Alexa, Don't Write My Assessment

Is he cursing a) Grammarly, b) himself or c) Dr Heeger?

Any teacher who gives a tiddlywink will tell you that building trusted student relationships is an essential tool of the trade. Heck, simply 'knowing them' serves a solid purpose, so we need to tread carefully in order to maintain mutual respect. We have all been guilty of overreacting during intense moments of behaviour management, but knowing you have frayed or even cut the cord of connection with one of your class can be devastating, especially if it is witnessed by everyone else in the room.

Last year, I ran a few of my Year 11 class assessments through Quillbot's artificial intelligence detector, and two of them came back as having a high level of AI input. This was after I had asked twice whether anyone had had any such assistance. What was most surprising was both students "caught" were among my most diligent and demure, and not ones to lie when I kept them back and gave them a third and final chance to come clean. However, they were adamant that they had not.

I sought advice from above, and was told to issue them with sanctions and severe warnings if it happened again. But something didn't sit right, not least of all when I looked at their hurt and confused faces and felt awful. So, I sought further advice from our head of tech, who asked me if they had used Grammarly. They confirmed they both had, and the mystery was solved.

Note to self: run assessments through "know the student" checker before confiscating their MacBook...

Unbeknown to myself (and certain esteemed colleagues above, ahem), running an assignment through Grammarly can see it spat out as being AI-generated. Tech-head also explained that the only way around the have they / haven't they dilemma is to simply engage your knowledge of your learners and make a call based on their previous levels of attainment and any 'usual suspects' behaviour.

Both students were exonerated, apologised to and assured that I did not know my ear hole from my bum hole when it came to this new fangled thing we call AI. One of them forgave me and we still get on well, the other ignores me in the halls. Ce la vie. Lives and learns. At the end of the day, it is comforting to know that – for the time being – we flawed humans still trump the machines with our empathy and attention to individuality. If and when they outflank us in that department, it'll be a supervised pen and paper world.

I might not be AI, but as Dr H I can offer a darn sight more than R2D2 in terms of fine tuning your assessments towards specific assessment objectives. Book a class with me to get yours buffed to an A* standard. ryan@heegereducation.uk / 07784 473808 / WA: +66 092 256 5479

Boy photo by www.kaboompics.com. Girl photo by RDNE Stock project.