u/Background_Room_3219

Online classes feel like a completely different battle these days. Professors are watching exam recordings at full screen just to check eye movements, trying to figure out who actually did the work, and spending hours worrying about whether the grades reflect what students really know. Some are redesigning assignments, adding more in-person exams, or simply getting tired of playing detective. When teaching turns into checking videos, questioning submissions, and trying to separate real work from AI-generated work, I can see why so many professors are exhausted. Online learning was supposed to make teaching easier, not turn every assignment into an investigation.

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"I have two major annoyances when it comes to students doing work.

First, a lot of students don’t read or listen to directions. Assignment instructions are written on their papers, and I read them out loud, but I still have students asking me “What are we doing?”

That’s no big deal, though - it’s a pretty normal thing to deal with as a teacher. The real issue bugging me is students cheating on writing assignments using ChatGPT. I’m pretty good at spotting AI-generated essays. But the problem is that when I try to accuse students of using AI, they deny it. They act outraged that I would accuse them even though we both know they’re playing dumb.

I usually just give them a zero and move on with my life, but there’s always the fear that one of them might take the issue to administration. If they did, I’m not confident that admin would back me up. It’s hard to prove something is AI-generated, and these days, the higher ups are more likely to side with the student.

So I hatched a plan. I gave an open-ended creative writing assignment. The directions said to “write a story about anything you want” and then answer some questions about the story you wrote.

The thing is, when you ask ChatGPT, “Tell me a story,” it always spits out the exact same story - about a girl named Elara who lives in the woods.

”Once upon a time, in a small village nestled between rolling hills and dense forests, there lived a young woman named Elara. She was known throughout the village for her curiosity and sense of adventure, always eager to explore the world beyond the familiar paths of her home.”

So, in slightly smaller print under the instructions, I wrote ”If your main character’s name is Elara, -99 points.”

Lo and behold, I got one or two students turn in a story about a girl named Elara who lives in woods. When I turned back the papers with a grade of 1/100 (because I find that it stings more than a zero), the students predictably asked why. And all I had to do was point to the instructions that they didn’t read. There was no need to mention AI. We both knew what they did.

Edit: for people saying they tried ChatGPT and got a different story/name, I don’t know why it’s inconsistent. All I know is that I get the same story every time, and so do my students. The paragraph I put in the post was copied from ChatGPT directly. I discovered all this when a student submitted that same story earlier in the year for a different creative writing assignment." And it can't be my trick everyday we get a new trick be aware of that"

I honestly couldn't believe it. We had a 2,500 word sociology research essay due today, and we split the work in half. I spent days writing my section, editing it, and finding real academic sources. She had more than enough time to finish hers.

This morning I opened our Google Doc for one last check before submission, and my heart dropped. Her whole section looked unfinished. There were lines like "Certainly! Here's a detailed explanation..." left in the paper, random bullet points instead of proper paragraphs, and not a single citation for almost half the essay.

Our university uses Turnitin, and it checks for AI content along with plagiarism. The academic integrity rules are strict, and I wasn't about to risk my grade over something I didn't write.

So I emailed the professor right away and attached the Google Docs revision history showing exactly who wrote each section. I don't feel bad about it. I protected my own work.