Heads up, Thought Leaders!
In this episode, we will address an important topic: how academia looks at conversational AI tools and how to keep students focused on learning and not cheating using AI-conversational tools.
I am a regular writer on ethical AI. If you want to read other episodes about these matters, the most recent is Episode 57.
Let’s go!
This episode resulted from multiple interactions with higher education faculty during the last four months.
First Interaction: Dean of Students
The first interaction started as a joke. My dear friend, an expert on sustainability and Dean of the College of Science at a renowned university in the US, sent me a link to his presentation about sustainability. I decided to prank him by using his presentation to create an interview script to test a conversational AI tool (first ChatGPT and later Bard).
After he saw the scripts, he joked that they were good enough to be used to respond to a term paper. Still, he added that they need to review controls to identify students copying and pasting information provided by conversational AI tools. (Remember, that was four months ago.)
Second Interaction: Professor of Social Sciences Ph.D. Program
The second interaction was with a friend who is a faculty member at the College of Social Science at the University of Houston. (two months ago)
As I told her about my previous episode, she told me:
“Well, Jose, most of my Ph.D. candidates don’t need to use conversational AI tools for their papers because they are based on personal experience, and this is something conversational AI was not made for.”
I liked both responses, but a new interaction blew my mind.
Third Interaction: Co-Director of an MBA Program
The third interaction was with a co-director of an MBA program at a prestigious university in the Southwest: a former global IT executive and one of my previous business leaders and mentors.
When I raised the topic, he told me a student asked his opinion about using conversational AI tools to speed up research papers. This is how he addresses them:
“Dear Students, I want to remind you that somebody has already paid for your studies here. You had both a privilege and a responsibility to learn as much as possible, and using these tools would not help you become a competent leader.
If I were you, I would put my best effort into learning as much as possible by doing my homework without help from these tools.
In case you used these tools to avoid learning this class or any class, let me tell you that once you return to your professional life, your new manager will find out sooner rather than later that you are not competent, and you will be fired.
On my side, you have my total commitment to helping you reach new heights that will let you shine above the competition.
It is your choice!
No further comments? I asked.
Nope, I think they got the message.
His response was inspiring and showed commitment to helping his students reach new heights.
I got you, Jose; do you have any other comments?
Just one.
Lesson learned on being a role model for college students
I accept that all responses were valid and pertinent, as I met Higher Ed in different roles.
These interactions show different views on using conversational AI tools in academia:
While some believe they can be used to speed up research, others believe they are not helpful for personal experience-based papers, and others think they can be detrimental to learning. It’s important to remember that education aims to develop competent leaders, and using these tools to avoid learning will only hinder this progress.
What about you and your kids? What do you want to do with your continuous learning process?
Let’s all strive to be role models for college students and teach them based on motivation rather than fear.
Good Enough?
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