Generative AI: AI use in Teaching

Utilizing AI tools in education offers diverse opportunities to enhance the teaching and research processes:

Teaching:

• Personalize learning experiences by tailoring content to individuals, thereby increasing engagement.
• Provide virtual tutoring sessions for students.
• Leverage AI algorithms to recommend relevant readings, including books, articles, and multimedia resources.
• Generate learning materials, assignments, quizzes, and course modules.
• Design assignments that emphasize the process rather than solely focusing on the final product.
• Overcome language barriers by translating content, transcribing spoken words into text, providing image descriptions, and enhancing accessibility for students with disabilities.
• Utilize AI for brainstorming ideas related to student assignments, research paper topics, and classroom discussions.

Research:

• Conduct data analysis using AI tools.
• Generate hypotheses to guide research inquiries.
• Design experiments with the assistance of AI.
• Retrieve information and key terms relevant to a particular topic.
• Develop research proposals and grant applications.

Publication:

• Employ AI in writing drafts and abstracts for research publications.
• Utilize AI for proofreading and editing content.
• Generate outlines for research papers.
• Facilitate peer-review processes with AI assistance.

While tools designed to identify AI-generated content do exist, they are not foolproof and come with various shortcomings. These AI detectors may generate false positives or negatives, be easily circumvented through prompt manipulation or output rewriting, exhibit bias against non-native English writers, and fail to ensure the privacy of submitted data.

Instead of relying solely on AI detection tools, it is advisable for instructors to take the following measures:

1. Implement clear policies and guidelines that govern the responsible use of AI in the classroom.
2. Educate students on how to ethically and effectively utilize AI, emphasizing critical evaluation of outputs.
3. Design scaffolded assignments that foster intrinsic motivation, focusing on the process rather than just the end product.
4. Develop rubrics that prioritize critical thinking, problem-solving, and applied knowledge over mere memorization and summarization of content.

AI Detection Tools

The course syllabus is an opportunity to provide clarity and reduce ambiguity about the role of Gen-AI in the your course. Consider developing a customized statement for your course. 

When putting together your syllabus statement, consider what intent you are attempting to convey to students. Your statement may fall into one of the following categories:

• Use of AI is prohibited:
  • Use of AI tools such as ChatGPT to complete course assignments is not permitted under any circumstances.
  • If you intend to prohibit AI use in your course, your statement should clearly state why generative AI tools are not allowed to be used.
  • If you choose prohibition, you should also consider the extent to which a ban is enforceable. How will you know if a student uses AI? Which AI detector will you use?
• Use of AI permitted under certain conditions:
  • Describe which uses of AI are appropriate in your course and which are not allowed.  Example: The use of AI tools such as ChatGPT are only permitted to help you brainstorm potential research topics, develop research questions, or find more information about a topic.
  • All material you submit must be your own work.
  • If AI is to be allowed, state your expectations for citation and attribution.
• Use of AI fully permitted:
  • ​​​​​​​Because AI generated content is not always accurate or appropriate, it is each student’s responsibility to assess the validity and applicability of any AI-generated content included in their work.
  • Some students may assume that AI is not allowed, so be explicit that you are allowing students to use AI tools in coursework.
  • Clarify your expectations for citation and attribution.
  • Example: Use of AI tools such as ChatGPT is fully permitted provided that you include the exact prompt used to generate the content as well as the AI’s full response in an Appendix.

Example Syllabus Statements:

Resources for adapting assessment practices to account for AI.