Guidance on Teaching Use of Generative AI

T&L Commons Statement for Teaching with AI 

KPU is adapting our original, more generic, guidelines to provide more structure, as it was important that we refine the teaching guidance in a timely manner. We present this for discussion and feedback.

Generative AIs, including Copilot, ChatGPT and others, have gained rapid popularity and stand poised to be integrated into many facets of society, including education. The rapid adoption of such a disruptive technology results in many practical opportunities and comes with many ethical and practical challenges for society and higher education.  

Ethical Considerations 

  • Generative AI (GenAI) has the potential to exacerbate the digital divide in the student experience 
  • Any consideration of the use of GenAI in the class must be transparent, accountable, and consequential.  We must act in accordance with acknowledged good conduct both for its own sake and to act as models of ethical behaviour for our learners   
  • Consideration for use of GenAI should be focused on its most relevant use within the discipline  

Practical Considerations 

  • Promote Ethical Use: Discuss ethical use of GenAI from within the contest of the discipline and from the perspective of social integrity  
  • Develop Clear Expectations: Develop clear and transparent educational practices for the classroom. Communicate what the appropriate practice is and why the practice is appropriate. provide opportunities for questions. provide clear guidance for mid-semester changes or emerging scenarios to be adopted into practice  
  • Ensure Equitable Access: Encourage the exploration of other GenAI for ungraded activities. Use equitable access tools for graded assignments or critical learning  
  • Encourage Critical Engagement: Help you learners identify where GenAI is useful or not useful from within the discipline. Situate your instruction for general society and discipline specific contexts 
  • Support Skill Development: Building competency within the discipline takes time, so too does developing competence with GenAI tools; address and develop both  
  • Integrate GenAI thoughtfully: Be sure to address GenAI value and use within the discipline and its value and use within society 
  • Rework course content: Update course material to be relevant in the world with GenAI 
  • Rework Course Assessments: Update assessments to be relevant in a GenAI world. Consider specific criteria and performance indicator language in rubrics to privilege human-generated content and to account for content generated by AI 

Additional Resources.  

Determining the Appropriate use of Technology for your Course; Generative AI and Other Tools

In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, including generative AI, it is essential to recognize that without clear guidelines, students are left to make their own decisions regarding technology use. Students are asking questions such as can I use Generative AI in class, for assignments and for their self-improvement such as for planning, prioritization, studying, self-testing, content review & feedback, resume and cover letter writing. How would you answer these questions?  

As educators, we must consider our teaching philosophy, comfort level, and the appropriateness of technology within our disciplines and course contexts. Additionally, KPU’s policies on privacy and software integration play a crucial role in shaping these discussions. We encourage you to engage in open discussions with your students, providing them with context, rationale, and clear parameters for their use of generative AI. 

Here is a selection of resources to support you in critically and comprehensively considering what you need to address whether you are permitting or not permitting its use in your class. Following this is a link to examples of Learning Activities and Assessments that you can download, use or modify to fit your course.

The Artificial Intelligence Syllabus Statements crafted by the Academic Integrity Office at KPU, provide guidance on how to navigate the use of generative AI in your course.

Below, is a continuum that outlines different degrees of generative AI use in your courses. 

If you are gravitating towards allowing students to use generative AI in your courses, consider the following:

  • Use of Generative AI Overview This document provides a broad overview of the benefits and challenges of using Generative AI from a teaching and learning perspective 
  • Available Generative AI Tools (May 2024) This document details the breadth of Generative AI applications as of May 2024. Given the speed of AI expansion and development, the content here may become outdated soon. Efforts will be made to update this document periodically. Tool selection for use at KPU must be approved in alignment with KPU policies. For questions related to instructional use, contact TL Commons.  
  • Five Principles for Effective and Ethical Generative Ai Use in Your Class This document introduces five principles to support instructors in transitioning their assignments and assessments in light of developments in Generative AI. More importantly, it helps instructors consider the effective and ethical use of Generative AI in a discipline-specific manner that they can then teach to their students. 
  • Getting Ready to Use Generative Ai in the Classroom It is good practice to consider and answer several questions before using Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in the classroom. This document will guide you through them.   

If no, consider these guidelines:

  • How to Exclude Gen AI Use in Your Classroom While it is not possible to completely eliminate the use of Generative AI by students in your course, this document provides guidance on explaining to students the context, rationale, and parameters for why the use of Generative AI is not permitted in your course. 
  • Rubric Design for  GenAI The team in the T&L Commons will be available to provide feedback on assessment rubric design for permitting and not permitting the use of GenAI for assignment completion. Depending on your need, the feedback can support mitigation strategies to privilege human-generated content, or feedback for collaborating with Generative AI. 

Basic Use of Generative AI

Go to Basic Use