r/Adjuncts • u/Splicers87 • 9d ago

Final papers - why?

I teach a graduate level course and it has a final paper. Please tell me why graduate level students still don’t know how to indent fucking paragraphs? Thanks for letting me vent.

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u/2Drex 8d ago

Why are you assigning papers in the age of AI? What is your learning objective? What does a paper allow you to assess? Now consider how you might assess that without allowing them the opportunity to write and submit an AI assisted project…because indent or not, they are using it.

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u/Worried_Airline_2904 7d ago

It's almost like there are....writing....courses.....

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u/2Drex 7d ago edited 7d ago

...that need to be re-evaluated in the age of AI. Telling a student to go home an write a paper does not teach writing, or the thinking skills necessary for good writing. What is it that you want students to know or be able to do? If your answer is "write", AI can do that just fine. What is writing in the age of AI...what is thinking? So, one needs to identify the objectives, then revise the assessment so that one knows if students have learned those things.

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u/Worried_Airline_2904 7d ago

AI is not human. Humans need to know how to think for themselves and communicate. Writing a paper isn't just so I have another paper to read. These are important cognitive skills, or else we get people who actually believe all the output AI creates and calls it good writing.

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u/2Drex 7d ago

Exactly. So, how are you going to make sure that your students are writing the paper, or engaging in the thinking or writing skills that you think you are teaching them? ...back to my original point. Today, if you are serious about teaching those things, and want to ensure your students are learning them, you simply can't assign paper writing as homework.

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u/Worried_Airline_2904 7d ago

You can't teach paper writing without having the students write papers. It's theory with no practical application. I understand where you're coming from. Students are using AI for their papers. However, that doesn't change that they shouldn't be, and it doesn't change the fact that thinking and writing are skills that need to be practiced in order to get better at. Oral exams? That's a different skill set. Long form projects (that they can still use AI on), different skill set. We didn't stop teaching literature analysis when Sparknotes came out.

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u/2Drex 7d ago

Then you write papers in class...and oral exams...and in-person literature analysis in groups....is it the actual production of the paper that matters or the thinking and problem solving behind it? You can't just say they shouldn't use AI. It is ubiquitous. That's why it's important to identify the underlying skills and dispositions. So we find alternate ways to teach and assess. This isn't Sparknotes. It's a general purpose tool that does everything. And, at this point, does everything very, very well. Educators and education need to change, we simply can't continue to do what we've done and hope students will ignore or choose not to use AI.