Exam cancelled at the University of Ferrara for the use of artificial intelligence applications by some students: everything to be redone for 362 university students. It happened, as La Nuova Ferrara wrote, in the last psychobiology and psychology test with professors Laila Craighero, Damiano Menin and Luigi Zerbinati, in the Motor Sciences degree course at Unife.
The exam, consisting of a series of multiple-choice questions on Google's 'Forms' platform and taken by students using their own computers or tablets, was held on January 27 and was cancelled with two communications sent via email two days later. Initially, there was general talk of a technical problem, but this had sparked an outcry from students who sent numerous emails to Professor Craighero's address. Given the agitation that the first email had sparked among the university students, the teachers decided to get into specifics and sent a second communication in which the decision to cancel the exam was motivated.
"Dear students - we read in the electronic letter - in a previous communication we informed you of the cancellation of the exam, attributing it to technical problems with the platform. However, following internal checks, it emerged that numerous participants used external tools, such as ChatGPT and other online applications, to answer the questions ."
"We have indications that external tools such as ChatGPT were used to answer questions, but it is not possible to trace who did it, we have no method to understand who cheated ," explained Professor Craighero. The professors also explained the reason for a more generic first email: "A student was listed as absent and instead was present and we thought at the time that there had been a technical problem."
Then, considering a very high grade point average - 28, according to the professor - and probably also the reports of some students, the picture became clear. Hence the decision, also shared with the coordinator of the course of study, to cancel the test and repeat it for everyone with methods "that exclude the use of external tools".
(Online Union)
