The Word of the Year, "Authentic"

The word of the year, as selected by Merriam-Webster Dictionary this year, was “Authentic,” which we couldn’t agree more with as a company focused on tying student effort to the submissions they make in class. As stated by the announcement, authentic is “the term for something we’re thinking about, writing about, aspiring to, and judging more than ever.”?

I’ve been thinking about this word for years as both a student and administrator in education, working and thinking to identify the line at which something crosses from authentic to not. While the definition is straightforward, the translation to classes is not. It’s clear, in the context of essay mills, 3rd party effort from a human (e.g. a contracted worker writing a paper for you) is not permissible and could jeopardize an academic career. But things get a little muddier when we expand the context to consider AI (3rd party effort from a computer).?

From surveys and conversations with 100s of students over the last few months at Furman University and the University of Maryland, we’ve learned that the idea of authenticity (as measured through what’s acceptable to submit to a course and by what resources students have used) varies, is decided class to class, and person to person.?

Whether AI is part of the creative process, used for editing, or not used in class submissions, we’re working to measure a student’s effort as an additional useful context. What’s more authentic than the hard work, time, and thought that goes into good writing??

Here’s to hoping that “integrity” might be the word of 2024.