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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'd like to go back to the days of these complaints.  Many of my students are having grammarly essentially write their work, and they don't even realize it because they think that using grammarly is just a "help," and, therefore, not even question whether this is their writing. They all sound like generic scholarly essays that are full of hot air because they don't really read the assignments well enough either! I've had to contact so many, freak them out with AI plagiarism talk and get them to roll it back. Almost grateful to see misspellings because they are an indication that the work is authentic.

As for content, I make it clear from the beginning that points are earned by utilizing info from the readings.  It's in the prompt and the rubric. So, no need to chide there.

I think with today's students,  this email will just antagonize them, sadly. And some will catch that possessive/plural error.[/quote]

Do you think Grammarly is cheating?  My DS uses it.  She has dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADHD.  It doesn’t write the work for her.  It basically tells her when she has made a grammatical or spelling error.  I find it akin to a proof reader.  She does not use Chat GPT to write work (although many of her friends do) because she finds the writing horrible.

I’m just interested in if Grammarly is considered cheating and why.[/quote]

Firstly, as someone who teaches, I would never want someone with genuine learning disabilities to be deprived of necessary tools that help them succeed.  If a student in my class with documentation has Grammarly (or things like it) as a learning accommodation, then I'm not going to push back. But if it's not being used for that reason, I'd love to help everyone get away from it if I could.  Here's why.

Grammarly is different from the grammar-check and spellcheck functions built into things like Google Docs: its rewriting functions are far more robust. I don't want to grade Grammarly's cooked-up (or even just new and improved) version of a paper or essay: I want to grade my students' own work, flaws and all, so that my students can improve their own abilities to think and write for themselves. Telling them what _Grammarly_ can improve is utterly useless.

So yes, fine, use spellcheck to eliminate the basic typos. But don't substitute spellcheck for careful reading. And don't turn in massively corrected, totally polished grammar that didn't come from you, because then I can't tell that you need help learning how to write, and I'll never be able to assist you in improving. Objectively, that ultimately wastes your time, your effort, and your tuition money.

And for all the folks who say that grammar isn't important, there were quite a few comments on the errors in the post that started this thread in the first place.  Words matter in many situations, to many people.  And AI isn't the answer to not knowing how to express yourself clearly and accurately.[/quote]

You are clearly not a college professor. We are talking about college, not middle school. Of course middle schoolers, even early high schoolers, should not be using Grammarly to learn actual grammar (though it's actual quite a useful learning tool). No college professor at a decent college in America considers it their job to teach college students grammar. By then, they are teaching them how build strong arguments, etc. Getting AI to fix basic spelling and grammatical errors to help that professor see through the stupid mistakes to the meat of the paper, especially when you have two other papers and a mid-term in the same week is, I promise you, perfectly acceptable to college professors at decent and elite universities.[/quote]

PP to whom you are replying here.  Actually, I am a college professor, and a department chair.  And I do consider it my job both to expect largely correct grammar coming directly from my students (not coming from AI) and to require students to attempt to filter out their own mistakes. Productive self-evaluation is part of being a professional, and even just part of being a functioning adult.

My students running their writing through generative AI tools prevents me from understanding not only their objective skills and their general abilities, but also their thought processes.  It is not in fact acceptable to me, but even if it were, it would be a lazy way for me to pretend that my students do not need to improve and that I do not, in fact, need to help them.[/quote]

I am generally curious how you will react when your boss (or maybe your boss' boss) issues the edict that every and all class now needs to incorporate generative AI into your courses.

Don't say that edict won't happen...I will repeat again, don't say that edict won't happen...the only question is will it happen next year (probably not)...in five years (50%+ chance)...in 7 years (nearly 100% certainty).[/quote]

The issue is not the existence of generative AI: the issue is what it can teach students vs. what it can actually prevent them from learning, and that will remain a moving target as the technology evolves.  At this exact moment in higher education we are seeing far more homework-level abuse of AI than anything else, as students experiment with assignment shortcuts and faculty experiment with brand-new ways of cultivating pre-professional productivity that are not yet fully formed.

The consumer-facing versions of today's AI tools are not robust enough (yet) to produce professional academic writing that people actually want and need to read, especially since the tools we currently have are not trained on the materials we actually research and study. Once they are, that is where the questions will come, likely starting in the technical and professional disciplines.

And as far as AI requirements go, the first step will be that we faculty will be required to have AI policies in our syllabi and enforce them fairly and transparently. I see that coming in a year or two. [b]But required to teach with it? [/b][b]That will be discipline- and subject-dependent[/b], and everyone impacted by higher education (including but not limited to students, parents and guardians, and employers) should want colleges and universities to make choices in that regard that will produce the best return on investment.  Some of that will depend on what the tools look like down the line.[/quote]

I seriously doubt you are correct.  I believe nearly 100% of all disciplines/subjects will be required to incorporate it in some fashion. Each course/discipline will have a unique way of incorporation.

As an example, do you have the discretion to tell your students they must turn in hand-written papers?  This is an honest question.  I liken generative AI to using a computer vs. hand writing.  If in fact you could force your students to turn in hand written 10 page papers, then I would agree your university will give you the flexibility to prohibit it forever.  However, if your university has a policy that you must allow your students to use a computer (or you cannot prohibit your students from using a computer, so they are free to hand write it if they so wish)...well Generative AI will be the same.

You can use the calculator for STEM classes as an equal analogy.[/quote]

Same PP again: yes, we can require work of all kinds to be submitted in whatever format we believe is best for the assignment and the students.  We are also allowed to develop and enforce our own rules for the use of technology in the classroom.  (But there is also the appropriate regulation, of course, that any students who have documented disability needs must be permitted to use any technology included in their accommodations.)

I do not see much traction in a handwritten research paper prepared outside the classroom.  But a handwritten exam inside of it?  Absolutely.[/quote]

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