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Dr Peet van Aardt
Dr Peet van Aardt is the head of the UFS Writing Centre and the Coordinator of the Initiative for Creative African Narratives (iCAN).

Opinion article by Dr Peet van Aardt, Centre for Teaching and Learning and Head of the UFS Writing Centre, University of the Free State. 


The use and permittance of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT at the University of the Free State (UFS) should be discouraged, writes Dr Peet van Aardt.

A decade ago, academics were encouraged to find ways to incorporate social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter in their teaching. Seeing as students were spending so much time on these platforms, the idea was that we need to take the classroom to them. Until they found out young people do not use social media to study, but rather to create and share entertainment content.

During the late 2000s, News24.com, the biggest news website in Africa, went on a mission to nurture and expand what was known as “community journalism” because everybody started owning smartphones, the news outlet’s leadership thought it was the opportunity to provide a platform for people to share photos, videos and stories of news events that took place around them. Until they realised that the vast majority of people didn’t want to contribute to journalism; they merely wanted to consume it.

Lest we assume students will use AI in a responsible and productive manner, at the UFS Writing Centre we find that students over-rely on ChatGPT in their assignments and essays. We should do everything in our power to discourage its use because it threatens what we do at a university on three levels.

It’s an educational issue

There are five main academic literacies we want to teach our students: reading, writing, speaking, listening and critical thinking. When students prompt ChatGPT to write their essay for them, immediately the reading and writing literacies are discarded because the student does not write the essay, nor do they read any source material that would help them form an argument. Critical thinking goes out the window, because it is merely a copy-and-paste job they are performing. And speaking? We see in the Writing Centre that students who use ChatGPT cannot discuss their “work”. The student voice is being killed.

There are lecturers who take the approach of motivating students to use prompted content from ChatGPT in order to critique and discuss the AI output. This is fine, should the students be operating at a level where their academic literacies have been established. In short: for postgraduate use it might be acceptable. Undergraduate students need to go through the process of becoming scholars and master their subject matter before they can be expected to critique it. It is basic pedagogy, and our duty as staff at the UFS, because it aligns with the Graduate Attribute of Critical Thinking.

It’s a moral issue

In addition to the academic literacies we attempt to instil in our students are attributes of ethical reasoning and written communication. The fact that AI tools “scrape” the internet for content without any consent from the content creators means that it is committing plagiarism. It is theft – “the greatest heist in history” as some refer to it. Do we want our students to develop digital skills and competencies on immoral grounds? Because often this is the reason given when students are encouraged or allowed to use AI: “The technology is there, and therefore we must learn to go with the flow and let the students to use it.” By this reasoning one can make the argument that the UFS rugby team (go, Shimlas!) must use performance-enhancing substances because it will make the players faster, stronger and “the technology is there”.

Academics also face a moral dilemma as there seems to brew a view that fire should be fought with fire: that AI can assist and even lead in tasks such as plagiarism detection, assessment and content development. But fighting fire with fire just burns down the house. Let us not look to AI to lessen our workload.

It’s an economic issue

Technology in education should be used to level the playing field. Companies develop online tools with a primary goal of making money – despite what the bandwagon passengers in the East and West promise us. Their operations cost a lot of money, and so they release free versions to get people hooked on it, and then they develop better products and place them behind a paywall. What this then means is that students who can afford subscription costs get access to the premium product, while the poor students get left behind. How can we assess two students who cannot make use of the same version of a tool? This will widen the gap in performance between students from different economic backgrounds. And consider the deletion of the authentic student voice (as alluded to earlier), these AI tools just represent a new platform for colonisation and therefore have no place in our institution.

OK, so what?

Lecturers who want advice on how to detect overreliance on AI tools can have a look at this video, which forms part of the AI Wayfinder Series – a brilliant project by the UFS’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Digital Futures and the Digital Scholarship Centre. These centres also have other helpful resources to check out.

But as an institution we need to produce a policy on how to deal with the threat and possibilities of AI. (Because in society and in certain disciplines it can make a contribution – just not for undergraduate studies in a university context.) Currently, a team that includes staff from the Faculty of Law and that of Economic and Management Sciences is busy drafting guidelines which departments can implement. Then, after a while, a review of these guidelines-in-practice can be done to lead us on the path of establishing a concrete policy.

If we as educators consider the facts that the use of AI tools impede the development of academic literacies (on undergraduate level), it silences local, authentic voices and it can create further economic division among our student community, we should not promote its use at our institution. Technology is not innovative if it does not improve something.

Dr Peet van Aardt is the Head of the UFS Writing Centre and the Coordinator of the Initiative for Creative African Narratives (iCAN). Before joining the UFS in 2014 he was the Community Editor of News24.com. 

News Archive

Science school of excellence for Grade 11 learners launched
2009-04-21

 
At the launch of the Science School of Excellence were, from the left: Prof. Neil Heideman, Vice-Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS, Mr John Davids, General Manager, Volksblad, Ms Lorraine Botha, Chief Professional Officer, Centre for Education Development at the UFS, and Rev Kiepie Jaftha, Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS.
Photo: Dalene Harris

Science school of excellence for Grade 11 learners launched

The Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) has launched a project to give top Grade 11 learners an idea of what the faculty has to offer by giving them a ‘university-type’ experience.

The Science School of Excellence Project was launched last week during a function where the university’s schools support programmes were introduced to the management and members of staff.

The project is aimed at Grade 11 learners in the Free State who obtained an overall average of 80% in the 2008 Grade 10 final examinations. This includes a minimum score of 80% (Level 7) in Mathematics and a minimum score of 80% (Level 7) in Physical or Life Science during the same examination. It will be presented on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein from 6-9 July 2009. The closing date for applications is 8 May 2009.

“By presenting this project we want to stimulate learners’ interest in the natural and agricultural sciences, give them an idea of what we have to offer, raise their interest to come and study at the UFS and let them know that we cherish them as role models in their schools and as academic leaders of the future,” said Prof. Neil Heideman, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS.

According to Prof. Heideman the Science School of Excellence will take on the form of small lab and field projects which the learners will carry out under the supervision of staff and postgraduate students. An application fee of R50 per learner must be paid by the school and a maximum of 80 learners can be accommodated. The 80 learners will be selected on a first come, first served basis and a registration fee of R200 per learner has to be paid after they have received notice that they have been accepted. Letters in this regard have been sent to principals of secondary schools in the Free State. “We will also include 10 learners from disadvantaged rural schools, who will be fully sponsored,” said Prof. Heideman.

“Fourteen of our departments will be presenting programmes, during which learners will engage in challenging exercises that will be ‘out of school’ experiences involving laboratory experiments and research activities typical of our faculty,” said Prof. Heideman.

Five other schools support programmes of the UFS were also presented during last week’s launch function. They were the Itjhoriseng Project, which is a skills development course in Mathematics and Physical Sciences for teachers in the Further Education phase; the Science for the Future Project that aims to encourage more learners to enter into science-related studies and careers; the Qwaqwa School Support Programme that aims to improve the year-end results of Grade 12 learners and a project by the South African Foundation for Economic and Financial Education (SAFEFE) and the National Council of Economic Education (NCEE),which aims to improve the economic and financial literacy of teachers.

“The university’s role in the development of teachers and learners in various subject fields has increased tremendously over the past couple of years. Learners are our students of the future. As a university we must do as much as we can to equip them and their teachers with the necessary skills to better themselves,” said Rev. Kiepie Jaftha, Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS at the launch of the Science Schools for Excellence Project.

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za  
20 April 2009

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