AI is sparking debate in upper secondary education: Should we go back to pen and paper—or integrate AI into teaching and exams? Read this week’s news, opinions, and studies on how schools are handling AI in the education system.
This week’s news on artificial intelligence in education again focuses on challenges with cheating and the need to adapt exam formats.
The debate about AI in teaching and in exams has been simmering for a long time. We have written about it in many of our newsletters, but Henrik Nevers’ opinion piece in Berlingske appears to have been a catalyst for increased attention to the challenges. The Danish Minister for Children and Education was also interviewed in Berlingske, where he signalled that more exams may in future take place with pen and paper.
The debate is far from over, and it seems as if the whole sector is calling for action, which is particularly evident in the many opinion pieces and op-eds published last week.
Amid the heated debate, it is important to stay calm. While everyone is discussing solutions, we still need to answer the fundamental question: Which core competences should students be able to master independently before they can use AI meaningfully?
Special Consultant Ove Christensen has published an interesting post on LinkedIn, pointing out that it is the student’s practice and engagement that determine the learning outcome.
Center for IT i Undervisningen (Centre for IT in Education) has published a new study from the vocational education and training (VET) programmes, in which students ask for more teaching in technical application, ethics and concrete tools. The report is accessible via the link.
A completely different perspective is that AI is changing our language, and The Verge has published an interesting article about this. We are losing the small linguistic mistakes, the humour, the regional flavour and the language’s vulnerabilities – elements that usually affirm our humanity.
We have also compiled this week’s news from the tech world. Finally, you’ll find articles we didn’t have space to cover in more detail.
Enjoy the newsletter!
In Berlingske, Henrik Nevers, principal at Roskilde Gymnasium (upper secondary school), writes that students’ assignments have improved linguistically, but that in many cases this is due to AI and not necessarily academic development on the part of the students. This gap between coursework and exam performance creates distrust of grades and thus also of the exam certificate.
Henrik Nevers therefore proposes that written annual grades in certain subjects should be abolished because they are no longer reliable. Instead, written and oral work could be combined into a single year grade.
Jens Ejsing
From the next school year, certain upper secondary school students will sit exams exclusively with pen and paper. This applies, among others, to subjects such as French beginner’s A, Italian A and Spanish beginner’s A. The decision is based on experience from earlier trials showing that the analogue exam format strengthens students’ ability to produce language independently.
Mattias Tesfaye, the Danish Minister for Children and Education, sees this as a balanced strategy in which AI should be included in some subjects and exam formats, while others are completely decoupled from digital aids.
“We are starting with these language subjects, but I can easily imagine it in several other subjects,” says Mattias Tesfaye to Berlingske.
He emphasises that the ability to write clearly remains a core competence that must be preserved and strengthened.
Jens Ejsing
Speaking to DR, Maja Bødtcher-Hansen, chair of Danske Gymnasier (the Danish association of upper secondary schools), explains that AI creates distrust and uncertainty among both teachers and students. She proposes that AI should in future be integrated as part of the exam format, for example by allowing students to work with the tools and then document and reflect critically on their use.
Both Gymnasieskolernes Lærerforening (the Danish Union of Upper Secondary School Teachers, GL) and Center for Undervisningsmidler (Centre for Teaching Resources) support the proposal. They see the written exams in particular as challenged, because language models can generate answers that make it difficult to assess a student’s independent work.
In addition, a technological arms race is playing out between proctoring software and creative students trying to circumvent the systems during exams.
Allan Nisgaard
Many upper secondary students use AI tools such as ChatGPT extensively in their studies but experience a mismatch when these tools are banned in exams. Students like Joachim Ekstrand Federspiel and Luna Lykke Sørensen describe it as both frustrating and unfair to be allowed to use AI all year but have to forgo it in the exam. According to the students, it is equivalent to removing the calculator in mathematics or fighting with your hands tied behind your back.
There is therefore also a wish for more systematic teaching in AI and technological literacy, preferably as a separate subject in upper secondary school.
A report from Danmarks Evalueringsinstitut (the Danish Evaluation Institute, EVA) shows, however, that AI creates uncertainty and distrust among teachers and external examiners because it is difficult to assess how much the student has contributed themselves. Many therefore point to a solution in which AI may be used, but where the exam is followed by an oral account and critical reflection on its use.
Simon Andersen Nielsen
Author Stefan Flensmark, upper secondary teacher and AI course instructor, argues that we should drop the discourse of cheating and instead see AI as an opportunity to rethink how we teach and conduct exams.
He believes this development has arrived at a pace that surpasses earlier technological advances, and that Danish upper secondary schools need to adapt.
According to Flensmark, it will be a bloodbath in the exam if we continue as we have done with purely traditional methods.
Instead, schools should open their doors and develop teaching and examinations that embed AI as a tool, both in the learning process and in documenting students’ academic competences.
Stefan Flensmark
In an opinion piece on Skolemonitor, principal Lars Roesen from Ringkjøbing Gymnasium (upper secondary school) argues that the education sector can no longer ignore AI’s presence and significance. He emphasises that the decision to use AI in society has already been made, and that both private and public actors are making extensive use of the technology.
Schools and upper secondary schools must therefore keep pace and take responsibility for teaching students to use AI in a critical and responsible way.
He warns against creating an examination practice that does not reflect the reality students encounter outside school. If examinations do not include the use of AI, we risk creating an artificial parallel world that does not prepare students for the digital reality.
In the opinion piece, he explains that AI should not be seen as a threat to academic standards, but as a technology that actually requires subject knowledge in order to be used responsibly and appropriately.
In an op-ed in Avisen Danmark, Søren Rinnov Østergaard, country manager for Samsung Danmark, takes as his starting point his own son’s use of AI to write a Danish assignment in 15 minutes.
According to Søren Rinnov Østergaard, we are in the midst of a fundamental change that has yet to be met with a corresponding willingness to reform — neither from the political system nor from the education sector itself. He warns that essays and homework assignments will increasingly become meaningless if they are not adapted to a reality in which AI is readily available.
/ritzau/
The debate about whether generative AI strengthens or weakens learning is, according to senior consultant Ove Christensen, wrongly framed. The question is not whether one learns from AI, but how the technology is used.
A new study from Københavns Professionshøjskole (Copenhagen University College) shows that fewer than 5% of students avoid AI entirely, while the vast majority use tools such as ChatGPT for tasks like inspiration, understanding, translations, information retrieval and writing assistance. Writing assistance is an area where AI can both support learning and challenge academic authenticity.
The study points to two ways of using AI: either to outsource one’s study work, which reduces learning, or as a partner in an active and reflective process. It is the latter that supports academic development. The point is that the technology does not determine the learning outcome; the student’s practice and engagement do.
Ove Christensen
Center for IT i undervisningen (the Centre for IT in Education, CIU) has conducted a survey among 745 students from vocational education programmes. It shows that the use of AI has become widespread. 64% have used it in their studies, particularly for understanding, inspiration and linguistic support.
Many students express concern about AI’s impact on their ability to think for themselves, the risk of cheating and uncertainty about the rules. A quarter of the students have used AI to write entire assignments, and more than half believe that this is cheating. Uncertainty about when the use of AI is acceptable characterises many students, who also encounter varying attitudes among teachers.
Source: CIU
The study points to a clear need: students are asking for teaching in technical application, ethics and specific tools.
7 out of 10 would like to learn more about AI – especially how the technology is used responsibly. There is a particular desire for a shared introduction and clear guidelines for the use of AI in teaching.
The Student Panel recommends three initiatives: that all students receive the same introduction to AI, that all teachers actively consider AI’s role in their subjects, and that teaching is planned so that AI supports students’ academic reflection rather than taking over their work.
https://videnscenterportalen.dk/ciu/katalog/elevpanel-ai/
The Verge has published an article in which researchers at the Max Planck Institute show that ChatGPT is influencing our language. Analyses of over 280,000 YouTube videos document a marked increase in the use of words preferred by AI.
It often happens without users noticing. AI’s linguistic habits creep in and shape both our speech and our thinking. But AI’s influence extends beyond word choice. Studies show that communication becomes more structured, emotionally neutral, and characterised by a more uniform AI tone.
This leads to a new form of mistrust: people perceive language that could have been generated by AI as less authentic, even when it is not. It is not the use of AI itself that arouses scepticism, but the suspicion of it.
Researchers warn about the loss of human signals: small linguistic slips, humour, regional character and vulnerability, which normally confirm that we are flesh-and-blood humans. These signals disappear when we let AI do the wording for us. This can weaken trust and identity in both private and public communication.
Sara Parker
Hiromu Yakura
Here is a brief overview of new or improved AI technologies that appeared last week.
Text_ Johan Rasmussen Photo_ Shutterstock (Archive photo)
Louis Dohlmann Langen
Maja Plesner
Ole Sejer Iversen
