Part 3 - Digital Citizenship & Ethics

I think you need to talk to the students in a positive light about why they should value their work. Give examples of the excitement you feel when you complete something on your own versus when someone does it for you. I also think academic integrity can be mentioned and why we are in school, to strengthen our brain, learn, and grow together! 

As far as one of the 11 strategies, 2 of them really stood out to me. First, #4 is setting expectations. They will know these tools are out there so we need to talk about them. In my Finance class there is huge potential to discuss comparisons between Whole life and term life insurance for example. We can have the tool write something then analyze it ourselves. Using it as a TOOL to assist us and not something that does everything for us is paramount.  #5 is motivate your students with tasks worth doing. If a student is not motivated intrinsically to complete an assignment, they are less likely to do it. By creating something meaningful it can put a charge into a student and they will be more excited about exploring the topic instead of a quick solution.

It is really important that we, as educators, do not make ChatGPT the enemy.  We know that when we treat things like that, students will gravitate toward it and develop curiosity as to why it is so "bad". I liked how one of the articles explained that at one point in time, a calculator was the new technology.  I was lucky to have balanced math teachers who taught me to use several ways, including a calculator, to complete math work.  We can model and explore the good uses of ChatGPT with students and clearly demonstrate what cheating looks like. There is a difference between using ChatGPT as a tool versus using it to cheat.  If a student has read a book and forgot what was in chapter 3, they can use it as a tool to recall information.  It also can be used as a tool when you ask ChatGPT to generate an outline to write a compare/contrast essay.  Then it is not writing the essay for the students, it is giving guides as to how to write an essay.  It is also important that students are asked to complete tasks in the classroom in front of the teacher. The Regents exam gives prompts and students are required to recall information and write about it at length.  We do not do enough of that kind of practice in the classroom.

One strategy I felt was especially helpful is that we are clear with students on expectations and including ChatGPT and other AI in that discussion is imperative.  We can even be more specific as we clearly communicate what is and what is not acceptable in our class or our school.  Communication is also a huge component to making connections with students and truly getting to know them and their voices.  We had a student that used the word annihilation, which is not part of his/her vernacular. Upon further investigation, we found that he/she used ChatGPT to fully generate the assignment and we would not have known had we not known the student as well as we do!  Lastly, I do not care what ChatGPT thinks about a subject. Instead, I want to know the thoughts, ideas, and the way my students analyze information.  Communicating can help students see that I value what they say and think.  

I think using ChatGPT is the same as using anything on the internet, so your conversations with students should be the same. Just like most things on the internet (Google, ChatGPT, etc.), tools can be used to help you understand or help you get the answer. Students need to know that ChatGPT and other online tools should only be used to help you develop your answer... not create your answer. Personally, as a math teacher, I find ChatGPT harder to use in the classroom, unless a student searches "HOW do you find..." because they're confused and they want to understand the process to find the answer. But using ChatGPT to plagiarize in any way is definitely unacceptable. A discussion about being a responsible student can be tied into that, as well. You know you cannot cheat by looking at someone else's paper, so it's also unacceptable to copy a response from ChatGPT word by word to use as your own.

The strategy I'd use would be "Decide on what is acceptable and what isn’t for your assignments". Students will always try to cheat to quickly finish a homework, finish a homework that they don't understand, finish a homework they don't want to put any effort towards, etc., so why not allow them to use the tool to use it to help teach themselves. I would make it known that I can easily spot when students are copying step by step, because it will look nothing like we learned, and emphasize that plagiarizing is not acceptable. Students will be allowed to use ChatGPT on two conditions: 1) They've attempted to solve the problem on their own first 2) They do not plagiarize any work from ChatGPT.

One strategy provided by Turnitin is to "Promote and reinforce academic integrity." In my classroom, I would have open conversations with students about the importance of doing their work authentically and valuing the learning experience. I would highlight the negative impact of cheating on their own learning and the academic community. To support this, I would create an engaging classroom environment and utilize resources like the Turnitin Educator Network to exchange ideas and best practices with other educators. By promoting academic integrity, we can foster a culture of honesty and respect in our classroom.

REFLECTION: What types of discussions do you feel are necessary to have with students regarding this new technology?

As mentioned in my previous responses, I believe that it is very important to have conversations with students about how to most appropriately use this technology. As each article stated, AI isn't going anywhere so we need to figure out how we are going to use it as a helpful tool instead of something that's hurtful for students and our classrooms. At the elementary level, I believe that using this tool for brainstorming or as another way to gain information could be very helpful.

EXPLAIN: Pick one or more of the 11 strategies provided by Turnitin and explain how you might use it in your classroom.

There were many strategies provided by Turnitin that I feel are beneficial and could be used in my classroom.

2- Decide on what is acceptable and what isn't for your assignments. I believe that this is very important and the main reason that I have not introduced this technology into my classroom as of yet. I think it's important to talk to my teammates and also decide for myself how I would want to roll out ChatGPT in my classroom.

3- Build strong relationships with your students. I believe this is the key to success in many areas, but I especially do feel that if you have strong relationships with students, they will want and crave the connection that allows teachers to stay "relevant" even with ChatGPT.

7- Adjust prompts to incorporate personal stories, authentic situations, and/or sources and citations. I believe that this is important because this still requires the student to be a thinker and incorporate their own experiences into their writing.

9- Assess the process, not only the product, and collect outlines and drafts. This is something that I already incorporate into my room because as the article mentions, the process can be just as important if not more important than the product. That being said, this could also be a way to make sure that students are doing their own thinking, not just regurgitating an AI-generated text.

We have to have up front and transparent conversations about AI technology with kids ASAP. As I’ve said in every task so far, they’re already using it. Asking them their opinions on the ethics of using AI is important. Is it cheating? Is it plagiarism? What if you “get caught”, should you receive a zero? Be displaced or ineligible to participate in Academic Honor Societies? Should our school revisit the standard definition of what constitutes ‘plagiarism’? I have talked openly and honestly to my students about why doing their own work is important; about why educational ethics, integrity and morality are important. I have explained to them that the learning experience is what school is all about. We have discussed the consequences of relying on AI, especially that AI won’t get them through a Regents or AP Exam.The strategy from TurnitIin that I liked was about establishing strong relationships with students, and how that that may be the single most important thing we can do as educators. Relationship-building is more important now than ever. I liked how the article said that “we can’t control technology, but technology will never replace human connection”. The more we know our students, the more we listen to them, the more invested they may be in what we are teaching them. I also liked how they mentioned that writing is thinking. That writing is how students learn, process and make connections. AI can’t think for them. Creating tasks that allows kids to personally respond may help.

1.  Just as we talk about plagiarism every year and at the start of every major writing piece in English, we need to have open discussions with students about this technology.  They are already aware of it and many are using it, so we need to make our expectations clear.  One of my colleagues in another state said last month after telling the students the ChatGPT responses would not be accepted, 3 students emailed privately to say their submissions were all from ChatGPT.  So I think talking about what is acceptable and what is not is where we need to start, because until we do, there is no reason students wouldn't use it.  Then, I think we need to talk about the issue of responsibility, as the edutopia article discussed.  Who is responsible is the paper is misquoted or did not give proper credit to sources?  Is it the student or the AI?  But before we can have these conversations with students, we as a department and a staff need to have them first so our expectations are the same.
2.  I sort of addressed strategies 1 and 2 in my response above, so I would like to focus on strategy 9: assess the process, not just the project.  When ChatGPT first made headlines in the fall, this was the common refrain I heard from English teachers everywhere: that we have to focus more on what the students are doing step-by-step and in front of us.  Luckily, this is what many of us already do anyway.  Having students write alongside us in class can help circumvent so many of these issues.  To try this out this year I added in progress points for different checkpoints of the writing process.  So now I can see who has their essay almost completed from their in-class writing time versus someone who needs to do most of it on their own at home.  Luckily this number is small, but those are the essays that I can flag to take a closer look at.  I think this will be a change I maintain in future writing units, too.  It helps me give more pointed feedback throughout the process, too. 

So I think what these articles posed is an interesting concept overall - the fact that this AI technology isn't going anywhere, so as educators, it's up to us to figure out how to evolve both our teaching and expectations of this generation. I think especially at the secondary level, it's so important to let the students know that you know this technology exists and that yes, they may at points use it for their learning, but how in the long term, how will that help them. As one of the articles mentioned, the single most important thing that teachers can do is create meaningful relationships with our students, which is something that hasn't changed. I think through teachers being open and honest with their students, the students will realize that as teachers we know this technology exists and that we can use it in a helpful way to aide our learning and not in a way that is unethical or plagiarism. 
From the Turnitin article, I liked strategy. 9 "Assess the process, not only the product: Collect outlines and drafts". I think this is so important because in the writing process, there are so many things happening for the student and in what they are learning. This is all evident in the different products that are created along the way - notes, graphic organizers, first drafts, final drafts, etc. The final copy should be evidence of all of these previous steps put together, if this isn't the case then it might be evidence that the student used AI to generate a response that wasn't theirs.