An open line of communication is critical to our collaborative efforts, and to your success in the class. Here is my promise to you:

• I will respond to Canvas Inbox messages as quickly as possible, usually within 24 hours. If you do not hear from me within 24 hours, please email me again. I NEVER IGNORE STUDENT EMAILS. Because I obsessively check emails, I do ask in return that when you do email me, please be respectful and professional.

  • • To message me through the Canvas Inbox, click on the Inbox icon in the blue left-hand global navigation menu (on a computer) or the Inbox icon in the Canvas app (for mobile devices).

    • To schedule an appointment with me, sign up through this link. All scheduled appointments are on Zoom at this link.

• Each week, I will send out 1-2 announcements to introduce you to the weekly content and activities and offer mid-week reminders.

• You will receive assignment feedback from me in Canvas in the form of the rubric, in-line textual annotations, and an audio/text summary comment. 

• Your discussions will be graded within 72 hours of the deadline, and larger projects will be graded within 10 days of the deadline.

• I will foster an atmosphere of respect, trust, and collaboration.

Since our class is online, I must drop you if you fail to log in or participate in the course after one week’s time. This is not to punish you. Instead, I check attendance regularly to ensure that those students who stop attending receive a “W” instead of an “F” on their transcript if this happens before the Withdrawal deadline 10/19.

 GCCCD Policy on dropping and withdrawing:

• It is the student’s responsibility to drop all classes in which he/she is no longer participating (for online classes).

• It is the student’s responsibility to drop all classes in which he/she is no longer attending (for on campus classes).

• It is the instructor’s discretion to withdraw a student after the add/drop deadline (include date) due to excessive absences.

• Students who remain enrolled in a class beyond the published withdrawal deadline, as stated in the class schedule, will receive an evaluative letter grade in this class (A, B, C, D, F).

• Students who miss more than 8 hours of instruction (or 4 classes in our case) may be dropped from the course

• You will be required to submit your written work through Canvas Turnitin due to campus-wide concern over plagiarism.  Your work will be entered into a nationwide database and compared to that database.  I will receive a report for each submission indicating percent and source of duplicate material. Be sure you agree to the Turnitin Policy outlined on the Essay submission page.  

Context

The beta release of Dall-E-Mini in July 2022 and ChatGPT in November 2022 are among many tools using artificial intelligence. There is a good possibility that using tools like these are going to become an important skill for careers in the not distant future. In the meantime though, it's going to take a while for society to figure out when using these tools is/isn't acceptable. There are four reasons why:

1. Work created by AI tools may not be considered original work and instead, considered automated plagiarism. It is derived from previously created texts from other sources that the models were trained on, yet doesn't cite sources.

2. AI models have built-in biases (i.e., they are trained on limited underlying sources; they reproduce, rather than challenge, errors in the sources)

3. AI tools have limitations (i.e., they lack critical thinking to evaluate and reflect on criteria; they lack abductive reasoning to make judgments with incomplete information at hand)

4. AI tools may hallucinate, or in other words, completely make up information and citations that are not based on any evidence or facts. 

Given these (important) ethical caveats, for the time being, I'm supplementing my academic integrity policy with a policy regarding a responsible, ethical use of AI-based tools in my class. This policy was developed from a response by ChatGPT-3 (2023) and edited on critical reflection by me:

Policy

Academic integrity is a core principle at Cuyamaca College, and it's vital that all students uphold this principle-- whether using AI-based tools or otherwise. For my class, a responsible use of AI-based tools in completing coursework or assessments must be done in accordance with the following:

1. You may use AI tools like ChatGPT to brainstorm and to consult; however, you may not use these tools to generate your essays or discussion responses.  Beware that use may also stifle your own independent thinking and creativity.

2. You must clearly identify the use of AI-based tools in your work. Any work that utilizes AI-based tools must be clearly marked as such, including the specific tool(s) used. For example, if you use ChatGPT-4, you must cite "ChatGPT-4. (YYYY, Month DD of query). "Text of your query." Generated using OpenAI. https://chat.openai.com/"

3. You must be transparent in how you used the AI-based tool, including what work is your original contribution. An AI detector such as GPTZero (https://gptzero.me/) may be used to detect AI-driven work.

4. You must ensure your use of AI-based tools does not violate any copyright or intellectual property laws.

5. You must not use AI-based tools to cheat on assessments.

6. You must not use AI-based tools to plagiarize without citation.

Violations of this policy will be dealt with in accordance with Cuyamaca's academic integrity policy (see below). You will be responsible for any inaccurate, biased, offensive, or otherwise unethical content you submit regardless of whether it originally comes from you or an AI tool. It's your responsibility to be aware of the academic integrity policy and take the necessary steps to ensure that your use of AI-based tools is in compliance with this policy. If you have questions, please speak with me first, as we navigate together how best to responsibly use these tools.

ChatGPT-3. (2023, January 10). "Write a syllabus policy about the academic integrity of students using ai-based tools." Generated using OpenAI. https://chat.openai.com/

Take pride in your educational opportunities. There are many people around the world who would love to be in college but are not able to for various reasons. I do understand that college is very stressful; however, there is never a good reason to cheat. If you don’t understand a reading or assignment, email me for help or visit the writing center. 

Plagiarism includes copying the ideas or writings of someone else and claiming it as your own work, collaborating with someone else on an assignment, resubmitting work that you have done for another class, purchasing an essay online, and having a friend or family member help you write your paper. Anyone caught plagiarizing will not only fail that assignment but is likely to fail the class and will also face disciplinary action in accordance with the San Diego Cuyamaca College policy. You are responsible for reviewing Cuyamaca College’s policy on academic dishonesty.

According to the Cuyamaca College Catalog, Student Code of Conduct, Academic Dishonesty such as cheating or plagiarizing, is grounds for instructional and administrative sanctions. That means that if you present the words (even three or more in a row), ideas, or work of someone else as your own, or if you have your work heavily rewritten by someone else and turn it in as your own, I will fail the assignment. The same is true if you are seen or otherwise caught cheating on a quiz, exam or other non-collaborative assignment, and will NOT allow you to rewrite it.   In addition to the penalty I instructor apply to your graded work, I will report your misconduct to the Department Chair, the Instructional Dean and the Associate Dean of Student Affairs. The Associated Dean of Student Affairs will keep a master list of cases of student misconduct. Any student who is reported to have cheated or plagiarized twice will be called in for a meeting with that dean. It will be up to the dean's discretion to determine what action to take, but students may be SUSPENDED FROM THE COLLEGE OR PERMANENTLY EXPELLED for repeated acts of cheating or plagiarism. Please feel free to consult the college catalog for further information or visit http://www.cuyamaca.edu/ascc/conduct.asp

Cuyamaca College has a clear Code of Conduct . Take a look!

The header image is by Mike Von on Unsplash