Proceedings of the 7th World Conference on Education and Teaching
Year: 2025
DOI:
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Does AI make us more illiterate?
Christopher Horger
ABSTRACT:
For more than three years AI has liberated students from the rigors of critical thinking and the challenges of academic writing. Talk to a few of the faculty who teach writing courses in universities, and you will hear a different story. They will claim that generative AI (GAI) tools such as Chat GPT, BAARD, Co-Pilot, etc. have encouraged new depths in academic dishonesty in writing courses. Sadly, many students are deceived into thinking that AI enhanced essays are far better than anything a student could write; therefore, they won’t bother to read assigned supplemental texts or even endeavor to understand instructions. They merely feed instructions into Chat GPT and—voila— out pops what they assume to be sophisticated writing. They are largely unaware that trained readers are not so impressed.
Each new semester brings in greater numbers of students who expect less work (less reading, less writing) while also demanding higher grades. Fortunately, instructors are not without recourse to this problem. By insisting on more personal writing, we can diminish AI-generated text, while voice and authenticity can emerge more fully. This presentation will provide practical tips on recognizing and dealing with AI-generated student writing.
keywords: Academic writing, Generated AI, academic dishonesty