Thread

1. a57721 · 1790407197 · focus · HN ↗

   I am teaching some math courses, and I see how LLMs disrupted all standard approaches, and I don't know what to do.

   I rely on written exams that are open book, but forbid any use of computers and smartphones in class.

   The university insists that homework can't be optional, but it lost its meaning. I've tried to explain to my students that it's in their interest to think about home assignments on their own, but the majority will obviously use gen AI, and it's such a waste of time to check and grade LLM output.

   I just had an experience where all students were given "sample problems" to try at home and prepare for the written test. Many of them just dumped the document into an LLM, asked it to produce some "exam guide", and showed up with that thing printed out, asking me during the test to explain what LLM output meant.

   It seems like the university also has many people pushing for AI use for everything, but I teach basic stuff where the goal is to make students think on their own and digest some fundamental ideas, LLMs can produce perfect solutions, but relying on them is pointless.

   1. armchairhacker · 1790415334 · focus · HN ↗

      > such a waste of time to check and grade LLM output

      Small nitpick: you teach math, why don't you use an automated grader?

      I agree homework should be optional and your college is wrong. Even without AI, for some students it's easy to cheat and maybe for some students it's a waste of time. Maybe you can assign it a very low score, like 5% of the final grade, and/or award the grade based on attempting rather than getting the right answer.

      1. anal_reactor · 1790416103 · focus · HN ↗

         > why don't you use an automated grader?

         LLM verifies output of another LLM. The circle is complete, and nobody has any doubts that this is just a theatre.

         With manual grading, that one student who genuinely tries still has a chance to meaningfully engage.

         1. jmalicki · 1790473367 · focus · HN ↗

            Translate the proof to lean and verify it.

            If the proof isn't trivially translatable to lean, is it actually a good proof?

            1. DonaldPShimoda · 1790527905 · focus · HN ↗

               Good homework feedback for a proof isn't "Did you get this right?", it's "Why did you not get this right?" or "How can we make your correct solution better?", neither of which fall out of a Lean translation-and-verification pass.

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