Food Science Students using AI

Sheila Hooten has used a quarterly "Food in the News" assignment for the past several years with the intention of students connecting what they're learning in class with what's happening in the food industry. For the assignment, students use reliable resources (recommended sites and site evaluation resources from Dr. Turner) to locate industry (Food Science) level articles from periodicals, write a summary, and answer questions about the article. During Q1 this year, Mrs. Hooten noticed many students were submitting work that appeared to be AI generated. After re-thinking the assignment, she determined that she wanted students to focus on what they got out of the article instead of the summary and questions used in the past, which were easily AI-able. The new assignment asks students to answer "Why did you choose this article and how does it relate to you?", to include 3 suggested actions or changes of thought brought on by the article, and to write a summary that supports these actions/changes. 

When Sheila shared the new assignment expectations with students, she said, "You would have thought I had lit a firecracker by the looks on their faces when I said, "I don't care if you use AI or not.  Many of you have, and it is very evident.  I use it, too!  But, let me tell you ---- let it help you make your submission better!!!!  Don't use it to do the submission for you.  What I have seen in some of your submissions this past quarter are ---- the article didn't make sense as to why you would choose it.... and your summary wouldn't tie to your 3 suggestions.  It all needs to work together to make sense when I am grading."  She said, "AI is part of your world!  You need to learn how to use it to help - not to cheat yourself out of the critical thinking process!""

When their most recent assignments were submitted, Mrs. Hooten was pleasantly surprised by most submissions. It appeared that several students had used AI as a resource but added their own critical thinking and analysis to create their own end product.

Penney Matos and Tammy Turner have both been helpful with this assignment. If you would like to brainstorm ideas, please reach out!