With the rise of generative artificial intelligence, one major talking point at Kirkwood Community College surrounds the fate of the education field and AI literacy.
Some would argue that AI literacy is essential for college education, while others reject the idea of having AI tools help with assignments, viewing it as a form of plagiarism or academic dishonesty.
“AI generation is a plague on the learning environment,” said Samuel Klaes, business administration major.
“Academic dishonesty has never been easier, and the people who currently rely on AI in school will regret it when they find jobs and realize they retained nothing they learned because all they did was enter a sentence into an AI chatbot,” he added.
AI literacy is the ability to understand, use and critically evaluate AI platforms, as well as determine how they can be incorporated effectively for a specific purpose.
According to the Pew Research Center, more than half of teens in the United States have used AI for some kind of assistance with coursework, and for college students in particular, it’s no different.
“My advice to students is to be very skeptical of any tool that incorporates generative AI,” said Kate Cameron, digital services librarian. “If you do decide to use an AI tool, do your research on the company and understand what the tool does with the information you enter and what common errors it produces.”
Cameron said being aware of AI literacy is important for a student’s education and that it is especially important not to use it as an unhealthy shortcut when it comes to coursework.
Colleges around the world have had difficulties with the advancing nature of generative chatbots as the number of students who rely on AI for their coursework continues to grow.
“My concern is that students who are fairly new to a discipline are trying to use AI tools to make their work easier or get their work done more quickly. And it’s not just students who want shortcuts; we all have that impulse,” Cameron said.
As AI tools improve, concerns continue to grow about how they will affect the education system in the long term. Currently, the effects of AI literacy across multiple schools in the United States, including Kirkwood, are evident.
Cameron said it is important to approach these tools with caution and not fully rely on them when it comes to learning.
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