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As ChatGPT has become increasingly popular and widely used, PCC has not created an individual policy on its use. Still, some professors have begun to set their own rules most commonly in writing-heavy classes, such as English, history, and even art.

Under PCC’s course policies, which govern the operation of individual courses, does not currently have a section on the use of AI. However, it has a section on Academic Honesty and Authentication guidelines to serve as boundaries for how classes are conducted and how students are disciplined. 

“Raise students’ awareness by designing rules for academic honesty and classroom behavior as part of an initial class activity,” PCC’s Academic Honesty policy section said. 

Another guideline was creating a range of duties assessments in the course design to use student’s critical thinking skills and relying solely on objective tests or just having questions answered. There are other guidelines that students can also read on how to prevent plagiarism. However, there is no specific section of the policies that states how AI is set to be used at PCC or guidance for professors. 

PCC spokesperson Alex Boekelheide at PCC wrote in a statement in response to The Courier’s inquiry about PCC’s official stance on AI tools and ChatGPT.

“Divisions and even departments may have different guidelines for incorporating AI into the instructional environment,” Boekelheide said. “The college remains curious about the possibilities of using AI as a learning tool in the classrooms.” 

Each individual professor on campus has a different method on how to address things like ChatGPT and AI sources being used by students. In one example at PCC, a creative writing class, taught by Professor Brian Adler wrote in the class syllabus that AI is prohibited from being used in the class. 

“Artificial intelligence (AI) language modes, such as ChatGPT, and online writing tools cannot be used for course assignments except as explicitly authorized by the instructor,” the syllabus said. “Incorporating an AI-generated response in an assignment, unattributed use of online learning support platforms…are forms of academic dishonesty and will be treated as such.”  

PCC English professor Genesis Montalvo spoke about how she heard of ChatGPT and shared how it affects the class she teaches. She spoke with her fellow peers about the concerns they all have about Chat-GPT.   

“It was a lot of concerns folks being nervous about what it means because they saw it as an advanced form of plagiarism,” Professor Montalvo said. “It was a lot of these conversations that for me sounded very much like how do we police students to stop them from using it.” 

Since Open AI launched ChatGPT in November of last year, colleges and businesses have struggled to combat the use of the AI generator due to its convincing and sophisticated abilities in passing exams and writing essays. 

In the same article, at the University of Pennsylvania, it was discovered that the technology was used to pass exams for students successfully without any discovery of the tool being used. 

However, not all school districts feel threatened by what ChatGPT provides to their students and faculty. For the California Teachers Association, some teachers are embracing AI for its time-saving, and innovative learning tools. Instructional coach Brenda Richards for over 30 years says teachers need to embrace the future for the sake of their student’s education. 

“There is no going back to a pre-ChatGPT time,” Richards said. “I think we truly need to embrace how we are going to prepare students for the future.”   

In the same article, Coronado High School AP teacher Bill Lemei believes that teachers should start getting in front of the technology and it discusses its pros and cons before bad habits prevail. 

“Delaying will only make it harder to break bad habits and tendencies,” Lemei said in the article. 

Staff Members for the  Policy Analysis of California Education wrote about the urgency of addressing Artificial Intelligence issues in schools. 

“Districts should adopt policies for the 2023–24 school year that help students to engage with AI in productive ways,” The article said. “This will help avoid a quagmire of widespread misuse of AI while leaving open opportunities to take advantage of the technology’s educational benefits.”

At Pasadena City College, students gave their perspectives on ChatGPT and what role it has at PCC. 

Peter Feng is a sophomore in communications here at PCC and believes there is a concern about the use of ChatGPT, while also believing that in its current form, the tool poses no real threat to academic integrity. 

“In its current state, ChatGPT I don’t think poses too much of a danger because it’s still fairly reasonable to point out,” Feng said. “If it continues to evolve and continue learning in a direction, it will keep going in a direction which is unprecedented and incredibly dangerous.” 

Freshman studio arts major, Jessica Favela addresses similar concerns about the abuse of ChatGPT.

“ChatGPT is an AI, it’s not creating anything new,” Favela said. “It’s just referencing from already existing text, already existing material, and stealing from writers and creators in general and their works in order to come up with something different.”

PCC students continue their thoughts about the pros and cons of AI, specifically Chat-GPT. Favela believes there is a benefit in relation to AI art. 

“We could use AI in order to come up with references, new references,” Favela said. “I don’t think it should be used in order to sort of pass off as actual human-made artworks.”  

Professor Montalvo spoke about how Chat GPT was being used by her family and friends and believed in its potential for positive change on campus. 

“For me, it became a matter of like, this is here to stay,” Montalvo said. “I don’t want to be a police officer in my classes so I know students are gonna use it, how do I teach them to use it effectively.”  

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