With all the fuss about ChatGPT, maybe it’s no surprise that one in three college students who were aware of the AI let it complete writing assignments for them. What may be shocking to campus leaders is that three-quarters of those ChatGPT users believe that utilizing the technology constitutes cheating.
And some 60% of the users report relying on the tool for 50% or more of their written assignments, according to a survey by Intelligent, which ranks colleges and universities based on publicly available data.
When it comes to the institution’s response, about half of the students surveyed say either their professors or schools have banned ChatGPT for homework but about one in four don’t believe their professors know it exists. Other instructors, meanwhile, are now thinking about how to incorporate ChatGPT or at least acknowledge its existence. Ronnie Gladden, an English professor, for example, told Intelligent that he is adapting by having students start drafts of essays in class.
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Lisa Maione, an assistant professor of graphic design at the Kansas City Art Institute, told Intelligent that she “will be activating ChatGPT as a partner in our projects.”
“As our department embraces an inquiry-based model for education, ChatGPT is one more place from which we can consider how a question might affect our sense of the answer,” she added. “ChatGPT does not replace critical thinking or critical reading or critical writing. In some ways, I sense this tool will encourage both my students and me to engage with even more reading, writing and editing.”
And Kristina Martin, an adjunct professor at Albright College, told Intelligent that she has asked students to experiment with ChatGPT but discourages them from using it to answer discussion posts or complete other writing assignments. “When I talk about ChatGPT and AI, I also discuss the ethical considerations of using these tools and the responsibility of the user,” Martin added. “I give them a list of things that they can use ChatGPT for as well.”
Here is one more potentially shocking stat from Intelligent’s survey: 20% of students said using ChatGPT does not constitute cheating.
