I’m honestly really frustrated and don’t know what to do.
One of my classes officially ended on May 8, and now during finals week my professors started grading old assignments and gave two of them zeros for “AI use.” The problem is that this is happening after the course already ended, while I’m also trying to prepare for heavy summer classes.
English is my second language, and yes, I do use AI sometimes as a brainstorming tool. I use it to help organize my thoughts, outline ideas, check whether my arguments connect well, whether paragraphs flow correctly, or whether a point makes sense. I also use Grammarly mainly for punctuation and grammar corrections. My professor previously said Grammarly use was understandable/acceptable, so I viewed these tools similarly to tutoring or writing support. But the actual interpretations, reflections, and ideas in my assignments are still mine.
The thing that frustrates me most is that it feels like the assignments may have just been run through an AI detector instead of actually being read carefully.
One of the assignments was literally a reflection discussing Mexican American identity, discrimination, and reactions to the readings/videos from class. I directly referenced course materials and included my own analysis.
I would honestly be completely willing to meet with the professor one-on-one and discuss the assignment or course material in person because I can explain the readings, concepts, and why I connected certain ideas together. But at the same time, it’s finals week, the semester is basically over, and between work and summer classes I honestly don’t even know how this process is supposed to work this late into the semester.
Has anyone dealt with this before? What should I do at this point? Should I email her asking for clarification, ask for a meeting, appeal the grade, or just let it go?