Generative AI Guidance
- Assessment
- Technology & Software
- Course Design
Last modified: January 31, 2024
Generative AI technology, for example, Open AI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, is a powerful tool that is quickly gaining popularity in almost every field. As I write this guide, about one third of college students have already used ChatGPT for schoolwork. (1)
Crafting your policy
Your policy should be based on what you decide is best for the learning objectives you’ve set out. You could choose from among the following, or you could combine some of these options For example you might disallow any use for the first half of the semester, then introduce use of it later. Or you might allow it for one or two assignments if students turn in both their work and work edited by generative AI as a comparison study.
Banned. You may find any use at all to be too risky.
A good fit when you want students to practice working independently, lower-order writing skills like basic sentence composition and grammar.
Difficult to enforce, may raise subsequent issues with trust, fairness, inclusivity.
Limited. You may want students to use AI in a regulated way. Some valid uses of AI might be: to help generate ideas, to improve grammar, or as a starting point for more in-depth research. CELT’s document with sample statements for syllabi also includes links to tips on how to cite generative AI. A good fit when:
you want students to focus on practicing higher order thinking and writing.
you are ready to provide guidance to students about using generative AI critically.
you want to encourage your students to reflect on the use of generative AI.
Allowed. You may find it simplest to assume ubiquitous use of generative AI, and grade accordingly. A good fit when:
you are confident your students already understand all privacy concerns as well as how to use AI critically.
This is a collection of policies at other institutions.
Crafting your syllabus and class plan
First, be transparent about your policy and provide an explicit statement about generative AI in your syllabus. CELT has developed sample statements to assist you in crafting one that works for your syllabus. You can find these sample statements above available to download or you can also find them at the bottom of this page in html format to copy and paste.
Second, have an honest discussion with your students about generative AI. Concerns specific to academia that you might discuss with students include the following, and include arguments both for and against student use of AI.
Optionally, adding a short bumper video to your course Blackboard that explains your rationale will serve two purposes: a) humanize your class and b) help students understand how generative AI could affect their learning outcomes. Michelle Pacansky-Brock has some great examples of brief humanizing videos. CELT also has several resources available if you need help creating a video.
Arguments against academic use of AI:
There are serious issues of student privacy. When students input their personal information or intellectual property into these proprietary tools, they lose control of that data.
Perhaps students will not develop strong research skills if they rely on a single tool, especially since generative AI sometimes makes up citations or facts, known also as “hallucinating”.
There are concerns that students will not complete their own work, and therefore will lose out on their own academic journey, for example, that they will have weak writing skills.
Arguments for the academic use of AI:
It can increase equity. Generative AI has proven to be a powerful tool for inclusivity, for example, ESL students may be able to use it to check grammar and formatting, as they would a writing center tutor.
Concerns that if students do not practice using AI and reflect deeply on it they will not enter their post-academic careers fully prepared for using a ubiquitously available tool critically and responsibly.
Generative AI may be most similar to a calculator: if students use it to perfect lower order writing, they can then focus on more complex and interesting reflection and analysis.
Can you win a technological surveillance battle if you ban generative AI?
The honest answer is: probably not, at least not in a majority of cases. At UAS, SafeAssign is our built-in automated tool to look for certain types of plagiarism. At this time SafeAssign will not flag anything written by any of the major generative AI. Other tools, such as ZeroGPT and Turnitin that have been specifically built to “catch” AI have also failed to do so reliably. (2)
As anti-cheating tools evolve, generative AI likely will as well, so it’s best to assume that while they may provide an indication of some assignments to take a closer look at, we will need to rely also on further investigation of individual cases. Thus far, all major anti-cheating tools have provided significant numbers of both false negatives and false positives. Accusations of academic dishonesty in this regard should thus be considered with gravity.
What can you do instead?
Updating your course design may be more effective than anti-cheating technology for preventing academic dishonesty. (3)
Here are four suggestions for assignment modification that you can consider. Any of these will help minimize students’ over-reliance on generative AI, or provide structure for them to use generative AI reflectively and not just as a crutch.
Have students use alternatives to text. For example, oral exams or VoiceThread assignments.
Get samples of your students’ writing throughout the semester. This will give you a benchmark for comparison if you suspect unsanctioned use of generative AI. In addition, providing students with opportunities to turn in several low-stakes assignments is a tried and tested method for decreasing their inclination to cheat.
Choose thought-provoking prompts that encourage students to relate course concepts to their life experiences. If students understand how they will be able to use the product of assignment for their professional portfolio or later in their own academic journey, they are more likely to engage with the assignment (whether or not they get assistance from generative AI).
If you do suspect students are using AI, you can build in quiz questions that require students to recall what they have written about on past assignments.
If you’d like to explore more options and concerns for incorporating generative AI into your classroom check out Leon Furze’s Teaching AI Ethics and Practical Strategies for ChatGPT in Education.
Finally, try putting the written assignments from your class into ChatGPT, Bard, and other generative AI programs and seeing what output you get!
In-text citations
One-Third of College Students Used ChatGPT for Schoolwork During the 2022-23 Academic Year - Intelligent. (2023, June 9). Retrieved June 22, 2023, from Intelligent website:https://www.intelligent.com/one-third-of-college-students-used-chatgpt-for-schoolwork-during-the-2022-23-academic-year/
Can SafeAssign Detect ChatGPT? (Fast facts) - Technology Org. Retrieved June 22, 2023, from Technology Org website:https://www.technology.org/how-and-why/can-safeassign-detect-chatgpt/
Rettinger, David. “Show Students You Care About Their Learning—They May Cheat Less.” The Faculty Lounge (Harvard Business Publishing). May 3, 2022.
A List of Generative AI tools
Do not enter sensitive or confidential data into these Generative AI tools. Information shared with Generative AI tools is usually not private and could expose your data, your students’ data, or other institutional data.
AI-generated content is not always accurate and may contain copyrighted material. While certain tasks can be expedited with the help of AI-generation, ultimately, you (or your students) are responsible for the content that you publish.
This is a great choice for classwork since it will provide (limited) citations, and does not require a login. It is still important not to enter personal or proprietary data into it!
Several companies offer addons that will provide addons to products available for use at UAS.
Otter.ai and Fireflies.ai are both programs that will automatically take notes on a virtual meeting, such as in Zoom. Google duet AI will do the same in Google apps. Adobe Firefly will enerate images and text effects by simply typing key words or a description, this is available only if you have an Adobe Creative Cloud license. Microsoft has an early access tool called co-pilot for certain microsoft products.
Note: Anthology Blackboard has an AI content creator that is not currently available at University of Alaska institutions except in Sandbox courses (for testing purposes).
Three of the many available image tools currently available are: Canva, where basic access is free as in gratis, login required
DALL-E will allow you to generate 5 images per month, and pay for more. Midjourney is for paid accounts only.
Recommended further reading
Condensed list of faculty advice (link is external) from Inside Higher Ed, Jan. 12, 2023
Sample statements for your syllabus
Generative AI not permitted:
One of the things you will do in this class is learn by writing [and producing other deliverables of your own work.] Producing creative and original works will help you learn to think critically, analyze, reason, and defend a position. It is important to your academic journey that you do so without the use of AI-generated text tools, such as ChatGPT. For those reasons, I ask that you not use generative AI for this class. Having this rule in place also helps me to fairly evaluate you and your fellow students. Misrepresenting your use of generative AI would be a violation of theUAS code of conduct; suspected violations will be handled accordingly. Check with me if you are not sure what generative AI is, or if you have any other questions.
Generative AI permitted with citation:
In this class, you may use generative AI (such as ChatGPT) to assist in completing assignments as long as you treat it as you would other sources. That means quote andciteeverything properly in the appropriate format for the course. It is important to your academic journey that you practice both expressing your own thoughts and attributing work that is not yours. Having this rule in place also helps me to fairly evaluate you and your fellow students. Misrepresenting your use of generative text tools would be a violation of theUAS code of conduct; suspected violations will be handled accordingly. Check with me if you are not sure what generative AI is, or if you have any other questions.
Note: Faculty may also want to provide students with a link to the AI-specific notes from the style guide of their choice:
Generative AI acceptable on certain assignments only:
In this class, you may use generative AI (such as ChatGPT) to assist in completing assignments only on assignments where it is explicitly stated. I will provide more information under the description for that specific assignment. For all other assignments, remember that one of the things you will do in this class is learn through writing as well as producing other deliverables of your work. Producing your own creative and original works will help you learn to think critically, analyze, reason, and defend a position. It is important to your academic journey that you learn to do so without depending on generative AI. For those reasons, I ask that you not use generative-AI (such as ChatGPT) on assignments where it is not explicitly allowed. Having this rule in place also helps me to fairly evaluate you and your fellow students. Misrepresenting your use of generative AI would be a violation of theUAS code of conduct; suspected violations will be handled accordingly. Check with me if you are not sure what generative AI is, or if you have any other questions.
Example of instructions for using Generative AI for a specific project
For this project, you are permitted to use generative AI (such as ChatGPT). You should:
Include the input text you used to get your output,
Clearly indicate what is output from AI and what is your own work,
Properlycite itin the format required in this course,
Conclude with a three sentence reflection on what it was like to write with the assistance of the tool.
Only provide the generative AI tool with data that is not private! These tools are a black box and it is important to understand that you no longer own or control any text (or other media) you allow them to process.
Note: Faculty may also want to provide students with a link to the AI-specific notes from the style guide of their choice, if they have not already: