AI--English 800: Using AI as an Educational Tool

1. Use AI writers as researchers. They can research a topic exhaustively in seconds and compile text for review, along with references for students to follow This material can then inform original and carefully referenced student writing.
2. Use AI writers to produce text on a given topic for Design assessment tasks that involve this efficient use of AI writers, then critical annotation of the text that is produced.
3. Use different AI writers to produce different versions of text on the same topic, to compare and evaluate.
4. Use and attribute AI writers for routine text, for example, blog content. Use discrimination to work out where and why AI text, human text, or hybrid text are appropriate, and give accounts of this thinking.
5. Use and attribute AI writers for creative text, for example Google’s Verse by Verse requires the user to input a first line, then writes the rest of the poem or provides suggestions based on the work of famous poet muses. This is just one of countless ways that AI can make interventions in creative processes. Students can research the multiple programs and algorithms on offer.
6. Explore and evaluate the different kinds of AI-based content creators that are appropriate for your discipline.
7. Research and establish the specific affordances of AI-based content generators for your discipline. For example, how might it be useful to be able to produce text in multiple languages, in seconds? Or create text optimized for search engines?
8. Explore different ways AI writers and their input can be acknowledged and attributed ethically and appropriately in your discipline. Model effective note-making and record- keeping. Use formative assessment that explicitly involves discussion of the role of AI in given tasks. Discuss how AI could lead to various forms of plagiarism, and how to avoid this.

Some of the key critical questions to ask about any AI text generators are:

• What was the body of material on which this AI was trained? In other words, what has this AI read and absorbed, to make its “assumptions” of what strings of words make “sense”?
• Who, and what, has been excluded from this body of material, and therefore, potentially, the text generated?
• What assumptions, biases and injustices are embedded in this material, and therefore, potentially, in the text generated?
• Assess process rather than outcome (completed product); scaffold in skills and competencies associated with writing, producing, and creating.

These resources were compiled by the librarians at KU Medical Center Library.

• Maintaining Academic Integrity

  Guidance from KU's Center for Teaching Excellence. KUMC/KU access only.

• Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning

  The U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology's policy report addresses the clear need for sharing knowledge, engaging educators, and refining technology plans and policies for artificial intelligence (AI) use in education. The report describes AI as a rapidly-advancing set of technologies for recognizing patterns in data and automating actions, and guides educators in understanding what these emerging technologies can do to advance educational goals—while evaluating and limiting key risks. 

• Classroom Policies for AI Generative Tools

  In English & Spanish - examples of policies used by instructors in their syllabi from a variety of disciplines.

• Prompt Library

  Use prompts at your own risk, outputs may not be correct. To help learn to better prompt AI.

• How can AI be used in teaching?

  The University of Pittsburgh gives many tips and ideas when using AI in teaching.

• Teaching: What You Need to Know About ChatGPT Article

  Describes highlights from a webinar (linked below) on ChatGPT and other AI
  Asks how AI tools could hurt, or benefit, students with disabilities
  Points you to some colleges’ guidance on ChatGPT

• ChatGPT and Other Cutting-Edge Learning Tech Virtual Forum

  What educators need to know about research, writing, tutoring, and grading tools like ChatGPT and other generative AI tools; How colleges can best prepare their faculty members to teach with and about AI; Teaching students how to use AI tools wisely.

This material is from The Center for Teaching Excellence's comprehensive AI Resources & Guidance.

The University of Kansas does not have a specific policy about use of generative artificial intelligence in teaching and learning. The University Senate Rules and Regulations do provide guidance on academic integrity, though:

Academic misconduct by a student shall include, but not be limited to, disruption of classes; threatening an instructor or fellow student in an academic setting; giving or receiving of unauthorized aid on examinations or in the preparation of notebooks, themes, reports or other assignments; knowingly misrepresenting the source of any academic work; unauthorized changing of grades; unauthorized use of University approvals or forging of signatures; falsification of research results; plagiarizing of another's work; violation of regulations or ethical codes for the treatment of human and animal subjects; or otherwise acting dishonestly in research.

The KU Code of Ethical Conduct also provides guidance, emphasizing the importance of demonstrating accountability, modeling ethical standards, fostering honest pursuit of knowledge, ensuring originality of work, and attributing ideas drawn from others’ intellectual work.

To supplement those, we encourage faculty members to include a statement about permissible use of generative artificial intelligence in their classes. 

1. Create syllabus language about AI use

This should include guidelines on how students may use generative AI in your classes and when they should not use AI. (See Maintaining academic integrity in the AI era for advice on what to include.)

• Even better: Draft a plan with students. Add a statement to your syllabus that the class will collectively draft a plan for acceptable AI use in your class. This gives students a voice in the process, not only empowering them but providing motivation to follow the policy. It also helps them understand how use of AI will (or won't) be acceptable in your class, since they were part of developing the course plan for it.

2. Plan conversations about AI

Students should understand how generative AI tools were created, how they work, and why they must be used with caution. So plan on using class time to discuss generative AI. Don't worry about having extensive understanding of generative AI or knowing all the terminology. Just be honest with your students and encourage them to ask questions. (See our list of readings and tools for ideas on possible topics for discussion or ways to use generative AI.) 

• Even better: Create an assignment that asks students to explore the ethical use of generative AI in your discipline. One way to approach this is to have students read Kathryn Conrad's Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights for Education. How does that help frame discussions we need to have in education? Which points seem most important? You might also have students consider these types of questions: How are professionals using generative AI? What boundaries have they set? Which disciplines are most accepting of generative AI? Which are most suspicious? Why? 

3. Experiment with generative AI

No one expects you to be an expert in the use of generative AI. You should have a basic understanding of how it works and what it can do, though. Many students are already using tools like ChatGPT, and you should have a sense of how they might use them with your assignments. 

• How to get started. To help you get a handle on generative AI, we have created tutorials on getting started with ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Bard, and Claude. You don’t have to be a technology expert to use any of those tools. One of their most powerful attributes – and one of the most challenging from an academic standpoint – is their ease of use. For the most part, you just need to sign in and ask good questions. We have also created a guide on writing prompts for generative AI and have curated many additional resources you can draw on.