alex

alex, 1 day ago to random

“Chat GPT is ruining my love of teaching
I don't know how to handle it. I am TT at a large state R1. With every single assignment that involves writing, it now seems to me that I am wasting my time reading corporate-smooth crap that I absolutely know by sense of smell is generated by a large language model, but of course I can't prove it. I have done a lot to try to work with, not against, LLMs. For example, l've done entire exercises comparing chat gpt writing with in-class spontaneous writing, not to vilify chat but to see it as basically a corporate-sounding genre, a tool for certain kinds of tasks, but limited in terms of how writing can help us think and explore our own ideas. I give creative, even non-writing based assignments when I can. My critical assignments ask students to stay close to texts and ask them to make connections; other assignments really ask them to think personally and creatively.. But every time I ask for any writing, even short little essays, I can tell - I can just feel it - that a portion of the class uses this tool and basically is lying about it. If I have to read one more sophomore write something like "The writer likely used this trope, a common narrative device in the literature of the time, to express both the struggles and the joy of her people" I'm going to throw my laptop in the ocean. This is a humanities dept and it is a total waste of time for me to even read this stuff, let alone grade it. The students are no longer interpreting a text, they re just giving me this automated verbiage. Grading it as if they wrote it makes me feel complicit.
I'm honestly despairing. If I wanted to feel cynical and alienated about my life's career I could have chosen something a little more lucrative. Humanities professors of Reddit, what are you doing with this?”
Via @DrPen – from Reddit