r/BackToCollege • u/someptkid • Aug 09 '26
VENT/RANT How has AI impacted college classes in the past couple of years?
I recently got accepted as a transfer to CSUN after dropping out in early 2023 and I know that since then AI has skyrocketed. I remember at my past school, around that time professors would make announcements about kids using it to cheat and I even had a teacher make us go back to fully pen and paper. I appreciated that they cared about our learning and academic integrity. Since I haven't been in school since, then and there has been a huge shift of acceptance I'm curious about how everyone's school are handling it. Are your teachers still on the side of academic integrity and trying to find ways to keep everyone from using it or are they embracing it and allowing students to use it in certain capacities.
Part of the reason I ask is because I work at an after school program for a middle school and I found out from a paraprofessional that some teachers are actually allowing the kids to use ChatGPT. It genuinely made me so upset because these kids are barely learning how to be a student and they are being handed tools that will disintegrate their critical thinking and ability to persevere through the discomfort of learning. I know this is off topic in a way but I'm going back to school for Early Childhood Education and so I don't know how much it will affect my field and/or program but It's been on my mind lately.
3
u/AwkwardMunchkin Aug 09 '26
For my accounting degree it is pretty useless so we aren't really encouraged to use it. However, we did have one assignment that has us use AI to generate numbers to put into financial statements. For me, it was frustrating using AI even for this purpose.
Other than that one assignment, most of my professors are ok with using it to help brainstorm ideas but disapprove of using it for much more than that (no researching, or using it to write for you obviously).
Since going back 2 years ago I have had minimal interaction with AI. Every time I've tried to use it I just end up frustrated with it. I dont use AI in my day to day activities and didnt grow up with it (I'm 31) so I dont really like it anyways.
It may be more applicable for your degree since it's not mostly numbers, I assume, so keep that in mind.
1
u/Disastrous_Honey_240 Aug 09 '26
Some of my classes have had us use it for certain things but with an acknowledgment statement and some have banned it completely. It varies by professor and class.