KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Education is evolving and artificial intelligence is the new tool.
But is the interactive technology causing the next generation to lose critical thinking skills, and is there a spike in students using it to cheat?
In our Crisis in the Classroom series, News Channel 3 explores how AI is creating distrust between educators and students.
AI is creating anxiety.
“I would say the biggest temptation is just how easily accessible it is,” Madi Magda, a Kalamazoo College senior, said.
Magda was a freshman at Kalamazoo College when Open AI’s ChatGPT first came on the scene, today as a senior, she said the tool is being abused and some professors have made clear it’s not to be used.
“We do senior integrated projects here, and like one of the things was like, ‘you cannot use AI to write your paper at all,’ and I didn’t, but I was terrified that they were going to use an AI checker, and some part of it would somehow come up that it was AI,” Magda said.
Kalamazoo College students discuss the challenges of artificial intelligence and how its impacting trust between students and educators. (Jessica Harthorn/WWMT)
Cheating in school existed long before AI, but now professors are tasked with finding the abuse.
“It has made everything we do in the classroom worse,” said Charlene Boyer Lewis, the Larry Bell Distinguished Professor of American History at Kalamazoo College.
Boyer Lewis said last semester she failed five students for AI cheating.
“The hard discussion I have with them is, do they understand that this is unethical? How can we get them to do research without using AI? How can we get them to read a book or an article without using AI?” Boyer Lewis said.
And that’s where Josh Moon, Kalamazoo College’s educational technology specialist comes in.
He’s helping faculty navigate AI challenges and set clear expectations.
“Trust is really vital for effective learning and for an effective classroom,” Moon said.
Moon told News Channel 3 that AI ethics is evolving and teachers shouldn’t submit to a mindset of surveillance, especially when AI checkers are unreliable and can lead to false accusations.
“Not all students are equally liable to be caught, or even receive a false positive from AI checkers, that it can impact students of color, or students for whom English isn’t their first language more strongly,” Moon said.
So the question is: Has AI changed the definition of cheating?
“I think the definition of AI cheating is very subjective based on the instructor and based on their assignment,” Moon said.
And that gray area can be daunting for students.
Michigan Virtual said in the last 20 years homework has become less valuable and AI will accelerate that trend. (Jessica Harthorn/WWMT)
Kalamazoo College senior, Zoee Perez, said some professors are going back to paper and pencil for tests and assignments.
As a psychology major, Kalamazoo College senior Zoe Perez shared her thoughts on AI and its effect on critical thinking skills.
“A lot of people are dependent on it. I’ve seen people who have a question and the first thing they do is turn to ChatGPT,” Perez said.
Karle Delo is the AI strategist for Michigan Virtual, a non-profit helping 30 school districts learn about AI and offering policy guidance.
She said in the last 20 years, homework has become less valuable and AI will accelerate that trend.
“So we encourage teachers to use AI as a co-pilot, as a thought partner, not as just something that can do work for them, and we encourage students to do the exact same thing,” Delo said.
Delo’s goal is to show school districts how AI can enhance learning, not replace it, ultimately creating more time for teachers to spend with students.
“Teachers guide the social process of learning and that’s so important, and that’s why it’s important to keep humanity at the center of what we’re doing,” Delo said.
But if AI remains unregulated at the federal level, Moon said professors will start to lose the critical element of authentic human interaction.
“This is not why we became professors. We wanted to guide students in learning and AI prevents all of that from happening. I have friends who are retiring early because of this. They’re done,” Boyer Lewis said.
As for Magda and Perez, they’re keeping records of their class notes just in case they’re wrongly accused of AI cheating.
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Kalamazoo College now has a generative AI coordinating team, and a new director of AI and education that will tackle these ethical classroom issues.