How AI is changing student behavior and even drove this teacher to quit

AI’s impact on academic writing: The widespread adoption of AI language models like ChatGPT is fundamentally changing the landscape of academic writing and education, presenting significant challenges for educators and students alike.

• Victoria Livingstone, an experienced educator with nearly two decades of teaching experience, has decided to quit her profession largely due to the challenges posed by AI in the classroom.
• Despite her efforts to incorporate AI into lesson plans and highlight its limitations, Livingstone found that most of her students, including doctoral candidates, heavily relied on AI for writing tasks.
• Students often used AI to draft research articles, revise paragraphs, and paraphrase content, bypassing the critical thinking and deep understanding that traditionally accompany these processes.

The writing process and cognitive development: The use of AI in academic writing potentially undermines the intrinsic connection between writing and thinking, which is crucial for cognitive development and scholarly growth.

• Writing is not merely a transcription of pre-formed thoughts but a process closely tied to thinking and problem-solving, as exemplified by Livingstone’s experience with her dissertation.
• Author Ted Chiang likens using ChatGPT for assignments to “bringing a forklift into the weight room,” emphasizing that students miss out on improving their cognitive fitness by outsourcing their writing to AI.
• The numerous small choices made during the writing process, including syntax and vocabulary decisions, contribute significantly to the meaning and quality of scholarly work.

Challenges in the classroom: Livingstone’s experience highlights several specific challenges that educators face when dealing with AI-generated content in academic settings.

• Many students, despite understanding the limitations and ethical concerns of AI, still relied heavily on it for their writing tasks.
• Comparative analysis activities designed to highlight AI’s weaknesses often failed because students lacked the writing skills to critically evaluate AI-generated content.
• AI-powered paraphrasing tools, while helpful for grammar correction, often resulted in inconsistent writing styles and altered meanings that students struggled to identify and correct.

Identifying AI-generated content: While recognizing AI-assisted writing is possible for experienced educators, proving it definitively remains a challenge.

• Livingstone found it easy to distinguish between her students’ writing and AI-generated text by comparing it to in-class writing samples.
• However, AI detectors, which claim to identify AI-generated content, are often faulty and unreliable.
• This situation led to Livingstone spending more time providing feedback on AI-generated text rather than engaging with her students’ original work.

The future of education: The integration of AI in education necessitates a shift in teaching methods and student attitudes towards learning and writing.

• Educators must move away from mechanical activities and simple summaries, focusing instead on encouraging critical thinking and using writing as a tool for generating ideas and clarifying methodologies.
• Students need to be willing to experience the temporary discomfort of not knowing and trust in their own cognitive abilities as they write and revise.
• While AI can be a democratizing tool, particularly for non-native English speakers, it requires careful implementation to ensure students develop their own voices as research writers.

Broader implications: The challenges posed by AI in academic writing extend beyond the classroom, potentially impacting the quality and originality of future research and scholarly work.

• The reliance on AI for writing tasks may lead to a generation of researchers who struggle with independent thinking and original idea generation.
• The ease of using AI for writing might discourage students from developing the critical skills necessary for high-level academic and professional work.
• As AI technology continues to advance, educators and institutions will need to adapt their approaches to ensure that students still develop the essential skills of critical thinking, analysis, and original writing.