{"id":366462,"date":"2025-12-23T10:26:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T10:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/366462\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T10:26:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T10:26:11","slug":"students-who-use-it-or-those-who-dont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/366462\/","title":{"rendered":"students who use it or those who don\u2019t?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three years after ChatGPT<\/a> entered our lives, and against the backdrop of Gemini\u2019s meteoric rise over the past year, academia<\/a> has found itself in a crisis whose outcome is still unclear. On the one hand, universities are still trying to understand how to assess knowledge in a world where almost any student can generate a flawless paper at the click of a button.On the other hand, it is clear to everyone that proficiency in AI<\/a> tools in today\u2019s job market is equivalent to the ability to use a computer. In other words, basic command of AI tools is not only desirable but increasingly expected of candidates for many positions, especially in the high-tech industry. Between the desire to preserve academic standards and the pressure to remain relevant to the labor market, it is clear that change will not stop at reports, pilot programs or statements of intent.<\/p>\n

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Students in class <\/p>\n

(Photo: Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

So have grades lost their meaning? Is the solution surprise in-class exams? And where is the line between legitimate use of artificial intelligence and abandoning independent thinking? A conversation with Dr. Amir Gefen, a researcher and lecturer in artificial intelligence and online safety at Gordon Academic College of Education and an academic adviser to Israel\u2019s Education Ministry, reveals a far more complex picture than the simple question of whether students are copy-pasting their assignments.<\/p>\n

Today, when AI tools are available to everyone, do academic grades still reflect ability and talent, or mainly indicate who knows how to use AI better?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to say this very clearly: in academia, we still have to give grades. That isn\u2019t going away,\u201d Gefen says. \u201cFor now, we are still operating within existing academic frameworks, even if they are shifting and changing. From the academy\u2019s perspective, as long as there are students, we need to assess them and their abilities and ultimately assign a grade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real challenge is ensuring that the grade reflects the student\u2019s knowledge, not just their ability to operate one model or another. At the same time, it\u2019s important to say that using artificial intelligence is legitimate, even welcome. We encourage students to use these tools as part of the learning process, and the world of work expects it as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the end of the day, artificial intelligence is not what\u2019s supposed to receive a grade from me. I need to assess the person in front of me. The question is how we separate what the student knows from what the AI knows how to generate for them, and that is the challenge facing academia right now.<\/p>\n

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Artificial intelligence; Threshold requirement in many workplaces <\/p>\n

(Photo: Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

Today there are tools that can make AI-generated text sound \u2018human.\u2019 How can an academic institution even know who actually learned and who just submitted a product? Do we need a new assessment model?<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely. We need a new assessment model, or more accurately, a new-old one. In the end, I need to know what\u2019s in the student\u2019s head. I have no way to get inside it, so I have to create an assessment event that allows the student to express their knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are two ways to do that, in writing or orally. It can be done through a closed-book exam, that ancient method used by every educational institution since forever, or through a conversation, a kind of oral defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that conversation, you can ask the student to explain what they wrote, what research method they used and how they reached their conclusions. If they can describe their work and answer questions they didn\u2019t know in advance, then as far as I\u2019m concerned, they know the material and I can give them a grade.\u201d<\/p>\n

That makes sense in small classes, but universities have courses with 200 or 300 students. A lecturer can\u2019t have those conversations with everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to separate the pedagogical principle from the logistical challenge. Pedagogically, there\u2019s no question here: to give a grade, I need to know what the student knows, and the way to express knowledge is in writing or orally. Exams can also be held in large groups, and there\u2019s no problem with that. The student can use AI in their learning, but at the moment of truth, they are alone with the paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn oral exam does create an operational difficulty in large classes, but that\u2019s a logistical issue, not a pedagogical one. You can think of creative solutions like a short video, real-time questions or formats that don\u2019t require a one-on-one meeting. It\u2019s not simple, but it\u2019s solvable. The question is whether the system is ready to change and adapt itself to reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05d3\u05f4\u05e8Dr. Amir GefenPhoto: Shlomi Amsalem<\/p>\n

How can academia, in your view, maintain standards on the one hand and remain relevant on the other?<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople come to academia because they believe it will benefit them. There is no compulsory higher education law. They\u2019re looking for understanding, employment, advancement and an intellectual experience. Universities have two parallel roles: preparing students for the job market and cultivating academic research.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world may be changing, but the job market still looks at academic degrees, including in the humanities and social sciences, and therefore expects grades to reflect real knowledge. But it\u2019s important to understand that not only assessment is changing, teaching is changing too.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a lecturer, for example, I have a smart personal teaching assistant. At the same time, there are things I choose to teach myself and things I allow students to learn independently with the help of AI. We are in the midst of a deep change across three dimensions: teaching, learning and assessment. Everything is changing together. It\u2019s complex, but there is no choice. If we ignore AI, we will become irrelevant both to students and to the job market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who worries you more, students who don\u2019t use AI at all or those who use it too much?<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth, but in different ways. Students who don\u2019t use artificial intelligence at all and lack AI literacy worry me a lot, because they will struggle to find jobs. Today, in job interviews, more and more places ask candidates how proficient they are with AI tools. Employers understand how important this is.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, the ones who will replace people at work won\u2019t be AI itself, but people who know how to use AI and use it to improve their efficiency and the quality of their work. That\u2019s why I have a duty as a lecturer to promote AI literacy among my students. If academia doesn\u2019t do that, it will only deepen existing gaps.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, a student who uses AI but becomes overly dependent on it or misuses it harms themselves because they don\u2019t develop critical thinking. But that\u2019s less serious, because it\u2019s something you can work on, improve and teach the student how to use the tools properly.<\/p>\n

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Artificial intelligence and the labor market <\/p>\n

(Photo: Orion Production, Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s much harder to deal with someone who says today that they don\u2019t know how to use artificial intelligence at all. Three years after ChatGPT\u2019s breakthrough, that\u2019s no longer legitimate. A student who doesn\u2019t know how to use AI today is like a student who doesn\u2019t know how to turn on a computer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, AI literacy doesn\u2019t fall from the sky. You need to work at it intentionally and want to learn as much as possible. That\u2019s where academia comes in, among other things, and it\u2019s also our responsibility to reduce these gaps among students.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlongside that, academic faculty also need training. Lecturers and teachers weren\u2019t born with AI knowledge. The Education Ministry and academic institutions are investing in this, but there is always more that can and should be done. Only in this way can artificial intelligence be properly integrated and passed on to students.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three years after ChatGPT entered our lives, and against the backdrop of Gemini\u2019s meteoric rise over the past…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-366462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}