How to craft an artificial intelligence statement for your course outline

During the LLPA PD Days in August 2023, Janette Tilley (LLPA Associate Dean) and Nathan Hall (Faculty member / Educational Technology and Pedagogy Coordinator) gave a 90-minute session titled Chatting about AI: Assignment and syllabus design through the lens of academic integrity and generative AI tools. Attendees were provided an opportunity to revise or draft a syllabus / course outline statement on the use of generative AI in their courses. The following material was provided to guide the discussion. Consider each of these areas and how these might be used in the crafting of your own syllabus statement.

Under what circumstances is AI use permitted or forbidden and why​.

• Be transparent with students regarding when they are permitted to use AI and when they are not. Students could become confused and unintentionally violate your policy if it is not clear where the boundaries are.
• Provide a rationale on why you are, or are not, allowing AI for their coursework. Have a conversation with your students, allowing them to share their thoughts as well.

How should students credit AI use​.

• Use the formal ways in which to cite and reference AI-generated material (see the Citing AI-generated content section of this document for more information). You can either use one of those or come up with one of your own.
• Consider asking the students about the amount of material that was AI-generated and how it was used.

Warn about the tendency of AI to hallucinate​.

• Consider giving students an example to demonstrate where things can go wrong. Many students do not know how inaccurate AI-generated text can be.

Remind students about authorial accountability​.

• Inform students that the success or failure of their work begins and ends with them. They are responsible for the content of their work, even if you allow them to use AI-generated content.

Note requirements to use AI ethically and responsibly​.

• Make sure students understand the terms and conditions of use for any service they use.
• Warn students that they should not submit course texts or writing prompts to AI services (tools that generate summaries may violate copyright and intellectual property rights).

Frame discussion around using tools to learn versus producing content.

• Remind students that the product they create is not the actual goal of most courses. These items are simply ways of demonstrating their ability to understand and apply what they have learned.

Policy statement samples

Sample 1 – Encouraging the use of AI

I expect you to use AI (e.g., ChatGPT and image generation tools) in this class. In fact, some assignments will require it. Learning to use AI is an emerging skill and I provide tutorial on how to use them. I am happy to meet and help you with these tools during office hours or after class.​

Be aware of the limits of ChatGPT, such as the following:​

• 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 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 Douglas College Academic Integrity Policy.

Be thoughtful about when this tool is useful. Don’t use it if it isn’t appropriate for the case or circumstance (Mollick & Mollick, 2023).

Sample 2 – Limiting the use of AI

This course will involve quite a lot of deep thinking and reading along with writing. Writing helps us think so the two activities are intertwined. ​

Using grammar check software is fine for this course, and I’ll never grade work on grammar – you can get all the grammar help you’d like.​

Your ideas are important to me and when we use generative AI tools to develop ideas, we’re avoiding some important opportunities to think and learn. I’d prefer you don’t use ChatGPT or Bing or Grammarly to get ideas, but if you do, you must give credit. You can do this with a footnote at the start of your essay, acknowledging contributions by whichever tool you used. We’ll go over some details together in Week 2.​

Remember: you are responsible for everything you submit for grading at the College. Generative AI can produce false and inaccurate information. If you include inaccurate or false information, you alone will be held accountable. Unauthorized and uncredited content generation is regarded as a type of academic misconduct as is falsification of research.​

Sample 3 – Prohibiting the use of AI

Since writing, analytical, and critical thinking skills are part of the learning outcomes of this course, all writing assignments should be prepared by the student. Developing strong competencies in this area will prepare you for a competitive workplace. Therefore, AI-generated submissions are not permitted (Ruehle, 2023).

References

Mollick, E. & Mollick, L. (2023). Why all our classes suddenly became AI classes: Strategies for teaching and learning in a ChatGPT world. Harvard Business Publishing Education. Retrieved from https://hbsp.harvard.edu/inspiring-minds/why-all-our-classes-suddenly-became-ai-classes

Ruehle, C. S. (2023). When AI is prohibited. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BJBLwk14zMbqn_ySKDrfFnNugKAe-xx0c8qBxLtWbBI/edit?usp=sharing

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© 2023 Janette Tilley and Nathan Hall. This document is Creative Commons licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.