Story by: Ellery Shearer
MONTEVALLO, Ala. – On October 20, the Academic Integrity Council held public voting in Farmer Hall for its “You Deserve Integrity” poster competition. The winners included Andrea Cano, Avi Aguilar and Sophia Holmes, however, this sparked a lot of conversation due to the fact one of the submissions was a poster design generated by AI.
Many students and community members left strong-willed comments on Instagram posts which included photos of each poster in the competition. Comments claimed that one poster was “AI SLOP” and that having a AI poster in this competition “makes no sense.”
The “You Deserve Integrity” poster competition allowed students to submit poster designs to help promote the Academic Integrity Council and the idea that students should use their own work and raise awareness around the use of AI and plagiarism. The council promotes the ideas of “honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.”
‘This is straight up AI.’
Dr. Cynthia Mwenja, associate professor of English and chair of the Academic Integrity Council, said she recognized the submission as AI generated. “This is straight up AI,” she said, recalling her first reaction to the poster.
Many questioned why Mwenja and the council didn’t remove or reject the AI poster design. Mwenja says that because there weren’t any previous rules surrounding the use AI for the competition and the consideration that other departments allow the use of AI, there wasn’t much the council could do when the poster was submitted.
“We naively, in retrospect, thought if you’re entering an academic integrity poster contest, it is because you’re interested in academic integrity and having the integrity of creating you’re own work.”
Dr. Mwenja said if there were more than ten posters entered then there might have been a chance for the council to narrow down designs however there were only that many submissions. Now reflecting back on this year’s competition “We’re clearly going to have to put rules around it for next year.”
We’re clearly going to have to put rules around it for next year.
Dr. Cynthia Mwenja
However, Mwenja was “pleased and impressed that they clocked it” when asked about the students’ response to the poster entry. She was unsure how savvy people were when it came to AI recognition. She referenced the use of AI on social media and how often people will generate content because it’s “cute.”
As a teacher she often sees the other side, where students opt to use AI and don’t think much of it. “I see a lot of students going the other way and not being offended and trying to pass off as their own work.” In the classroom, the English department is using learning strategies to mitigate and decrease the use of generative AI. “Professors do have the possibility of having their students write in blue books and for writings to be done in-class on paper” Mwenja said.
Strategies like in-class revisions and doing drafts in person help teachers identify students’ voices. This also helps that when AI is flagged it easier to determine what was truly from their brain or a grammar tool or fully AI generated. Mwenja and the English department hope to “keep our finger on the pulse of best practices” when it comes to AI in the classroom.
Dr. Mwenja would like the student body to know that the Academic Integrity Council is a helpful tool for students and not to harm them. “We work in a collaborative way with students who take responsibility for the violation.” It is important to the council that the student take accountability and work with the council to take steps forward. Meetings with academic success coaches and accountability groups are always suggested as well as framework provided by the council for the student to apologize to their professor.
The next steps for the Academic Integrity Council are to get out a website for students to learn more about who they are and their goal on campus.
