The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is changing the way it teaches and tests students as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a bigger part of college life.
MIT wants to bring more human interaction into classrooms after finding that students are increasingly depending on AI for their studies. A new report by a committee of MIT professors and students found that AI is making regular assignments, take-home exams and even some classroom learning less effective. The committee spent five months studying how students are using AI and how it is affecting their education. The report found that study groups are becoming less common and fewer students are going to teachers during office hours. It also found that regular assignments and take-home exams are becoming harder to use to check what students actually know. AI tools can now write answers to many college-level questions, which makes it difficult for teachers to know whether students have actually understood the subject. The report warned that students who depend too much on AI may lose confidence in their own skills. Some may also turn to AI as soon as they face a difficult question instead of trying to solve it themselves. AI use is common among MIT students. The report also found that more students now feel that AI could make them replaceable than those who believe it makes them more capable. Instead, it wants to change the way students are tested. The report suggested more oral exams, long-term projects and portfolios. It also wants students to do more work together in person.
Because it is cheaper, the report also warned universities against replacing undergraduate research assistants with AI. About 46% of the undergraduate students surveyed said they use large language models (LLMs) every day. At the same time, 90% said they were worried about depending too much on AI.
The committee called this “cognitive surrender”. MIT said it does not want to deal with the problem by constantly checking students for AI use. The committee also said that universities should rethink the focus on grades and GPA. It said less pressure around grades could reduce the reason for some students to use AI to get better marks.
“The most famous tech school on earth admitted the machines broke its way of teaching.
Its answer is more humans, not more software,” the report said.
