AI: AI is changing the landscape of online education, raising questions about the credibility of some courses...
AI: Distance learning began long before the digital age. Previously, when teachers and students were located in different locations, people relied on books or, later, the radio for learning.
In today's digital age, there are many convenient ways to study remotely. In "asynchronous" online courses, learning is not live. Students can access course content at any time from a computer or mobile device and complete assignments at their own pace. This makes learning easier regardless of time and place.
However, some researchers are concerned about the quality of such courses and student learning outcomes. Now, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has further highlighted this issue.
The advent of GenAI has increased the risk to academic integrity in many learning methods, whether live online classes or in-person learning. The greatest risk lies in asynchronous courses, especially because students can use AI without supervision, and teachers cannot see whether students are actually working independently or using AI.
Compromised Learning Models
Asynchronous courses have long relied on traditional methods, such as discussion forum posts, written essays, discussions, and pre-recorded videos. But these methods are now falling apart. It has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between AI-generated content and human-authored content.
Student posts and discussions pose the greatest risk. GenAI can generate individual opinions and discussion responses very quickly and accurately. Teachers can spend hours working on these answers, yet they still have no idea whether the content was actually created by students or AI.
Today's AI agents, such as ChatGPT's Atlas Browser, can navigate course sites, read content, and complete assignments with minimal student intervention.
In written assignments, requiring accurate citations from course materials seems like a security measure, but AI can easily accomplish this. This is merely a false security measure and doesn't address the real problem: that AI makes it difficult to work honestly.
Students can be asked to provide drafts, version histories, and checkpoints to demonstrate their work process. But these can also be easily fabricated or altered. Teachers are left burdened with monitoring and are unable to focus on students' actual learning.
It's also now difficult to distinguish AI-generated infographics and videos from human-generated ones.
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