{"id":17369,"date":"2023-01-23T22:04:01","date_gmt":"2023-01-23T11:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au\/teaching@sydney\/?p=17369"},"modified":"2023-02-15T20:27:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T09:27:35","slug":"how-can-i-update-assessments-to-deal-with-chatgpt-and-other-generative-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au\/teaching@sydney\/how-can-i-update-assessments-to-deal-with-chatgpt-and-other-generative-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"How can I update assessments to deal with ChatGPT and other generative AI?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a constant stream of news and opinions about ChatGPT, a relatively new generative artificial intelligence (AI) that can produce paragraphs of human-sounding text in a matter of seconds in response to prompts. We’ve previously covered <\/span>how it works<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>how it can be used<\/span><\/a> to make learning, teaching, student support and assessment more effective and efficient, focusing on how teachers and students might use it to draft resources, ideas, and perspectives. Here, we focus on one of the most pressing concerns around ChatGPT and similar technologies \u2013 namely, since every response it generates is unique, how do we update our assessment practices to take advantage of its capabilities whilst mitigating academic integrity risks presented by ChatGPT?<\/span><\/p>\n

Check out the other resources in our AI and Education at Sydney collection<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

What is our approach at Sydney?<\/h2>\n

AI tools like ChatGPT are still immature but it is clear that they will become part of the way we work. <\/span>It\u2019s hard to think of a career that won\u2019t be profoundly affected<\/b> by them, including academia. <\/span>To ensure the relevance of our curriculum and the authenticity of our assessment, it is thus imperative that we begin to bring these tools into the classroom and our assessments now. The approach at Sydney is the verbatim use of such tools to produce text which a student then submits as their own is <\/span>not <\/b>appropriate, and the new Academic Integrity Policy 2022 reflects this. Given the <\/span>current limitations<\/span><\/a> in the AI’s responses, which can include incorrect information, out-of-date explanations, and even non-existent references, it\u2019s also important that students are aware of the dangers of using them uncritically, just as they need to be when they use other resources and tools such as textbooks, websites, and even scholarly literature.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the time of writing, use of ChatGPT is free but given its current popularity and potential, it\u2019s likely that the creators will soon <\/span>introduce a monthly fee<\/span><\/a> for a higher service tier. Even now, users need to sign up to be part of the current research stage which the creators are using as part of its development. Requiring its use for assessment is therefore to be avoided.<\/span><\/p>\n

Achievable things you can do this semester<\/h2>\n

Have an open conversation with students<\/h3>\n

Given the volume of social and mainstream media about ChapGPT, including the decision by the NSW Department of Education to <\/span>ban it from its schools<\/span><\/a>, it is most likely that your students will have already heard about it. They may have even tried it themselves. We’d recommend that, after you’ve had a chance to brush up on <\/span>how it works and any caveats<\/span><\/a>, you have an open and honest conversation about it with your cohort. The main points to bring across would be that:<\/span><\/p>\n