The use of AI-powered writing tools like ChatGPT is becoming increasingly prevalent in high school classrooms, with students turning to the technology as a way to cheat on assignments and exams. But while these students see the technology as a convenient way to get ahead, teachers are worried that it will lead to an increase in plagiarism and a decrease in the quality of student writing.
One student, who asked to remain anonymous, said they had been using ChatGPT to complete assignments for several months. “It’s so easy,” they said. “I just type in a prompt and ChatGPT gives me a whole essay. It saves me so much time, and I can get a good grade without even trying.”
When asked about the potential for plagiarism, the student shrugged. “I don’t really think about it,” they said. “I mean, it’s not like I’m copying and pasting someone else’s work. ChatGPT is just generating text for me, so it’s not really plagiarism, right?”
But teachers are not so sure. “These tools are making it easier for students to pass off someone else’s work as their own,” said Ojai Valley School 10th grade Honors English teacher Birttany Whipple. “And it’s not just about plagiarism. These tools are also taking away from the learning experience. Students are no longer developing their own writing skills, and they’re not learning how to think critically or creatively.”
Ms. Whipple also mentioned that the use of these AI-powered writing tools is making it harder to detect plagiarism. “In the past, we could easily detect plagiarism by checking student work against online sources,” she said. “But now, with so many AI-generated texts out there, it’s becoming much harder to tell whether a student has cheated or not.”
Teachers and school administrators are now looking at ways to address this issue, including implementing stricter plagiarism policies and educating students about the dangers of using AI-powered writing tools.
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Thus far you have been reading a journalism story completely curated by ChatGPT.
Several weeks ago, the real Ojai Valley School English teacher Brittany Whipple presented information about a new chatbot to the faculty, which was news to many. She started the conversation on ChatGPT’s workings by demonstrating how it could respond to writing prompts – including one out of Humanities class on the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem Ozymandias – at the click of a button.
The chatbot flawlessly pumped out expert essays and short answers. The presentation left many teachers astonished. And anxious.
“I was aware it was happening in the weeks that it was invented,” said Ms. Whipple about the faculty presentation. “I did some research, and came back to the school with a whole presentation for the admin team.”
Late last year, software company OpenAI released a Chatbot known as ChatGPT, which can generate high school- and college-level essays in less than a minute. If this sounds a little 2001: A Space Odyssey to you, you’re not alone.
The program uses a database of thousands of academic papers, information on the web, and literature to generate paragraph-length responses to nearly any question.
In the weeks after the presentation, the faculty and administration worked to rewrite the plagiarism and academic dishonesty section of the student handbook, and began discussing the topic with students in English and Social Science classes. All students were required to sign an updated “academic integrity” pledge, which included information about use of AI tools to complete assignments.
“The English department overviewed the policy and worked as a committee to update that policy,” said Laurel Colborn, the Assistant Head of School for Academics. “Then the English teachers went back and worked with all their students to go over the updates.”
In the OVS community and across the country, school administrators are having discussions about how ChatGPT can be used to benefit the learning environment and not be seen as the enemy.
“I see it as a tool,” Ms. Whipple said. “I see potential in people who might struggle with executive functioning… I see classroom abilities for this, in English, as well as other disciplines.”
OVS was ahead of the curve on many of the national discussions regarding Chat GPT.
While many colleges and high schools around the country have flat out banned it, OVS wants to take a more future-minded approach to the ever-evolving and incredibly powerful technology.
“What we’re doing is asking students not to use the generators to use 100 percent of an assignment,” Mrs. Colborn said. “They [the students] have to be respectful if a teacher doesn’t want them to use it at all, but some will let them use it, they just have to cite it.”
Students have differing opinions on how they will use Chat GPT, and where to draw the line between using AI as a positive tool and using it to plagiarize.
“I think [using AI] becomes cheating when it is generating ideas or opinions about the text,” said OVS junior Ben Manning. “If you were to ask the AI to summarize a book or give a description that would be fine.”
The program’s ability to generate its own “ideas” is what separates it from a standard search engine or even an academic journal or article. It is powerful enough to do both the research and the writing. Typically a student would spend hours collecting information and sources, a task that ChatGPT can perform in just minutes.
Senior Eiki Fukuyama also thinks ChatGPT is a useful tool rather than a site used for cheating.
“I honestly think it’s really helpful,” he said. “It helps me on assignments when I am struggling, and it gives me suggestions. I use it as an outline that I build off of.”
The new technology could force a shift in how many teachers have taught classes, as they now must include more in-class writing and assessments that require complex or obscure literature.
“I’m going to be doing more in-class writing just so I have a really good sample of what a student is able to write,” Ms. Whipple said. “If there ever is a question, it becomes pretty obvious, like what you write in class versus going home and coming back with a beautiful, perfect essay.”
While changes in the OVS community and classroom remain subtle, this is a rapidly growing industry and decisions regarding how to deal with AI in school will continue to be in the spotlight in the coming months and years.
“I think that down the road, in future discussions, we’ll be thinking about how we teach,” Mrs. Colborn said enthusiastically. “I thought it was cool, it does some really cool things, I think it’s important to remember to not be afraid of the new technology…it’s better to learn how to instruct with it, as opposed to banning it completely.”
While a lot of good journalism work went into reporting and writing this story, it’s scary to think that it took ChatGPT less than 30 seconds to write a story, and to have that story end the way OVS journalism would have ended it.
Here’s how ChatGPT ended its journalism story:
“We need to make sure that students understand that cheating is not only wrong, but it’s also counter-productive,” said Ms. Whipple. “They need to know that the only way to truly succeed is by putting in the hard work and developing their own skills.”
Overall, the use of ChatGPT in high school classrooms is becoming a concern for teachers and administrators as it makes it easier for students to cheat and harder to detect plagiarism. It also takes away the opportunity for students to develop their own writing skills and think critically. It’s important for educators to address this issue and educate students about the importance of academic integrity and the dangers of cheating.