I used this in the second week of class as students were brainstorming possible topics for their WRT 102 papers, under the heading Education and the College Experience:

Day One:

Students, in small groups, shared what they thought were the top three issues concerning students and higher ed. We then wrote their ideas from the groups on the board.

Day Two:

Before class homework:

Students interviewed one friend, one Lasell employee, and one outside person asking what each thought were the top three concerns.

In-class discussion and practice:

those ideas were shared and written on the board.
Then we opened up ChatGPT and asked it to generate a list of ten top concerns of college students and higher education. We examined the list. I asked at this point two questions:
1. Does anything on the list interest you and,
2. are we cheating?
Next, we pulled something from the list and asked ChatGPT to generate a list of five subtopics. I then asked the second question from above after we looked at the list.
Next, we took something from that list and asked ChatGPT to generate a list of five position statements based on the subtopic. I asked the same question about cheating.
- We discussed each part. The class decided that the third list was crossing a line, but that the first two lists were using the tool as just that: a tool, not really different from our own brainstorming and the interviews.
- The students then, individually, used Chatgpt to generate ideas on their chosen topics.
Lastly, I asked students to respond to a poll about what their thoughts were on what we did.

Reflection

Students turned in their Topic Proposal Memos on 2/6. I've graded all but 7. I have found three instances of a "misuse" of ChatGPT in only two out of the 50 that I have graded. By misuse, I mean that the students clearly copied and pasted exact wording from the AI. It was really easy to spot as the wording just didn't sound "human" - just the stuff that we had generated with the cadence, sentence structure, [and] looping that I saw on the lists we generated in class. I'm meeting with those students for a "talk" and then a chance to make it right.

My takeaway: In 57 papers, it's always likely that a very small percentage will plagiarize- that's my experience. I just refuse to throw out the possibilities of AI as a positive tool for what is bound to happen anyway- I will deal with it as I always have for 48 years: with some compassion, understanding, some consequences, some stern looks, and then, I hope, some learning!