ChatGPT and Education Pt. 1

With technology ever advancing, it was only a matter of time before A.I. was invented that could write a B-grade college level essay without any information from the student other than a short prompt. This technology now exists and it’s called ChatGPT. 

If you follow the news or hashtags on social media, you’ve seen this new technology trending. It seems like everyone is talking about it, especially educators. In education, ChatGPT is another tool that students are using to work around the system. According to the New York Times, several middle- and high schools around the country, including some in New York City and Seattle, have already banned the technology from its servers and school-issued devices. However, students are finding loopholes around the bans. 

The greatest fear is coming from universities and colleges. Both administrators and professors alike are having to find new and inventive ways of detecting whether or not a student is using the technology to write essays or even take exams for the students. At this point, many colleges are hesitant to outright ban the technology so as to not limit a student’s academic freedom. Many administrators believe that an outright ban would do very little to actually stop students from using the technology anyway. Instead, several schools, including the University of Vermont in Burlington, are updating their academic integrity policies to include generative A.I. technology. If a student is caught using the technology to write papers or take exams, the student will face a disciplinary board and the incident will be treated as plagiarism. 

End of Pt. 1