GenAI and education in practice

GenAI is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon, despite some attempts. As such, educational institutions are implementing AI policies, and documenting how they can work with staff and students to get the best possible learning outcomes and experiences for all involved.

Please refer to the Digital Workplace page on Generative AI and Assessment for more information on the benefits of using AI in your teaching, how to embed AI literacies, communicating expectations to students, the GenAI tools for use in learning and teaching at QUT, designing assessments incorporating GenAI and mitigating its use in assessment design. 

There is an abundance of popular and scholarly publications on the use of GenAI in the higher education context, with some introductory reading provided below:

QUT guidance on the use of GenAI for assessment is updated regularly. QUT staff can refer to the Generative AI and assessment page on the Digital Workplace for further information on: 

• QUT's position on generative AI
• Benefits
• Communicating expectations to students
• Generative AI tools in learning and teaching
• Embedding AI literacies
• Designing assessment that incorporates generative AI
• Mitigating the use of generative AI through assessment design
• Further support
• QUT Digital Learning Portfolio Sharepoint: Genearative AI for Learning and Teaching

In response to the increase in AI content generation, there has been a corresponding rise in the development of AI text detection tools. While AI text generators are improving rapidly, the development of AI text detection tools has not kept pace.

Currently, AI detection tools are not reliable enough to use by themselves, with OpenAI and others acknowledging these tools should not be relied upon to definitively determine if the content is AI-generated. It should also be noted that texts can be edited to avoid detection. Before submitting work to third-party apps and websites, it is also crucial to consider the limitations of AI text detection tools and any privacy implications.

AI detectors will likely continue to improve as AI text generators become more advanced. However, it's unlikely that there will be a tool that can detect AI writing with 100% accuracy.  

Case study: Turnitin

Turnitin has developed an AI detection tool that they advise is designed to help educators identify texts that may have been generated by an AI tool. Whilst they tout a 98% confidence rate, this is caveated with a statement advising: "(o)ur AI writing detection model may not always be accurate (it may misidentify both human and AI-generated text) so it should not be used as the sole basis for adverse actions against a student. It takes further scrutiny and human judgment in conjunction with an organization's application of its specific academic policies to determine whether any academic misconduct has occurred."