3 ms·

This says more about the exams than the AI or the students…

shinycode 2y ago
For a time teachers resisted calculators because they learned the hard way. But learning with a calculator doesn’t mean we suck at math, we can still learn what’s behind it. AI have to be a tool for learning better and faster and expand our reasoning abilities. It’s of no sense to be stuck in the past and resist it. We have to develop a more critical thinking, use AI in schools and criticize the output and make something better out of it. And we have to change the way knowledge is assessed. Teachers have to work hard to make better exams. I hope it will destroy the stupid tests where students have to learn like parrots for a set date then forget everything after. It’s so stupid.
ziofill 2y ago
I agree 100%. This AI wave hopefully if will force universities to rethink the way students are assessed. When I was faculty I had the luxury to teach small classes, and I could always be extremely flexible with assessments so I could assess students as the course progresses, or I could make it project-based, or a 1-on-1 oral exam. But I had colleagues that were teaching a class of 300 students, which meant most of the exams were looked at only by teaching assistants, or they were so heavily automated (e.g. multiple choice) that these days they could totally be fooled by an LLM. Something needs to change and it will (fingers crossed).
tzs 2y ago
Not really. The point of an exam is to assess whether or not the student has learned the material. That an LLM can answer all the questions in 2024 is not really all that much different from how it was circa 1980 when probably every integral on my calculus exam was in a table of integrals that I could buy at the college bookstore. It's just one more thing to add to the list of things that you need to prevent students from using during the exam. In 1980 that included that table of integrals on calculus exam. In 2024 it needs to include LLMs.

For a time teachers resisted calculators because they learned the hard way. But learning with a calculator doesn’t mean we suck at math, we can still learn what’s behind it. AI have to be a tool for learning better and faster and expand our reasoning abilities. It’s of no sense to be stuck in the past and resist it. We have to develop a more critical thinking, use AI in schools and criticize the output and make something better out of it. And we have to change the way knowledge is assessed. Teachers have to work hard to make better exams. I hope it will destroy the stupid tests where students have to learn like parrots for a set date then forget everything after. It’s so stupid.

ziofill 2y ago

I agree 100%. This AI wave hopefully if will force universities to rethink the way students are assessed. When I was faculty I had the luxury to teach small classes, and I could always be extremely flexible with assessments so I could assess students as the course progresses, or I could make it project-based, or a 1-on-1 oral exam. But I had colleagues that were teaching a class of 300 students, which meant most of the exams were looked at only by teaching assistants, or they were so heavily automated (e.g. multiple choice) that these days they could totally be fooled by an LLM. Something needs to change and it will (fingers crossed).

tzs 2y ago

Not really. The point of an exam is to assess whether or not the student has learned the material. That an LLM can answer all the questions in 2024 is not really all that much different from how it was circa 1980 when probably every integral on my calculus exam was in a table of integrals that I could buy at the college bookstore. It's just one more thing to add to the list of things that you need to prevent students from using during the exam. In 1980 that included that table of integrals on calculus exam. In 2024 it needs to include LLMs.