Can Teachers Spot AI Essays?

Author

Neil Almond
May 07, 2024

Hey human,

This week we zoom in with some evidence that will be important to secondary colleagues who have to mark essays, a new AI app for Claude, and a new prompt that build on one used previously, but uses a template to help those comments more specific -all while preserving the privacy of the student.

Tools 🛠️

  1. Claude iOS App → Popular Large Language Model alternative, Claude, now has a native iOS application. From the app you can upload files to interrogate and grant access to your camera to allow Claude to analyse multi-media in front of you.

Zooming in 🔬 

📑 Do teachers spot AI? Evaluating the detectability of AI-generated texts among student essays → Check out my thread explaining this paper below.

An important caveat is that the prompts were engineered by the researchers themselves. However, this could just show the importance of a high-quality prompt in making work from LMMs ending perceived as more authentic.

📚 Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI → Ethan Mollick, a renowned academic who experiments with AI, has released the ‘definitive playbook for working, learning, and living in the new age of AI.’

Fresh prompts ✨

This is the final prompt that can support report writing for teachers. This one utilises Claude as you can upload entire word docs for it to analyse. However, for this to work in Copilot, you could take a screenshot of the report format, but this will take some additional steps.

  1. Fill in the template with all the attainment and behaviour details, but do not add any identifiable information. I would even go so far as to suggest removing the school name.

  2. Log into Claude and upload the report from step one. This can be done through clicking the paper clip in the chat box.

  3. Paste the following prompt: 

You need to write some statements that could be used for school reports for children who go to school in England. Every year, schools must report back on the following, achievements and general progress The reports need to be in a professional and well written tone as the audience for them are the parents. The language should be positive. For example, instead of <example> Jonny constantly messes around in lessons </example> it should be <example> Jonny has worked hard on his focus, but can still find it difficult to participate in lessons.</example>.

Use the template to support the generation of the teacher comment and three targets by attending to the key on how well pupils are doing in each subject. The general comments should focus on non-core subjects in the English national curriculum.

Here is some of the output:

Note that Amelia is a name made up by Claude. This was not included in the report that was uploaded.

Class Teacher's Comment

Amelia has been an enthusiastic and hardworking pupil throughout the year. Her reading fluency has developed very well, allowing her to tackle more complex texts with confidence. In writing, Amelia is making good progress in structuring her ideas coherently and using an increasingly rich vocabulary.

Amelia's mathematical skills are secure and she applies her knowledge accurately to problem-solving. An area to continue developing is fuller explanations of her working process. In science, Amelia demonstrates keen scientific curiosity through her insightful questioning.

Amelia is a friendly and cooperative member of the class. She has concentrated well in lessons across the curriculum, actively contributing her ideas. Amelia's creative flair has been particularly evident in her art projects this year. Her singing has also been a valued contribution to music lessons and performances. With her positive attitude to learning, Amelia has had a successful year.

Targets for the Year Ahead

- To develop more stamina for extended writing tasks, practicing planning and revising her work.

- To build deeper reasoning skills in math, explaining her thinking process more comprehensively.

- To push herself further in the foundation subjects by asking for extension tasks that challenge her abilities.

For the non-core subjects, some positive points could include:

Art: Amelia approaches art activities enthusiastically and her observational drawing skills are developing well.

Music: Amelia has good rhythm and sings with confidence. She is learning to read musical notation.

PE: Amelia is an energetic participant who works well in teams. Her ball handling skills are a strength.

This maintains a professional, celebratory tone while highlighting areas for further progress. Let me know if you need any clarification or have additional requirements.

Knowledge Builders 📚

  • Natural Language Processing (NLP) → A subfield of AI that focuses on teaching computers to comprehend written and spoken language.

  • Data Mining →Data mining refers to the process of extracting valuable patterns and insights from large datasets to train and improve machine learning models.

Industry updates 🤖

  1. Explanation support → Generates ideas to help you make your explanation even better. Use in ChatGPT.

  1. Fantasy images → Create a rich scene to use as a background for your reading sessions. Use in Midjourney.

‘Till next week, keep on prompting.

Mr A 🦾