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.
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.