With my one section of Introduction to Ethnic Studies this semester, I recently reimagined my approach to student writing assignments in response to the growing presence of AI tools like ChatGPT. Frankly, there is no writing prompt that we can imagine which generative AI cannot undetectably answer with skilled prompting. Following the screening of “Race: The Power of Illusion, Part 1” in my 9th-grade class, I shifted from traditional take-home essays to in-class quick writes. While this adjustment presented some logistical challenges, including the allocation of precious class time and accommodations considerations, it addressed a critical concern in modern education: ensuring authentic student work in an era of accessible AI writing tools.
My pilot of this new approach proved surprisingly effective, despite a minor technical hiccup with our Canvas setup. While I had configured the assignment to display word counts within the required 100-200 word range, this feature only functioned on laptops, not iPads. As a result, several students had to manually count their words or submit and revise their work, with one student needing to trim her response and others adding sentences to meet the requirements. Even with this technical wrinkle, my class of 12 students achieved a mean score of 98%, with an average writing time of just under 14 minutes. This actually surpassed the historical average of 93% for take-home assignments, though I have no data on how long students spent writing their paragraphs at home in previous years.
Perhaps the most significant insight from my experiment came from adjusting the assessment criteria. By placing greater emphasis on students’ ability to construct arguments and support them with evidence from the documentary, rather than focusing heavily on grammar and syntax, I’ve created what I believe is a more authentic evaluation of their understanding. This shift in grading philosophy raises important questions that I’m eager to discuss with my fellow Ethnic Studies teachers and perhaps the broader Social Science Department. While this approach may seem like a Sisyphean response to technological change, my initial results suggest it could be an effective way to maintain academic integrity while adapting to our evolving educational landscape.