The guilty pleasure of most students nowadays is using Al for studying purposes. Not only to write essays and papers but also to answer questions or even get help with coding problems. With one input question, the system writes a complete answer. I have used chatGPT in the past for a Python course to help me find creative ways to solve my coding problems. The use of AI can be very beneficial for students. AI assists in structuring essays by recommending the appropriate introduction, body, and conclusion. Also, AI can suggest relevant ideas and themes, facilitating research and idea generation for essays and research papers. Additionally, AI provides real-time feedback on grammar, spelling, and style, helping students improve their writing skills and produce error-free compositions (AIwhisperer, 2022).
However, this might be too good to be true. In the latest research on how to cheat on your final paper, it was claimed that students did not evaluate the use of AI for writing a paper as easier (Fyfe, 2022). The students discovered that this was not easy at all. Around 87% reported that it became far more complicated than just writing the paper themselves. They had to keep giving chatGPT “a shove in the right direction”. Besides that, AI presented false statements and even quoted non-existent experts in the essay (Fyfe, 2022).
Another negative aspect of using AI is that students might become overly dependent on AI tools, potentially hindering the development of their critical thinking and writing skills (AIwhisperer, 2022). The whole process of learning involves learning to think for yourself and making mistakes to learn from. Even though it is super useful and easy in many ways, isn’t it limiting our own abilities in the long run? An important question you could ask is whether using AI during studying is actually valuable or are you just fooling yourself? Looking at the older generations, their learning process took way more effort. Going to the library, searching for the right information, and reading books. They were very much forced to learn and grow. I would like to know your opinion on this subject.
Let me know in the comments.
Fyfe, P. (2022). How to cheat on your final paper: Assigning AI for student writing. AI & SOCIETY, 1-11.
AIwhisperer, T. (2022). How students are using artificial intelligence to write essays. medium. https://medium.com/@JimTheAIWhisperer/how-students-are-using-ai-to-write-essays-2d5ee187385c
Hi Liselot, thanks for sharing your blog post! I think you described the so-called double-edged sword of using Generative AI in education very well. There are a lot of advantages for students as described in your blog. It is undeniable that the technology offers value for education. However, you also wrote about the negative side and potential drawbacks of using AI tools in education. Over-dependence on AI tools is a real concern in the academic world, as it can negatively impact critical-thinking and problem-solving skills of students.
To answer your question in the blog post: I strongly believe that Generative AI is a valuable tool, but only if people use it as complement to learning. AI is a powerful tool for boosting your learning productivity, but should not be the core element of studying. It can provide ideas, safe time and assist people, but it should not replace the process of critical thinking, problem-solving, and personal growth that comes from engaging with educational material in a more traditional and hands-on manner. Universities and schools should embrace Generative AI courses and skills in the curriculum and teach students to balance the use of AI tools to ensure well-rounded and effective education, because students will use it anyway.
Hi Liselotte,
I find your arguments posed in the blog post quite compelling. In some cases, I can even resonate with what is written. For instance, whenever I’ve experimented with ChatGPT to aid me in writing essays, I have continuously found myself taking longer to coherently write out my thoughts.
I believe the role of education is to enhance an individual’s critical thinking skills. Critical thinking encompasses various cognitive skills that enable individuals to approach information and ideas with an analytical mindset. It involves logical reasoning, problem-solving and independent judgement along with the ability of an individual to identify biases and assess the reliability of information. As students become too reliant on ChatGPT to write essays that are intended to develop such skills, I fear for a future where people are less prone to oppose certain ideas in business, politics, and sociocultural contexts.
Nevertheless, it’s important to recognise that this is not the first technology to pose disruptive changes to our educational system. Several years ago, the introduction of Google posed a similar challenge to traditional library research methods for students. In hindsight, I can’t imagine myself doing desk research without the help of Google. Yet, I wouldn’t say that it has negatively impacted my ability to critically assess information. On the contrary, the wide accessibility of information aids me in considering multiple perspectives before making my own mind up on a particular issue. So, maybe the students of the future will be able to adapt themselves in the same way to Chat-GPT as we’ve done with Google.