I’m teaching a course with writing: what should my AI policy be?
Here are some suggestions for creating a policy for AI in your course with writing:
Questions to ask yourself as you create a policy:
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- How might this policy support my learning objectives for the course?
- What rationale and reasoning guide this policy? (Try not to let suspicion be your guide)
- What technology does my policy apply to (Copilot, ChatGPT, Grammarly, others)?
- When does it apply? What conditions or contexts allow or preclude the use of generative AI?
- Does my policy show support for student well-being?
Examples of course policies:
1. An open policy that places responsibility on students:
Use of AI Technology (Keli Tucker, English Department)
The writing you will be asked to do for this course will require you to reflect on your own experiences, generate ideas, locate and analyze sources, conduct original research, and develop a presentation of your research. I do not consider it my role as an instructor to police your approach to these writing tasks–rather, I consider it your responsibility as a writer to consider whether and how AI should be used. To support you in that and to provide you with more transparency and clarity around my expectations as an instructor, when I introduce each assignment I will share the skills it is designed to help you build, and we will then collaboratively discuss how generative AI might be used productively in that writing context.
That being said, it is crucial that you are transparent and ethical about your use of AI in your writing in this course. To that end, if you choose to use ChatGPT or other AI technologies at any stage of your writing process, you will need to provide a brief statement (in the form of a submission comment) describing when and how you have done so. In addition, please be aware that you as a student are solely responsible for the quality and accuracy of all writing you submit, regardless of how it is produced.
I am happy to talk further with you individually if you have any concerns or questions about using AI in this course that this policy does not address. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me!
2. A more specific policy that outlines examples of allowable and non-allowable AI use in a course with writing and research
Generative AI Use in This Class
Unless otherwise noted during class activities, you may use Copilot, ChatGPT or any other GenAI technology to nuance, complicate, or enhance your thinking, communication, and learning but not to replace or subvert it. See below for some examples of allowable and non-allowable uses of GenAI technologies.
Examples of Allowable Use |
Why is this Allowed? |
| Prompting GenAI technologies to help you hone an idea for a class paper or project | Prompting GenAI may complicate or nuance your thinking and might expose you to new ideas or considerations. However, it is important to start with brainstorming on your own first rather than letting GenAI do that initial work for you. Research shows that GenAI may interfere with learning and with creativity. In addition, be aware of biases that GenAI may introduce to the topic. |
| Using GenAI for writing assistance | GenAI can provide options for revision. For example, generative AI might take several of your ideas and generate an outline from which you could write a draft; you could ask GenAI to generate counter arguments; or you could ask GenAI to act as a skeptical reader and offer feedbackUsed in this way, Gen AI tools might help you write for a particular audience or in a particular genre or format. However, since writing=thinking=learning, get your original thoughts and ideas written down and then see how GenAI might offer new options rather than having the technology do the writing for you. Also, consider meeting with me, talking with a peer, or visiting the Writing Center to help! Articulating your ideas out loud can be very beneficial for learning, thinking, and writing. |
| Prompting GenAI to make research easier to understand (i.e. explaining confusing or technical jargon, simplifying a complex idea, offering specific examples to assist your understanding) | GenAI tools could be used in ways that reduce “cognitive load” such as breaking material into smaller chunks, simplifying material, translating text into a preferred language, and providing concrete examples. However, if GenAI tools are used in ways that reduce “germane load” (the cognitive effort required to build mental schema, which is productive and essential for learning) it can negatively impact learning. For example, if you ask GenAI to summarize an article instead of reading and summarizing it yourself, you will miss out on the opportunity to fully engage with, and critically examine, the author’s ideas (see, for example, No One is Talking About AI’s Impact on Reading) |
Example of Non-Allowed Use of Generative AI |
Why is this Not Allowed? |
| Prompting GenAI to write a journal or discussion post or question for you | Discussion prompts and journals are intended to showcase your thinking and your voice. Discussion posts are about building community in this class and engaging with your thinking to communicate with others. Journals are meant to help you think through a question or issue and share your thinking with me. Using GenAI for these activities subverts the learning goals of the assignment.
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| Modifying GenAI-produced text to make it appear as if you wrote it | Making adjustments to AI-generated work subverts the learning and thinking process because the focus is on surface-level correction rather than truly understanding the material or thinking critically to answer a question you’ve asked or to solve a problem you’ve identified. This directly contradicts the learning goals for this course. |
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Prompting GenAI technology to analyze evidence or data for you
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Research has shown that using GenAI tools to substitute for your own thinking can prevent you from engaging with and deeply learning the material (see Generative AI Can Harm Learning). |
| Copying AI-generated text (or relying heavily on AI text) and citing it as written by AI. | Given that AI software was trained on copyrighted text and media scraped from the Internet without permission from the authors and artists, do not cite GenAI as a source (read The Case for Not Citing Chatbots as Information Sources). However, if you believe that what you prompted a GenAI tool to create is itself an original source (i.e. a song written in the style of Pink about Badger football games),, you can give credit to GenAI in your work as a source of inspiration (but not of information).
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If you find yourself turning to GenAI tools to do your work for you, consider setting up a meeting with me/your instructor to discuss how class activities and assignments can be adapted to support your learning (e.g., if you do not have enough time to complete the class activities and are turning to AI to do the work for you, you could meet to discuss flexible deadlines or alternative activities). Additionally, when using ChatGPT and other AI writing tools, which are notorious for producing misinformation and fabricating information, it is your responsibility to verify the credibility, accuracy, and trustworthiness of any information you use from these tools.
Adapted from the original by Dr. Torrey Trust, UMass Amherst
