AI tools, like other technologies, can be useful for teaching and learning when used properly. AI tools are not wholesale good or evil; they are powerful when used responsibly and with clear intention.
Given the availability of generative AI tools, students will be curious about how they might support their learning, and educators should be asking the same questions. The following list represents recommendations for educators:
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Learn the AI basics.
- If you feel overwhelmed or confused by AI, familiarize yourself the basics of how AI works, and review some of the recommended sources on this guide. Even respectable publications can misrepresent the power or promise of AI.
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Know the affordances of AI tools.
- Consider what AI technologies, particularly large language models (LLMs), do well, what they do poorly, and where they might provide new insights or assistance within your particular field.
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Create a classroom AI policy.
- Create an AI classroom policy for each of your courses, and discuss your policy with your students on the first day of class. The Center for Faculty Excellence has gathered a variety of sample AI Syllabus statements for instructor use in their "Just in Time" resources.
- Policy implementation suggestions:
- If you are not allowing AI tool use in any form for any assignment, from brainstorming/ideation to anything else, make sure that you communicate this explicitly to your students, and seek feedback at the end of the term on how that policy served them and their learning. Consider revisiting in the future.
- If you are allowing some AI tool use, make sure to be explicit about when students can use the tool in their work process, what tools are permitted, and how they should cite or annotate their AI tool use. Seek feedback at the end of the term on this policy, and consider revising your policy in the future.
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Use a critical approach.
- When giving an assignment that uses AI, always include a critical component. For example, ask students to reflect on why the tool performed in a certain way, whether it did well or poorly, and how it affected their own thinking. Beyond their current uses, what are the implications of the tool’s performance with respect to questions of equity, democracy, education, or information quality?
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Lead with trust and clarity.
- Be clear that any violation of your policy constitutes academic dishonesty, but lead with trust. This moment can be an opportunity to discuss what motivates your students: why are they in college or in your particular course, what do they want to learn, what do they perceive the learning outcomes to be, how do they learn best, and what impediments could limit their abilities to do so?
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Recognize the opportunity.
- Recognize and seize the opportunity to educate your students and to learn from them. What are some short- and long-term risks and benefits of AI? How do students feel about the environmental impact, risk of overreliance, media manipulation, etc.? What does the future of education look like? What does AI bring to bear on your particular field of study? How might we encourage students to learn from each other?
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Approach with humility and openness.
- Even AI experts don’t agree about what the future holds. Approach conversations about AI in education with humility and a healthy skepticism. Encourage your students to read and explore the various schools of thought in the field of AI. Above all, strive to distinguish fact from hype in your journey to critical AI literacy.