Education

It’s true that my fellow students are embracing AI – but this is what the critics aren’t seeing | Elsie McDowell

Published

3 months ago

June 29, 2025

Reading about the role of artificial intelligence in higher education, the landscape looks bleak. Students are cheating en masse in our assessments or open-book, online exams using AI tools, all the while making ourselves stupider. The next generation of graduates, apparently, are going to complete their degrees without ever having so much as approached a critical thought.

Given that my course is examined entirely through closed-book exams, and I worry about the vast amounts of water and energy needed to power AI datacentres, I generally avoid using ChatGPT. But in my experience, students see it as a broadly acceptable tool in the learning process. Although debates about AI tend to focus on “cheating”, it is increasingly being used to assist with research, or to help structure essays.

There are valid concerns about the abuse and overuse of large language models (LLMs) in education. But if you want to understand why so many students are turning to AI, you need to understand what brought us to this point – and the educational context against which this is playing out.

In March 2020, I was about to turn 15. When the news broke that schools would be closing as part of the Covid lockdown, I remember cheers erupting in the corridors. As I celebrated what we all thought was just two weeks off school, I could not have envisioned the disruption that would mar the next three years of my education.

That year, GCSEs and A-levels were cancelled and replaced with teacher-assessed grades, which notoriously privileged those at already well-performing private schools. After further school closures, and a prolonged period of dithering, the then-education secretary, Gavin Williamson, cancelled them again in 2021. My A-level cohort in 2023 was the first to return to “normal” examinations – in England, at least – which resulted in a punitive crackdown on grade inflation that left many with far lower grades than expected.

At the same time, universities across the country were also grappling with how to assess students who were no longer physically on campus. The solution: open-book, online assessments for papers that were not already examined by coursework. When the students of the lockdown years graduated, the university system did not immediately return to its pre-Covid arrangements. Five years on, 70% of universities still use some form of online assessment.

This is not because, as some will have you believe, university has become too easy. These changes are a response to the fact that the large majority of current home students did not have the typical experience of national exams. Given the extensive periods of time we spent away from school during our GCSE and A-level years, there were inevitably parts of the curriculum that we were never able to cover. But beyond missed content, the government’s repeated backtracking and U-turning on the format of our exams from 2020 onwards bred uncertainty that continued to shape how we were assessed – even as we progressed on to higher education.

In my first year of university, half of my exams were online. This year, they all returned to handwritten, closed-book assessments. In both cases, I did not get confirmation about the format of my exams until well into the academic year. And, in one instance, third-year students sitting the exact same paper as me were examined online and in a longer timeframe, to recognise that they had not sat a handwritten exam at any point during their degree.

And so when ChatGPT was released in 2022, it landed in a university system in transition, characterised by yet more uncertainty. University exams had already become inconsistent and widely variable, between universities and within faculties themselves – only serving to increase the allure of AI for students who felt on the back foot, and make it harder to detect and monitor its use.

Even if it were not for our botched exams, being a student is more expensive than ever: 68% of students have part-time jobs, the highest rate in a decade. The student loan system, too, leaves those from the poorest backgrounds with the largest amounts of debt. I am already part of the first year to have to pay back our loans over 40, rather than 30, years. And that is before tuition fees rise again.

Students have less time than ever to actually be students. AI is a time-saving tool; if students don’t have the time or resources to fully engage with their studies, it is because something has gone badly wrong with the university system itself.

The use of AI is mushrooming because it’s convenient and fast, yes, but also because of the uncertainty that prevails around post-Covid exams, as well as the increasing financial precarity of students. Universities need to pick an exam format and stick to it. If this involves coursework or open-book exams, there needs to be clarity about what “proportionate” usage of AI looks like. For better or for worse, AI is here to stay. Not because students are lazy, but because what it means to be a student is changing just as rapidly as technology.

Elsie McDowell is a student. She was the 2023 winner of the Hugo Young award, 16-18 age category
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Source link

Education

Schools Forced to Redefine What Cheating Means Amid AI Use

Published

22 minutes ago

September 16, 2025

India McCarty

Published: September 16, 2025

Getty Images 1465474705/Solskin

By India McCarty

AI makes everything easier these days, including cheating. As more students turn to the tech to help them in school, teachers have to redefine their concept of cheating on tests and papers.

“The cheating is off the charts. It’s the worst I’ve seen in my entire career,” Casey Cuny, an English teacher of 23 years, told the AP News. “Anything you send home, you have to assume is being AI’ed.”

EducationWeek reported that, in a survey conducted by Turnitin, “some AI use was detected in about 1 out of 10 assignments,” and that “at least 20 percent of each assignment [they reviewed] had evidence of AI use in the writing.”

Cuny continued, “We have to ask ourselves, what is cheating? Because I think the lines are getting blurred.”

Students agree, with many saying they turn to ChatGPT for help with brainstorming. However, it’s all too easy to take the chatbot up on its offer of simply writing the paper or doing the work for them.

“Sometimes I feel bad using ChatGPT to summarize reading, because I wonder, is this cheating? Is helping me form outlines cheating? If I write an essay in my own words and ask how to improve it, or when it starts to edit my essay, is that cheating?” college sophomore Lily Brown said.

She explained that there is a gray area when it comes to how teachers enforce AI restrictions — most syllabi say things like “Don’t use AI to write essays and to form thoughts,” but that leaves a lot of wiggle room for students who want to use the technology.

Now, schools work to put detailed rules about AI use in place, hoping to cut down on any cheating. The University of California, Berkeley emailed faculty with AI guidance that told them to “include a clear statement on their syllabus about course expectations” surrounding the tech.

The University of Kansas has also made their guidelines clear, with James Basham, a professor of special education and director of the school’s Center for Innovation, Design & Digital Learning calling the rules “a foundation.”

“As schools consider forming an AI task force, for example, they’ll likely have questions on how to do that, or how to conduct an audit and risk analysis,” he explained in an interview with KU’s newspaper. “The framework can help guide them through that, and we’ll continue to build on this.”

It can be tricky to decide what’s cheating and what’s just a little extra help when it comes to using AI, but as schools wise up, regulations for the tech use are becoming more widespread.

Questions or comments? Please write to us here.

Watch HANNAH MONTANA THE MOVIE →

Watch ROCK-A-DOODLE →

Source link

Education

Seton Hall University Hosts Dynamic BAASANA Conference on AI and Society

Published

48 minutes ago

September 16, 2025

The Editors

Keynote speaker Issata Oluwadare addressing conference attendees

Over the summer, Seton Hall University welcomed global scholars, executives and students
for the 2025 International Conference of the Business and Applied Sciences Academy
of North America (BAASANA), positioning the university and its Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies (CEPS) as leaders in convening high-level thought leadership events.

The two-day conference, themed “AI and Society: Navigating the Future of Technology
and Human Well-Being,” brought together voices from across academia, business and
technology to examine the promise and challenges of artificial intelligence. From
addressing ethical concerns to exploring the role of AI in education, leadership and
health, the conference underscored Seton Hall’s role as a hub for innovation, dialogue
and collaboration.

Jet Mboga, BAASANA president, opened the event by honoring the Academy’s founders
and longtime members before framing the conference’s urgency. “This theme could not
be timelier,” she noted. “As AI continues to transform industries and redefine relationships,
it is imperative that we critically examine its impact on human well-being and societal
structures. This gathering embodies BAASANA’s mission to bring innovation, intellectual
curiosity and social responsibility into focus.”

Conference highlights included an opening address from Berkeley College president
Diane Recinos on “Remembering the Human Side in an AI World,” followed by a student-led
panel on envisioning AI’s impact in higher education. The panel was moderated by John
H. Shannon of Seton Hall’s Stillman School of Business and featured Kathleen Meager ’25, Kyle Ganning ’25 and Nicole Voltmer ’26, who shared
their research findings from their intensive project Charting the Future of Higher Education, which they have presented to the university board and other audiences over the past
year.

Keynote speaker and Rutgers faculty member Issata Oluwadare explored Generation Z’s
social and workplace challenges in “Teaching Soft Skills to America’s Loneliest Generation,”
providing deep insight along with one of her students on how high-impact teaching
practices and empathy can engage Gen Z in ways that acknowledge the digital world
they grew up in, while fostering their talents, confidence and leadership development.

Breakout sessions delved into pressing questions on AI’s role in finance, healthcare,
marketing, leadership and education, with faculty and students from institutions across
the U.S. and abroad contributing research and perspectives. The breadth of presentations,
from deepfakes and social engineering to AI in human resource management and sustainability,
demonstrated the interdisciplinary reach of the conference.

Donald Crooks, BAASANA past president and professor emeritus of Wagner College, emphasized
the collaborative spirit at the heart of the event: “At BAASANA, we believe the intersection
of knowledge, innovation and community is where breakthroughs happen. This conference
was a testament to the power of collective expertise. The conversations here will
ripple outward, shaping how AI can be harnessed responsibly for the betterment of
society.”

Co-authors of the 2025 24-hour Hackathon research paper ready to present their findings
at the conference

Seton Hall played a key role not only as host but also as an active participant. Mary
Kate Naatus presented on AI’s potential to reshape global academic partnerships, noting:
“Hosting this conference with a strong student presence shows our commitment to being
a place where ideas are exchanged openly, where different perspectives come together,
and where those conversations spark innovation that reaches across industries and
borders.”

In addition, the conference featured Best Presentation Awards, with standout recognition
for Kendra Sherman, Seton Hall’s assistant director of residence life and doctoral
student in higher education leadership, for her research on international education
and AI. A paper emerging from the 2025 24-hour Hackathon, co-authored by Sandro Tejada,
Mark Schild, Manfred Minimair, Victor Lopez and Naatus, was also recognized, highlighting
Hackathons as catalysts for building a co-curricular culture of AI, cyber and innovation.
Reflecting on the initiative, Tejada shared, “This Hackathon is such an impactful
strategic initiative. It creates a space where students, faculty and industry leaders
can co-create solutions to real-world challenges while advancing research that has
immediate relevance.” Seton Hall will host its second annual 24-Hour Hackathon on
March 21 and 22, 2026 (more information available here).

Focused and Present: In-person Attendees at the 2025 BAASANA Conference

The conference was further shaped by the leadership of Margaret Laryea, a Stillman
master’s student in business analytics, who served as project manager and volunteer
coordinator for the event and noted, “This was a great venue for students to present
their work, gain feedback and build their professional networks.” Other Seton Hall
student presenters, including Janice Huang, demonstrated the university’s diverse
and growing talent, while international participants from Bangladesh and Nepal, including
Jahirul Haque, vice chancellor of the Canadian University of Bangladesh, helped expand
the dialogue around innovation and leadership around the globe.

Closing remarks from Wagner College president Jeffrey A. Doggett highlighted the need
for higher education institutions to address the reality of AI as it impacts the future
of work. Universities must prepare students to navigate within that evolving landscape,
understanding the technology, the benefits, the risks and to develop the ethical and
moral compass necessary to lead responsibly in an AI-driven world.

For inquiries on events and professional programming, as well as professional development
opportunities in AI, leadership and technology at Seton Hall, visit our division website or contact [email protected].

Categories:
Arts and Culture, Education, Nation and World

Source link