Concerns over the use of AI software in schools
Ed McHugh, a business and marketing instructor at Nova Scotia Community College, is a seasoned professor who reviews and grades nearly 300 students’ work throughout the school year.
However, recently, he has noticed a troubling trend with students using artificial intelligence software, like ChatGPT, to complete group projects and assignments.
“ChatGPT is starting to increase its usage with students and it’s becoming a real problem in terms of assessment,” he says.
McHugh says he can tell a student has used ChatGPT to cheat by using quotes without citing the correct source or by knowing the students skill-level.
“I’ve received emails from students that include grammatical errors but their assignment is written at masters-level,” he says. “Other times, during group projects, people share that their group member is using ChatGPT because they don’t want to risk getting caught.”
McHugh says it is becoming increasingly difficult to know if students are plagiarizing.
“In the past, people could plagiarize and there were tools to catch them in some institutions, not in all, but now it’s original material, now it’s being created by artificial intelligence.”
Some post-secondary schools are looking at AI and working to incorporate it in their policy. A few months ago, Saint Mary’s University in Halifax created a faculty-led community of practice, providing students a guideline for using AI-technology in school.
Other schools, like nearby Dalhousie University, created guidelines for professors to follow.
“It’s three models from completely disallowing generative AI to completely allowing it, and then some kind of middle of the road process,” said Christian Blouin, with Dalhousie’s Faculty of Computer Science and the school’s AI lead.
Tavis Bragg is a high school teacher and professor at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S. He believes AI is a tool that can be used by students ethically.
“You have to explain to them quite clearly what is plagiarism in this sense and what are violations of education integrity,” he says.
Bragg says it is inevitable the use of AI generative tools will increase and educators need to utilize it.
“The obligation is on us to understand how they work, and then educate our students on how to use them properly,” he says. “These are incredibly powerful tools that we can use to simplify our lives to get a personalized learning.”
Bragg says students in both secondary and post-secondary should learn to use new technologies.
“It helps prepare them for this driven economy that they are entering into and enhance our educational system by using these AI tools in a safe and ethical way,” he says. “We’re just at the tip of this. These AI systems that we have today are the worst AI systems we will ever have.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6979388.1722030190!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
BREAKING Celine Dion stages comeback with performance at Paris Olympics opening ceremony
Celine Dion staged the comeback of her career during the opening ceremony at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Paris Olympics kicks off with ambitious but rainy opening ceremony on the Seine River
Celebrating its reputation as a cradle of revolution, Paris kicked off its first Summer Olympics in a century on Friday with a rain-soaked, rule-breaking opening ceremony studded with stars and fantasy along the Seine River.
Jasper wildfire: 'Several weeks' before Jasper can return, premier says
Premier Danielle Smith said Friday afternoon in Hinton while weather conditions are cooler, the Jasper fire is still considered out of control and that Jasper residents can expect to be away from their homes "for several weeks."
Health Canada warns some naloxone kits contain false instructions
Health Canada is warning some take-home naloxone kits come with bad instructions that should be ignored in favour of the correct guidance.
'He was just gone': Police ramp up search for vulnerable 3-year-old boy in Mississauga, Ont.
Police in Mississauga are conducting a full-scale search of the city’s biggest park for a non-verbal toddler who went missing Thursday evening. Sgt. Jennifer Trimble told reporters Friday morning that there has been no trace of three-year-old Zaid Abdullah since 6:20 p.m., when he was last seen with his parents in Erindale Park, near Dundas Street West and Mississauga Road.
Driver charged after flashing high beams at approaching police
Orillia OPP arrested and charged a driver with impaired driving after flashing their high beams.
Irish museum pulls Sinead O'Connor waxwork after just one day due to backlash
An Irish museum will withdraw a waxwork of singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor just one day after installing it, following a backlash from her family and the public, it told CNN in a statement on Friday.
Turpel-Lafond won't sue CBC over Cree heritage report that took 'heavy toll': lawyer
The lawyer for a former judge whose claims to be Cree were questioned in a CBC investigation says his client is not considering legal action against the broadcaster after the Law Society of British Columbia this week backed her claims of Indigenous heritage.
Winnipeg senior's account overdrawn $146,000 for water bill
A Winnipeg senior is getting soaked with a six figure water bill.