No gadgets in class.
It’s one of the first things I tell my journalism students every year. I do not allow them to use laptops, cellphones, or tablets. Definitely no ChatGPT or generative artificial intelligence (AI).
Taking down notes by hand, I tell them, helps them retain information better.
Over the past two semesters, I have also asked my students to submit handwritten essays, which they are supposed to finish in class. I only allow them to bring one page of handwritten notes containing key concepts or excerpts from our readings, which they can then quote in their papers.
It is one of my ways to make our essays “AI-proof,” or else many of them will simply ask AI to write their papers. Or they will probably use AI, then rewrite the text in their own words to evade AI detection software.
