Academic Integrity

A great deal of reporting in the popular press in the weeks and months after the release of ChatGPT had to do with how students would use these tools to “do their homework.” This engendered discussions (which are still ongoing) from the classroom to administration boardrooms about how to prevent cheating, how to maintain the academic integrity of a particular course (or subject, or institution), how to properly assess, and how to award degrees in a world where ChatGPT—available to almost anyone—could now do most of the work.

Much of the conversation in late 2022 was around what instructors could do to mitigate the (potentially illicit) student use of ChatGPT. Indeed, this seems to be most instructors’ first thought; if they are late to the realization of the power of LLM-based tools, they are just now grappling with the concerns that others were discussing 18 months ago, while the early adopters have likely moved on to a more complete—and nuanced—view of these tools.

The problem of academic integrity at all levels, but especially in degree-granting institutions, is not new; in early 2020, Sarah Elaine Eaton asserted that cheating has long been under-reported in Canadian universities and colleges (Eaton, 2020), and even the “old” technology of hiring someone else to do one’s schoolwork or take exams (contract cheating, including using “essay mills” is worth $15 billion US worldwide (Eaton, 2022). Cheating was a significant issue before the pandemic and the pivot to online learning shone a brighter spotlight on whether students were really doing their own work (consider the use of controversial invigilation software such as Respondus LockDown Browser or Proctorio, complaints about which run the gamut from invasion of privacy to “failing to recognize black faces” (Clark, 2021; Dubiansky, 2020; Kopsaftis, 2020)). Over the years, the systems and strategies for cheating have grown and become both more sophisticated and more available for the average student: before the arrival of ChatGPT, the “contract cheating industry” worldwide was estimated at $15 billion US (Eaton, 2022). Since then, ChatGPT has put fraudulent essay creation even more within reach of the typical student. Students who never would have sought out a contract essay-writing service may find themselves entering prompts into ChatGPT, much as they might Google a topic. What they do next — and what the rules for their specific course are — determines whether or not they are committing an academic integrity infraction.