AI as a conversational partner

SAS faculty have implemented AI tools to assist students in writing essays through their interaction with these systems.

Case A | Xindi Li, Global Media Theory Course

Xindi asked students to develop a research question based on the theory and material covered in the course. The students were divided into two groups: one group posed this question to AI, while the other wrote their essays conventionally. The AI questions were directed to ChatGPT 3.5. After receiving responses from GPT, students were required to highlight the AI-generated portions in their essays and continue asking further questions to expand their writing.

Li observed that students who based their essays on ChatGPT's answers, despite having well-formulated research questions in media theory, produced essays that were more superficial compared to those who wrote without AI assistance. She concluded that the students' independent understanding of the texts was more nuanced, contextual, and aligned with the research in the field.

Case B | Ahmed Elghandour, Foundations of Humanities Course

Ahmed asked students to choose a theory from the course and provide an extensive explanation of it to Google Bard, based on the course materials. Bard was then expected to critique the theory and identify its flaws. In response, students were tasked with researching secondary literature to counter Bard’s critique and support their defense of the theory, while allowing Bard to continue responding. This process was repeated twice. Ahmed noted that the quality of the students' research in rebutting Bard’s critique was the key factor distinguishing stronger essays from weaker ones.