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AI Literacy in the Age of ChatGPT: A Guide for Instructors

Writing an AI Policy for your Course

Why write an AI policy?

It’s important to provide clear expectations regarding how you expect students to use (or not use) AI tools in your course. A policy helps ensure that your expectations for appropriate interaction with generative AI tools are clear to students. The guidance you provide should align with other ethical standards expected of students in your course. You may want to refer to the Student Handbook's section on Academic Integrity. 

Consider discussing the use of AI with your students and co-creating a course AI policy as a collaborative effort.

Before writing an AI policy, you should carefully consider why and how you will allow the use of AI in your course. Addressing these questions can help ensure that the course’s AI policy is comprehensive, clear, and effective in guiding students’ use of AI in their coursework.

Questions to Consider When Developing Your Own AI Syllabus Statement

  • Does your statement cover different types of assignments, i.e., tests, essays, presentations, group work, etc.? Or, do you want to have discussions with students and separate policies/guidelines for individual assignments and group assignments?
  • Do you want to ask students to verify or check sources of information used by an AI tool when possible?
  • Do you want to ask students to consider representation in any AI responses that they use in their work?
  • Do you want students to cite or share AI use and how/when should they do that?
  • Do you need a full statement for only AI use or can it be wrapped into an academic integrity policy? (Source)

 

Below are policy examples that reflect the spectrum of AI adoption and may help inform you in developing your guidelines. For help in identifying which AI activities might be acceptable for students in your courses or assignments consider this worksheet with an example list of expectations and this AI Assessment Scale. 

(Developing Syllabus Statements for AI)

Examples of AI Permissive Policies

I expect you to use AI (ChatGPT and image generation tools, at a minimum), in this class. In fact, some assignments will require it. Learning to use AI is an emerging skill, and I provide tutorials in Canvas about how to use them. I am happy to meet and help with these tools during office hours or after class. Be aware of the limits of ChatGPT: If you provide minimum effort prompts, you will get low quality results. You will need to refine your prompts in order to get good outcomes. This will take work. Don’t trust anything it says. If it gives you a number or fact, assume it is wrong unless you either know the answer or can check in with another source. You will be responsible for any errors or omissions provided by the tool. It works best for topics you understand. AI is a tool, but one that you need to acknowledge using. Please include a paragraph at the end of any assignment that uses AI explaining what you used the AI for and what prompts you used to get the results. Failure to do so is in violation of the academic honesty policies. Be thoughtful about when this tool is useful. Don’t use it if it isn’t appropriate for the case or circumstance. (Ethan Mollick) (Source)
This course encourages students to explore the use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools such as ChatGPT for all assignments and assessments. Any such use must be appropriately acknowledged and cited. It is each student’s responsibility to assess the validity and applicability of any GAI output that is submitted; you bear the final responsibility. Violations of this policy will be considered academic misconduct. We draw your attention to the fact that different classes at Harvard could implement different AI policies, and it is the student’s responsibility to conform to expectations for each course. (Source)
Within this class, you are welcome to use foundation models (ChatGPT, GPT, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, GitHub Copilot, and anything after) in a totally unrestricted fashion, for any purpose, at no penalty. However, you should note that all large language models still have a tendency to make up incorrect facts and fake citations, code generation models have a tendency to produce inaccurate outputs, and image generation models can occasionally come up with highly offensive products. You will be responsible for any inaccurate, biased, offensive, or otherwise unethical content you submit regardless of whether it originally comes from you or a foundation model. If you use a foundation model, its contribution must be acknowledged; you will be penalized for using a foundation model without acknowledgement. Having said all these disclaimers, the use of foundation models is encouraged, as it may make it possible for you to submit assignments with higher quality, in less time. The university's policy on plagiarism still applies to any uncited or improperly cited use of work by other human beings, or submission of work by other human beings as your own. (Ryan S. Baker) (Source)

Examples of AI Mixed Policies

A Few Words about Generative AI (e.g. ChatGPT) Writing is integral to thinking. It is also hard. Natural language processing (NLP) applications like ChatGPT or Sudowrite are useful tools for helping us improve our writing and stimulate our thinking. However, they should never serve as a substitute for either. And, in this course, they cannot. Think of the help you get from NLP apps as a much less sophisticated version of the assistance you can receive (for free!) from a Bentley Writing Center tutor. That person might legitimately ask you a question to jump-start your imagination, steer you away from the passive voice, or identify a poorly organized paragraph, but should never do the writing for you. A major difference here, of course, is that an NLP app is not a person. It’s a machine which is adept at recognizing patterns and reflecting those patterns back at us. It cannot think for itself. And it cannot think for you. With that analogy in mind, you will need to adhere to the following guidelines in our class. Appropriate use of AI when writing essays or discussion board entries: You are free to use spell check, grammar check, and synonym identification tools (e.g., Grammarly, and MS Word). You are free to use app recommendations when it comes to rephrasing sentences or reorganizing paragraphs you have drafted yourself. You are free to use app recommendations when it comes to tweaking outlines you have drafted yourself. Inappropriate use of AI when writing essays or discussion board entries: You may not use entire sentences or paragraphs suggested by an app without providing quotation marks and a citation, just as you would to any other source. Citations should take this form: OpenAI, chatGPT. Response to prompt: “Explain what is meant by the term ‘Triple Bottom Line’” (February 15, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/). You may not have an app write a draft (either rough or final) of an assignment for you. Evidence of inappropriate AI use will be grounds for submission of an Academic Integrity report. Sanctions will range from a zero for the assignment to an F for the course. I’m assuming we won’t have a problem in this regard but want to make sure that the expectations are clear so that we can spend the semester learning things together—and not worrying about the origins of your work. Be aware that other classes may have different policies and that some may forbid AI use altogether.(Chris Beneke) (Source)
You may use AI programs e.g. ChatGPT to help generate ideas and brainstorm. However, you should note that the material generated by these programs may be inaccurate, incomplete, or otherwise problematic. Beware that use may also stifle your own independent thinking and creativity. You may not submit any work generated by an AI program as your own. If you include material generated by an AI program, it should be cited like any other reference material (with due consideration for the quality of the reference, which may be poor). Any plagiarism or other form of cheating will be dealt with severely under relevant Penn policies. (Holly Fernandez Lynch) (Source)
Policy on the use of generative artificial intelligence tools: Using an AI-content generator such as ChatGPT to complete assignment without proper attribution violates academic integrity. By submitting assignments in this class, you pledge to affirm that they are your own work and you attribute use of any tools and sources. Learning to use AI responsibly and ethically is an important skill in today’s society. Be aware of the limits of conversational, generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. Quality of your prompts: The quality of its output directly correlates to the quality of your input. Master “prompt engineering” by refining your prompts in order to get good outcomes. Fact-check all of the AI outputs. Assume it is wrong unless you cross-check the claims with reliable sources. The currently AI models will confidently reassert factual errors. You will be responsible for any errors or omissions. Full disclosure: Like any other tool, the use of AI should be acknowledged. At the end of your assignment, write a short paragraph to explain which AI tool and how you used it, if applicable. Include the prompts you used to get the results. Failure to do so is in violation of academic integrity policies. If you merely use the instructional AI embedded within Packback, no disclosure is needed. That is a pre-authorized tool. Here are approved uses of AI in this course. You can take advantage of a generative AI to: Fine tune your research questions by using this tool https://labs.packback.co/question/; Enter a draft research question; The tool can help you find related, open-ended questions; Brainstorm and fine tune your ideas; use AI to draft an outline to clarify your thoughts Check grammar, rigor, and style; help you find an expression. (Alexa Alice Joubin) (Source)

Examples of AI Restrictive Policies

Students are not allowed to use advanced automated tools (artificial intelligence or machine learning tools such as ChatGPT or Dall-E 2) on assignments in this course. Each student is expected to complete each assignment without substantive assistance from others, including automated tools.(Kevin R. Guidry) (Source)
This course requires you to complete various assignments that assess your understanding and application of the course content. You are expected to do your own work and cite any sources you use properly. You are not allowed to use any artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as chatbots, text generators, paraphrasers, summarizers, or solvers, to complete any part of your assignments. Any attempt to use these tools will be considered academic misconduct and will be dealt with according to the university’s academic integrity policy. Students are expected to complete all work independently and without the assistance of AI-generated content. If you have any questions about what constitutes acceptable use of AI tools, please consult with the instructor before submitting your work.(Source)

Further Resources