Sample AI Syllabus Statement
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AI Syllabus Statement for Summer 2023 - S/ESL Teacher Ed Program
Academic Integrity: University Honor Code & Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
I trust every student in this course to fully comply with all of the provisions of the University’s Honor Code. By enrolling in this course, you have agreed to abide by and uphold the Honor System of the University of Virginia, as well as the following policies specific to this course. We are fortunate to have access to a wealth of information and resources, and we must be vigilant to avoid plagiarism and uphold academic integrity.
The work we will do during the course of this semester will often require you to seek ideas and inspiration from our course readings as well as external sources. I encourage the consultation of high-quality, pedagogically sound sources when designing instruction, but I require you to keep track of and cite the sources that you use – written, visual, auditory, and personal. It is essential to provide proper attribution and citation for the ideas you borrow and adapt from others, and you will be expected to do this on each assignment.
During this class, we will use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. You will be informed when, where and how these tools can be used, along with guidance for attribution. All of us take responsibility for understanding the limits of AI tools, including the potential for bias, as outlined below:
- Poorly or minimally developed prompts will elicit low quality results. We will need to refine our prompts in order to get high quality outcomes, and this will take practice and thoughtfulness.
- We should assume that numbers or facts provided by AI are wrong unless we know the answers ourselves and/or can verify them with another source. Given the lack of transparency of these tools, we should assume that certain ideologies may be privileged over others, introducing bias into the results. We must all bear personal responsibility for errors, omissions, and potential bias inherent in the tool and results.
- AI is a powerful tool and one that we need to acknowledge using. Any assignments for which AI is used should include a paragraph explaining what the AI was used for and what prompts yielded the results. Models of such attribution statements will be provided in class.
- We must all be thoughtful about when this tool is useful, and we should not use it if it is not appropriate or if an assignment has been designated as “AI-free,” meaning that AI cannot be used for the assignment.
Failing to provide proper attribution and citation of any external source is considered academically dishonest. Consequences of such behavior range from failure on an assignment to failure in the course to dismissal from the university. Honest mistakes can be prevented. If you have any questions about what is appropriate, please consult the instructor(s).