Know Your Student – embracing GPTs in the future of cyber education

As a leading provider of digital forensics education at Notion Digital Forensics, we’ve been closely monitoring the impact of large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT1, on the educational landscape.

Our Know Your Student (KYS) approach at Notion Digital Forensics

No teaching can start until you Know Your Student.

At Notion Digital Forensics, we have always focused on high-touch, curated educational experiences instead of mass-produced textbook or self-paced online education websites. This sets us apart from providers that focus on creating automated or low-interaction online courses.

Should we even bother marking papers without Know Your Student?

Where marks matter, Campbell’s Law comes into play. Campbell’s Law states that the more a quantitative social indicator is used for decision-making, the more subject it is to corruption pressures, ultimately leading to the distortion of the social processes it’s meant to monitor((Campbell, D.T. (1979). Assessing the impact of planned social change. Evaluation and Program Planning, 2(1), pp.67–90. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/0149-7189(79)90048-x.)). Put simply, Campbell’s Law here suggests the more the mark matters, the higher the incentive there is to game it.

See no evil, hear no evil

Undoubtedly, there has always been a sense that universities know cheating is more wide-spread than reported((Eaton, S.E. (2020). Cheating may be under-reported across Canada’s universities and colleges. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/cheating-may-be-under-reported-across-canadas-universities-and-colleges-129292.)). This may be heightened by the social pressure to help colleagues for institutional students((Brown, P. (2021). Order instituting disciplinary proceedings, making findings and imposing sanctions. [online] Available at: https://pcaob-assets.azureedge.net/pcaob-dev/docs/default-source/enforcement/decisions/documents/105-2021-008-kpmg-australia.pdf?sfvrsn=81a97edf_4 [Accessed 11 Apr. 2023].))23

However, when an online tutor oversees 30 or more students without a direct connection, it’s difficult to assess the legitimacy of a student’s performance. Introducing ChatGPT into this environment can make assigning marks to a self-paced course almost meaningless and disadvantage honest students.

Can’t automate away Know Your Student

Universities are starting to combat cheating with ‘AI detection’4 but tests show this may not work very well((Alimardani, A; Jane, E (2023). We pitted ChatGPT against tools for detecting AI-written text, and the results are troubling. [online] UNSW Newsroom. Available at: https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/we-pitted-chatgpt-against-tools-detecting-ai-written-text-and-results-are [Accessed 11 Apr. 2023].))5.

ChatGPT should be a tutor, not the enemy

If you eliminate marks and focus on gaining competence and encouraging curiosity, and a KYS mindset, then ChatGPT becomes an outstanding tutor instead of the enemy. It’s able to help you learn by plugging in gaps and help students spot ‘hallucinations’.

Some universities are already encouraging staff to adapt to the new post-GPT world by building its use into courses((Liu, D; Bridgeman, A. J, (2023). How can I update assessments to deal with ChatGPT and other generative AI? – Teaching@Sydney. [online] Available at: https://educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au/teaching@sydney/how-can-i-update-assessments-to-deal-with-chatgpt-and-other-generative-ai/.)). Some even are using it as a learning opportunity to show the benefits and risks of the use of large language models((Harris, C. (2023). Medical science students were told to use ChatGPT. This is what it wrote. [online] The Sydney Morning Herald. Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/medical-science-students-were-told-to-use-chatgpt-this-is-what-it-wrote-20230309-p5cqs4.html)).

AI Tools are already necessary to do good work in forensics

Criminal methods continually evolve, demanding that cyber professionals stay updated with the latest tools and techniques. It’s not uncommon for seasoned professionals like myself to develop custom scripts to counter emerging threats. Naturally, educators offer courses to teach these skills.

However, with the advent of Github Copilot((GitHub. (2022). GitHub Copilot · Your AI pair programmer. [online] Available at: https://github.com/features/copilot)) and Codex AI6, courses focusing on Python scripts alone have become outdated and less practical for real-world applications. To remain effective in the post-GPT era, it is crucial that practical professionals adapt and incorporate GPT-based tools into their investigative arsenal or be overwhelmed with unnecessary manual work.

Why we have always focused on Know Your Student

Our education markets have been senior business and government leaders who are high on curiosity and short on time. Our focused approach is designed to maximise the aspects of high-touch education our clients value, such as:

Personalised instruction tailored to learners’ needs and goals

Expert guidance and insights from experienced instructors

Networking with like-minded individuals for collaboration and career advancement

In-depth exploration of complex topics

Hands-on activities and real-world simulations to apply knowledge

Where its possible we talk with the student before the course to ensure they are on the right course and they will get some value out of it. We turned away students regularly to save them time. They appreciate this.

ChatGPT becomes a resource instead of a threat

The good thing in such a paradigm is that ChatGPT can be encouraged for use to help them, because it won’t make it unfair for students, and it also enhances discussions and prevents people from being ‘left behind’ for fear of saying something dumb.

A facilitator can personally assess each person’s level of mastery of the topic if this is required, not based on an online submission open to gaming.

The importance of accessibly priced education remains (which is usually non-Know-Your-Student)

I acknowledge the importance of affordable and accessible ‘sliced up textbook’ courses for society. These courses must exist for those who need access to affordable education. But if you’re paying more than a few hundred dollars (say) for a course, students deserve a more engaging and personalised experience. This is where our KYS approach is crucial in the post-ChatGPT world.

Comparison table

OpenAI (2022). ChatGPT: Optimizing Language Models for Dialogue. [online] OpenAI. Available at: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt. [↩]

Associated Press (2020). More than 70 West Point cadets accused of cheating on exam. [online] Army Times. Available at: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2020/12/21/more-than-70-west-point-cadets-accused-of-cheating-on-exam/ [Accessed 11 Apr. 2023]. [↩]

Isaac, A. and Editor, A.I.C. (2022). Exam cheating at UK audit firms uncovered by watchdog. The Guardian. [online] 21 Dec. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/dec/21/exam-cheating-at-uk-audit-firms-uncovered-by-watchdog. [↩]

UNSW,. New AI detection tool in Turnitin. [online] Available at: https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/notices/2023/03/new-ai-detection-tool-turnitin [Accessed 11 Apr. 2023]. [↩]

Fowler, G; We tested a new ChatGPT-detector for teachers. It flagged an innocent student. (2023). Washington Post. [online] Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/04/01/chatgpt-cheating-detection-turnitin/ [↩]

openai.com. (2022). OpenAI Codex. [online] Available at: https://openai.com/blog/openai-codex [↩]