Resources on Generative AI in the Classroom

Optimizing AI in Higher Education

For Educators

This guide, released in its 2nd edition by the SUNY FACT2 Council in May, 2024, is an extremely valuable resource to consider the alignment of emerging technology in your own teaching practice. 

"In this Optimizing AI in Higher Education: SUNY FACT2 Guide, Second Edition, you will find updated information to reflect the changing landscape of generative AI technology. We offer practical suggestions for how to help educators and students achieve AI literacy and find the right methods of using or eschewing generative AI in their pedagogy."

Access Optimizing AI in Higher Education. (The second download link on the page will take you to the full document; the first download link is only the cover art image.)

Student Guide to Artificial Intelligence

For Learners

Image

Elon University and AAC&U published this comprehensive guide for students in the new landscape of AI in the fall of 2024. This is a very reader-friendly review of the different terminology, use possibilities, and strategies for effective use of this new technology. While overall it is a use guide for AI, it also contains a healthy perspective on the importance of fact-checking, ethical use, and building skills through traditional writing and revising strategies. 

Shared with a Creative Commons license, this guide is recommended for all higher education students and can be shared broadly with your classes. 

Access the Student Guide to Artificial Intelligence. 

Syllabus Statements on Generative AI

The following syllabus statement templates are being shared as models by the TLC. Some are modeled after similar statements being used at other institutions, and some were created by Geneseo faculty. 

These are provided as suggestions, only, and not meant to reflect a campus-wide attitude or requirement for specific class policies on the use of generative AI tools like ChatGPT. Any faculty member is free to adopt and adapt any of these statements to suit their personal determinations for class needs in a particular course. 

The TLC will continually revisit and revise these statements. If you have a model you’d like to share, or would like to recommend one written by a colleague, please let us know. 

The Prohibitive Statement (as a stand-alone statement on a syllabus)

Any work written, developed, or created, in whole or in part, by generative artificial intelligence (AI) is considered plagiarism and will not be tolerated. While the ever-changing developments with AI will find their place in our workforces and personal lives, in the realm of education and learning, this kind of technology does not help us achieve our educational goals. The use of AI prevents the opportunity to learn from our experiences and from each other, to play with our creative freedoms, to problem-solve, and to contribute our ideas in authentic ways. Geneseo is a place for learning, and this class is specifically a space for learning how to advance our thinking and professional practice. AI cannot do that learning for us.

(Adapted from a model provided by the University Center for Excellence in Teaching, Indiana University, South Bend Campus.)

The Prohibitive Statement (as combined with a Plagiarism or Academic Dishonesty Statement)

I expect you to do your own work. At times it might be challenging, but it is essential to learning. If you are struggling, please reach out and I will do my best to help.

I take plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty seriously, including inappropriate uses of generative AI. At its most basic, you are responsible for doing your own work. You may not reuse work from other classes, use the work of another person, plagiarize, or use artificial intelligence to help with or generate assignments. Choosing to cheat, whether through plagiarism or inappropriate use of generative AI, is never a good option, and it can have serious consequences.
 

I enforce Geneseo's Policy on Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism. For more
information about plagiarism and strategies for avoiding it, please read chapter six in Mary Lynn Rampolla’s A Pocket Guide to Writing in History. I have additional plagiarism-related information in the course Google Drive and I am happy to discuss plagiarism in class or office hours and help you develop the skills to avoid it.
 

Unintentional plagiarism. While the first thing most people think of when they hear the word plagiarism is cheating, you can plagiarize without intending to. Some students plagiarize because they have trouble with paraphrasing or fail to give credit to their sources of information. I see this most often when students go online for information instead of using assigned sources. But, intentional or not, it is still academic dishonesty. This class will help you develop and/ or strengthen the skills you need to avoid unintentional plagiarism. Let me know if you have questions or are struggling with this. You can email or come talk to me during office hours or by appointment; I'm
happy to help. Ultimately, you are responsible for avoiding plagiarism, but there are many useful resources and ways to get help.
 

AI, like Chat-GPT. In my class, doing your own work means that you may not utilize tools like Chat-GPT for any aspect of our course work. Using such tools is not only academic dishonesty, using them means cheating yourself of the opportunity to learn and develop your own skills. While AI will undoubtedly play important roles in our future society, and already helps with things like spell-check, you will be better able to utilize AI effectively if you have developed your own critical thinking, writing, and analytical skills by doing your own work. If you have any questions about this, please
ask.

Show your work. Upon request, I expect you to be able to show your work and your
process for completing assignments. This means, you should keep notes, brainstorming sheets, drafts, outlines, and any other work that you created in the process of writing a paper or completing an assignment. If I have concerns about any assignment, I will ask you to show me your prep work. I will also ask you to explain and discuss your work. If you wrote a paper or other assignment, you should be able to knowledgeably discuss it and the sources it is based on.

(Adapted from a statement written by Dr. Emilye Crosby, Professor of History.)

The Use-With-Permission Statement

Generative Artificial intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT, may be used for [assignment types A, B & C] with appropriate citation, but not for [assignment types D, E & F]. If you are in doubt as to whether you are using generative AI appropriately in this course, I encourage you to discuss your situation with me. Guidance for citing AI-generated content is available at How to Cite ChatGPT. You are responsible for fact-checking claims and sources generated by AI tools.

(Adapted from a statement provided by the University of Minnesota, Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost.)

The Open-Use Statement

In this course, you are encouraged to use Generative AI Tools like ChatGPT to support your work. To maintain academic integrity, you must disclose any AI-generated material you use and properly attribute it, including in-text citations, quotations, and references. Guidance for citing AI-generated content is available at How to Cite ChatGPT.

(Adapted from a model provided by the University Center for Excellence in Teaching, Indiana University, South Bend Campus)

The Course-Determined Statement (to be developed in partnership with students)

This class will maintain an awareness of generative AI technology, including ChatGPT, as it intersects with our content and our learning tasks. Together, we will continually monitor the appropriateness and effectiveness of these tools to help us meet our learning goals. You and I will determine together where the use of such tools fits this course and where it does not. This includes what specific tools we might agree to use and which we might agree to avoid, as well as to what extent on any given task, and how they should be cited and integrated. 

In cases where I discover use of generative AI to complete tasks assignments that falls outside of the guidelines we develop together in class, these cases will be treated as instances of academic dishonesty, and will be subject to the processes outlined in the SUNY Geneseo Academic Dishonesty Policy. 

(Adapted from a model provided by Alexis Clifton, interim director of the Teaching and Learning Center.)