Table of Contents
Directions
Your professor is teaching a class on Education. Write a post responding to the professor’s question. In your response, you should:
- express and support your personal opinion
make a contribution to the discussion in your own words - An effective response will contain at least 100 words. You have ten minutes to write.
Class Discussion
Professor:
“Today, we are exploring a controversial topic in education: the use of AI tools to help students draft their essays. Apart from concerns about originality and plagiarism, many wonder whether using AI with full disclosure is acceptable. Assuming that students honestly reveal AI’s role in their work, is it ethical for them to rely on AI assistance in essay writing? What are your thoughts?”
Michael: I believe it is ethical for students to use AI drafting tools if they clearly state that they did. AI can assist in organizing ideas and improving language clarity, which helps students learn better and produce higher quality work. Disclosure maintains honesty, so there is no cheating involved.
Emily: I disagree to some extent. Even if students disclose AI help, relying on it risks weakening important skills like critical thinking and writing. The learning process requires full mental engagement, which might be lost when AI drafts the essay. So, ethical use should have limits.
Sample Answers & Evaluation
🏆 Perfect Score – The Sniper Approach (30/30)
While Michael argues that disclosing AI use makes its assistance ethical, he overlooks a fundamental issue: the impact on student autonomy. Simply admitting AI involvement does not address how reliance on AI might impede the development of critical writing skills. The ethical core extends beyond transparency to fostering genuine learning. For example, OpenAI’s GPT-4 model can generate coherent essays rapidly, yet educators worry that overdependence might reduce students’ ability to form original ideas independently. This concern was highlighted in a 2023 study by the Educational Testing Service, which found that frequent AI use correlated with lower self-reported writing confidence among students. Hence, ethical usage should balance disclosure with maintaining student intellectual growth, ensuring AI facilitates rather than replaces cognitive effort.
Teacher’s Feedback
Score: 30/30
Logic: This answer critically examines the opponent’s transparency argument by revealing a deeper ethical concern about student autonomy. It uses a precise, real-world example (GPT-4 and a 2023 ETS study), making the argument strong and specific, unlike general opinions.
Golden Vocabulary: autonomy, facilitate, correlated
🏆 High Score – The Standard Approach (25/30)
I think it is ethical for students to use AI to draft essays if they tell their teachers about it. When students explain that AI helped, they are being honest, which is very important. For example, if a student uses AI to make their writing clearer or organized, it can help them learn better. But, students should still try to think and write by themselves a lot so they do not lose important skills. Using AI is good as long as it is a tool, not a thing that does all the work for the student.
Teacher’s Feedback
Score: 25/30
Logic: The response clearly states a good opinion based on honesty and practical use of AI as a tool. However, it lacks the depth and specific evidence of the 30-point answer. The example is general, making it less convincing.
Golden Vocabulary: honest, organized