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How University Students Use Claude

anthropic.com

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Re: How University Students Use Claude

#311

Post by porridgeraisin »

psygn89 wrote: post #64
dtnewman wrote: post #14

> A common question is: “how much are students using AI to cheat?” That’s hard to answer, especially as we don’t know the specific educational context where each of Claude’s responses is being used. I built a popular product that helps teachers with this problem. Yes, it's "hard to answer", but let's be honest... it's a very very widespread problem. I've talked to hundreds of teachers about this and it's a ubiquitous…

Agreed, the struggle often leads us to poke and prod an issue from many angles until things finally click. It lets us think critically. In that journey you might've learned other related concepts which further solidifies your understanding. But when the answer flows out of thin air right in front of you with AI, you get the "oh duh" or "that makes sense" moments and not the "a-ha" moment that ultimately sticks with y…

Yep. People love to cut down this argument by saying that a few decades ago, people said the same thing about calculators. But that was a problem too! People losing a large portion of their mental math faculty is definitely a problem. If mental math was required daily, we wouldn't see such obvious BS numbers in every kind of reporting(media/corporate/tech benchmarks) that people don't bat an eye at. How much the problem is _worth_ though, is what matters for adoption of these kinds of tech. Clearly, the problem above wasn't worth much. We now have to wait and see how much the "did not learn through cuts and scratches" problem is worth.

Re: How University Students Use Claude

#312

Post by viraptor »

II2II wrote: post #249
bko wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When modern search became more available, a lot of people said there's no point of rote memorization as you can just do a Google search. That's more or less accepted today. Whenever we have a new technology there's a response "why do I need to learn X if I can always do Y", and more or less, it has proven true, although not immediately. For instance, I'm not too concerned about my child's ability to write very legibl…

Perhaps that mode of thinking is wrong, even if it is accepted. Take rote memorization. It is hard. It sucks in so many ways (just because you memorized something doesn't mean you can reason using that information). Yet memorization also provides the foundations for growth. At a basic level, how can you perform anything besides trivial queries if you don't know what you are searching for? How can you assess the valid…

> At a basic level, how can you perform anything besides trivial queries if you don't know what you are searching for?

That's actually pretty doable. Almost every resource provides more context than just the exact thing you're asking. You build on that knowledge and continue asking. Nobody knows everything - we've been doing the equivalent of this kind of research forever.

> How can you assess the validity of a source if you don't know the fundamentals?

Learn about the fundamentals until you get to the level you're already familiar with. You're describing an adult outside of school environment learning basically anything.

Re: How University Students Use Claude

#313

Post by ramblerman »

azemetre wrote: post #300
pugio wrote: post #187

I've used AI for one of the best studying experiences I've had in a long time: 1. Dump the whole textbook into Gemini, along with various syllabi/learning goals. 2. (Carefully) Prompt it to create Anki flashcards to meet each goal. 3. Use Anki (duh). 4. Dump the day's flashcards into a ChatGPT session, turn on voice mode, and ask it to quiz me. Then I can go about my day answering questions. The best part is that if…

Flash cards are some of the least effective ways to learn FYI and retain info.

I'll bite. Would you care to back that up somehow? Or at least elaborate.

Spaced repetition as it's more commonly known has been quite studied, and is anecdotally very popular on HN and reddit. Albeit more for some subject than others

Re: How University Students Use Claude

#314

Post by rpmisms »

goatlover wrote: post #308
laichzeit0 wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know where you live, but I haven’t used nor carried cash on me for at least 5 years now. Everything either takes card or just tap using your phone/watch. Everything. Parking meters, cashiers, online shopping, filling up your car. I live in a “third world” country too.

Good for you? I use cash half the time. For one thing, I'm not tracked for every single purchase.

I also love (and own) goats and use cash for most purchases.

Re: How University Students Use Claude

#315

Post by Footprint0521 »

wrp wrote: post #236
bko wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When modern search became more available, a lot of people said there's no point of rote memorization as you can just do a Google search. That's more or less accepted today. Whenever we have a new technology there's a response "why do I need to learn X if I can always do Y", and more or less, it has proven true, although not immediately. For instance, I'm not too concerned about my child's ability to write very legibl…

"Technology can do X more conveniently than people, so why should children practice X?" has been a point of controversy in education at least since pocket calculators became available. I try to explain by shifting the focus from neurological to musculoskeletal development. It's easy to see that physical activity promotes development of children's bodies. So although machines can aid in many physical tasks, nobody is…

This is the motivation I needed right now

Re: How University Students Use Claude

#316

Post by ugh123 »

dtnewman wrote: post #14

> A common question is: “how much are students using AI to cheat?” That’s hard to answer, especially as we don’t know the specific educational context where each of Claude’s responses is being used. I built a popular product that helps teachers with this problem. Yes, it's "hard to answer", but let's be honest... it's a very very widespread problem. I've talked to hundreds of teachers about this and it's a ubiquitous…

>I built a popular product that helps teachers with this problem.

Does your product help teachers detect cheating? Because I hear none of them are accurate, with many false positives and ruined academic careers.

Are you saying yours is better?

Re: How University Students Use Claude

#317

Post by rrr_oh_man »

DSingularity wrote: post #310
enjo wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's literally "let me paste the assignment into ChatGPT and see what it spits out, change a few words and submit that". My wife is an accounting professor. For many years her battle was with students using Chegg and the like. They would submit roughly correct answers but because she would rotate the underlying numbers they would always be wrong in a provably cheating way. This made up 5-8% of her students. Now she…

This is now reality -- fighting to change the students is a losing battle. Besides in terms of normalizing grade distributions this is not that complicated to solve. Target the cheaters with pop quizzes. Prof can randomly choose 3 questions from assignments. If students cant get enough marks on 2/3 of them they are dealt a huge penalty. Students that actually work through the problems will have no problems with scori…

Maybe we'll revert to Soviet bilet-style oral exams...

Re: How University Students Use Claude

#319

Post by cellularmitosis »

DSingularity wrote: post #310
enjo wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's literally "let me paste the assignment into ChatGPT and see what it spits out, change a few words and submit that". My wife is an accounting professor. For many years her battle was with students using Chegg and the like. They would submit roughly correct answers but because she would rotate the underlying numbers they would always be wrong in a provably cheating way. This made up 5-8% of her students. Now she…

This is now reality -- fighting to change the students is a losing battle. Besides in terms of normalizing grade distributions this is not that complicated to solve. Target the cheaters with pop quizzes. Prof can randomly choose 3 questions from assignments. If students cant get enough marks on 2/3 of them they are dealt a huge penalty. Students that actually work through the problems will have no problems with scori…

Why not just grade solely based on live performance? (quizzes and tests)

Homework would still be assigned as a learning tool, but has no impact on your grade.

Re: How University Students Use Claude

#320

Post by el_benhameen »

enjo wrote: post #297
dtnewman wrote: post #14

> A common question is: “how much are students using AI to cheat?” That’s hard to answer, especially as we don’t know the specific educational context where each of Claude’s responses is being used. I built a popular product that helps teachers with this problem. Yes, it's "hard to answer", but let's be honest... it's a very very widespread problem. I've talked to hundreds of teachers about this and it's a ubiquitous…

> it's literally "let me paste the assignment into ChatGPT and see what it spits out, change a few words and submit that". My wife is an accounting professor. For many years her battle was with students using Chegg and the like. They would submit roughly correct answers but because she would rotate the underlying numbers they would always be wrong in a provably cheating way. This made up 5-8% of her students. Now she…

I wonder to what extent this is students who would have stuck it out now taking the easy way and to what extent it’s students who would have just failed now trying to stick it out.
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