The Conundrum of ChatGPT
By Marilyn Pongracz
What to do about ChatGPT is a hot topic at Bergen Community College where I work. Besides supervising ESL tutoring, I’ve been teaching a high level ESL writing class one evening a week, so yes, I’m concerned. Plagiarism has always been an issue, but I have a statement in my syllabus that if I suspect that any homework was not written by the student, the grade for that assignment will be zero. For essays submitted online, I rely on Turnitin and my own experience of what I can expect from my students although neither are perfect. The good news is that plagiarism checkers are in the process of upgrading to also be able to detect app-written work.
Of course, students also have to write in class, but there is limited time for that in the fifteen-week semester. In addition to essays, a second course requirement is that students learn how to summarize an opinion article and respond to it. I let my students choose their own articles, and I use analysis questions which serve as the basis for their responses. ChatGPT can summarize, but the results of students’ work and ChatGPT are different in vocabulary choice and the variety of sentence length.
One recommendation given to me as a solution to the problem of students using ChatGPT to do their homework is that after students hand in their work, they should be required to write a summary of what they wrote. Another is to let them know that ChatGPT is not a valid source.
In three articles for Education Week, Larry Ferlazzo put together the opinions and recommendations of several educators on what to do with and about the app. Below are a few that might be usable with MLs.
Marilyn Pongracz is the Technology Coordinator for NJTESOL/NJBE.