Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Many students will inevitably be familiar with ChatGPT, some even having their own accounts. It would be unwise to ignore the topic and/or hope it will go away. Having a discussion with students early on in your class is an opportunity to clarify your own expectations and respond to any questions.

Including a statement regarding AI tools such as ChatGPT in your syllabus will help you avoid any confusion or ambiguity about the use of such tools in student assignment work. Consider as a minimum the following statements to include in your syllabus:

• As our policy on Student Academic Integrity makes clear, students are expected to demonstrate intellectual honesty in their work at the Justice Institute of BC. This includes refraining from misconduct activities such as presenting the ideas or work of another person as one’s own or using unauthorized means to complete one’s work. It is important to familiarize yourself with definitions of student academic misconduct so as not to put yourself at risk.
• Students who believe they have a legitimate reason to use AI tools such as ChatGPT for their course work must get in touch with their instructor ahead of time to discuss their intentions. Using such tools without preapproved permission can lead to questions of academic integrity.

The policy contains definitions for such misconducts as plagiarism, cheating, misrepresentation, and collusion. The language is sufficiently broad to suggest that unwarranted or inappropriate use of AI tools should be regarded as contrary to principles of academic integrity.

ChatGPT has seemingly limitless applications in terms of how it can leverage data to create interesting written products. At the same time, it can be wildly unreliable in instances. As an automatic essay generator, it has considerable limitations. However, it can have utility in using prompts to challenge well-known ideas, simplify complex concepts, generate further questions on a topic, play devil’s advocate, and compare one’s own draft with a ChatGPT generated draft. We have referred to a number of sources that suggest alternative activities using ChatGPT in CTLI’s February blog post on ChatGPT.

Doing so can help your students understand more clearly your own intentions for their learning, including your expectations for their work during your class. For more information on how to compose a teaching philosophy, take a look at our Teaching Philosophy Resource from the CTLI website.

ChatGPT is most problematic for students in thinking that it can replace all the work that goes into a written assignment with a simple prompt. Yet, there is so much more to writing than what ChatGPT can provide. Instructors can use writing to promote critical thinking, reflect upon important and difficult texts, solve problems, develop ideas, brainstorm, and explore unimagined possibilities (Bean and Melzer, 2021 and Haines, C., 2021). Instructors who would like to explore different types of writing activities and assignments can arrange for a chat with one of CTLI’s instructional designers to brainstorm possibilities.

If you suspect someone has submitted a ChatGPT generated assignment that is contrary to your expressed expectations, your best course of action is to discuss the matter directly with your student. Taking the steps mentioned above will help clarify your expectations and preferences well ahead of time so as to avoid ambiguity and/or misunderstanding.