The New York Times article “Students Hate Them. Universities Need Them. The Only Real Solution to the A.I. Cheating Crisis.” hits the spot on how AI is propelling educators to change how to evaluate students: less at-home written reports and more in-class, oral, interactive exchanges and discussions.

“…a return to a more conversational, extemporaneous style will make higher education more interpersonal, more improvised and more idiosyncratic, restoring a sense of community to our institutions.”

In my short 3-year experience with teaching, I have already experienced this shift.

In some respects I kind of love it. It forces us as educators to be creative at how to engage the students with social interaction and movement.

But as the article says, this shift to in-class evaluations presents a disadvantage potentially for students that are less extroverted, or need more time to assess and “think deeply” rather than think quickly.

How can we preserve at-home written assignments in a way that encourages the students to step away from AI and really exercise those brain muscles?

I admit I am almost finding it hard myself to write this simple article without referring to ChatGPT to help smooth out the kinks.

But that process of working out the kinks yourself, “forgoing the lazy”, is how the magic happens.