by Jorge González del Pozo
Panic on the CANVAS floor
If one of your common main assignments for your classes has been a final essay, you are thinking what I’m thinking… what can I do to prevent students from just generating a paper with AI. I would use it if I were a student in this day and age, I’ll be honest… so I wonder how we can deal with AI taking over the sacrosanct Final Research Paper in a class?
I even toyed with creating this post with AI. Let me share, my first prompt was: “Can you create a 1000 word essay with this title and this kind of outline?”. It came out decent in less than a minute, you all know about it. Tweaking the point of view and tone, making sure I didn’t sound like a scholar, but like a student, still would be B/B+ paper. When checking it with an AI detector it came out as “most-likely human-generated”, and I wanted to cry. Beyond the lack of detection, it is worrisome -at least to me- because there is no reading, reflection, or interaction with the materials, plus… what am I doing here if this is the situation? Analyzing it more critically and deeply, the essay was well written and certainly well structured. Sadly, the essay still pretty much stayed on the surface and lacked nuances. Again, if I were a student, getting a B+ right away and maybe putting some work on it afterwards will get me to the A. Not a bad deal.
Face it, the Sooner the Better
I’m starting to come to terms with the fact that there is no way around AI for students (and society). Also, I understand now that limiting it and getting the students the way I’d like them to learn is not very feasible. In this reality, what tools can I use in the class to spark ideas? The folks in the Hub (kudos to them and their optimism about AI) certainly shared more than what I can handle in the form of tools, ideas, and approaches using and embracing AI way beyond ChatGPT. The challenge is here: how to keep standards, and use AI in a way that actually helps learning. How to prevent it from being just a “shortcut” to a good grade, and more importantly: how to deliver the concept of assimilating as well as implementing knowledge in class? It is not about just producing items for a class. I am truly rethinking teaching, written assignments, assessments, and learning as a whole. I am sure many of us are on the same page.
So Many Questions, So Little Time
Thinking critically, (isn’t that what we preach?), and playing devil’s advocate as much as possible and in both directions: what is the goal of the Final Essay outside the academic world? How can you apply the skills learned in class via the Final Essay to the real world outside college? In this context, what is the role of AI in this dialogue? Can we help ourselves (faculty) to help them (students) to understand the limitations of the tool? Can we encourage them to “beat” AI by going deeper? Too many questions, but the last one is critical: I believe we can agree that AI doesn’t go as deep as we can and that is the value of what we do and who we are. Students can use AI all day, everyday: from brainstorming, to outlining, and composing well-structured arguments, to helping them articulate their thoughts. You name it. Totally understandable, I wish I had this when I was their age. We put pressure on them to submit quality work, as we should. Anyone would grab on to whatever is available in order to deliver. The students’ issue is the grey area, most of them use it and the limits of integrity are diffuse. Academic standards in our syllabi and expectations are shaken. We want to be constructive with AI, at least in theory, but how can we make sure that happens? Where is the line not to be crossed? As faculty, we need to mark that very clearly for the students so they know the dimensions of the playing field: “Use AI but only up to XXX” (and please refer to the AI usage statements for syllabi or tweak it to your liking). Is this enough? Would this help learning?
Days of Future Past
I’m not sure if we could move away from a final essay without compromising learning goals. Although I’m truly thinking about it and how would that be possible. There is something essential that is intrinsic to a final essay, and that is the actual writing: writing is thinking, if you don’t write the essay there is going to be less thinking. I reckon that AI can be an “inspirational guide”, a rehearsal board, and a source of feedback. Please allow me the allegory, with all due respect to Plato. The evolution of thought is taking interesting turns, this new digital cave is here to establish a digital dialogue and inquiry. I certainly can see AI as a meaningful self-editing and improvement tool. I only understand it as somewhat superficial, we can do better than that, and we must. I am convinced that it is our task to transmit that idea to the students so technology does not fully take over, as we have done in the past with other waves. AI should support thinking, not just replace the intellectual voice and agency. I am aiming to embrace the tool, and then to revise and expand its suggestions. I want to “own” it, in a way my students can do the same in order to be better and dream higher than AI.
Beyond AI, with AI, through AI
To truly beat AI, students need to move beyond summaries and generic arguments. As faculty, we can help and model, pushing them to be original and genuine. Striving to move away from classic assignments that are prone for quick AI solutions should be our goal. Let’s embrace it and remove the lack of sincerity or depth. We can integrate the lived experience, the local data, the cross-disciplinary connections, and the human examples to add a dimension to AI that as of now is a far reach for the tool. Specifically, a revised essay assignment could include annotations explaining the choice of sources. Also, reflective comments or letters about the research process, creative pieces organically embedded in the process or personal as well as community narratives directly related to the class. More elements could be integrated in the form of multimedia projects, podcasts, portfolio-based reflection, or collaborative knowledge-building. We can facilitate public-facing projects, engage students in roundtable discussions synthesizing their research, or require annotated bibliographies and iterative drafts demonstrating growth. These alternatives can be robust. We can measure skills like analysis, synthesis, and critical thinking perhaps even more authentically than through a single culminating essay (yes, I’ve said that, I’m still torn…). All of these ideas promote academic excellence and honesty, but also the higher and critical thinking that we drool over.
AI is not Enough, We Can Do Better
I know I posted more questions than answers. I truly believe in questioning reality so we can reflect on the opportunity. AI is pushing faculty to rethink and revitalize teaching strategies. It is establishing a new way of learning and interacting with content for the students, whether we like it or not. We might as well take advantage of it, instead of rejecting it. This was my ultimate goal writing this piece.
One more AI thought… I really wanted to finish this post with a good punch, as I advise my students to do and aim to leave a mark. I did ask AI to help me, shamelessly, and it came up with these options:
- “Don’t let AI write your story; let it help you discover it.”
- “AI is a tool, but you are the author—write beyond the algorithm.”
- “The final essay isn’t dead; it’s being remixed—by humans and machines together.”
I’m not sure if these are the best. My true punch line shows age and it goes back to the book series entitled “choose your own adventure”. I’d clarify to choose it in a way that helps you and your students grow no matter what. In the end, it isn’t about AI versus the final essay, but about reimagining the journey so that technology helps humanity, not the other way around.
Jorge Gonzalez del Pozo is a professor of Spanish at the University of Michigan-Dearborn where he has worked since 2007 teaching Spanish Literature, Film, Culture and Language. He has published more than 60 articles on Spanish contemporary literary criticism, film and history of film in top tier international journals. Moreover, he has released 10 books on Spanish film, literature, and culture; particularly, it is worth mentioning his manuscript: Drogas ilegales en el cine español: Adicciones en la gran pantalla desde el fin del Franquismo hasta los inicios del s. XXI. Madrid: Editorial Fundamentos, 2015. Beyond that, he works closely with students and colleagues in order to enrich campus life and promote the best learning environment possible.
Featured Image by Ashley Barr-Caldwell from Pixabay
This post is a deliverable from the Hub’s 7-week GenAI program
