In this article:
What is out there and what should I use?
- AI is adept at drafting, summarizing, and explaining content, but humans are suited for tasks requiring nuanced expertise or personal insight.
- AI requires practiced information literacy. AI can produce 'hallucinations' or plausible yet incorrect content despite advancements.
- Generative AI detectors produce false positives at alarming rates, especially for students who do not use English as their primary language. Engage students in honest conversation over AI usage.
- Microsoft has now made Copilot (copilot.microsoft.com) generally available to EDU users. With Copilot, you can access OpenAI's GPT-4 chat tool and DALL·E 3 image generation using your Quinnipiac email address, providing state-of-the-art AI capabilities.
What should I communicate in my syllabus?
It is virtually impossible to outright ban AI. Incorporating a statement about the proper use of AI in a course syllabus has become increasingly important.
Use the syllabus examples below to create your statement for your course! Please consider sharing your syllabus with us to include on this page as a resource for others.
Syllabus Examples
Quinnipiac’s Academic Integrity Policy
Section B of the Preserving Academic Integrity portion of the Academic Integrity Policy – is below:
QU is committed to integrity and honesty in the educational process. As a member of the campus community and a student enrolled in this course, you agree to know and observe the university’s Academic Integrity (AI) Policy. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, cheating, facilitation, fabrication, unauthorized collaboration and plagiarism. You must produce original work and know what constitutes plagiarism. You must also know what constitutes cheating. If you are not certain what sources you can rely on when completing an assignment or exam, including any online assessment, you should contact me for clarification. All assignments you submit in this class must be original work completed by you for this specific course. A failure to abide by the AI Policy could lead to a grade penalty on the assessment, failure in the course, an “FAI” notation on your transcript, AI probation, suspension or any other sanction outlined in the university’s AI Policy. If you have questions about what constitutes academic misconduct, please contact the course instructor or the Office of Academic Integrity.
AI Citation Guidelines
Below are specific guidelines for citing AI-generated content according to major citation styles: MLA, APA, AMA, and Chicago. Make AI citation guidelines and other resources incredibly easy to find and utilize by providing direct links.
- APA Citation Guide
- MLA Citation Guide
- AMA Citation Guide
- Chicago Citation Guide
- You do need to credit ChatGPT and similar tools whenever you use the text that they generate in your own work. For most types of writings, you can simply acknowledge the AI tool in your text (e.g., “The following recipe for pizza dough was generated by ChatGPT”).
- If you need a more formal citation—for example, for a student paper or for a research article—a numbered footnote or endnote might look like this:
- Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat.
- If the prompt hasn’t been included in the text, it can be included in the note:
- ChatGPT, response to “Explain how to make pizza dough from common household ingredients,” OpenAI, March 7, 2023
- More Information on the Citation, Documentation of Sources →
How should I teach with AI?
- Clarify the purpose of what students are learning and provide opportunities for students to reflect on any relevance with their personal lives.
- Integrate AI tools within certain phases of an assignment to scaffold or support learning. Could students use Copilot to prepare a summary of a text that they will then synthesize into an analysis? Could Copilot help maintain a reference list during a long research project? Help students to practice noticing where AI is helpful and where it is more limited.
- Provide multiple options for completing assignments, such as project topics or modalities. The more students are involved in the decision-making process, the more engaged they will be.
How can students responsibly use AI?
- Encourage students to validate AI-generated information against trusted sources.
- Teach students to “cross-reference” AI outputs with other sources, ensuring there is continuity between AI generated and human generated texts.
- Ask students to reflect on how AI use enhances or complicates learning and task completion.
You are not doing this alone - reach out to the AI Subcommittee members directly and join the AI for Teaching and Learning channel in the Quinnipiac Zoom space.
Consider scheduling a meeting with a member of the Learning Design and Technology team to consider strategies for reimagining your teaching practices and to develop specific strategies at the assignment level. AI tools offer exciting education opportunities, provided they are utilized with a conscientious approach. Look out for more engagements from the AI committees to explore the role of AI tools in your teaching practices.
