Setting Clear AI Usage Boundaries: A Guide for Faculty
This guest post is by Celine Greene, Senior Digital Teaching and Learning Strategist at the Center for Teaching and Learning.
There are many approaches to integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our classrooms: from complete avoidance to the full-on embrace, and everything in-between. Because the level of tolerance can vary not just from course to course but even activity to activity, it is very important that faculty are forth coming in their expectations. This communication provides essential guidance for students and serves as a clear boundary for everyone, helping avoid misunderstandings around the rules of academic integrity.
Increasing students’ understanding around using AI with integrity starts with a syllabus statement.
Is a course syllabus statement regarding student AI use required? Does it have to be reviewed or approved? At Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, it is the faculty's discretion to include a course syllabus statement specific to AI use. However, the BSPH Syllabus Guidance does recommend including such a section. Such statements can be found in the recently updated Artificial Intelligence Syllabus Statements document and the CoursePlus Syllabus tool's section: "Use of Artificial Intelligence Software." These example statements have been vetted by Academic Affairs. Faculty who write their own statements are encouraged to consult with Jon Vernick, Director of Academic Integrity.
This question and response is one of several FAQs on the CTL Teaching Toolkit page: Artificial Intelligence in Teaching and Learning.
Beyond the syllabus statement, faculty can increase students’ understanding of using AI with integrity by:
- Reiterating the expectations and the why during the term and in activities’ instructions.
- Requiring reflection, including process documentation, in activities both avoiding and allowing AI.
- Providing guidance through examples and rubrics.
- Modeling and providing pathways to AI literacy, including recommending tools; evaluating prompts and results together; and incorporating AI source documentation as part of citation management.
Recommended further learning
Eaton, S.E. (2024, November). Postplagiarism: Helping Students Maintain Academic Integrity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence [Video] Teachonline.ca. https://teachonline.ca/webinars/postplagiarism-helping-students-maintain-academic-integrity-age-artificial-intelligence/