The rise of artificial intelligence software and potential risks for academic integrity: Briefing paper for higher education providers
Publication date: 30 Jan 2023
The rise of artificial intelligence and Large Language Models (LLMs) like Openai’s ChatGPT have far reaching implications for learning and teaching in higher education. From concerns about academic integrity and cheating, to re-designing assessment with artificial intelligence in mind, the sector is grappling with how to move forward.
This webpage contains advice, guidance and resources for higher education professionals to adapt their teaching in light of artificial intelligence. It will be updated weekly with new information.
QAA webinar series on ChatGPT
ChatGPT: To ban or not to ban?
22 March 2023
This webinar considered whether it is possible to detect the use of ChatGPT in assessments? Is it right to punish students for using it or should we be trusting them? And is banning ChatGPT as futile as banning Google?
Speakers included: Michael Webb, Jisc; Dr Phil Anthony, University of Kent; Stella Maris, University of St Andrews; Dr Bronwyn Eager, University of Tasmania; and Dr Irene Glendinning, Coventry University.
ChatGPT: How do I use it as a force for good?
31 March 2023, 11:00 - 12:00
It’s right to address the threat ChatGPT poses to academic integrity. But it’s also an amazing new tool. How can ChatGPT support and facilitate deeper learning? How can it make teaching easier? This online panel discussion will explore the opportunities ChatGPT presents the sector, from admin, to teaching, to learning.
Speakers confirmed:
Michael Webb, Director of Technology and Learning Analytics, Jisc
Maha Bali, Professor of Practice at the Center for Learning and Teaching, American University in Cairo
Dr Bronwyn Eager, Senior Lecturer, University of Tasmania
Jack Medlin, Education Officer, Keele University Students’ Union, and QAA Student Strategic Advisory Committee member
ChatGPT: What should assessment look like now?
18 April 2023, 10:00 - 11:00
How do you design assessments now that students can use ChatGPT? What does ‘innovative authentic assessment’ even mean? Do I have to re-write all my modules? This online webinar will unearth the true meaning of authentic assessment and give attendees real life examples of assessment design that account for ChatGPT but still offer an accurate way to assess what a student has learned.
Speakers confirmed:
Jan McArthur, Senior Lecturer in Education and Social Justice at Lancaster University, UK
Matthew Glanville, Head of Assessment Principles and Practice at The International Baccalaureate
Dr Thomas Lancaster, Senior Teaching Fellow at Imperial College London and Chair of QAA’s Academic Integrity Advisory Group
Libby Farrier-Williams, Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Higher Education researcher at Canterbury Christ Church University
QAA guidance
In addition to our latest briefing note specifically on ChatGPT, QAA has a large volume of guidance for its members around promoting academic integrity amongst students and designing ‘authentic’ assessment that prepares learners for the world of work.
How to approach ChatGPT
In February 2023, we published a briefing note on how higher education providers should be responding to ChatGPT. It outlines ChatGPT’s potential implications for academic standards, as well as suggesting a selection of practices providers can adopt to support academic integrity.
QAA Academic Integrity Network meeting (March 2023)
On 16 March 2023, QAA’s Academic Integrity Network met to discuss generative artificial intelligence tools in higher education, share approaches and confirm next steps for QAA’s activity on the topic. You can read of summary of the meeting below.
QAA Academic Integrity Network Meeting (March 2023) summary
Publication date: 21 Mar 2023
How to promote academic integrity among students
Communicating the importance of academic integrity with students is an important foundation when dealing with topics like ChatGPT. Section 4, 'Education and Support', in our Contracting to Cheat in Higher Education report is particularly useful for staff looking to renew their efforts in promoting academic integrity to students in light of artificial intelligence developments.
Contracting to Cheat in Higher Education: How to Address Essay Mills and Contract Cheating
Publication date: 20 Sep 2022
How to design authentic assessment
Our Hallmarks of Success playbook on 'Assessment in Digital and Blended Pedagogy' supports staff involved in curriculum design to consider and implement key factors that underpin success in digital and hybrid learning environments. It provides useful prompts that quality staff can use when considering how they re-design assessment in light of ChatGPT.
ASSESSMENT IN DIGITAL AND BLENDED PEDAGOGY
Publication date: 15 February 2022
Available to QAA Members on our Membership Resources Site.
QAA Membership
Section 2 of our Assessment Reflection and Planning Resource Collection covers how to design and embed authentic assessment. It contains recommended resources and courses, and reflective question prompts that practitioners can when re-designing assessment.
USING OUTCOMES-BASED APPROACHES TO SCAFFOLD THE PANDEMIC YEAR AND BUILD FOR THE FUTURE
Publication date: 30 June 2021
Available to QAA Members on our Membership Resources Site.
QAA Membership
Upcoming activity on ChatGPT
Other QAA events/resources on ChatGPT:
| Content type | Title | Date | Open to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resource | Academic Integrity Advisory Network summary | 21 March | All |
| Online event | ChatGPT: To ban or not to ban? | 22 March 11:00-12:00 | All |
| Online session with chance for discussion | Conversations with Quality Leads | 23 March 12:30-13:30 | Primary Membership contacts and their nominees |
| Online session with chance for discussion | PVC (Education) breakfast briefing | 24 March 08:30-09:30 | PVC Education and equivalent roles |
| Online event | ChatGPT: How do I use it as a force for good? | 31 March 11:00-12:00 | All |
| Online event | ChatGPT: What should assessment look like now? | 18 April 10:00-11:00 | All |
| In-person event | Member Network Conference | 20 April 09:30-15:30 | QAA Members |
| Online conference session | ‘Liberating assessments so they are fit for the future not the past’ (at Assessment Festival) | 28 April 10:30-12:00 | QAA Members |
External resources on ChatGPT:
- University of Kent uploaded a recording of their webinar on Teaching with ChatGPT: Examples of practice, as well as the participant padlet that explored audience views on the technology
- Stephen Taylor from Regent’s University hosted a student panel discussion on artificial intelligence in higher education
- Anna Mills – advocate for critical AI literacy – regularly collates a broad range of resources for educators on artificial intelligence
- AdvanceHE have a new project open to their members, Authentic assessment in the era of AI, which includes blogs and webinars.
- Jisc’s National Centre for AI have published a number of event recordings on artificial intelligence:
- SEDA have uploaded a recording of their 30-minute non-technical introduction to ChatGPT
- University College London have published a briefing on engaging with AI in your education and assessment
- University of Kent have a youtube playlist of short webinars from a range of speakers on artificial intelligence in higher education
- The Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University have a recording of their event entitled ChatGPT – what do we need to know now?
- Studiosity have a podcast episode on artificial intelligence tools in learning and teaching as part of their Reimagining HigherEd series
External events on ChatGPT:
| Organisation | Event title and description | Details |
|---|---|---|
| QQI (Artificial Intelligence Week) | A familiar, but strange time: Navigating artificial intelligence in higher education | 27 March 15:00-16:00 GMT |
| QQI (Artificial Intelligence Week) | Online exams in the age of ChatGPT; now what? | 28 March 13:00-14:00 GMT |
| International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) | INQAAHE talks on academic integrity: Safeguarding trust in higher education | 29 March 13:00-14:00 GMT |
| QQI (Artificial Intelligence Week) | Blurred lines: Rethinking artificial intelligence tools through the assistive technology | 29 March 15:00-16:00 GMT |
| QQI (Artificial Intelligence Week) | National Academic Integrity Network (NAIN) panel discussion | 30 March 13:00-14:00 GMT |
| QQI (Artificial Intelligence Week) | AI 'writers' - threat or opportunity? | 31 March 13:00-14:00 GMT |
Recent external blogs/articles
- OpenAI launch GPT-4, a more sophisticated LLM than GPT-3 that ChatGPTPlus users can access
- A glimpse into what Google and Microsoft generative AI integration will look like
- Times Higher Education article on ChatGPT revolution of academic research
- Wonkhe’s Jim Dickinson poses fundamental questions about how we deliver higher education in light of generative AI
- Jisc have released a series of blogs on Getting started with ChatGPT
- QAA’s Eve Alcock writes for HEPI on what ChatGPT means for the sector
- UCL’s Martin Compton writes about AI text generators on essays, citations and plagiarism
- Lydia Arnold of Harper Adams University reflects on artificial intelligence and assessment
- The Conversation: ChatGPT is the push higher education needs to rethink assessment
- Dr Phil Anthony at the University of Kent on Navigating the use of ChatGPT in education
- iNews cover Oxford and Cambridge’s approach to ChatGPT
- The Guardian cover International Baccalaureate’s approach to allowing ChatGPT in essays
- Wonkhe’s coverage on artificial intelligence
- HEPI and Curio are partnering to develop some research into the sector’s response to ChatGPT
- University World News have published a special report on AI and higher education