From Policy to Practice: Talking with Students About Generative AI

Many students are already experimenting with Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)  tools, sometimes skillfully and sometimes without a clear understanding of what is appropriate. Instructors have the opportunity to help students navigate these tools ethically and effectively. 

This resource is designed to help you start and sustain productive conversations about GenAI in your courses. 

Start With Your Syllabus, But Don’t Stop There 

A clear GenAI syllabus course policy can: 

  • Signal your awareness of GenAI tools and openness to discussing them
  • Reduce confusion and anxiety about acceptable use
  • Clarify your expectations 

Policy is just the start. Students benefit most when conversations about GenAI are integrated into course learning goals, referenced in discussions, connected to assignments, and part of ongoing reflection. 

What Makes Classroom Conversations about GenAI Effective? 

Do:

  • Set clear expectations early and reinforce them often.
  • Talk with students about how GenAI connects to course and discipline goals, and/or how the use of GenAI can prevent students from achieving learning objectives.
  • Encourage honest questions about GenAI use.
  • Discuss the value of students developing their own original ideas and their ability to express their ideas in their own words.
  • Invite critical reflection on ethical use and disciplinary norms.
  • Make coursework meaningful. Students are more likely to use GenAI when assignments seem like busywork.
  • Use GenAI as an opportunity to explore information literacy and evaluate the accuracy and biases of GenAI.
  • Promote and model disclosure when GenAI tools are used. Disclose your use of GenAI in teaching or work 

Avoid: 

  • Blanket bans without explanation or justification. This misses an opportunity to prepare students to critically evaluate the potential problems, inaccuracies, and biases of GenAI.
  • Excessive penalties for GenAI misuse. Provide students with the right to due process by reporting violations of your course GenAI policy to the Office of Community Standards.
  • Ignoring GenAI altogether. After all, 62% of UMN undergraduates reported already using GenAI tools. 

Sample Discussion Questions

Get the Conversation Started  

  • How are you using GenAI tools (if at all)?
  • What do you think about the use of GenAI in education?
  • What GenAI uses feel like cheating, and what uses feel acceptable?
  • What ethical concerns shape how you use (or choose not to use) these tools?
  • How do you think GenAI is changing how we read, think, and create?
  • Because learners bring different experiences, values, abilities, and challenges to our courses, how might a uniform GenAI policy fall short, and can you think of any reasonable exceptions?
  • Are you concerned about how GenAI might change learning, teaching, art making, work, or communication?
  • How do you feel about instructors’ use of GenAI? Are there areas where you feel that it is unacceptable for instructors to use GenAI?
  • How can you develop your own authenticity and voice as a writer if you are using GenAI?

Dig Deeper 

  • Can GenAI replace certain learning or teaching tasks? Is important learning or information lost when we outsource time-consuming activities like reading, peer response, or assessment? Are there any human aspects that can’t or shouldn’t be replaced?
  • What are the potential drawbacks or risks of incorporating GenAI into the educational process (e.g., fairness, privacy, accuracy, and intellectual property)?
  • Should students be taught how to use GenAI tools? Why or Why not? Who should be responsible for teaching GenAI use? Based on your position, how would you suggest addressing GenAI in the classroom?
  • How might GenAI impact academic integrity? Could it lead to increased plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty?
  • How does the power of Big Tech in the GenAI space influence your decisions about appropriate GenAI use? Are the social, environmental, and political impacts of GenAI severe enough to eschew these technologies altogether?

You Don’t Have to Be an Expert 

Even if you do not feel comfortable with GenAI technologies, you can: 

  • Guide students through reflective, critical conversations using your disciplinary lens.
  • Prompt questions about the impact of automation and technology on learning, teaching, and society.
  • Pose questions about the future of human creativity and the development of individual thought.
  • Model curiosity and rigorous, ethical academic praxis. 

Build GenAI Literacy Together 

Encourage students to engage with GenAI tools critically: 

  • Discuss the importance of academic integrity as it relates to course learning outcomes.
  • Provide instruction and model proper citation and acknowledgment techniques. See Teaching GenAI Citation and Acknowledgement: Classroom Strategies for Faculty.
  • Teach students how to evaluate UMN-approved GenAI tools, including the basics of how they work, how they use data, and how they can be biased.
  • Provide strategies for validating GenAI outputs for accuracy using licensed library resources and effective research practice.
  • Discuss ethical considerations of GenAI models, including environmental impact, risk of misinformation, bias, and misuse 

Resources