ChatGPT: Universities are rethinking their approach to student learning to prevent cheating in exams using AI

Universities are rethinking their approach to innovative artificial intelligence programs in a move to prevent students from cheating in exams and assessments.

Higher education institutions, including the University of Sydney, are planning to roll out more pen and paper examinations for students in 2023, along with increased supervision of exams and online assessments.

Other universities continue to monitor the emergence of AI systems such as ChatGPT.

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Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer, or ChatGPT, is a chatbot developed by artificial intelligence research and deployment company OpenAI and was officially launched in November 2022.

It produces extensive and thoughtful responses to questions and prompts. Some have used the program to write emails, draft essays, produce captions and answer factual questions.

Universities and schools have raised concerns on the potential use of ChatGPT when students are completing take-home exams and assessments and whether it would be possible to detect the use of AI in student submissions.

In Australia, some are revising how they run assessments in 2023 and will continue to review their processes throughout the year.

This would include taking active measures to prohibit the use of ChatGPT in exams and assessments with increased supervision and additional software.

“All exams and tests will be supervised and we’ll use more pen and paper assessments, alongside further trialling of ‘Bring Your Own Laptop’ (which involves) online delivery with face-to-face supervision (in) exams and tests,” a University of Sydney spokesperson told 7NEWS.com.au.

The University of Sydney has also revised its academic integrity policy to prohibit the “inappropriate” use of digital information technology which includes generating content using artificial intelligence.

“Students are required to disclose all assistance from proof-readers, which can be specifically permitted by supervisors, and from any automated writing tools other than spell checkers,” the spokesperson said.

University of New South Wales Deputy Vice-Chancellor Merlin Crossley added that aside from increased in-person assessments, there might also be additional installation of software that can help detect and lock down the use of other browsers during examinations.

“We’re like every university, we’re holding a number of meetings to discuss how ChatGPT can be used for good, to help student learning, to help teaching, and what problems it might present for assessments,” Crossley told 7NEWS.com.au, adding that the approaches could be similar to the way technological developments like Google and Wikipedia were addressed.

“We want to make sure our students and teachers always use latest technologies but we don’t want them to be dependent on any one technology.

“We are redesigning assessments and, in some case, we have and will continue to use ... in person assessments and exams.”

But while universities remain cautious of the development of AI Technology, many are optimistic that ChatGPT will assist with student learning in universities.

“I think that this year there will be a lot of pressures and anxiety and experimentation but I think ... these are actually quite exciting technologies which will be very useful to people and will become a part of our lives,” Crossley said.

Australian National University Associate Professor Jenny Davis is optimistic that this new AI will serve as a catalyst for change in learning practices in the classroom.

“This is a long-term process that will require critical self-reflection by educators, alongside meaningful conversations with our students about the learning environment presently fostered,” Davis told 7NEWS.com.au.

“ChatGPT, for all of its disruptions, may also spur us to rethink stodgy pedagogical practices and reconceive the classroom experience.”

Despite concerns with ChatGPT, Davis believes there is value in resisting the move back to strict surveillance of students during exams.

An alternative to this would be ensuring that exam questions “are neatly tied to the course content” and that the assessments require critical thinking.

“There’s a lot of panic around ChatGPT and its potential for cheating, but if any technology can come on the scene and completely explode academic honesty, then academic honesty is hanging on by a thin thread,” Davis said.

“If this is the case, then our first and foremost priority should be facing, dealing with, and rectifying that culture.”