Comment on It's Breathtaking How Fast AI Is Screwing Up the Education System
Norin@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I teach at a community college. I see a lot of AI nonsense in my assignments.
So much so that I’m considering blue book exams for the fall.
For anyone who is also not from the US:
A blue book exam is a type of test administered at many post-secondary schools in the United States. Blue book exams typically include one or more essays or short-answer questions. Sometimes the instructor will provide students with a list of possible essay topics prior to the test itself and will then choose one or let the student choose from two or more topics that appear on the test.
Oh. Hate that. You have a list of subjects, prepare for them as good as you can, then get one you know and one you don’t, start with one you don’t know - not be in time or mood to finish one you know, get something shitty, the other way around - do the one you know and then be interrupted while you just probably remembered something about the one you don’t, get something shitty.
Importantly it is hand written, no computers.
Biggest issue is that kids’ handwriting often sucks. That’s not a new problem but it’s a problem with handwritten work.
Man, the US has a handwriting problem. It sucks sooo much. In other countries it seems to be only doctors, but in the US? Fucking everyone.
Speaking from a life of dyspraxia - no, not everyone with sucky handwriting is lazy, many of us would spend 95% of our capacity on making the writing legible and be challenged to learn the actual topic as a result.
This is why we have accommodations offices at colleges.
No problem giving an alternative for those who need it.
I can get the essay done in time or it can be easy to read it cannot be both
keep at it. it is worth the pain.
Computers with some encyclopedia, but no GPTs are fine, no?
If a kid can write and train a mini-GPT trainable on that encyclopedia, then maybe they deserve the mark for desperation and ingenuity and being a fucking new Leonardo.
GPTs are fine, if you learn to disrespect their output and fix it before presenting it as your own.
Actually, taught that way, GPT may be a tool for teaching critical thinking - if the professors aren’t too lazy to mark down the garbage output.
Open book and calculators would seem reasonable. No communication or searching devices.
Give them typewriters
I love this idea.
There is test-taking software that locks out all other functions during the essay-writing period. Obviously, damn near anything is hackable, but it’s non-trivial, unlike asking ChatGPT to write your essay for you in the style of a B+ high student. There is some concern about students who learn differently or compose less efficiently, but as father to such a student, I’m still getting to the point where I’m not sure what’s left to do other than sandbox “exploitable” graded work in a controlled environment.
MangoCats@feddit.it 10 months ago
I have a friend who has taught Online university writing for the past 10 years. Her students are now just about 100% using AI - her goal isn’t to get them to stop, it’s to get them to recognize what garbage writing is and how to fix it so it isn’t garbage anymore.
Norin@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I teach Philosophy.
I need them to think for themselves, which just isn’t happening if they turn in work that isn’t theirs.
So, I’m pretty harsh on anyone using AI. Even if it’s for a discussion post, I’m reporting it to the Academic Integrity office.
MangoCats@feddit.it 10 months ago
Fair distinction. Arguably, writing isn’t about thinking.
riskable@programming.dev 10 months ago
I wish English teachers did this instead of… Whatever TF they’re doing instead.
This is something they should’ve been doing all along. Long before the invention of LLMs or computers.
BakerBagel@midwest.social 10 months ago
This is the inevitable result of “No Child Left Behind” linking school funding to how students performed on standardized tests. American schools haven’t been about education for the last 20+ years. They are about getting as much funding as possible.
MangoCats@feddit.it 10 months ago
Not just American schools, all the way back to Leonardo DaVinci and beyond it has been all about the funding.
kent_eh@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
Sadly, that may be the best we can hope for.