This has been the first academic year when students could – and many did – use newly available artificial intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, to write academic essays or exam papers. Lithuanian universities are still working out how to deal with it.
Vilnius University’s Institute of International Relations and Political Science (VU TSPMI), one of the most competitive higher education institutions in the country, says it is teaching its students to analyse information deeply and to speak in an argumentative manner. These are not skills developed quickly, but are refined gradually through live discussions as well as writing academic essays.
Students are expected to make extensive research, read a lot of academic papers and books to construct their own arguments, whereas artificial intelligence seems to offer a quick shortcut.
Lecturers are worried that it is becoming increasingly difficult for students to resist the temptation to use artificial intelligence.
“It’s a kind of cat and mouse game. If we come up with a way to catch the students who are cheating, they will immediately come up with a way to get around it,” says Lina Strupinskienė, deputy director for studies at VU TSPMI. “That’s why we don’t want to outright ban the use of ChatGPT, but we would like to make that use meaningful for the purpose of study. And that it could even be integrated into the study process.”
AI can not only write academic essays in social sciences or humanities, but also make calculations and program. This is the challenge facing Kaunas University of Technology.
The university’s vice-rector for studies, Jonas Čeponis, says that artificial intelligence is able to perform a wide range of calculations without any major difficulties, which is why the university is considering reintroducing oral examinations to better test students’ skills. Particular attention would be paid to final theses.
“During live defence, [students have to] answer questions or show intermediate calculations,” says Čeponis. “When there are any calculations to be done, they have to show their raw data, how they did the calculations, what they did to reach their conclusion or calculation results.”
Vilnius University is also following a similar path. The misuse of artificial intelligence by students at this higher education institution was noticed in the spring exam session. However, while their teachers quickly saw what the students were doing, they could not penalise them because the university has not yet adopted formal guidelines about the use of artificial intelligence.
“If [a student has to present] an analysis of a piece of fiction, a lecturer can immediately spot the nonsense, things that are not there. But if you are writing a bachelor’s thesis and, say, present an overview of existing research, that’s something that [AI] can do pretty well,” says Diana Šileikaitė-Kaishauri, vice-dean for studies at the Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University.
Meanwhile, the rector of Klaipėda University, Artūras Razbadauskas, says that there were no attempts to submit works generated by AI during the last exam session.
However, the head of the university is under no illusion that it is not coming sooner or later. It is not a bad thing in itself, Razbadauskas believes, but if students are using ChatGPT to cheat on their essays, their teachers must be familiar with the technology so they can recognise it. “It is quite a challenge for universities,” he quips.
At Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, a lecturer recognised cheating when students quotes non-existent sources. “In one study programme, six students out of 10 used the ChatGPT service,” says Simona Pilkienė, vice-rector for studies.
Universities agree on one thing: the misuse of artificial intelligence will be treated as academic dishonesty. Students could face a very severe punishment, including expulsion.
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