07/12/2024

AI tools usage by faculty: Addressing issues of academic integrity

Written by Alex Jeikner , Marina Kolokonte, Alexandra Sakellari

Alex
In the Writing Program (WP), within the English Department at Deree – The American College of Greece, three consecutive courses acquaint first-year college students with academic writing skills, starting with critical reading skills and annotations up to argumentative writing and research skills. And, as every instructor in every course, WP instructors do their best to acquaint students with principles of academic integrity. This effort is particularly challenging when the culture of integrity is elusive, as in Greece, owing to educational practices in high school but also a lacking investigative culture on the side of professors in universities, as Apostolos Lakasas (2022) explains. A current study, involving over 400 Greek undergraduate and postgraduate students from public and private institutions conducted by researchers from Deree – The American College of Greece, with the help of qed, a Greek market and social research institute, indicates that students use ChatGPT and also trust it, despite its limitations and biases (Newsroom, 2023).
About 1 ½ years after the emergence of ChatGPT, we, three instructors in the WP, became curious about faculty understanding and usage of these tools. A survey conducted with WP faculty exposed a limited familiarity with these tools and, if any are used, that would be ChatGPT. A follow-up workshop, designed to acquaint instructors with some educational tools, to be used for the preparation of lesson plans, presentations, quizzes and games, brought a very interesting concern to light: What about academic integrity?

Alexandra
The survey results revealed that for the majority of the instructors who participated, the reluctance to use AI tools in preparation for their classes stems from their belief that this constitutes a breach of academic integrity. In the aftermath of the workshop, several concerns about academic integrity were raised. Instructors, although they were impressed with the capabilities the AI tools can offer, are worried about the fairness and consistency of using AI. They find it difficult to tell students not to use AI if they are using it themselves for grading or preparing lessons. This double standard can confuse students and make it hard to enforce rules.
Moreover, the issue of “ownership” seems to trouble many instructors: if they use AI to create activities for their classes, should the students be in the know?
Another major concern is that, if instructors use AI themselves, this might encourage students to use AI to complete their assignments, which would jeopardize the learning process and diminish the value of their education. Overall, there's a strong worry that AI could undermine the authenticity of student work and the credibility of academic qualifications. These discussions highlight the need for clear ethical guidelines and policies to maintain academic integrity in the face of growing AI use.

Marina
These discussions, however, also highlight the urgent need for teacher training. As instructors, we cannot remain paralyzed by our fears, risking a disconnect from the world outside academia and from students’ everyday experiences. We need to create and demand conditions for our own learning and professional development, through workshops, seminars and talks, and sharing of best practices. This will allow us to explore in depth the potential of AI tools in various aspects of teaching and learning, such as lesson planning and delivery, grading, and research, while also addressing their limitations and the serious ethical concerns they raise for education and beyond.
This awareness is vital because it will allow us to engage in meaningful discussions about the responsibilities we can and should relinquish to the machines and more importantly, the ‘desired difficulties’ (Bjork, 1994) we want our students to tackle independently, without relying on technology. This conversation is challenging but invaluable, as it will help redefine our role as instructors in the AI era.

From our perspective, ‘the train has already left the station’; debating on whether we should engage with the new technologies is no longer relevant and does not serve us or our students. On the contrary, an honest exchanging of ideas on how AI tools can and should be integrated into our teaching, as part of a broader digital literacy initiative, is essential. This conversation can only help us improve our work and our students’ experience without compromising the ethos of academic culture. This is the only way forward.

References
Bjork, R.A. (1994). Memory and metamemory considerations in the training of human beings. In J. Metcalfe and A. Shimamura (Eds.), Metacognition: Knowing about knowing (pp.185-205). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lakasas, A. (July 18, 2022). Βιομηχανία λογοκλοπής και όργιο αντιγραφής στα πανεπιστήμια [Viomichania logoklopis ke orgo antigrafis sta panepistimia – The industry of plagiarism and the orgy of copying in the universities] . H Καθημερινή [Ι Kathimerini – The Daily]. https://www.kathimerini.gr/society/561959530/viomichania-logoklopis-kai-orgio-antigrafis-sta-panepistimia/
Newsroom (November 20, 2023). Greek students trust ChatGPT: Study shows. To Vima. https://www.tovima.com/science/greek-students-trust-chatgpt-study-shows/

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