Re:A.I. and the Future of Cheating
by raverbashing on Thursday November 07, 2019 @01:52AM
(#21471039)
> The purpose is to have students practice so that, when they really do have to convey something in writing, they can convey it well.
Then have a human grade it. Have personalized feedback instead of a cookie-cutter grading that's just another data collection scheme + some basic keyword matching to catch stupid mistakes.
Speaking from experience, the person that writes best code (in terms of both raw quality and readability) also seem to write the best docs.
Maybe teaching essays are sideways to efficient communication?
Although we have machines that now cut and bind books, the best book binding (and most aesthetic) are done by hand by enthusiasts on, e.g., Reddit. Moreover, such book binders don't feel threatened by machines, I would think, like how people who do DIY do it because they like it, rather than because they have to do it.
Even if an AI can write an essay, that would not stop me from writing. Essays have another important dimension, which is that of creativity and the message. I think the only real relevance is in the context of school work, outside of that I don't think the AI's ability is that important. People are intelligent already, and competition between writers or the general tendency to influence each other sometimes is even a good thing.
I think you're right - an essay should communicate a key thought, broken down in logical steps, coherently tied together. This is important for a whole host of skills.
The purpose of college essays has never been the quality of the product. The purpose is to have students practice so that, when they really do have to convey something in writing, they can convey it well. If an idea exists only in my head, it will take a very long time for an essay-writing bot to write it for me.