Earlier this year, the Lumen Christi English Department made a big change after realizing many students in the Publications class were using AI to help write their articles. Because of this, the department decided to stop allowing AI use and now requires all writing assignments to be submitted through Turnitin.com. At the start of the year, students began using AI to help with brainstorming, writing drafts, and editing articles. While it helped students save time and get ideas, teachers started noticing that a lot of the writing sounded very similar. Some articles didn’t match the writing style students usually showed in class. After looking into it more, the department figured out AI was being used more than expected. Teachers compared recent articles to older ones and saw clear differences in tone, vocabulary, and structure. Some of the new articles seemed more sophisticated and too detailed. Because of this, the English Department announced a new rule that AI can no longer be used for articles. All articles must now be uploaded to Turnitin, which checks for AI and originality. Reactions from students have leaned more towards the negative side. Many feel frustrated because they used AI to help brainstorm ideas or help make their article better than it was. On the other hand, some students agree with it and they think it helps improve their writing skills. Senior Nolan Huff said “It’s kind of nice not using AI, it makes us better writers.”
In the end, opinions differ, but there continues to be an ongoing debate about the place of AI in the class.