In the age of Gen-AI, we all need to practice ways of discerning when its use is helping our thinking and when it gets in the way. In this course, we emphasize reflective writing as a meditative practice with the purpose of discovering something about yourself and your unique relationship with nature. Using Gen-AI will be an obstacle in this endeavor and instead further disconnect you from your experience and deeper knowing. There may be moments when the use of AI may be helpful and we encourage you to initiate a discussion when you see an opportunity to leverage Gen-AI for achieving our course goals. If you consult Gen-AI for assignments please refer to UVA's Gen-AI website for guidance on how to acknowledge its contributions.
Aside from the desire to give you space to write from your own experience, there are environmental and other ethical issues at stake in the decision to use or not to use AI. If you want to find out more, please read this blogpost by our colleague Cate Denial.
We trust that you will comply with the Honor Code. We also know that it sometimes difficult to discern exactly what constitutes plagiarism, particularly if you are coming from a different cultural context where the rules for citing may be different than in the US. Generally speaking, plagiarism is any attempt to take credit for work done by another person. To be sure, academics rely on the work of others to shape their own knowledge and interpretations. In writing, we need to acknowledge the importance of other works through footnotes and/or direct textual references to influential books, articles, and ideas. Not acknowledging the work of others, or transposing sentences, words, and concepts into your own work without using quotation marks or citations can result in plagiarism. Working with a professor, tutor, or friend to clarify your ideas and organization for a paper or presentation is generally not plagiarism. Using an outline or thesis given to you by someone else without substantial modification is considered plagiarism. If you have any questions about what may constitute plagiarism, please consult with us. We value you giving us a chance to clear up any confusion!