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Provisional Guidelines on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in Teaching and Learning for Instructors at the University of Prince Edward Island – December 2023

This work "Provisional Guidelines: The Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)  in Teaching and Learning at the University of Prince Edward Island" was adapted from "Provisional Guidelines: The Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Teaching and Learning at McMaster University – June 2023" by McMaster University under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. "Provisional Guidelines: The Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)  in Teaching and Learning at the University of Prince Edward Island" is licensed under  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License by the University of Prince Edward Island. 

Preamble

The Teaching and Learning Centre at UPEI has been engaging in conversations around the use of generative artificial intelligence and identified a need for institutional guidance for instructors prior to the start of the fall semester at the University of Prince Edward Island. The original version of these guidelines was developed by the Task Force on Generative AI in Teaching and Learning at McMaster University. The guidelines developed for UPEI were shared with a small group of instructors and administrators in August 2023 to adapt them to the UPEI context. We gratefully acknowledge the feedback these individuals provided.

Over the fall 2023 semester the Generative Artificial Intelligence Taskforce (GAIT) was created and tasked with reviewing these guidelines as well as the exploration of challenges, risks and opportunities associated with Gen AI in teaching and learning at UPEI. These guidelines will continue to be updated as UPEI explores additional topics and as technology rapidly changes.

Members of the Generative Artificial Intelligence Taskforce (GAIT) invite feedback and suggestions on these guidelines through this form. Feedback collected this semester on experiences, questions and concerns about using generative AI in teaching and learning will inform further updates as developments surrounding generative AI are dynamic.  It is expected these guidelines will be updated again in time for spring course preparation. This current version was updated in December 2023.

Potential policy changes implied by these guidelines will be addressed by the relevant governance bodies. Institutional policies take precedence over these recommendations.

UPEI acknowledges the costs of generative AI arising from significant ethical issues related to academic integrity, labour, intellectual and artistic property rights in the data sets, and the environmental impacts of training large AI models (Lawton, 2023; Li, et al., 2023; Trust, n.d.). One goal of the Generative AI Task Force (GAIT) is to educate users regarding these costs and explore ways of mitigating their impact.

What is Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)?

Generative artificial intelligence uses models that learn the patterns and structure of their input training data and then generate new outputs (text, images, or other media) that have similar characteristics.

Provisional Principles

These overarching provisional principles have guided the development of these recommendations and will continue to be updated through conversations with our campus community.

• Students want to learn, and instructors want to support their learning.

• Participatory learning – learning which happens in relationships and community – continues to be a valuable and vital way for students to learn.

• Assessments that require students to document the process of learning continue to be meaningful for student learning.

• Generative AI poses risks, as well as opportunities. Individuals will have different reactions and different expectations for the technology.

• Disciplinary differences and departmental cultures will vary around the use of generative AI. 

Provisional Guidelines   

1.       UPEI’s existing academic integrity regulations apply when using generative AI. Read Regulation 20 from the Undergraduate Academic Regulations on the UPEI website. For Graduate students it is Regulation 6 from the Graduate Academic Regulations. 

2.       Instructors have the freedom to choose whether or not to use generative AI tools for the teaching and learning processes, and to determine if generative AI will be used in course design, activities, and assessments. If an instructor chooses to implement generative AI, the decision should be based on course learning outcomes, instructors’ individual interests, and conventions and expectations of the discipline. 

As with any pedagogical tool or approach, instructors should weigh the benefits of incorporating generative AI into their courses against any risks inherent to the tool or approach. Instructors should also take into account the rapidly evolving nature of generative AI technology and reassess the opportunities and risks of any tool or approach on a regular basis.   

3.       Instructors with courses that incorporate generative AI should:

• Build their own AI literacy.

• Ensure the incorporation of generative AI will support core learning outcomes and offer meaningful learning.

• Describe or discuss with students the strengths, limitations, and ethical considerations of the technology, including factual inaccuracies and gaps, societal biases present in the training data, and the rationale for using generative AI in the course.

4.       Individual instructors should clearly communicate to students if and to what extent generative AI is acceptable in the course as well as how it should be acknowledged or cited. It's recommended that instructors be very clear about their expectations regarding generative AI, and explicit when providing assignment instructions. To help reduce confusion, ensure these expectations are communicated in various ways, such as including them in course syllabi, on Moodle, instruction guidelines and repeated in class. Explain how different instructors can have different expectations for AI tools, and if use is permitted by one instructor, this does not mean AI tools will be permitted by others. (See Appendix A below for example statements)

5.       Instructors should ensure that all students have a fair opportunity to gain access to the same set of features for any tools required in the course, which could mean choosing free tools or pursuing enterprise licensing. Any required subscriptions should be disclosed at the beginning of the course.  Alternatives should be provided for Generative AI tools that are restricted to users 18+ (e.g., ChatGPT) and for situations where students have concerns about privacy or other terms and conditions.

6.       Instructors who include assessments that incorporate generative AI should: 

• Consider including reflective components that invite students to comment on the use of/experience with generative AI in the assessment.

• Explicitly review criteria and/or rubrics in ways that demonstrate how the use of generative AI is being assessed (see Appendix B below or the TLC Instructional Resources Hub for examples).

• Foster a learning environment that promotes academic integrity in all course learning activities.

7.       Students may opt-out of assessments that require the use of generative AI in exceptional circumstances as approved by the course instructor. In these cases, students will not face academic penalty, but will be required to provide alternative and equivalent evidence of their learning as proposed to, and agreed to by, the course instructor. 

8.       Assessment alternatives that may be less susceptible to the use of generative AI include: oral exams, presentations followed by a Q and A, invigilated/in-class assessments, practical tests, assessments that incorporate class discussion/activities, and process-based work. 

9.       If instructors use generative AI in their course and teaching materials, they should explain in the course outline and/or materials the extent to which generative AI has been used. Instructors are responsible for the quality, ethics, and relevance of all of their course and teaching materials, including those produced by generative AI tools. Instructors using generative AI should take reasonable efforts (e.g., updating associated digital literacies) to mitigate adverse impacts to quality and ethical instruction.

10.   Instructors incorporating generative AI should be aware of the privacy policies and user agreements of each generative AI tool and alert students to these policies.  More guidance on this is forthcoming. 

11.   Third-party tools designed to detect AI-generative text should not be used to check student work, as current evidence demonstrates that third-party AI-detection tools do not reliably work to detect text generated by artificial intelligence.

12.   If you suspect student work may have violated the academic integrity policy, please review the steps to take and refer to the undergraduate and graduate calendars. You may want to use this educator resource on conducting a discovery interview with a student to understand the situation.

13.  Caution is advised before submitting student work to generative AI tools for the purposes of generating feedback, detection of Gen AI use, etc. Submitting a student’s work to AI tools is a breach of the student’s privacy and intellectual property rights and requires the consent of the student. More guidance on this is forthcoming. 

GAIT intends to continue dialogues with various units and Faculties across campuses, as well as between post-secondary institutions, to refine and expand these guidelines as new information and technology emerges, and as we learn to work with these technologies. One example includes ongoing work to explore privacy impact assessments and security evaluations on recommended generative AI tools.  GAIT recognizes that the Gen AI landscape can change rapidly. These guidelines will be updated accordingly, and changes communicated with the campus community.

The Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC) will continue to provide training and resources for instructors on how to use generative AI effectively. Instructors can email TLC@upei.ca for support or book an appointment with an Instructional Designer. Here are additional options to learn about Gen AI use in teaching and learning.   

• Find responses to several FAQs around Gen AI the Instructional Resources Hub on the TLC website 

• Refer to resources for faculty to talk with students about generative AI available through the Instructional Resources Hub on the TLC website.

• See the TLC Newsletters delivered to your email inbox (also archived on the TLC website).

• Watch Campus Notices or check the Learning Events Calendar on the TLC website for upcoming workshops.

• Request a 1-1 consultation and connect with members of the TLC team by emailing TLC@upei.ca.