Principles and Practice
Our principles and practice will launch at the University of Hull Learning and Teaching Conference on Wednesday 10th July.
Reserve your place here:
The University of Hull's Teaching & Learning Conference 2024 (cloud.microsoft)
The following principles and practices for the ethical, inclusive and sustainable use of Gen AI in HE teaching, learning and assessment are based on the empirical evidence presented in the 10 case studies and experience-based steer offered in the 28 pearls of practical wisdom published in this collection. With grounds in real-world practice, we hope these principles will help you in shaping the use of Gen AI in your context. You don't have to do everything here, but the principles and practices set out here are some things you might like to pick and choose from to get started.
Method: Two members of the team analysed all outputs from this project. Topic coding was used for the first analytical pass, applying descriptive labels to items of interest in each case study and pearl of wisdom. For the second analytical pass, all topic codes were revisited to identify themes, therefore finding areas of practice that cut across multiple case studies and/or pearls. These themes form the key areas of practice shared on this page. To ensure robustness, the case study and pearl of wisdom leads were invited to verify the areas of practice and identify any missing key contributions or areas of practice. Finally, a third analytical pass was used to hierarchy the practices into key principles which were further reviewed by the whole project team.
Findings here echo other, more abstract and theoretical, guidance offered to the sector on the topic of using Gen AI in HE learning, teaching and assessment. We hope the collective wisdom of our 25 case study authors (including 11 students) and 30 pearl authors representing five countries (UK, Ireland, France, Vietnam and Australia) will inspire confidence in colleagues as they adapt to teaching and supporting learning in a Gen AI-enabled world.
Remember the human
Adopt a human-centred approach when using or planning to use Gen AI. Recognise that Gen AI is one of many tools at our disposal—this encourages a sense of agency over Gen AI for both staff and students, and foregrounds the importance of taking a human-centred approach when working with Gen AI. A human-centred approach places focus on using Gen AI to enhance human abilities and well-being. This is in contrast to using Gen AI to diminish the creativity of humans or to replace human roles.
Consider the task at hand and whether Gen AI is the most suitable tool. Are the capabilities of the selected Gen AI software commensurate with what it is being used for? Are you in a position to evaluate the correctness or appropriateness of any outputs? Identify points in the workflow where human input would be essential or beneficial, and work this into your plan.
Are there wider ethical implications to bear in mind before using Gen AI (e.g. environmental impacts, data privacy issues, the ethics of big data, etc.)? This should be factored into your plans for using Gen AI.
Be open to the opportunities that Gen AI offers (do not reject Gen AI uncritically)
Recognise the potential for Gen AI to enhance teaching and learning practices, as well as working practices generally. A blanket rejection of Gen AI risks limiting access to new learning and developmental opportunities for both students and practitioners alike.
Take advantage of opportunities to support students to develop their Gen AI capabilities and literacy. Considering the trend towards mainstream adoption of Gen AI in a number of industries, avoiding Gen AI risks limiting the competitiveness of graduates.
Recognise that Gen AI can enable inclusivity in and of itself.
Frame any work you do involving Gen AI in an agentic way. To reiterate an earlier point, it may be useful to view Gen AI as one of many tools at your disposal. Inform yourself about Gen AI; explore its potential and limitations as you would with any other piece of learning technology available to you.
Be cognisant of the capabilities and limitations of Gen AI (do not accept Gen AI uncritically)
Gain hands-on experience with Gen AI. Firsthand familiarity as a user will contribute to your overall understanding of the merits and limitations of Gen AI.
Adopt a critical approach: evaluate and reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of Gen AI and its outputs, and what implications these may have. Build in opportunities for students to do the same.
Use Gen AI in a carefully considered and pedagogically-rooted way. In this sense, Gen AI is no different to any other piece of technology available to practitioners in HE.
Work in partnership with students
Position yourself as a facilitator, rather than necessarily an expert user, of Gen AI.
Engage in student-centred decision making when planning Gen AI in teaching: partner with students to design and create Gen AI activities and resources, or when planning the integration of Gen AI into curricula more generally. This has the added benefit of placing students in a position of agency over Gen AI in their learning.
Be clear about your own expectations around Gen AI use – and communicate them to students
Familiarise yourself with your institution’s policies or guidance regarding Gen AI use.
Have open and honest conversations with your students around the use of Gen AI, clearly communicating relevant expectations.
Give explicit guidance to help students navigate issues of academic integrity.
Use available resources to help with identifying and articulating different aspects of Gen AI use in HE. This will equip you to provide clear guidance to your students and to facilitate conversations around Gen AI.
Consciously prioritise ethics, inclusivity and sustainability
Make informed choices when choosing which tool or software to use (e.g. be aware of paywalls and ensure equitable access for all students; take into consideration issues around data privacy and the ethics of big data).
Regularly monitor and evaluate the impact of Gen AI on your students. Build in formal points of evaluation when designing activities. Ideally, include opportunities for open-ended comments in student evaluation activities to identify unexpected impacts.
Recommendations for university and sector leaders
Develop clear and explicit guidance for acceptable use of Gen AI by staff and students at your institution. Regularly review and update guidance to take into account developments in Gen AI and AI more broadly.
Make informed decisions when recommending or purchasing particular Gen AI tools or software. Include rigorous measures of ethics, data privacy, inclusivity and sustainability when evaluating options.
Provide time and funding for staff to engage in Gen AI-related activities and projects. These can include professional development opportunities to develop Gen AI capabilities (e.g. for teaching, research, or other work tasks) and opportunities to partner with students to innovate with Gen AI in teaching, learning and assessment.