Abstract:

AI presents significant challenges in higher education, particularly for first-year undergraduate students enrolled in writing and reading-intensive courses like the First Year Seminar and faculty members who teach these seminars. This paper takes as a case study the First Year Seminar, which is a required course for all first-year students at AUCA, to illustrate and explain the challenges of using AI in an institution, where English is not the native language for the majority of students.

Even though the First Year Seminar Program introduced a zero-tolerance policy, one of the primary challenges has been diminished student engagement. First Year Seminars are designed to immerse students in critical thinking, close reading, in-class writing, and intensive and articulate asynchronous writing. The reliance on generative AI tools to generate writing assignments, essays, and papers significantly discouraged students from engaging deeply with the required readings. The fall semester of 2023 demonstrated that students, who relied on AI, lacked original and articulate arguments, resulting in very generalized argumentation, shallow knowledge, and critical analysis. The student essays demonstrated that the use of AI significantly prevented from meeting the course goal of fostering critical and analytical thinking skills.

There is always the risk of academic dishonesty. AI tools tempt students to plagiarize, presenting AI-generated content as their own. This not only affects the integrity of their learning but also poses a challenge for faculty members in maintaining academic standards. Traditional plagiarism detection tools are becoming more advanced at recognizing AI-generated content, but as AI evolves, so too does the sophistication of these tools, creating a vicious circle. In addition, now the very advanced text humanizing tools make AI-generated text detection almost impossible.

Another challenge is the ethical use of AI. It is important to ensure that they understand the significance of transparency, responsibility, and integrity in their use of AI as well as the potential limitations inherent in AI systems. This problem goes along with the next challenge, which is keeping up with new AI technologies in the market. Usually, students are a lot more knowledgeable and informed about the newest AI technologies and more skilled in using them than faculty members. This knowledge gap makes it difficult for educators to monitor and guide students’ use of AI, potentially leading to misuse or ethical violations. To bridge this gap, we need ongoing professional development, ensuring that educators stay informed and can leverage AI to enhance learning outcomes.