AI Transforming Education: Challenging the Traditional View That Artificial Intelligence Encourages Lethargy and Hampers Student's cognitive Abilities in Learning Processes
In the rapidly evolving world of education, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly prevalent. One such platform leading the charge is The Page Doctor, founded by Dr. Amina Yonis, a renowned online content creator with a PhD in Cancer Research from University College London.
The Page Doctor offers a comprehensive academic writing toolkit, designed to help students and researchers write better and faster. Features like 'Paraphrase', 'Trim', 'Templates', and 'Make Academic' provide support in various aspects of academic writing, while the platform's AI leverages 21+ years of STM experience and insights from millions of research articles.
Dr. Yonis runs monthly masterclasses on academic writing, emphasising the importance of fostering a growth mindset, ethical practices, and understanding the limitations and biases of AI in educational contexts. She advocates for the responsible and ethical integration of AI in education, highlighting its potential benefits while addressing concerns about its impact on student learning.
AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Bard, and Bing, have gained significant interest among students and academics in the past year. While they can facilitate interactive learning environments and provide real-time feedback and support, they must be used ethically.
The ethical guidelines for using AI tools in academic writing and education emphasise several key principles and practical considerations. These include beneficence and justice, respect for autonomy, transparency and accountability, privacy and data protection, avoidance of unauthorised content generation (UCG), verification of AI outputs, adherence to publisher policies, and the use of AI for routine tasks.
Beneficence and justice require AI to be used to benefit all students and faculty, promoting fairness and equity while avoiding discrimination and bias in AI applications and outcomes. Respect for autonomy ensures individuals retain the right to make informed decisions about their interactions with AI, with transparency around how AI tools influence academic work.
Transparency and accountability demand users clearly disclose when AI tools contribute to academic writing, including citing the specific AI used, the date accessed, and describing how it was employed. Privacy and data protection require personal information to be safeguarded against unauthorized access when AI tools are involved in academic processes.
Avoidance of unauthorised content generation (UCG) involves using AI to generate academic content without proper acknowledgement or approval constituting academic dishonesty and can lead to plagiarism or legal issues. Verification of AI outputs places full responsibility on authors to ensure any AI-generated or AI-assisted content is accurate, free from bias, plagiarism, and copyright violations.
Adherence to publisher policies is crucial, with each publisher having specific policies concerning AI use. Notably, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) states that AI cannot be credited as an author since it does not meet authorship criteria.
The use of AI for routine tasks, like grammar correction, sentence restructuring, searching literature, generating tables, or checking analyses, is generally acceptable, typically without specific citation but ideally acknowledged at the manuscript's end.
By adhering to these ethical guidelines, students and educators can harness the power of AI to enhance productivity, critical thinking, and intellectual growth, while ensuring transparency, accountability, and alignment with educational values.
The initial reaction within the educational space was mixed, with some embracing the potential of AI while others expressing concerns about its impact on student learning. However, with the increasing popularity of AI productivity tools and the success of videos discussing AI hacks, it is clear that AI is here to stay in academic writing and education.
References: [1] Manyika, J., Chui, M., Brown, B., Bughin, J., Dobbs, R., Roxburgh, C., & Tapscott, A. (2017). From AI to Z: Harnessing the potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. McKinsey & Company. [2] The Council of Science Editors (2018). Scientific style and format: The CSE manual for authors, editors, and publishers (8th ed.). University of Chicago Press. [3] Committee on Publication Ethics (2021). Ethical guidelines for journal publication. COPE. [4] The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (2020). Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals. ICMJE.
- The Page Doctor's academic writing toolkit, including features like 'Paraphrase', 'Trim', 'Templates', and 'Make Academic', assists in various aspects of writing, while leveraging AI technology backed by 21+ years of STM experience and insights from millions of research articles.
- In her monthly masterclasses, Dr. Amina Yonis stresses the importance of using AI ethically in academic writing, emphasizing guidelines that prioritize beneficence and justice, respect for autonomy, transparency, accountability, privacy, and the avoidance of unauthorized content generation (UCG).
- Alongside ChatGPT, Bard, and Bing, language editing, writing assistance, and academic translation are other AI-driven tools students and academics are finding useful in their education-and-self-development journeys, provided they adhere to practices like verifying AI outputs and citing the specific AI used in academic work.
- As more students utilize AI for academic writing, it is essential to understand the role of academic integrity in maintaining the credibility and legitimacy of research, ensuring proper acknowledgment and adherence to publisher policies when using AI- generated or AI-assisted content.
