is unparalleled, so if a student needs a scientific explanation for a sixth-grade reading level, ChatGPT can adapt. New York Magazine

The common fear among teachers is that AI is actually writing our essays for us, but that isn’t what happens. The more effective, and increasingly popular, strategy is to tell the algorithm what your topic is and ask for a central claim, then have it give you an outline to argue this claim. Depending on the topic, you might even be able to have it write each paragraph the outline calls for, one by one, then rewrite them yourself to make them flow better. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Marc Watkins, lecturer in composition and rhetoric at the University of Mississippi: “Our students are not John Henry, and AI is not a steam-powered drilling machine that will replace them. We don’t need to exhaust ourselves trying to surpass technology.” Inside Higher Ed

These tools can function like personal assistants: Ask ChatGPT to create a study schedule, simplify a complex idea, or suggest topics for a research paper, and it can do that. That could be a boon for students who have trouble managing their time, processing information, or ordering their thoughts. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Students who lack confidence in their ability to learn might allow the products of these AI tools to replace their own voices or ideas. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Students describe using OpenAI’s tool as well as others for much more than generating essays. They are asking the bots to create workout plans, give relationship advice, suggest characters for a short story, make a joke and provide recipes for the random things left in their refrigerators. Washington Post

Basak-Odisio will use it only, he said, if he has procrastinated too much and is facing an impossible deadline. “If it is the day or night before, and I want to finish something as quickly as possible — ” he said, trailing off. “But,” he added, “I want to be better than that.” Washington Post

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21 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection

13 quotes worth reading about Generative AI policies & bans

22 examples of teaching with AI

22 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection

June 05, 2023

Don't distract, immerse

June 05, 2023/ Stephen Goforth

We're not taking the world in; we're just listening to the stories we tell ourselves about the world, trusting the endless parade of thoughts flitting through our heads instead of actually paying attention to life around us. Immerse yourself in the world around you. Don't distract, immerse.

Eric Barker

June 04, 2023

Admitting You are Wrong

June 04, 2023/ Stephen Goforth

Cognitive dissonance is what we feel when the self-concept — I’m smart, I’m kind, I’m convinced this belief is true — is threatened by evidence that we did something that wasn’t smart, that we did something that hurt another person, that the belief isn’t true. To reduce dissonance, we have to modify the self-concept or accept the evidence. Guess which route people prefer?

We cling to old ways of doing things, even when new ways are better and healthier and smarter. We cling to self-defeating beliefs long past their shelf life. And we make our partners, co-workers, parents and kids really, really mad at us.

Carol Tavris quotes in the New York Times and co-author of the book Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)

June 02, 2023

The difference

June 02, 2023/ Stephen Goforth

The difference between successful people and others is how long they spend time feeling sorry for themselves. -Barbara Corcoran

June 02, 2023

13 quotes worth reading about Generative AI policies & bans

June 02, 2023/ Stephen Goforth

Eaton, the academic-integrity expert, cautions against trying to ban the use of ChatGPT entirely. That, she says, “is not only futile but probably ultimately irresponsible.” Chronicle of Higher Ed

I would compare this to using steroids in baseball. If you don’t ban steroids in baseball, then the reality is every player has to use them. Even worse than that, if you ban them but don’t enforce it, what you actually do is create a situation where you weed out all of the honest players. Chronicle of Higher Ed

A study surveyed 372 students seeking admission into college for fall 2023 and found that nearly half, 39% of those students, would not consider attending a college that's banned ChatGPT or other AI tools. ZDNET

Several leading academic journals and publishers updated their submission guidelines to explicitly ban researchers from listing ChatGPT as a co-author, or using text copied from a ChatGPT response. Some professors have criticized these bans as shortsightedly resistant to an inevitable technological change. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Blocking access to ChatGPT at school won’t matter, at least for any student with access to a tablet or laptop outside of school. Ed Week

ChatGPT and AI writer has been banned in educational institutions around the world, from high schools across America(opens in new tab) and Australia to universities in France and India with some university professors having caught their students using ChatGPT to write their entire assignments. Tech Radar

A number of universities that say they are planning to expel students who are caught using the software. Thomas Lancaster, a computer scientist and expert on contract cheating at Imperial College London, said many universities were “panicking”. The Guardian

Los Angeles Unified, the second-largest school district in the US, immediately blocked access to OpenAI’s website from its schools’ network. Others soon joined. By January, school districts across the English-speaking world had started banning the software, from Washington, New York, Alabama, and Virginia in the United States to Queensland and New South Wales in Australia. MIT Tech Review

The New York City Department of Education has banned ChatGPT in its schools, as has the University of Sciences Po, in Paris, citing concerns it may foster rampant plagiarism and undermine learning. Washington Post

Teachers at Oceana High School in Pacifica, California have sent out messages to students warning against using AI-writing software for assignments. Mashable

Washington University in St. Louis and University of Vermont in Burlington are among the institutions that have amended their academic integrity policies to include the usage of AI tools like ChatGPT. Stanford Daily

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21 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection

13 quotes worth reading about Generative AI policies & bans

22 examples of teaching with AI