To discourage inappropriate use of AI in assignments, here are some strategies to consider.

Step 1: Install a "AI Detection Extension" within your Chrome browser.

• Go to https://chromewebstore.google.com/
• Search for GPTZero and install (or choose other AI detector if you wish)
• Login to GPTZero when prompted (I use my Google account for this)
• Note that GPTZero is not free to use (beyond small samples), so if you find it valuable, you may be talking to admin.  If price is a dealbreaker, please note that "Revision History" is a simpler and cheaper tool.

Step 2: Within the assignment instructions, require students to use GoogleDocs for evolving their work.

• You'll probably want to refer them to this location for support (avoiding an influx of questions):

WCLN.ca > Student Support > GoogleDocs for Assignments

• These instructions require the students to fully form their assignments within the Googledocs, allowing for good analysis.

Step 3: Once you have submissions coming in, here are some analysis ideas:

Step 4: If the assignment is a research paper, then you'll probably want to require citing.

• Instruction: Your submission MUST include both in-text citation, as well as a "Works Cited List," as described at:

WCLN.ca > Student Support > MLA Citation format

or

WCLN.ca > Student Support > APA Citation format

Step 5: Ideas for communicating with students:

• Be open and let students know that you are analyzing their work for originality (students will be aware if using:  WCLN.ca > Student Support > GoogleDocs for Assignments)
• Positive challenges - eg. "This is great work.  How did you come up with these ideas?   Tell me more."
• Another approach is, "Hi James.  My AI Detection Tool has flagged your work.  Let's meet to discuss."
• Cheating is often a result of a lack of confidence.  Can you make them proud of their own work?  Flag areas that seem to be their own and have potential.
• I'm unable to accept a submission without appropriate citation.   Please review the assignment requirements and re-submit.

Pro-D Ideas:

Note that there are abundant tools available to try to "beat" the detection ideas above.   Many involve more work than students doing their own writing, but we must acknowledge that there's NO perfect way to detect AI in student work.   A good combination of tools, and a deep understanding of them, is your best bet.

If you have some time (maybe a Pro-D day, for instance), you'll definitely gain a deeper understanding by doing these experiments:

1. Generate a topic paragraph in ChatGPT.   Paste into GoogleDocs and analyze.
2. Get more creative with your prompts (same topic, but ask it to write at a grade 9 level and avoid AI detection).   Paste into GoogleDocs and analyze.
3. Type the paragraph from #2 into a new GoogleDoc (vs. paste) and analyze.
4. Try the "help me write" feature in GoogleDocs (Gemini) and analyze the result.
5. Take your paragraphs from #1 and #2 and run them through "Plagiarism-Remover.com" (or similar).   Paste into GoogleDocs and analyze.

If you have some ideas to share with your colleagues and/or wish to know about newly released assignments that use these detection tools, please subscribe to this forum.