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Writer's pictureKathryn Clark

English professors, students discuss AI use in classroom curriculum


Tilley Dombroski photo

Students and faculty gather for AI forum.

Many professors in Troy’s English department are exploring the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool to encourage students and streamline the essay writing process.  


Last Wednesday, students and teachers alike gathered to hear Professor Anna Orlofsky, lecturer in the English department, speak on how she utilizes AI as a tool in her classroom.   

“I feel like (AI) is a topic that is only going to become more and more important to address,” Orlofsky said. “I think that it's good as an English department to be on the early end of addressing that instead of trying to kind of play catch-up once AI is well-established.” 


Orlofsky said she first started her research into AI use after Dr. Scott Nokes approached her about updating the English composition curriculum to be AI inclusive.  


“We'll see what happens after this year,” Orlofsky said. “What I would like to see is faculty helping students understand how to engage with AI responsibly, because I think that at this point -- whether faculty have AI as an allowed tool in their classes or not --I think it is something that students are going to come in contact with outside the university and possibly in their future careers.  


“Teaching students to recognize when AI is being used, and specifically, if it's not being used well, is going to be important for them, and I think that's something that we need to kind of address in our curriculum, no matter if students are using it for their own projects, helping them be able to recognize it elsewhere is important.” 


Many students are unsure about the use of AI after many years of being told that it was unacceptable for use in schoolwork.  


“I never used it really growing up in the education systems; I really only used it for the first time this semester,” said Amelia Massa, a sophomore studying secondary English education from Hoover, Alabama. “I actually really like it now; I think it's a really valuable tool to be able to make it easier so you can focus more on developing your own voice in the comprehension and critical thinking side.  


“However, I do think that it can easily fall into plagiarism. It's scary to think about submitting an AI draft that you try and revise in your own words. What if you haven't revised it well enough and  it sounds like AI still, and then you get counted off for that when you maybe didn't know fully how to revise it. It's an interesting kind of balance.” 


For professors, finding that balance is just as important.  


“This is actually the first year that I've actually even encouraged some of my students to use (AI,)” said Professor Ben Robertson, lecturer in the English department. “It's kind of an experiment at this point. 


“One of the things that we're doing is we're looking at the kind of text that AI produces and how that differs from what a human being would produce.” 


Professors also have to consider ethical and responsible use of AI. 


“[Ethical use is] a hard question, and I think it's a question that's something that's going to be developing for the next decade or so,” Robertson said. “I think it's important to use it in such a way that you're not actually just depending on it totally as a crutch because, when you do that, then it's actually impeding the learning process.” 


“For me, responsible and ethical use would be when students are fully in control of the ideas that they are using in their work,” Orlofsky said. “Students are responsible for the critical thinking that goes into their AI that they fully planned out what they're going to say. 


 The students tell AI what to say, what their point of view, their stance, their opinion is on a topic -- not the other way around.” 


Massa wants to encourage apprehensive students to give it a try. 


“If you're taught the right ways to kind of recognize how to edit it, I think it is a great and a valuable tool,” Massa said. “Don't be afraid to use it; just make the effort to use it properly.”

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