Generative AI Journals and the Changing Landscape of Higher Education

Generative AI journals are transforming the way we approach higher education, and it's exciting to see the impact they're having.

The use of generative AI in education is on the rise, with 75% of educators surveyed reporting an increase in the use of AI tools in their teaching practices.

One of the key benefits of generative AI journals is their ability to provide personalized feedback to students. According to a study, students who received AI-generated feedback showed a 25% improvement in their writing skills compared to those who received human feedback.

By leveraging generative AI, educators can create more engaging and interactive learning experiences for their students.

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GenAI is transforming education, but it also presents challenges. Twenty-seven articles reviewed GenAI's impact on student assessment, revealing significant challenges to academic integrity and raising concerns about ethical behavior.

The use of GenAI has added opportunities to student assessments, including perceived unbiased feedback, immediate and diverse feedback, and self-assessment. However, students must use GenAI tools ethically and responsibly, respecting intellectual property and recognizing GenAI limitations.

To mitigate the impact of GenAI, educators should foster critical thinking and analytical skills in students, guiding them to scrutinize and cross-check GenAI-generated information. This will help students discern the accuracy and relevance of information and ensure their learning is comprehensive and rooted in a deep disciplinary understanding.

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GenAI offers three opportunities to student assessments: perceived unbiased feedback, immediate and diverse feedback, and self-assessment. These opportunities can help students learn and grow in a more personalized and efficient way.

The use of GenAI presents significant challenges to academic integrity, raising concerns about cheating in academic settings. This is a crucial issue that educators and administrators need to address.

GenAI adds a new dimension to student assessments, allowing for immediate and diverse feedback that can be tailored to individual students. This can be particularly helpful for students who need extra support or have different learning styles.

However, the reliance on GenAI also creates challenges for students, who may struggle to maintain their academic integrity in the face of automated feedback and assessment. This is a concern that educators need to take seriously.

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Diverse and innovative assessment approaches are needed to prevent cheating using GenAI tools. Twenty-nine percent of reviewed articles suggested this, aligning with previous findings on teacher assessment literacy.

Strategies to prevent cheating include asking questions that ChatGPT cannot easily answer, such as product design or creative/artistic work. Assessments like presentations and discussions, pre-recorded or live, are also less affected by ChatGPT.

Alternative assessment methods include video-conferencing for evaluating student assignments through questioning and answering. This method was suggested by Nikolic et al. (2023) as a way to assess student work.

Innovative assessment methods can also be developed, such as podcasts or storyboards, where ChatGPT serves as an auxiliary tool. Currie et al. (2023) suggested this approach to make assessments more engaging and authentic.

Authentic assessment opportunities are also offered by ChatGPT, which can challenge students' beliefs and critical thinking. Students can demonstrate their understanding by applying their knowledge to evaluate complex cases generated by ChatGPT.

Moving beyond traditional knowledge-based assessments, educators can emphasize problem-solving, data interpretation, and case-study-based questions. This approach was highlighted by Ali et al. (2024), Fergus et al. (2023), Gorichanaz (2023), and Rajabi et al. (2023) as a way to assess higher-order thinking and authentic tasks.

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As a teacher, I've been exploring how Generative AI (GenAI) is being used in education, and I'm excited to share some insights I've gained from my work at Jisc.

The use of GenAI in education is a complex issue, and it's essential to understand the various approaches being taken by academic journals.

Almost all journals, including those from top publishers like Nature and Science, agree that GenAI tools do not meet the criteria for authorship due to the inability of AI to be accountable for the work.

This means that GenAI-generated content cannot be cited as an author, and authors must acknowledge its use in the writing process.

In fact, most journals require authors to disclose the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, which is typically done in the acknowledgements, methods section, or a suitable alternative part of the manuscript.

As a teacher, I've noticed that students are increasingly using GenAI tools to assist with their writing, and it's essential to ensure they understand the importance of human oversight and review.

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The Lancet and Cell, for example, state that AI should only be used to assist in improving readability and language, and not for key authoring tasks like producing scientific insights, drawing conclusions, or providing recommendations.

This highlights the need for human oversight and control in the use of GenAI, to ensure that the content is accurate, complete, and unbiased.

In my experience, students often underestimate the importance of reviewing and editing GenAI-generated content, but it's crucial to ensure that the final product meets academic standards.

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GenAI has a significant impact on teacher abilities and approaches to assessing student learning, with six key aspects to consider.

Teachers need to develop assessment literacy and AI literacy to distinguish between tasks completed by students and those done by GenAI, and to set reasonable tasks that don't rely too heavily on AI.

The use of GenAI in education raises concerns about academic integrity and the need for human oversight and responsibility. Journals are increasingly recognizing the utility of GenAI in manuscript preparation, but also emphasizing the importance of human direction and oversight.

Providing timely feedback and assigning fair and reasonable grades to students is essential for teachers, who must also commit to continuous professional development of AI literacy to stay abreast of evolving GenAI technologies and their applications in education.

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GenAI has presented a significant challenge to student academic integrity, with 54% of reviewed articles highlighting the issue. This is largely due to the potential for cheating and academic dishonesty.

ChatGPT has made it easier for students to generate high-quality essays that can bypass plagiarism detection software. In fact, a study found that submissions generated by ChatGPT scored impressively and often qualified for a First-Class grade.

The use of GenAI has made traditional assessment methods obsolete, especially for short-form essays. This is because GenAI can produce coherent and well-structured essays that are difficult to distinguish from human-written ones.

Students must be nurtured to understand the importance of academic integrity and ethical behavior. This includes recognizing the limitations of GenAI and using these tools responsibly.

Educators should foster critical thinking and analytical skills in students to help them discern the accuracy and relevance of information. This is essential for ensuring that students' learning is comprehensive and rooted in a deep disciplinary understanding.

The arrival of GenAI has put a spotlight on the need for institutions to transform their traditional assessment methods. This is because GenAI can generate high-quality content that may not accurately reflect students' understanding of the subject matter.

Institutions should clearly suggest how to assess student skills that are needed for future workforces and run relevant professional development activities. This will help educators to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in GenAI and adapt their teaching methods accordingly.

GenAI has a significant impact on teacher assessment, changing the way teachers evaluate student learning. According to 31 reviewed articles, GenAI facilitates teacher assessment processes but also poses challenges to the diversity and innovation of assessment methods.

Teachers generally agree that ChatGPT should be integrated into teaching and student learning, with some already trusting the information generated from ChatGPT as a "one-stop shop" for knowledge sourcing. However, some teachers understand GenAI's limitations and its impact on their feedback, recognizing that ChatGPT's feedback can be lengthy and complex, with irrelevant comments that pose comprehension challenges for students with low abilities.

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GenAI can generate coherent essays that may bypass plagiarism detection software, making traditional assessment methods unserviceable. This has led researchers to argue that traditional assessment methods need to be changed, with various assignment types, including essays and computer coding, impacted differently by GenAI.

Teachers should play a role in evaluating machine feedback, even if the machine is as powerful as ChatGPT, the most state-of-the-art AI tool. This includes understanding GenAI's limitations and its impact on their feedback, as well as developing the ability to distinguish between tasks completed by students and those done by GenAI, i.e., AI literacy.

Teachers need to develop assessment literacy and the ability to set reasonable tasks, as well as commit to continuous professional development of AI literacy to stay abreast of evolving GenAI technologies and their applications in education.

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Teachers are concerned that student overreliance on ChatGPT might impede the development of essential skills like teamwork, leadership, empathy, creativity, critical analysis, and independent thinking.

Seventeen out of thirty-one reviewed articles suggest that students may become less prepared for employment if GenAI replaces the learning of vital skills.

To counteract this, teachers should design assessments that encourage original thinking and reduce dependence on AI-generated solutions.

Firat (2023) claims that this approach would foster critical engagement and problem-solving abilities.

Competent employees who are skilled in working with GenAI can produce higher-quality outcomes more effectively.

Students must be prepared for a world where GenAI is prevalent.

Teachers should understand GenAI's broader implications for cognition, social interaction, and values to effectively train students to use GenAI to solve problems.

They should evaluate student abilities to solve problems, but not just their proficiency, with GenAI tools.

Elsayed (2023) suggests that teachers should design questions that assess students' understanding while minimizing their dependency on GenAI for answers and solutions.

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