Most Likely You’ll Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)

It remains a source of anxiousness and confusion that I’m not having to worry about teaching this year. I dreamed about it last night, which suggests that I’m worrying about it anyway… I’m not sure if it this relieved or accentuated by continuing to think about the whole GenAI thing, not least because I was making a presentation to my department today about my project and possible responses (both to the technology, and to the university’s chosen approach). Whether it helps or not, I did find myself composing what I would be writing in my module handbooks for this year, were I writing any module handbooks…

Assessment

Following the university’s new guidance on the use of AI and GenAI, the core assessment for this module is ‘AI-Supported’. What this means is that, if you make use of any sort of AI tool in developing your coursework, you will not be penalised for this provided that you acknowledge all such uses, using the new cover sheet, properly reference any text that has been generated, and confirm that you are aware of how to use AI ethically and responsibly.

If I had a free choice, however, I would describe this assessment as ‘AI-Tolerated’. That is to say: you will not be penalised for using any sort of AI tool if you properly acknowledge this, but I would recommend great caution; there is a substantial risk that you will be penalising yourself, as coursework based heavily on GenAI output tends to be at best passable according to our standard marking criteria. Making effective use of GenAI requires considerable knowledge and critical understanding, to recognise that most of its outputs are problematic, dated, tendentious and sometimes fictional. Using AI summaries of articles or chapters, even if you can trust the summary, means that you are not in fact learning any of the skills of critical reading and interpretation. Finally, it is open to question whether there are ethical and responsible uses of GenAI; I myself would not readily sign a statement to the effect that I am aware of how to use AI ethically and responsibly.

Developing a critical understanding of these tools is essential, and so if you are really interested I suggest you try the ‘AI Integrated’ option for coursework. Otherwise, be very cautious and sceptical. We will be exploring some of these issues in class…