ChatGPT's Presence at Sac State: Friend or Foe?
The rise of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that composes written material, has brought about a dilemma for Sacramento State and several other universities across the country. Tom Carroll, the Student Conduct Administrator at Sac State, advises students to follow the university’s academic policies on cheating and plagiarism when considering using ChatGPT for their assignments. Although there is no explicit rule in the Academic Dishonesty Policy about the use of AI, Carroll stresses that students are still responsible for their own work.
Updated Policies Needed
Mark Mina, a third-year interior architecture major at Sac State, believes that the university should update its existing policy regarding the use of AI tools. He suggests that the policy should be more specific in terms of what ChatGPT and other AI programs can be used for. Although the app has its flaws, Mina believes that it can also help with the writing process, including identifying helpful research sites. However, he warns that the application has its risks, and students should balance their use of ChatGPT.
Good and Bad Uses of ChatGPT
Angelica Lopez, a fourth-year biomedicine major at Sac State, supports the current Academic Dishonesty policy in place. She is of the opinion that the policy does an excellent job of curbing plagiarism. While there are potentially good uses of ChatGPT, Lopez advises students to use it for sourcing and researching for writing assignments instead of plagiarizing entire assignments.
Shalveen Bains, a third-year health science major disagrees, insisting that Sac State should not allow ChatGPT or similar AI tools in any way. According to Bains, one of her professors decided against assigning a paper this semester because of ChatGPT. Last semester, 10 students in the class turned in AI-generated papers. The instructor argued that the papers were substandard, "C-level" work that were not properly researched.
Canvas and Turnitin to the Rescue
Tom Carroll states that assignments turned into Canvas are often checked by Turnitin to verify originality and uncover any forms of plagiarism. This makes it difficult for students to get away with plagiarizing assignments successfully. He is of the opinion that any work done using AI programs like ChatGPT would be automatically flagged, making it an unwise move to test the waters. Nevertheless, he encourages students to ask their professors about their class policies regarding the use of ChatGPT.
While AI is not anticipated to be a game-changer on campus, Carroll suggests Sac State will address it if the situation arises. For now, students should exercise caution and use ChatGPT mainly as a tool for research and sourcing for their writing assignments.
