By: Kamran Akhtar Siddiqui
University students don’t copy their peers’ assignments anymore; they generate their written projects in seconds and submit them to their instructors. Thanks to the magical powers of generative AI.
University students’ ability to churn out assignments keeps increasing in the wake of more and more advanced models. While access to AI provides students with ease, its unchecked use diminishes their thinking abilities.
Students desire ease, so they always look for ways to reduce their effort and maximize productivity. This pursuit leads them to use generative AI tools for their academic tasks, thus, they rent out thinking—the very core of the academic experience. Evidence suggests that delegating cognitive tasks to external tools (also called cognitive offloading) leads to reduced engagement in deep reflective thinking. In an environment where every little task is assigned to generative AI, it is impossible for students to think, let alone think critically.
Because of bypassing thinking, students can be seen struggling to synthesize and innovate. My colleague and I conducted a research study to seek university students’ views on the use of ChatGPT. One of the findings of the study was the hedge students reported around their imagination. Students admitted that they were “telling ChatGPT to give answers” rather than doing research on their own and thinking to connect ideas. They were consuming whatever they received as a response to their query. This shows that students are unconsciously adopting the role of command-givers. This new role demands less thinking and more editing on the part of the students.
It is, therefore, suggested that before exposing students to the AI tools, they should be educated about the ‘conscious and critical’ use of these tools. They should be trained to see the AI-generated responses with a grain of salt. Professor Jacqueline Lane from Harvard University stated, ‘technology can convince people to surrender their good judgement and agree with incorrect conclusions.’
If students learn to use the tools critically and consciously, they can enhance their learning, research and creativity. If not, we are ushering in an era of the death of students’ thinking.
Author is Lecturer in English at Sukkur IBA University
