It's Time to Get Medieval to Beat AI Cheating in School

College professors can beg, cajole, and threaten their students all they like about not overusing artificial intelligence in their work, but it's futile, writes New York University vice provost Clay Shirky in a New York Times essay. So how can instructors make sure their students are actually learning something? They might consider "medieval options," writes Shirky. He doesn't mean draconian punishments. Instead, he's referring to the earliest days of education, when books were scarce or nonexistent. When teachers lectured and students listened.

• "At times, writing was discouraged. In 1355 the arts faculty at the University of Paris forbade masters to lecture at a slow speed that would have allowed students to copy their words verbatim."

In the modern age, that might translate into a returned emphasis on oral exams. Or perhaps to more written exams in age-old blue books. "Faculty members can engage students in conversation, via Socratic dialogue or simple Q&A," he writes. "They can cold-call students or get students to ask one another questions." Solutions will take time: Consider that asking modern students who have never learned cursive writing to fill out blue books is daunting and maybe even unfair. Read the full essay, which notes that professors aren't thrilled at all with this, either, especially those with lots of students in their classes.