2024 AECT Reflection: Student Usage of GAI, Part 2 

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A big concern among educators and practitioners is that students are using Generative AI to cheat, and this is a legitimate concern. With the vast amount of data that the LLMs have access to, students could easily type in “What is the name of the rabid dog that Atticus shoots in the street?” and get an answer in a split second. However, based on the presentations I have seen thus far, the presumption that students are using GAI to cheat is unfounded. 

In a previous post, I discussed what I learned from a session about student ethics in using ChatGPT for writing assignments. Another session I attended was seeking to understand students using Generative AI to help or complete assignments in an introductory biology class. Only preliminary findings were shared, but they were still interesting. The syllabus and assignment descriptions for this class explicitly allowed Generative AI to be used as long as the students disclosed how they used it. At the end of the course, a qualitative survey was given to students that asked them to reflect on their usage of AI in the course.  

Of the 734 students who completed the entire survey, 490 of those students chose not to use GAI for assignments (2/3s of the total students). Of the 244 who did report using it, their reasons varied; but most used it to assist with writing, getting a background on a topic, and asking content-related questions (i.e. research) on a topic. Very few said they used it to complete an assignment or anything that most educators and practitioners would define as “cheating” (I realize that’s quite a presumption I am making, but I think we all know what I mean).  

As far as reasons for not using AI, they also varied. Some said they didn’t know how to use it, others said they didn’t need it or didn’t trust it, and others viewed it as cheating. Keep in mind that instructors (and even the TAs) made it clear to the students that they were allowed to use GAI in their assignments. Still, some saw it as cheating. A notable theme that appeared in addition to all of the reasons for not using GAI was a sense of loss of ownership. In other words, using GAI took away from a student’s perception that the work they were doing was “theirs,” and it no longer was their work once they used GAI. 

It’s probably too early to say that the concern about students using ChatGPT to cheat is unfounded. We know that students are using it; we have caught them doing it. Perhaps, though, we can start adding some qualifiers like not all students are using ChatGPT to cheat. Interesting stuff! 

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