One of South Africa’s biggest universities drops AI cheating detection

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, director of UCT’s Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching, Sukaina Walji, explained that AI detection tools aren’t reliable enough to use confidently.

“We decided to discontinue the use of the AI Turnitin Detector score for a number of reasons. The main reason is that, in our experience, these tools are not reliable enough,” she said.

She explained that these kinds of tools are AI that try to detect other forms of AI. Given the sophistication of AI tools, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between human and AI writing.

“What we are finding is that there are a lot of false positives, where students are accused of using AI when in fact they haven’t, but also false negatives,” said Walji.

“These are just not reliable tools for us to feel comfortable to continue using them in the teaching and learning ecosystem.”

She explained that scenarios where these tools produce false positive results can lead to mistrust between students and staff.

“That is fundamentally the wrong way to approach teaching and learning,” said Walji.

She explained that UCT has shifted to a two-fold approach to students’ use of AI, adding that there are some scenarios in which AI can’t be used at all.

“Our approach is two-fold. One is to continue talking to students about why they should think about using these tools in their assessments because it’s really about the learning,” she said.

“Also, we have to think and change our assessments. AI is here. Students are using artificial intelligence tools, and so assessment strategies need to change.”

In situations where AI isn’t allowed at all, the university resorts to observed assessments, including invigilated exams, orals, and observed practicals.

Walji added that, given that AI tools are part of the emerging landscape in different fields, they can enhance assessments.

“For example, it may be encouraged to use AI tools and therefore, students can submit drafts, declare use, reflect on outputs, and so on,” she said.

“I think what is happening is that the assessment practices themselves need to change and are changing. It is the role of the university to assess students with integrity.”

Alternative view: AI a threat to degrees

Andy Carolin, an associate professor at the University of Johannesburg’s English department, has a different view. He says students’ use of AI poses a significant threat to the credibility of their degrees.

Carolin warned that government incentives further exacerbate the issue and added that he believes academics nationwide feel these fears.

“I think that we’re much closer to a crisis than many of us are willing to acknowledge, and it’s worth pointing out that this is not fear-mongering,” he said.

“I have no doubt students use ChatGPT to submit written work, but what sets the large language model apart from others is that there is just no way to prove it.”

Asked about the effectiveness of AI detectors like Grammarly or AI Turnitin Detector, Carolin said they only provide a surface claim of AI use.

However, he said this isn’t the only way in which AI affects tertiary education. He warned that many students don’t even attempt to engage with prescribed course material.

As a result, he said, many students are graduating with degrees, having never been thoroughly assessed or taught critical thinking.

“We risk an ever-increasing number of students who hold certificates that fraudulently certify their mastery of skills and content knowledge that some may have only barely attempted.”

He said the impacts reach individual students, higher education more broadly, and the South African economy.

He believes one way academic integrity can be maintained is by returning to in-person exam venues — something many tertiary institutions have yet to revert to after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Issued on MyBroadband by Myles lllidge | https://mybroadband.co.za/news/ai/606707-one-of-south-africas-biggest-universities-drops-ai-cheating-detection.html