Communicating Course Policies and Talking with Students

This is a GenAI-required course. Students will be required to use GenAI tools provided by the instructor to complete assignments. Students may also use other GenAI tools unless specifically prohibited. There may be assignments in this class (e.g., exams) where the use of GenAI is not permitted, and these will be clearly identified in the syllabus.

This course enables limited uses of GenAI tools but also prohibits broad use of them in cases that would be considered plagiaristic if the tool’s output had been composed by a human author.

If unauthorized GenAI use on a particular assessment is suspected, the instructors may require you to complete a short, in-person examination orally or on paper, related to the content and skills tested in the original assessment.

Permitted use cases (examples):

• It may be used to perform research in ways similar to search engines such as Google, and for other functions attendant to completing an assignment.
• It may be used as a writing assistant in its capacity as a word processor, such as Word or Pages, i.e., for correcting grammar and spelling, and other functions like synonym suggestion.
• It may be used as translation software for consultation purposes; you should never present the GenAI translation as your own text.
• Copying any text directly from a homework or lab problem into a GenAI tool is considered cheating. Students, however, are permitted to break problems into steps and paraphrase those steps in their own words.
• When assignments in the course permit or incorporate the use of GenAI tools, the assignment will ask you to include an acknowledgement of your use of any type of GenAI in your submitted work and share the prompts and outputs utilized at the time of submission. The suggested format is as follows:
  I acknowledge the use of [insert AI system(s) and link] to [specific use of GenAI]. The prompts used include [list of prompts]. The output from these prompts was used to [explain the use].
• GenAI tools may be used for [assignment types A, B, and C] with appropriate citation, but not for [assignment types D, E, and F].

Unpermitted use cases (examples):

• GenAI tools may not be used for any purpose in any exam situation.
• The use of GenAI tools such as ChatGPT or equivalent should not be used to summarize, generate, or interpret any thoughts present in any of your work. The software may not be used to compose any part of the submitted assignment.
• GenAI should never be employed for a use that would constitute plagiarism if the GenAI source were a human or organizational author.
• Having another person/entity do the writing of any substantive portion of an assignment for you is against academic integrity policies, and can include hiring a person or a company to write essays and drafts and/or other assignments, research-based or otherwise, and using GenAI tools.

In this course, we prioritize active engagement, students’ knowledge acquisition, and the development of critical thinking skills. To achieve these objectives, we have chosen to prohibit the use of any GenAI tools or automated services during class sessions and when completing assignments or exams. GenAI use is not permitted in any aspect of completing work that is part of an assignment, including brainstorming, drafting, analysis, editing, or generation of figures or images.

If unauthorized AI use on a particular assessment is suspected, the instructor may require you to complete a short, in-person examination orally or on paper, related to the content and skills tested in the original assessment.

Zvezdelina Stankova, Teaching Professor of Mathematics
Mathematics Department

Course level: Undergraduate
Class size: MATH 52: ~680 students, MATH 74: ~65 students
Statement appears in: Syllabus, bCourses, homework assignments

AI Statement: In this course, we prioritize active engagement, students' knowledge acquisition, and the development of critical thinking skills. To this end, GenAI tools are not allowed to answer polls and when completing exams and most HWs. In some HWs and investigative parts of the course, GenAI (or other online tools) will be specified to use in completing aspects of work, including calculations, analysis, or generation of figures or images. You can use AI tools for grammar, punctuation, and word-smithing on HWs, or for calculations only as specified in the HWs, but not for generating ideas and the structure of the solutions. You need to learn to use AI maturely and as a tool, not a replacement for active learning.

Daniel Acland, Associate Professor of Research
Public Policy Department

Course level: Graduate
Class size: ~30 students
Statement appears in: Syllabus

AI Statement: ChatGPT and similar bots are powerful tools for research and can do a remarkable amount of data acquisition and analysis as well. I am a big proponent of using these tools to increase productivity. If you are not using them yet, you are falling behind, and for learning how to use them there is no substitute for getting on there and trying different things for hundreds of hours. However, two things:

1. These bots are getting more accurate, but they make what ChatGPT itself calls “creative inferences.” You should confirm everything that goes into your deliverables. Also, not paying a modest sum for the most advanced version is a false economy.
2. You may not use generative AI to do ANY writing whatsoever, including the earliest of rough drafts or the latest of copy edits. Not even one sentence, and not even to help you with English as a second language. Grammarly is fine. If you have any doubt about what you may use AI for, ask me first.

About this approach: I assume graduate students can take responsibility for their own learning and how AI affects it. I want them to use it because they have to do a lot of research and AI does a good job, these days, of finding stuff that is deeply buried. However, I deplore the use of AI for writing. Writing is part of understanding. If you can explain something in writing, you probably don't understand it yourself. Writing in my field is a way of disciplining your thinking.

Daniel Acland, Associate Professor of Research
Public Policy Department

Course level: Graduate
Class size: ~50 students
Statement appears in: Syllabus

AI Statement: You may not use artificial intelligence of any kind on any part of this course, except for exam preparation. Use of AI on any quiz, resource collection assignment, or memo will be considered cheating. We will not attempt to enforce this rule, as we believe that is fundamentally impossible, but you need to understand that if you break this rule, you are cheating, and cheating is considered quite, quite wrong in this society.

About this approach: This class is about basic concepts and skills and how to apply them and communicate them. If they use AI to figure out how to analyze some policy, or communicate the analysis, they are not learning that for themselves. They need to learn how to do 100% of the work themselves. Among other reasons for this, if they do not understand the basics fully they will never be able to harness the power of AI as an assistant effectively and responsibly.