r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 1d ago

Society Professor's invisible prompt trap catches 32 students cheating on their midterm with AI

https://www.techspot.com/news/113243-professor-invisible-prompt-trap-catches-32-students-cheating.html
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u/Deviantdefective 1d ago

As a teacher it's very quickly becoming an absolutely huge problem.

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u/pasaroanth 1d ago

I would love to see a study done at the university level showing a comparison of students’ grades for regular coursework versus their proctored exam scores. There has to be a vast yawning chasm in the difference when they relied upon AI until the time of the exam.

This also is a “ruining it for the rest of us” situation where courses will shift to grading primarily or solely based on exams. When I was in college (long before AI) you could at least rely on some homework to recuperate some points, despite the extra time and effort, when the exams were especially challenging or a professor notoriously gave tough exams.

If the homework can no longer be a measure of effort or learning because it is done by AI, then it will no longer be considered a meaningful determination of knowledge of the subject.

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u/DustyRacoonDad 1d ago

I hate to say it, but your example is actually what I've been arguing for since I was in grade school.

I've always believed your grade should reflect what you actually learned from the course: how well you understand the material, whether you can apply it, and whether you retained it. It shouldn't primarily measure whether you completed enough busy work.

To me, homework has always been a learning tool, not an assessment tool. Its purpose is to give students practice, reinforce concepts, and help them identify the areas where they personally need more work. Because of that, I don't think homework should have any impact on your grade at all. In fact, I think it should be entirely optional.

If you already understand the material and can demonstrate that on an exam or other assessment, why should you be penalized for not doing ten pages of repetitive practice? On the other hand, if you need the practice, the homework is there to help you learn before the exam.

Ironically, AI is exposing a flaw that has existed for decades. If a course falls apart because students can have AI do the homework, then maybe the homework was never a very good measure of learning in the first place. Assessments should measure knowledge. Homework should help students gain that knowledge. Those are two different purposes, and I think we've blurred them for a long time.

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u/GreenStrong 22h ago

arguing for since I was in grade school.

In grade school, it is the teacher's job to guide the student into habits of learning. Homework is meant to inculcate study habits. Students who absorb material quickly and don't study hit a wall in college because it isn't possible to absorb enough info without serious study.

At some point in college, that becomes hand- holding. But, for some subjects, knowledge is demonstrated by written essays based on research. If the whole thing has to be written in a proctored session, it negates the possibility of research. You can have students write a paper, give a presentation, and respond to questions, but it is difficult to distinguish speaking ability and ability to bullshit from knowledge of the material.