Overview
The rise of generative AI like ChatGPT has transformed higher education almost overnight. We're building new norms in real time, often balancing innovation, caution, and inclusion. Whether you’ve taken a cautious, experimental, or integrated approach to GenAI, one of the most powerful things you can do as an instructor is pause and reflect. How is your current approach working–for you, for your students, and for the kind of learning you care most about, as context evolves?
This page invites you to step back and think about how GenAI is showing up (or not) in your classroom and what refinements might support more intentional, equitable teaching.
Practical Approaches for Reflecting about GenAI
a. Reflect on Your Own AI Use
One of the most powerful ways to reflect on GenAI is to engage directly with the technology yourself. Try running your own assignments, prompts, or exam questions through GenAI tools, and observe what kind of output is produced. Ask yourself whether AI-generated responses align with the learning outcomes you value most, and where they fall short. Ethan Mollick, writing about “co-intelligence,” recommends adopting four key rules when working with AI: always ask for evidence, be the human in the loop, treat AI as a coworker (not a replacement), and invest time in learning to use it well. As you experiment, notice your own emotions–whether intrigue, discomfort, hope, or skepticism–and use those feelings to guide deeper inquiry rather than avoiding them. Firsthand engagement with GenAI will not only clarify your own stance but also equip you to have more grounded conversations with students.
b. Foster Ongoing Classroom Dialogue
Reflection with GenAI should not happen in isolation from your students. Every semester, the Division of Undergraduate Education coordinates the distribution of the Student Pulse Survey to get timely student feedback about current questions, concerns, and ideas for campus leaders and educators to consider. In the Spring 2025 Pulse Survey, undergraduate students were asked several questions about how they receive support for using GenAI in their learning and what support they wish to receive moving forward.
Notably, 52% of respondents stated that they have never engaged with GenAI in a “hands-on” capacity (i.e. viewing live instructor demonstrations or using GenAI to complete assignments) and 51% never experienced a course lecture about GenAI. Yet 62% of respondents would like to learn about using GenAI in courses within their program and 31% expressed interest in learning about GenAI in courses outside their program.
While not all instructors may wish to engage their students in active conversation about how to use GenAI, these survey results demonstrate that students are interested in understanding what role—if any—GenAI plays in their courses. By engaging students in these dialogues, you signal that inquiry into GenAI is part of the curriculum, not a hidden undercurrent, and that their voices help shape evolving classroom norms.
c. Redefine Policies & Pedagogies
As your understanding of GenAI evolves alongside your students’ experiences, it’s important to regularly revisit and update your course policies and teaching strategies. Reflection here centers on self-assessment and responsiveness to classroom realities. Consider how your existing policies and pedagogical choices are supporting, or perhaps limiting, your educational goals in the current AI landscape. Are your policies clear and aligned with the learning outcomes you prioritize? How are students responding to your expectations and guidelines? Do they feel supported, confused, restricted, or empowered?
Transparency is key when you revise your policies. Communicate openly with students about why changes are being made. Frame updates not as arbitrary rules, but as thoughtful adaptations based on feedback, emerging challenges, and ethical considerations.
d. Engage in Peer Reflection & Professional Community
Reflection deepens when it moves beyond individual contemplation to include dialogue with peers. Ask yourself: what perspectives or practices are emerging among my colleagues? What aspects of GenAI use or resistance are resonating across the discipline or Berkeley? Engaging in dialogue helps unearth collective wisdom and new reflective prompts, and reminds you that you are not navigating these changes alone.
e. Center Equity & Ethics
A sustained, multi-lens reflection on GenAI should also foreground issues of equity and ethics. Consider whether your evolving policies create barriers or new opportunities for certain groups of students–such as English learners, those with limited access to technology, or individuals with specific privacy concerns. Are you noticing signals of inequity, or perhaps deeper learning or engagement, among these groups? Broaden the ethical lens by reflecting on the environmental and social costs of widespread AI use, and on how citation, attribution, and academic honesty should be modeled and taught.
GenAI Reflection Tool
To support deeper reflection on the role of GenAI in teaching and learning, our colleagues at the Center for Teaching & Learning have developed an accessible reflection tool that serves both instructional and research purposes. This Qualtrics-based interactive survey invites students to consider how GenAI tools are influencing their academic habits, values, and engagement. Instructors can share the live link to integrate it directly into their courses.
In addition to the survey, a Google Docs versionis available for instructors who prefer to adapt and implement it in different formats. Both versions aim to foster student metacognition by prompting them to reflect on their own use of GenAI, the ethical dimensions of that use, and its impact on their learning process.
These tools can be used in a variety of ways: as an early-semester check-in, a midterm reflection, or part of a broader conversation about academic integrity and evolving learning practices.