Penn faculty members spoke with The Daily Pennsylvanian about how artificial intelligence has impacted their course structures and curricula.
Multiple faculty members said that AI has forced them to change how they grade and teach their courses. They also expressed concerns about AI-based plagiarism while noting that there is no foolproof way to identify such cases.
In November 2023, Penn established university-wide AI usage guidelines that integrated artificial intelligence into the University’s educational framework.
The statement supports the use of generative AI but stipulates that the databases must be used per Penn's mission.
“Penn embraces innovations like generative artificial intelligence ('AI') models in teaching, learning, research, and the effective stewardship of Penn’s resources," the statement said.
Since then, faculty say concerns still remain about AI usage in classrooms.
Director of Data Sciences at the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies Marc Trussler stated that he believes that the way AI tools are often used is an “impediment to the type of learning that people are doing in [college].”
“If you farm [work] out to AI, even though it is fully capable of doing it, you’re depriving yourself of learning how to think, which is what you are doing here at university,” Trussler said.
In his "Introduction to Data Science" course, Trussler says that he has had to decrease the weight of programming assignments that can be easily completed with AI and increase the weight of in-person exams. Trussler added that he hopes this will incentivize students to learn the material instead of relying on AI.
“Some of [this] onus is on professors to make sure the assignments they’re giving out are ones that are enriching in a way that people actually want to do,” Trussler said.
Political Science professor Loren Goldman similarly said that AI has forced him to change his courses from essay-based to “almost entirely exam based.” While Goldman said that there are “good uses” of AI, he says that completely trusting students with these tools can be “complicated.”
“Students are often so oriented towards success and getting the grade,” Goldman said. “For people who are results-oriented, it’s almost tragic because it’s the process of writing an essay that is actually the important part.”
Other faculty members said that, while AI has forced them to change how they structure their courses, it can also serve as a valuable tool to students when used properly.
In a statement to the DP, Computer and Information Science professor Chris Callison-Burch wrote that he encourages students to use AI tools in a “productive fashion.”
“I think that the guiding light is that AI should not be a substitute for critical thinking,” Callison-Burch wrote. “AI should deepen students' understanding of the course materials and we should strive for that as the bar.”
Callison-Burch acknowledged, however, that there were concerns among Penn faculty members that AI would be used as a “cheating or plagiarism tool.”
While Callison-Burch said these concerns are legitimate, he cautioned against attempts by professors to detect AI use, noting that research shows that “neither people nor AI detectors are particularly reliable at being able to spot AI-generated text.”
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education for the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Mathematics and Electrical and Systems Engineering professor Robert Ghrist said he encourages students to use AI tools to enhance learning and prefers to place trust in students’ maturity and academic integrity.
“Trying to punish students for using AI is fraught. There’s no foolproof detector,” Ghrist said. Instead, Ghrist said that has encouraged his students to “use AI to help [them] learn better.”
While he has not had to change his curriculum in response to AI, he has used AI technology to summarize lectures and write notes for his class. He has also developed custom GPT models to serve as online course assistants for students.
“The day that ChatGPT was released, I showed up to class and said ‘Forget what we’re going to learn today. This is the most important thing I can teach you today,’” Ghrist added.
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