US university professors are returning to paper notebooks due to the massive use of AI
US university professors are returning to traditional methods of knowledge assessment, including the use of paper notebooks during exams and writing essays. This trend is connected to the increase in cases of academic dishonesty among students who actively use artificial intelligence to complete tasks. About this informs The Wall Street Journal.
The active use of services like ChatGPT for writing homework and control tasks has forced many teachers to abandon digital formats and return to methods that were considered obsolete after 2020. These are examination notebooks, also known as “blue books”.
During the pandemic, with the onset of mass distance learning, their use dropped sharply, but recent years have witnessed a rapid increase in demand. For example, this academic year, Texas A\&M University saw a more than 30% increase in notebook sales, a nearly 50% increase at the University of Florida, and an 80% increase at UC Berkeley at the Cal Student Store.
Current graduates are students who entered universities in the year ChatGPT was launched, in 2022. Thus, they had access to the most powerful artificial intelligence tools throughout the training period. It is also worth noting that ChatGPT traffic was observed to decrease during the summer holidays.
Modern educational institutions are looking for new ways to counter the massive use of AI. During math exams, students who go to the restroom are not allowed to take their phones with them. In the humanities, teachers who are familiar with the possibilities of generative models abandon assignments such as homework essays, considering them ineffective.
Stan Oklobji, associate professor of political science at Tulane University, described it this way:
“It’s like going to the gym and having robots lift weights for you.”
Instead, students complete written assignments in classrooms using notebooks. However, even those teachers who returned to paper formats have a contradictory attitude to the situation. Many of them agree that students should learn to use AI as a tool for developing thinking and skills. In the future, the possession of such technologies will become an advantage in the labor market.
