AI in Teaching: Communicate about AI
Teachers who show a nuanced understanding of AI technology to their students are better equipped to help their students use AI appropriately. Students are less likely to try to cheat with AI when they believe their teacher is familiar with it, and teachers who take time to talk about AI are better able to help students understand the extent of acceptable use and the reasons for it in their course. As a best practice, teachers should communicate clearly and openly about the use of AI in their course and discipline. Teachers need to clearly define the policies that will guide student and teacher behavior and evaluation surrounding its use.
Sharing AI Policies in the Syllabus
At USU, instructors are empowered with autonomy to determine their own class policies relative to AI. If those policies are clearly defined in the syllabus, violations can be addressed by following the procedures outlined in Article VI of the student code.
Class policies relative to AI typically fall into three general categories:
- AI use is strictly prohibited
- AI use is permitted only as directed
- AI use is allowed and encouraged
In the latter two cases, attribution and acknowledgment of AI use are typically expected.
You may use the following boilerplate syllabus statements in your own syllabi, adapted as needed to your circumstances.
Category 1 Statement:
AI Use Strictly Prohibited
In this course, the use of AI tools like ChatGPT and similar technologies is strictly prohibited. You may not submit work that is wholly or partially generated by AI. An essential outcome of this course is to strengthen your skills as a thinker and communicator by doing your own work. As you personally develop and demonstrate the skills taught in this course, you will be better prepared to perform effectively with or without the assistance of AI and other technologies.
To ensure that students do their own work, assignment submissions may be reviewed by AI detection software such as Copyleaks. If there is strong suspicion or evidence of AI use in a submission, a student may receive a reduced grade and/or be required to resubmit the assignment. Violations will be addressed according to Article 6 of the USU Student Code.
Category 2a Statement:
AI Use Permitted as Directed Within Specific Assignments
In this course, you are permitted to use AI tools for specific assignments according to specific guidelines. These guidelines are detailed in the assignment instructions and describe which tools you may use and for what purposes. For all other assignments, submitting work created wholly or partially by AI without authorization is not allowed, and submissions may be reviewed using AI detection tools, such as Copyleaks. Unauthorized use of AI tools may lead to a reduced grade for the assignment and/or a requirement to resubmit.
Category 2b Statement:
AI Use Permitted Under Certain Guidelines
In this course, students are permitted to use AI tools for all assignments, but only according to specific guidelines. Students may use AI for the following purposes:
[Faculty should add and remove items as needed]
- Brainstorming ideas
- Researching topics
- Outlining concepts
- Data analysis
- Textual comparison
- Textual analysis
- Generating initial drafts
- Generating accompanying graphs and images
- Prototyping initial code
- Debugging code
The final assignment submission must be significantly edited by the student and demonstrate the student’s own ideas, interpretation, effort, understanding, and input. AI should be cited as a reference when used for research and images or other artistic representations. Submissions that appear to be entirely or more than 20% generated by AI may be subject to reduced grades and/or a requirement to resubmit.
[Optional]
Students are also expected to include a statement with each assignment submission stating 1) which AI tool(s) they used, 2) for what purposes, and 3) how they used and modified the AI’s output with their own contributions.
[Optional—Faculty should add and remove tools as needed]
Only the following AI tools are permitted for use, according to the guidelines above:
- ChatGPT
- Microsoft Copilot
- Dall-E
Category 3 Statement:
AI Use is Permitted
In this course, students are permitted to freely use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Dall-E, and others in their assignment work. However, students are expected to:
- Take full accountability for the quality and content of their submission in the final grade.
- Thoroughly review AI output for relevance, depth, inaccuracies, bias, omissions, and other issues, making corrections as needed.
- Refrain from inputting or producing imagery, video, or audio of another person’s likeness or voice in an AI tool without their express permission.
- Refrain from submitting sensitive or private information about another person to an AI tool.
- Refrain from using AI to generate misleading or harmful content.
- Refrain from uploading copyright-protected or paywalled content to an AI tool without the creator’s explicit written permission.
- Cite content that is created by or quoted from AI.
Include an acknowledgment statement with the submission stating 1) which AI tools were used and 2) for what purposes.
Sharing AI Guidelines in Assignments
Often, you may find that you are comfortable allowing varying levels of AI assistance depending on the assignment. If this is the case, be sure to include your expectations in your assignment description. Include such details as:
- Which AI tools are permitted
- What types of AI assistance are permitted (i.e. research, brainstorming, feedback, or outright content creation)
- Unacceptable activities, such as those that violate privacy or copyright or produce harm to others
- Expectations for citation and acknowledgement
- Expectations of critical review and accountability
Providing Examples of Appropriate AI Use
An excellent way of promoting appropriate AI use is to model it. Use class lecture time or prepare instructional videos demonstrating what effective and appropriate use of AI looks like for class activities. Allow students to reflect on what they observe and practice what you demonstrate, and provide guidance and feedback.