Le Tremblay became concerned when the Georgetown University Law Center announced last year that it would use Otter, an artificial intelligence-powered transcription service, instead of relying on human note takers. which Tremblay used in the last two years of law school.
“They were really excited and I was really skeptical,” said Tremblay, a former president of the Disability Law Student Association. “I tried it, I hated it, and others came to me, and said, 'This is completely unworkable. You have to do something about it.'”
Tremblay wrote an article for Georgetown Law Technology Review Detailing the actions necessary to ensure that the new technology met the demands of student accommodation and was eventually able to switch back to receiving notes from a human note taker.
Although the stress on transcription apps at Georgetown Law was new at the time, discussions about their use are becoming increasingly common. AI recording devices are entering the classroom as students become more familiar with and dependent on AI in general. With that comes a whole host of questions about privacy concerns, consent and the efficacy of old-fashioned note-taking versus robotics.
But even with many of these questions unanswered, students are moving full speed ahead with the devices.
“It's all coming out now,” said Mark Watkins, a professor at Mississippi State University. “The real challenge is that faculty don't know about it and a lot of developers are going on social media and selling directly to students, not as a learning aid but as a methodology. [stop their] The ability to listen.”
How effective can it be?
But for students like Tremblay, who requested a human note taker as an accommodation, AI transcription errors ended up making what should have been an easy solution more difficult.
“I think everyone should have access to whatever tool works for them. There are people where Otter did a great job,” said Tremblay, who graduated from law school last year and She now works at Legal Voice, an Idaho non-profit organization that advocates and protects the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people. “Unfortunately for the students for whom it's not working, you don't have to spend hours correcting a transcript — because then it's not really a residency.”
Most universities offer note takers to students who request accommodations. Note takers, who are also students, take notes highlighting important and relevant information covered in class lectures. The notes are then provided to students who were unable to collect their notes and requested the service. In Tremblay's case, the note taker saved the notes in Dropbox, not knowing which student would use them, and Tremblay was able to access them.
Watkins served as a student volunteer note-taker at the University of Central Missouri. Students using apps to transcribe notes is one thing, but apps that create flashcards or transcription-based test exercises can be detrimental to long-term learning, he said.
“If you're using AI to listen, synthesize and create flashcards, you're basically just listening for a test and then it's out of your head,” he said.
Genevieve Rice, a rising senior at the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus, is a growing rarity among her classmates — she takes her notes by hand versus on a tablet or laptop. But despite her old-school leanings, she said if there's an AI tool that's freely available, she'll happily use it.
“I have found it. [writing out my notes] It helps keep things in my head a little better, but I spend so much time taking notes that sometimes I'm not as engaged with the class,” said Rice, an Asian studies major and graphic design minor. “And now if I'm busy in class, I can't take notes.”
Rice said she would use AI-generated flashcards and practice quizzes, instead of taking her own notes.
“I started making flashcards for vocabulary at the beginning of this semester, it was good for about a week, but then it became too much of a hassle to put the extra words into flashcard format,” she said. “It would have been great to have an app for that. It would be an additional learning tool that I don't have access to because of the workload.
@notedlyai Where was this my freshman year #studytok #studyhacks #college #collegehacks #ai #collegehack #lecture #collegelecture #class #school ♬ Original Sound – Notedly.ai
Daniel Lima, director of Law and Technology Initiatives at Northwestern University, said the potential performance — or lack thereof — of AI note-taking apps is a huge privacy concern. Data can be leaked, and recordings of lecturers, as well as ideas from other students during discussion sessions, can be used to train AI models.
Despite these concerns, or perhaps because of them, he thinks universities should start working with AI transcription companies instead of banning them.
“There are absolutely tremendous privacy questions, so, of course, it would be better if universities knew what it was worth. [proposition] For students,” he said. “And thinking about how to integrate the platforms so that students use them in a way that is responsible and compliant with applicable laws.”
done in policy.
Many universities have yet to create a policy on the use of AI in general, let alone a separate policy for the use of AI recorders in class. Several law professors said they believe the legality of lecture hall recordings depends on the state, similar to recording phone calls. Some states require the consent of one party, where one party member knows the recording is taking place, while other states require both parties to consent to the recording.
Fordham University has not set a hard-and-fast policy on recording, but in September, university officials issued “etiquette and consideration” guidelines for the use of AI note takers, which specifically Focused on the recorders that were developed during the Zoom and Microsoft teams. The COVID-19 pandemic.
“The proliferation of these apps appeared and it was, 'Oh, cool, we don't need to take notes, or [meeting] minute,'” to 'Oh, that's a concern,'” said Jason Benedict, Fordham's chief information security officer, who wrote the etiquette and consideration guidelines. “Nothing bad, it's not a show stopper, it's just things to know.”
Benedict classifies the guidelines as “mostly common sense”: they suggest informing participants, obtaining consent, and respecting privacy. AT Still University, a medical school in Missouri, issued similar guidelines, urging teachers and students to caution each other when using note-taking apps and review notes with the knowledge that potential There will be some mistakes.
Lima noted that Northwestern's policy prohibiting students from making classroom recordings is posted online, and faculty members are also encouraged to mention it in course syllabi. . The University also records the lecture portion of courses for students who may miss class.
Lima said he is generally against banning these technologies, given their potential benefits. He added that even if recording devices are banned, students can use them more easily now than in the past.
“I can't say I've seen people recording, but one of the ethical questions is that it's easy to record and no one will ever know,” he said. “You have an app on your phone or laptop; it's not like someone has a big tape recorder on their desk.
Last month, Watkins wrote a Substack post titled “AI's Promise to Pay Attention for You,” detailing the coming rise of AI recording apps. He agreed with Lima against banning them, saying they could give faculty an opportunity to consider changes that might be needed in the classroom.
“You can't ban it, but you want to talk to students about it and focus on their teaching and learning,” said Watkins, director of the AI Summer Institute for Teachers of Writing at Ole Miss. He is also the director. You're just lecturing, which probably isn't the best way to teach anyway. If you break into small discussion groups, have discussions, incorporate them into active learning strategies … that would be the best thing.