We live in a world that revolves around technology.
Doubt your knowledge of a specific topic? Just whip out your phone and search more about it. Need help paraphrasing or summarising something? Fear not, QuillBot comes to the rescue.
The world recently fixated on one artificial intelligence (AI) writing tool: ChatGPT. It can help with research and writing with the right prompts.
This AI has struck fear in educators worldwide. Not surprisingly, their concern is whether students will cheat, turning in work done by an AI and claiming it to be original.
Shahirah Nazaruddin Rozailan (main image, right), an English teacher from SMK (P) Sri Aman, believes that ChatGPT is neither good nor bad – it’s up to individuals and how they use the app.
“It can write a story or even an opinion piece based on the user’s input. It can be good or bad,” said Shahirah.
“I feel like it is more of a distraction because students would ask unnecessary questions to ‘widen’ their knowledge. Imagine if a teacher assigns a difficult topic, and students use ChatGPT as a resource.
“Knowing the function of ChatGPT, students will presumably ask unnecessary questions that may result in them not doing the assigned work,” she added.
ChatGPT is a tool to help students with their assignments rather than to write them. For example, students can ask the AI which website has the best information on Greek history. Instead of relying on the tool to write for them, students should start training their critical thinking skills and developing their creativity for writing-based assignments.
Malini Balachandran, an English teacher at Nobel International School, says that although she hasn’t seen students use ChatGPT for their assignments, she does see plagiarism and gets upset as it compromises intellectual integrity.
Despite this, she doesn’t believe that banning ChatGPT is the solution.
“Students really need to learn how to use AI for the right reasons. If I suspect a student’s work is not original, I’ll post it on ChatGPT to ask the AI if it wrote the essay,” said Malini.
When asked if she thinks ChatGPT is a tool or a threat, she said: “It’s a double-edged sword – you could use it to cheat in school or learn something new. Students need to understand its place in their education, as a tool for learning, not for copying.”
With plagiarism one of the most prominent issues with writing AIs, educators need to be prepared to handle cases of students cheating. So how would teachers and lecturers detect this form of plagiarism?
“I have not used tools to detect ChatGPT because my assignments are not based purely on writing. I don’t think ChatGPT can undertake the assignments that I have provided. Eventually, when the software gets more powerful, I think I should explore the tools used to detect ChatGPT and other writing AIs,” said Sudharshan Naidu Raman, a civil engineering lecturer at a local university.
Professor Noran Naqiah Mohammad Hairi (main image, left), an epidemiology lecturer at Universiti Malaya, shared her experience with ChatGPT.
She uses multiple AI detection tools to determine the authenticity of her students’ work.
“Just as there are AIs to help you write, there are also those that detect plagiarism,” Noran said.
“GPTZero tells you the percentage of the text written by ChatGPT, and it proves very useful when we mark theses and reports.”
Her stance on ChatGPT is overall an optimistic one.
“ChatGPT is here to stay, and students are bound to use it. Rather than view it as a threat, we should see it as an advantage. However, it must, of course, be used in an ethical manner.
“People are afraid because they don’t know enough about the subject, or the prospect of change frightens them. First, we must accept that change is constant, and there’s nothing we can do about that.
“Next, we should be more knowledgeable on the subjects that scare us. We should familiarise ourselves with ChatGPT, read more articles about it, and try to view it from various perspectives.
“After doing so, ask yourself, is this AI really something to be feared? Or should we perhaps take it in a more positive light?”
What about the future? Shouldn’t we take the time to ponder about that as well? Is there a risk of the future generation taking shortcuts, using AI rather than doing the work themselves?
Sudharshan believes programs like ChatGPT are limited in the data they can collect.
“I think what will happen is that, since there are resourceful people with lots of knowledge, we would still go back to them for information ChatGPT doesn’t provide.
“So yes, the use of ChatGPT and AI tools will become more prevalent, but there always will be some information unavailable in ChatGPT. For that, we will need to go back to the resource, which in this case, are people,” Sudharshan said.
While there are some things that apps like ChatGPT can do, there are many things they can’t. Humans will still be required to vet the final product and ensure everything written is correct, factual and in order.
As for the gaps in information, students would still have to get information from books and individuals as not everything is online.
Writing requires creativity, even if the information is from an AI.
Educators will also need to be more creative in how they assess students.
“Since I know my students can simply type the essay question into ChatGPT to get an answer, I’ve realised I need to give them more engaging projects. For example, producing infographics or podcasts, and even TikToks instead of essays,” said Noran.
“I also make them do more hands-on work as the field I teach is public health, so there are many opportunities to carry out projects and activities compared to solely academically-based assignments.”
ChatGPT has the potential to be a great invention, especially in education, but it all depends on how students use it.
As Noran said, ChatGPT and its ilk are here to stay. Instead of prohibiting AI use, we must adapt and learn to use the tools to accelerate learning rather than hinder it.
AIs are influential inventions that can improve our society in various aspects. Wouldn’t it be a waste if we kept working against it rather than together with it?
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