AI in Teaching: Communicate about AI
With rare exception, every teacher should address the topic of acceptable AI use in their courses. Ideally, teachers should also be able to demonstrate a nuanced understanding of AI technology and how it impacts their discipline and works with their assignments. The syllabus is an important place to begin when addressing AI.
Always Share AI Guidelines in the Syllabus
At USU, instructors are granted some autonomy to determine their own class guidelines relative to AI. However, such guidelines must be clearly defined in the syllabus, and enforcement must follow the procedures outlined in Article VI of the student code.
Class guidelines relative to AI typically fall into three broad categories:
- AI use is prohibited.
- AI use is permitted only as directed, either with specific assignments or under certain guidelines.
- AI use is allowed and encouraged.
Syllabus Guideline Templates (Adapt to Your Needs)
Listed below are template guideline statements that may help you draft your own course guidelines. You may use and adapt them as needed to your circumstances.
Template Statement:
AI Use Prohibited
In this course, the use of AI tools to generate content or responses for assignments is prohibited. This includes chatbots like ChatGPT and Copilot, image generators, coding assistants, and similar technologies. Students may not submit work that is wholly or partially generated by AI. Tools that provide grammar checking (such as Grammarly) should not be used in ways that greatly modify writing style or content. An essential outcome of this course is to strengthen students’ foundational skills as thinkers, creators, and communicators by doing and presenting their own work. As students personally develop and demonstrate the skills taught in this course, they will be better prepared to perform effectively with or without the assistance of AI.
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, it may be reported as an academic integrity violation in accordance with Article 6 of the USU Student Code, which outlines due process for instructors and students, including options for appeal. Possible sanctions may include a reduced grade and/or requirement to resubmit the assignment.
Template Statement:
AI Use Permitted as Directed with Specific Assignments
In this course, students are permitted to use AI tools only for specific assignments and according to specific guidelines. These guidelines are detailed in the assignment instructions and describe which tools students may use and for what purposes. For all other assignments and tasks, students are expected to do their own work without the assistance of AI to generate or modify content or responses. Students will be responsible for the content and quality of their assignment submissions, which are expected to meet the assignment criteria and demonstrate students’ own ideas, interpretation, and effort. In cases where AI use is not expressly allowed, submissions may be reviewed using AI detection tools, such as Copyleaks. If there is strong suspicion or evidence of unauthorized AI use in a submission, it may be reported as an academic integrity violation in accordance with Article 6 of the USU Student Code, which outlines due process for instructors and students, including options for appeal. Possible sanctions may include a reduced grade and/or requirement to resubmit the assignment.
Template Statement:
AI Use Permitted Under Certain Guidelines
In this course, students are permitted to use AI tools [faculty may wish to specify which 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
- Writing feedback
- Writing revision
- Data analysis
- Textual comparison and analysis
- Generating initial drafts
- Generating graphs and images
- Generating starter code
- Coding assistance
- Debugging code
Students will be responsible for the content and quality of their assignment submissions, which are expected to meet the assignment criteria and demonstrate the student’s own ideas, interpretation, and effort. In cases where AI use is not expressly allowed, submissions may be reviewed using AI detection tools, such as Copyleaks. If there is strong suspicion or evidence of unauthorized AI use in a submission, it may be reported as an academic integrity violation in accordance with Article 6 of the USU Student Code, which outlines due process for instructors and students, including options for appeal. Possible sanctions may include a reduced grade and/or requirement to resubmit the assignment.
[Optional]
AI should be cited as a reference, using [teacher-preferred] style, whenever its outputs are used, quoted or paraphrased. Students should also do their due diligence to make sure the AI content they use does not plagiarize or infringe upon the copyrights or privacy of other individuals or content creators.
[Optional]
Students are 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.
Template Statement:
AI Use Encouraged
In this course, students are permitted and encouraged to use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and others in their assignment work. Students will be responsible for the content and quality of their assignment submissions, which are expected to meet the assignment criteria and will be graded accordingly. Students are likewise expected to exercise responsibility and adhere to the following best practices:
- Thoroughly review AI output for relevance, depth, inaccuracies, bias, plagiarism, copyright infringement, 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 uploading copyright-protected or paywalled content to an AI tool without the creator’s permission.
- Cite AI as a reference whenever its outputs are used, quoted, or paraphrased.
[Optional]
When using AI, students are expected to include an acknowledgment statement with the submission stating 1) which AI tools were used and 2) for what purposes.
Sharing AI Guidelines in Assignments
You may find that you are comfortable allowing varying levels of AI assistance for certain assignments and not others. If this is the case, be sure to include your expectations in your assignment descriptions. Include such details as:
- Which AI tools are permitted
- What types of AI assistance are permitted (e.g. research, brainstorming, feedback, drafting and creation)
- Unacceptable types of uses and outputs
- 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. For example, ensure that you are following ethical practices for AI use in your own course. If you use AI to help draft an assignment description or a paragraph in your syllabus, be sure to cite it. If you are planning to use AI to help provide feedback for grading, inform students that you will be using AI for that purpose and reassure them that you will be reviewing the feedback. It may be useful to point out how your use of AI increases your ability to provide more helpful content and feedback to your students.
You can 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.