genAI Policy and Practice

Determining whether genAI is appropriate for use

What's my stance on genAI in this class?

Is it possible for students to work on my assignments using genAI tools?

Is that okay with me? See stances below.

Stances

Closed: No; it's too damaging to my learning goals.
Restricted: Maybe, but only in specific ways and when I explicitly tell them to.
Conditional: Yes, as long as they don't do certain things I don't want them to do.
Open: Yes, they're welcome to use the tools as they see fit.

No matter your stance, students should be clear on how you define cheating and what they are and are not permitted to do— be sure guidelines appear in writing

What shortcuts are enabled by genAI, and are they beneficial or detrimental to learning in this context?

genAI and equity

Lack of awareness of permitted tools can particularly hurt students who feel less confident in academic environments
genAI tool use can have particular benefits for subsets of your students, e.g., multilingual or neurodivergent students
Overly relying on hand-writing or oral exams may impact accessibility
Before requiring genAI, consider that some genAI tools are moving towards a for-cost subscription model

Next Steps

The recommendations below for each level policy category (closed --> open) build on one another. For instance, if your policy is "conditional," recommendations for "restricted' and "closed" policies also apply to you.

Closed

Make your syllabus as specific as possible about which tools and usages are unwelcome — are you also asking them not to use Grammarly?
Adjust assessments to be more resistant to use of genAI (see below)
We do not recommend using a genAI detector because they are extremely unreliable, but if you choose to do so, we highly recommend that you disclose that to students up front

Restricted

Identify areas where genAI may ease labor without interfering with learning or enable students to learn more with the same labor
Design assignments/approaches that integrate genAI into their process or content
Consider adapting outcomes to reflect lifting done by AI
To prevent confusion, write very specific guidelines for what is and is not permitted

Conditional

Consider which learning outcomes are likely to be harmed by unfettered use of genAI
Be explicit with students about where you are asking them not to use genAI and why
Discuss where tool use becomes cheating for you and why
Consider demonstrating to students how use of genAI might benefit them in your course

Open

Address how genAI is likely to be incorporated into your field
Emphasize to students that every class will have different policies and that what is fine in one class may hurt learning in another

Context to navigate

Because genAI is already incorporated into Microsoft Word and Google Docs, students have to actively ignore it
Services like Grammarly already use AI to check tone and suggest alternative phrasing
Workplaces already find job candidates with genAI skills to be more desirable

toward genAI-resistant assignments

Test out your assignments to see what genAI does well and does poorly in your context
Emphasize integration of in-class discussion
Value process over product: build in smaller scaffolding assignments; incorporate checkpoints, conferences, multiple drafts, reflection
Emphasize creative thinking, new insights, complex analysis—avoid short, traditional essays when you can.
Assign non-traditional assessments (video essays, podcasts, oral exams, presentations, etc.), but don't count on current weaknesses! This tech is developing rapidly: even if ChatGPT can't do something now, that doesn't mean it won't be able to in a month — or that there won't be another program that can.
Focus assessments on community-specific issues (Gettysburg or students' home communities)

Is it okay to use genAI for class?

What is my professor's stance?

Closed: Never allowed--it's too damaging to the learning goals
Restricted: Default to no, except when professor specifically says it's okay
Conditional: Default to yes, except when professor specifically says it's NOT okay
Open: Always allowed, possibly with rules about disclosing use

No matter your stance, students should be clear on how you define cheating and what they are and are not permitted to do — be sure guidelines appear in writing.