by Irina Tzoneva and Miguel Durana
BCcampus Research Fellow Irina Tzoneva is exploring the ethical challenges and opportunities generative AI brings to academic writing in higher education.
She co-hosted a podcast episode titled Write or Wrong? AI, Academic Integrity, and the Student Voice, with Miguel Durana, also from Douglas College. The podcast examines how undergraduate students are using AI tools like ChatGPT in their academic work, and features student interviews sharing firsthand experiences, including perspectives on academic integrity and ethical grey areas.
Listen to the full podcast episode:
This research is supported by the BCcampus Research Fellows Program, providing B.C. post-secondary educators and students funding to conduct small-scale research on teaching and learning as well as to explore evidence-based teaching practices focused on student success and learning.
Podcast Excerpt
Irina: Let’s begin with the most common way students use AI: as a writing assistant. From grammar correction to idea generation, many students see AI tools as an extra pair of eyes.
Miguel: Brandon uses a combination of AI tools, but not to outsource his thinking. His strategy? Think first, then refine.
Brandon: I like to make sure I’m making the ideas and I’m writing the paper… I use, you know, for instance, one of the literature review platforms to find articles, and then also while that’s happening, I’m looking for articles on my own to make sure that I’m finding some good stuff. Then I can compile that, and you know, I’ll read the papers. By that point, I’ll kind of have the picture of how I want to write my essay in my mind, or I’ll have a structure or sort of an outline, like briefly point form on a piece of paper that I’m following and then I’m plucking out ideas from the papers that I’ve read or from the summaries of the AI following that sort of structure that I have on my paper. And then, once there’s like a rough draft, I’ll plug it into Grammarly. It’ll look for errors. I leave it. Maybe read once again on my own like a day or maybe the same day if it’s due that day or whatever and then, like, once I reread it, I’ll also put it into Grammarly again, because I might make changes.
Irina: Kiaan agrees. He values AI as a brainstorming companion, especially when he hits a block.
Kiaan: If I give it a topic, and I’m stuck, it’s really good at giving concepts I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. If I feel like I’m trying to describe something or I’m trying to describe an idea, and I can’t find the words for it. It’s really good at like finding good words that will then work out.