Generative Artificial Intelligence & Teaching
Generative Artificial Intelligence & Teaching
Generative Artificial Intelligence & Teaching
A number of companies have released generative artificial intelligence products such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, Google Bard, and others. These products are chatbots that will iteratively respond to a user’s input. Relying on a large database of texts, they can produce “unique” responses to a variety of prompts. Because faculty take a variety of approaches to the use of AI in the classroom, the University does not have a single policy regarding the use of generative AI at this time.
The University Senate Generative AI Task Force makes the following recommendation:
Faculty should include a clear and specific statement in their syllabi and Canvas that specifies how generative AI may or may not be used in their classes.
And provides the following suggestions...
Addressing the Use of Generative AI In Your Classes
Sample syllabus statements for varying usage of AI in the classroom
No generative AI:
- In this course any use of generative artificial intelligence such as Chat GPT, DALL-E, Bard, and others will be considered a violation of academic integrity and will be treated accordingly. According to Rowan University policy, students committing any act of academic dishonesty may fail the assignment, fail the course, or face other sanctions. All violations of academic integrity must be reported to the Provost’s office. To avoid plagiarism, students should provide appropriate documentation whenever quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, or otherwise using the language or ideas of others.
- The purpose of the assignments in this course is to help you develop key skills and to assess whether you have mastered the course learning objectives. Using generative AI or other unauthorized tools on these assignments defeats the purpose, misrepresents your mastery of the material, and is considered an academic integrity violation. If you have questions about what resources may be allowed on a specific assignment please let me know.
Some generative AI:
Although generative AI can be used as a tool to support learning (e.g., in obtaining feedback or generating ideas), work submitted by a student should be that of the student and not the work of an AI system. If you include material generated by an AI program, it should be cited like any other reference material. Ultimately, the student bears responsibility for any inaccuracies or misinformation. If you have questions about how AI may be used to complete assignments within the scope of this academic integrity policy, please reach out to your instructor.
Faculty also might choose to list the ways that generative AI could be used on some or all assignments.
How to cite the use of AI
How to cite ChatGPT - APA guidelines
Video to share with your students
A Rowan produce video on Student Use of Generative AI (2:20)
This brief video (2:20) can be shown in class or link to in your Canvas course(s).
Academic Integrity Resources
See Academic Integrity At Rowan: Your Education, Your Future and select the Faculty Information button for more information, resources, and FAQs regarding academic integrity.
If you suspect a violation of your syllabus statement
Do not rely on "AI Content Detectors"
At this time, we do NOT recommend relying on any of the numerous “AI Content Detector” programs available on the web or provided through programs such as Turnitin. Such programs have not yet demonstrated their accuracy and do not provide hard evidence for evaluation. There have also been reports of false positives from these software systems that can lead to false accusations made against students.
For this reason, results from these detectors will not be considered as evidence for a Rowan Report of an Academic Integrity Violation but other forms of evidence may be used to make a report.
Check the citations and quotations
Some generative AI platforms cannot access copyrighted material from behind paywalls and may not cite them correctly or may create fictitious citations. Additionally, if some of the generative AI platforms cannot find quotations it will sometimes invent, or “hallucinate” quotes.
Evaluate their references carefully because fabrication is a form of academic dishonesty, faculty can submit Academic Integrity Violations based on invented sources and/or quotations.
Please remember that faculty must file an AIV report if they wish to sanction a student for alleged violations.
Follow up with the student
Schedule a time to discuss the topic of the paper with the student and ask follow up questions to verify their understanding. Ideally, this would be built into the course structure so students are not singled out.
Be sure to initiate the discussion in a nonconfrontational manner. We highly recommend "How to lead a discovery interview about contract cheating" for suggestions on how to lead a discovery conversation.
External AI Resources
Teaching with AI
- Guidance for online course development and the use of artificial intelligence tools - This extensive resource developed by Oregon State University is intended to help their Ecampus course development team as well as faculty and staff use a principles-based approach in deciding if and how to incorporate artificial intelligence tools into course development, research and other work projects.
- #OA Book: 101 Creative Ideas to Use AI in Education - This open crowdsourced collection (downloadable pdf) by #creativeHE presents a collection of potential alternative uses and applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that could make a difference and create new learning, development, teaching and assessment opportunities.