Are discussion questions becoming irrelevant with AI??

[Vle045]

This is my 6th official class for my MBA. I had one class that required the first post to be a video or audio post. I wasn’t crazy about that because it was harder to find something to respond to. Also because I would have to re-record a few times before I was happy with it. One classmate did her videos while she was in bed. That was kinda weird. But usually they have been pretty conversational and only the initial post needed references. I did finally get a “normal” reply and found a normal post to respond to.

[Duneranger]

they've ALWAYS been irrelevant

if people are using chatgpt to answer them then that is a good thing

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That sounds really strange! It definitely warrants some investigation. Here are some ideas:
...

everyone one of those ideas is horrible

discussion questions are a COMPLETE waste of time              
about time courses stopped using them                
in person courses make no such requirement               
its just dumb

OP, if people want to use chatgpt to answer questions that serve absolutely no purpose then let them

In person courses have classroom discussion....

[ReyMysterioso]

I've taken a couple classes where the only mandatory discussion component was a single post or in some cases a video introducing yourself in the first week of class and answering suggested questions about your interests and education/career goals. I actually rather enjoyed these as I got to see where people were from, what they were trying to achieve. In some cases they had inspiring stories. Others were older and had all their educational goals wrapped up but just enjoyed continuing to learn in a class format. Some were scared or timid and i might respond with some "you can do it" encouragement.

Unlike mandatory discussion boards where anonymous, random people you know nothing about do the bare minimum of writing spam on the topic, the ones where people talk about themselves actually give the class a brief sense of community. I'd much rather that happen than have to pick two arbitrary people per week to write some empty hot air reply to just to check the box. Stupid.

[Vle045]

I am really torn about it with this class. We are in week 7 out of 10. One student is VERY clearly using chat GPT every week. Her copy/paste even includes some of the AI messages about not posting personal info in the chat because they use it to train their AI models. In another post, it included one of those little “How’s this chat?” Messages. Last week, she pasted the same 3 sentences over and over about 1,000 times. (No exaggeration). In many instances, I mind my own business and figured the instructor would catch on. But honestly, His replies to everyone are pretty standard, so I don’t know that he is reading them either. And our other classmates… HOW can people reply and not address the BIG PINK ELEPHANT in the room??? I don’t reply because I’d really want to say something like, “you forgot to list ChatGPT in your references.” Or “did you know you posted the same sentence 1,000 times?” “Is this just a test to see if you can get away with it?” Am I being punked? Is someone looking to see if anyone will call them out? WTF is going on here???? I don’t begrudge anyone using the tools we have. And I do beleive there are legitimate and ethical ways of using ChatGPT, but seriously, this ain’t it. This week her post is supposedly in reference to a WSJ article that I doubt even exists. (ChatGPT does that)

[davewill]

I am really torn about it with this class. We are in week 7 out of 10.  One student is VERY clearly using chat GPT every week.  Her copy/paste even includes some of the AI messages about not posting personal info in the chat because they use it to train their AI models.  In another post, it included one of those little “How’s this chat?” Messages.   Last week, she pasted the same 3 sentences over and over about 1,000 times. (No exaggeration). In many instances, I mind my own business and figured the instructor would catch on.  But honestly, His replies to everyone are pretty standard, so I don’t know that he is reading them either.  And our other classmates… HOW can people reply and not address the BIG PINK ELEPHANT in the room???  I don’t reply because I’d really want to say something like, “you forgot to list ChatGPT in your references.”  Or “did you know you posted the same sentence 1,000 times?”   “Is this just a test to see if you can get away with it?”  Am I being punked?  Is someone looking to see if anyone will call them out?  WTF is going on here????  I don’t begrudge anyone using the tools we have.  And I do beleive there are legitimate and ethical ways of using ChatGPT, but seriously, this ain’t it.   This week her post is supposedly in reference to a WSJ article that I doubt even exists.  (ChatGPT does that)

I didn't mention that I didn't hesitate to report the plagiarizer I mentioned above to the mentor. He said he was already engaging with them about it. I see no reason not to report the situation you have. The instructor will determine what action is appropriate. My feeling is that I take these classes seriously, and the last thing I want is for rampant cheating to be ignored.

I think you're running into the "bystander effect" where each observer assumes that someone else will take care of a problem. Just short circuit that, and report it.

[Vle045]

I am really torn about it with this class. We are in week 7 out of 10.  One student is VERY clearly using chat GPT every week.  Her copy/paste even includes some of the AI messages about not posting personal info in the chat because they use it to train their AI models.  In another post, it included one of those little “How’s this chat?” Messages.   Last week, she pasted the same 3 sentences over and over about 1,000 times. (No exaggeration). In many instances, I mind my own business and figured the instructor would catch on.  But honestly, His replies to everyone are pretty standard, so I don’t know that he is reading them either.  And our other classmates… HOW can people reply and not address the BIG PINK ELEPHANT in the room???  I don’t reply because I’d really want to say something like, “you forgot to list ChatGPT in your references.”  Or “did you know you posted the same sentence 1,000 times?”   “Is this just a test to see if you can get away with it?”  Am I being punked?  Is someone looking to see if anyone will call them out?  WTF is going on here????  I don’t begrudge anyone using the tools we have.  And I do beleive there are legitimate and ethical ways of using ChatGPT, but seriously, this ain’t it.   This week her post is supposedly in reference to a WSJ article that I doubt even exists.  (ChatGPT does that)

I didn't mention that I didn't hesitate to report the plagiarizer I mentioned above to the mentor. He said he was already engaging with them about it. I see no reason not to report the situation you have. The instructor will determine what action is appropriate. My feeling is that I take these classes seriously, and the last thing I want is for rampant cheating to be ignored.

I think you're running into the "bystander effect" where each observer assumes that someone else will take care of a problem. Just short circuit that, and report it.

Thank you for helping me feel less like a tattle-tale.  I set up a meeting with my advisor for later today.  I am hesitant to bring it up to the professor right now because I think he is part of the problem (or maybe a different problem).  He seems like a nice enough guy but this is the first class where the instructor’s replies seem “canned”.   After each student’s initial post, he replies with the exact same thing.  And when he grades stuff, his comments read like “lecture.   With other instructors, you would get something like “Great job on mentioning XYZ.  Something else to consider is ABC.  Blah blah blah”.    Maybe I expect too much.  But maybe my advisor can help sort it out.

[davewill]

Thank you for helping me feel less like a tattle-tale.  I set up a meeting with my advisor for later today.  I am hesitant to bring it up to the professor right now because I think he is part of the problem (or maybe a different problem).  He seems like a nice enough guy but this is the first class where the instructor’s replies seem “canned”.   After each student’s initial post, he replies with the exact same thing.  And when he grades stuff, his comments read like “lecture.   With other instructors, you would get something like “Great job on mentioning XYZ.  Something else to consider is ABC.  Blah blah blah”.    Maybe I expect too much.  But maybe my advisor can help sort it out.

Yeah, the whole "tattle-tale" thing isn't really relevant here.You aren't trying to report them for sneaking a soda into the movie theater. Cheating undermines your learning experience and damages the reputation of these online classes we are counting on to further our careers.

You can mention it to the advisor, but they are in the wrong "chain of command" as it were. The people who deal with cheating are the Professors, Department Heads, Deans, and the President's office. Advisors are part of admin. They can't investigate your complaint, all they can do is advise you to report it to the professor. I doubt they would even forward the complaint for you. If you complain to the professor and he ignores it, then you can either decide you've done your part, or you can go over their head.

[LevelUP]

I am really torn about it with this class. We are in week 7 out of 10.  One student is VERY clearly using chat GPT every week.  Her copy/paste even includes some of the AI messages about not posting personal info in the chat because they use it to train their AI models.  In another post, it included one of those little “How’s this chat?” Messages.   Last week, she pasted the same 3 sentences over and over about 1,000 times. (No exaggeration). In many instances, I mind my own business and figured the instructor would catch on.  But honestly, His replies to everyone are pretty standard, so I don’t know that he is reading them either.  And our other classmates… HOW can people reply and not address the BIG PINK ELEPHANT in the room???  I don’t reply because I’d really want to say something like, “you forgot to list ChatGPT in your references.”  Or “did you know you posted the same sentence 1,000 times?”   “Is this just a test to see if you can get away with it?”  Am I being punked?  Is someone looking to see if anyone will call them out?  WTF is going on here????  I don’t begrudge anyone using the tools we have.  And I do beleive there are legitimate and ethical ways of using ChatGPT, but seriously, this ain’t it.   This week her post is supposedly in reference to a WSJ article that I doubt even exists.  (ChatGPT does that)

Sounds like a dilemma, balancing academic integrity with the possible impact of reporting.

[Vle045]

As an update, I just got off of a Teams meeting with her. I showed her the discussion board so she could see what I am seeing. I also told her that I think part of the problem is that the instructor might not be reading the posts since every student gets the same reply. She said she would report both concerns to the appropriate parties as they are two separate concerns. The professors are expected to respond to the students’ individual posts. She said that she will leave my name out of it and just say it came up during an advising meeting. She has access to the course room so she will go in and do a deeper dive. I told her it’s always the one student every week. And I might have seen one or two others, but I am not sure. If there are others, they weren’t as blatant.

@davewill - You make a great point and it is similar to what my husband said and the thing that made me decide to say something. It can call into question the integrity of the school and the program. And the really funny thing is this week’s topic is “Truth and Trust: Business Needs Cannot Replace Doing the Right Thing“. Oh the IRONY!

[ReyMysterioso]

Where I come from, snitches get stitches. They're just hacking their degrees in a different way than you're hacking yours.