In my 11th year of teaching, I face a new problem: the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in my writing class.
Some of my students, who rarely speak during discussions, suddenly hand in a copy worthy of the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) bands 5 or 6 with little to no blemishes in between paragraphs, sentences and expressions.
Naturally, I am happy but a bit sceptical. Using an AI programme is not "plagiarism" in the conventional sense. The application creates material based on a topic and a set of parameters, which can be customised to the writer's preferences.
Students can use AI to draft their paper at a fraction of the time it would typically take to compose an essay.
This is a practice not foreign to postgraduate students, but for an undergraduate, it is a rite of passage to learn the nitty gritty of basic sentence formulation and expression bridges.
Writing is the mathematics of the liberal arts and social sciences. Some have it, others struggle.
My students understand that their submissions will go through a plagiarism-checking software, so they know that copy and pasting text will be futile.
It is not wrong to paraphrase an expression or sentence, but a full paragraph? One after another? So, how do we deal with this problem?
I have a class of approximately 20 students, so I still have the time to read their assignments cover to cover and detect irregularities. I understand "gargantuan", but "brobdingnagian"?
My advice to those who want to master the delicate (and dying art) of writing is to read out aloud, practice and edit.
Slowly, AI in academics is encroaching on genuine creativity and obliterating the challenging work needed to hone such a skill.
Last year, the chatter of "Academic Dishonesty" among students was making waves on Twitter, with teachers sharing their findings and making their dissatisfaction known to their peers and community online.
A. HAMID SAIFUDDIN
Senior Lecturer, Public Relations Department, School of Communication & Media, UiTM, Shah Alam
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times