Hello again!

Welcome back to the third email in this series, where we explore AI and its impact on nursing education.

In case you are just getting caught up, below are links to the first two sections:

​Week 1 - Introduction​

​Week 2 - Independent Inquiry​

Week 3 - [🌟THIS EMAIL] Trust vs Traps

So, here we go on to week 3!

I will just come out and say this - I don't like the idea of building a trap for students and "catching" them using AI. I do not condone cheating, and I understand the importance of protecting the integrity of our evaluations and ensuring fairness in our grading. But it feels literally impossible to uphold a prevention strategy around AI.

A Quick Story

My daughter came downstairs to have lunch a few weeks ago with bangs. She did not have bangs that morning. At first, she seemed genuinely surprised they had appeared, but finally told me the truth. And while it wasn't a great haircut, I did my best to temper my irritation. Instead, I tried to change my perspective. She was experimenting, learning, and feeling out my limits and her own. We talked it through, discussed alternatives, and now we have guidelines for when the need for bangs strikes again.

My teaching mentor always gave analogies about how teaching and parenting are similar. You cannot be there for every decision your child will make. Instead, you give them the tools and instill the values. We can do this as nurse educators as well.

While it is tempting to advise students to avoid using AI, students are likely to try it, to experiment, to test what it can and cannot do. Just like these bangs. But most of us will not have the energy, time, or expertise to fully understand and utilize all the AI tools available. So what if, instead of looking for ways to prevent the use of AI, we:

1. modify our evaluation strategies (making AI less helpful) - next week's topic
2. put our effort into building relationships and,
3. build and model professional values

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Avoid the Impossible Task

AI is a complex and ever-evolving technology. Policing and regulating its use in educational settings would be overwhelming for educators. Most of us do not possess the energy or expertise (or interest!) required to become experts in this area. It can be helpful to understand the scope - this is not just ChatGPT. There are literally thousands of applications that are using generative AI to make outputs across all different mediums.

And for those using AI detection software, the rate of false positives is not zero. It is not as simple as it once was to run a block of text through a plagiarism checker. In this story, a student's work was flagged by AI detection software. Next, he got an impersonal email from his instructor and was referred to the Office of Student Support and Judicial Affairs. He then had a hearing with the school's honor court, where he was eventually cleared of the accusation.

I think this kind of story makes me uneasy because it contrasts one of my core beliefs about teaching and learning. Learning, at its best, happens in a human-to-human interaction. Through the various digital layers here, that supportive, safe, and trusting environment broke down.

So, what can we do to build trust? Here are a few ideas that I have:

• Decrease the amount and complexity of the digital layers - Create opportunities for human-to-human interaction during every class and clinical and throughout the curriculum. Actively look for ways to use human connection between students and educators whenever possible.
• Focus on building relationships - Modeling kindness has always been a cornerstone in my teaching practice. Showing students that we care should not be weird. Creating meaningful professional relationships with students is essential to our work.
• Consider alternative grading practices - Next week's email will include ideas I found for modifying our evaluations to make generative AI less appealing or useless. In the story mentioned above, the student used Google Docs document history to show his work in writing.

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We cannot allow AI to erode the caring environment between students and educators. An atmosphere of distrust and anxiety will only hinder the learning process.

As nurse educators, I understand the unease we feel around students using AI, and I want to acknowledge that this will likely be a bumpy road. But I want to be cautious about relying on it as a means to catch students. Instead, I want to double down on my efforts to modify evaluation strategies, provide personalized, constructive feedback, cultivate caring relationships, and build a supportive learning community.

📝 How do you feel about this approach? Could it work, or am I being too optimistic? Let me know. I read and write all of my own emails.

I'm excited to bring you the activities I found on evaluation next week. See you then!

Martha