William Quarterman, a student at the University of California at Davis, was accused of cheating. His professor said he used ChatGPT to write a history paper, the charge buttressed by GPTZero, one of the many new tools that have emerged to try to detect generative AI systems.
Quarterman swears his innocence, though, and he was later let off the hook after he presented the log of changes he made in a Google Doc.
The case raises a point of contention over the use of algorithmic writing detectors: tests of the software have found a high percentage of “false positives” — and there are now many examples of cases when accusations of using AI turn out to be unsubstantiated or are later dropped.
Some chafe at the term false positive — arguing that, because flags raised by these detectors are meant to be used as a start of a conversation not proof, it can give the wrong impression. Academic integrity watchdogs also point out that a dismissal of cheating charges does not mean no misconduct occurred, only that it wasn’t proven.
Regardless, the issue is on the radar of the services themselves.
When EdSurge interviewed TurnItIn in December, the company had yet to bring its plagiarism detector to market. Still, argued the senior vice president of artificial intelligence Eric Wang, detection wasn’t going to be a problem.
In practice, it’s proven to be a little thorny.
That’s partly because instructors are unsure how to interpret or what they can do based on AI detected writing, according to TurnItIn. But part of the difficulty also seems to be cases when AI writing is detected in smaller portions of the essay, the company acknowledged at the end of last month. In cases where the AI detects less than 20 percent of AI writing, TurnItIn says, it’s more prone to false positives than previously believed, though company officials did not give a precise figure for the rise of false positives. From now on, the company says it will display an asterisk next to results where less than 20 percent of AI writing is detected.
Still, the concern is one of the main things that gives instructors and administrators pause around AI writing detection. And even Eric Wang of TurnItIn told EdSurge in March that the traces that they're picking up on right now may not be as reliable down the road as the tech evolves.
📰 HEADLINES
MISSED CONNECTIONS: Community college students who took courses exclusively online were less likely to communicate with instructors and other students than students who took at least some courses in person. That’s one finding from a new large-scale survey of student engagement. But there were some positive findings, too.
THE TL;DR: Employers are increasingly getting involved in child care, offering perks such as on-site care and monthly stipends to offset costs. Last month, EdSurge published an in-depth story about this growing trend and the controversy surrounding it. If you missed it, you can catch the full story here, or you can read about the top takeaways from our reporting in a new story — our “TL;DR” version — published this week.
SOLVING FOR X: The evidence is in, and high-dose tutoring can help lift slumping K-12 math scores. But even with ready federal dollars to invest into tutoring, districts are struggling to get students in front of tutors. Will solving this problem mean embracing online tutoring? A pioneer of evidence-backed in-person tutoring thinks so.
📢 DEALS
Raising Superstars, an Indian-based early childhood education company, raised $2 million in pre-Series A funding.
A platform that helps nonprofit educational institutions fundraise, GiveCampus, acquired crowdfunding company Community Funded for an undisclosed amount.
Panorama Education, an academic success company, acquired Mesa Cloud, a graduation management system. The amount was not disclosed.
StudentBridge, a higher ed enrollment company, merged with higher ed student communications platform Full Measure.
LineLeader ChildcareCRM, a company that provides digital payment software for early childhood development, was acquired by Marlin Equity Partners.
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🎧 ON THE PODCAST
‘HUNGRY FOR CONNECTION’: Since the pandemic, more professors are reporting they’re having trouble connecting with their students. That’s according to Bonni Stachowiak, dean of teaching and learning at Vanguard University of Southern California and host of the weekly podcast Teaching in Higher Ed. She shares other trends she’s seeing in teaching, and ways instructors are overcoming them.
🏃 MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Higher ed customer relationship management provider Element451 namedJaime Moquin as senior vice president of customer success.
Visionary Education Technology Group, a Canadian-based educational programs provider, announced that the chairman of its board, Marc Kealey, resigned. Fan Zhou, the CEO, was named as his replacement.
Harvard University namedRitu Karla as vice president for finance and chief financial officer.
👀 ALSO ON OUR RADAR
The Louisiana legislature passed a bill that would prevent those under 18 from creating social media accounts but could also have broader implications. (The Verge)
Personal information from 95,000 students in Minnesota was exposed in an ongoing exploit by ransomware group CLoP. (State Scoop)
Students at the for-profit Grand Canyon University got the most federal subsidies in the country, according to analysis from the HEA Group. (Forbes)
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