It Seems Apparent That Student Use Of AI In College Is A Challenge, But Is That The Case In High School? Here’s What My Students Say

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Social media was awash last week with commentary on New York Magazine’s article, Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College (it’s behind a paywall but, if you don’t want to subscribe, there are still ways to read it). I’ve also embedded a video at the bottom of this post that is an interview with the article’s author.

It paints a dire picture of college students use ChatGPT to get their way through every class, with the only goal being to get a degree and learning anything in the process be damned.

My suspicion is that it is a big challenge in many colleges, though I’m not sure it’s as bad as the article makes it out to be.

The article did get me thinking, though, about what’s happening in my high school classes. AI is clearly not an issue at all in my ELL classes, though Google Translate has been and continues to be the bane of my, and I suspect many other teacher’s, existence (see THE BEST IDEAS FOR USING GOOGLE TRANSLATE IN THE ELL CLASSROOM – PLEASE ADD YOUR OWN!).

And it hasn’t seemed to me to be a problem in my IB Theory of Knowledge classes.  When I was thinking about it, I thought it could be attributable to the relationships I have with students, to the unit we did on AI, the fact that I try to “AI-proof” assignments by requiring that students incorporate discussions about the actual lessons we’ve done in class, perhaps because our district blocks most AI tools and we ban cellphone use during class (though they can obviously access it out of class) and, maybe, high school juniors might just be more respectful of class guidelines than older students.

To see if I was just correct in my belief, or just clueless (if that was the case, it wouldn’t be the first or last time), I decided to ask my classes to complete a short an anonymous survey using Google Forms, which you can download here.

I didn’t think of it until lunch, so didn’t have my morning class complete it before I wrote this post.  Here are the results, along with short commentaries, either from me and/or from students:

QUESTION ONE

MY COMMENTARY: It appears that I was not clueless and, in fact, most of my students have not use AI inappropriately.

QUESTION TWO:

If you answered yes to the previous question, please write one or two sentences explaining why you did it:

I would rather depend on myself than be reliant on AI

I didn’t do it because it felt like I was cheating and not getting a good education if I didn’t try my best. I would not get feedback that could improve my own writing, but feedback on how to improve Chat GPT’s voice.

I think if I used chat GPT or another AI tool i’m not just lying to my teachers, I also lying to myself and i’m not taking in count that I didn’t put in the effort to give a critical thought or showing my capacities.

I said not because we need to use what we learned in class to complete all the activities and we need to pay attention in the class and remember all the things then we do the presentations

I use it to help me understand the meaning of things when I don’t know or to summarize it in easier words so that I’ll understand the question and be able to answer it. Using it just helps me understand more and it helps me more with ideas.

i used ChatGPT to answer my homework for me because I didn’t know the answer

I used it for grammar punctuation

I didn’t use ChatGPT because I was scared that if I were to ever get caught it would be a bad consequence that I do not want nor need. I also wanted to use my own knowledge and to make sure that I am smart enough to do certain assignments.

I have used AI tools on my assignment just not for most of it. I used AI for ideas and to dumb things down when I didn’t understand it.

Id rather not do an assignment and fail it than turn in AI slop and look stupid for it being subpar and factually incorrect even if it gets me full credit. I value my reputation as not a complete idiot with my teachers more than I do my grade and would rather keep the plausible deniability from not turning in an assignment than outing myself as a lazy student who cheats with AI.

No, because it is wrong to cheat on the assignment. It can be used to give brainstorm or other things, but not to cheat and ask to write for you. Asking AI to give you ideas is different from asking AI to write for you.

it is unprofessional and not authentic. it shows your lack of work ethic.

yes the reason is to save time and I’m a lazy dog

QUESTION THREE:

QUESTION FOUR:

QUESTION FIVE:

If you answered yes to the previous question, please write one or two sentences explaining why:

If you answered no to the previous question, please write one or two sentences explaining why not:

SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSES:

i think the use of ai should be monitored by the teacher.

Students will take advantage of it and cheat on any tests or use it to get answers for assignments

Yes because it can help start or use as a push for us when doing assignments but it shouldn’t be used for so much.

I said yes so students can understand something and help them understand.

I think that sometimes using AI is helpful as guidance and inspiration for our work and since teachers dislike when students use their phones, it would be better to just have access to it in the computer.

sometimes AI tools can help with grammar or if students need help starting off a sentence.

Students will get used to relying on AI to do their work and it will affect their work ethic most likely in a negative way and their work won’t be authentic to them.

No, because if it was unblocked then more students would just depend on ChatGPT

I feel that a lot of people has pride, and that they won’t over use the abilities that chat GPT

just so we can use to get extra help

No because everyone would just start using ChatGBT to answer their questions or work.

I say no because that’s just reinforcing students to use AI instead of their own thoughts and knowledge

MY COMMENTARY: I tend to believe that blocking AI in school is the way to go.  I don’t need another thing to have to monitor.  We’ve all seen what cellphone use led to, and I don’t think anyone of us want to go through that again (especially since that hasn’t completely been resolved!).

QUESTION SIX:

QUESTION SEVEN:

Please write a sentence or two explaining your answer to the previous question.

SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSES:

It is limiting us if we depend on AI way too much. We won’t have the opportunity to learn because we rely too much on AI.

I think it has some difference because it some things people are just too lazy to do but because they use it to do their work, they may not know how to do it on their own.

I think it depends on how you use the AI. If used correctly AI can explain things to you.

Because AI helps with having a broader vision and helps make complex topics easier to understand,

There would be no difference because at the end of the day, it comes to the persons learning abilities and the effort they put in.

I said learn more because we can ask question and that app can answer in all difficult questions we have.

i feel as though ai gives you less information which is making you lazy and a little ignorant because instead of learning you just quickly got the answer

I think AI has already helped me a lot. I use google search for many things and there is always an AI answer at the top that I always believe. I feel like AI is a useful modern tool for learning in peoples life.

I’d say it’d be less, as students will always know that they have the safety net of AI, which could cause some to not truly commit anything to memory, and or to do less work.

In my opinion it’s a bit of both. AI can probably tell you fact that you didn’t know. However if you let AI do the work for you, you will never get better.

Of course, two high school classes are not necessarily an accurate representation of all high school students, but I also suspect that the author of the New York magazine article may not have spoken to many more that forty-five students, and perhaps far fewer.

I’ve shared my form with colleagues, and will be interested in hearing what they learn – if they use it.  I’d also love to hear from anyone else out there who uses it, or something similar.

If my students’ answers are more reflective of high school students in the U.S., though, perhaps the AI challenge might be a little less daunting than many of us have feared.

I’m adding this info to My Best Posts On Artificial Intelligence In The Classroom.

Here’s the interview with the New York Magazine article’s author: