SNHU, AI, and Academic Integrity
I posted this to r/adjuncts and received a request to cross-post here. Hoping it catches the attention of SNHU administrators so we can get some answers.
To any students reading this: Just want to clarify that I don't believe that ALL students are cheating with AI (just the majority!). I do appreciate and admire those of you who do the work - keep it up.
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I "teach" two sections a term of purely asynchronous, online college composition courses at SNHU. It's really more like facilitation and grading than teaching because the courses are so templated, which is perfectly fine because it's easy (if not much) money. I'm lucky to have a full-time day job in higher ed admin and I adjunct mainly to save money for my kid's college education, so I'm trying not to grouse too much.
That said...
I've been teaching composition in both online and in-person formats for 20+ years. Since the emergence of AI, it just doesn't seem possible in an asynch, online environment. I would estimate that 80% of student work is completely or mostly AI-generated. If I took the time to report every infraction to academic integrity, it would take up all my time (the reporting honestly takes more time than grading does) and make working for SNHU pointless.
So, I've taken to reporting only the most absolutely glaring of AI-generated writing. Even then, it seems somewhat pointless and the lag time on the reviews is ABSURD. I just got back a review I submitted in July (it's October) for a class that ended over a month ago. Every single time, it comes back as a verified infraction, but the student is never given more than a "warning" - even for multiple infractions in the same course!
It feels like I'm in absolute bizarro land grading the work of bots 10-12 hours a week. It beats gutting fish or working in a poultry plant, but man, so much for the joy of teaching.
I've written to the Deans for guidance and to ask what their long-term vision/strategy is on this issue, but I've gotten nothing back besides apologies for delays and: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Honestly, WTF?! Wearing my administrator hat, I would think that SNHU would be concerned with the integrity of their brand. If they're churning out cheaters who haven't learned anything, in a few years employers will catch on and won't want to hire SNHU graduates, and in turn prospective students won't want to go there. This seems like an absolute race to the bottom that should be a major concern for the university, but no one seems to care.
Does anyone have a different read or take? Where do you see this going in the next 5 years? I'm not very active in the field of composition studies and I wonder what alternatives have been proposed for online/asynchronous environments. Does anyone work at SNHU and know what the heck is going on?