The UTS approach to the use of generative AI tools is to promote effective, ethical engagement. To adapt to the challenges and opportunities offered by AI tools, we recommend you:
- Explore and understand – try out the AI tools most likely to be relevant to your field and look into how others in your field are using AI in their teaching/assessments
- Engage your students – talking about AI with students will give them the opportunity to ask questions and make suggestions; they will also need guidelines on acceptable use of AI tools in your subject and how its use should be acknowledged
- Prepare and adapt – what short-term solutions can be made for your assessments, and how can you apply more long-term changes for future sessions?
Our new resource collection on Artificial Intelligence in learning and teaching features guidance and case studies to help you determine how to best adjust your assessments. Below, we summarise 5 short-term ideas to apply to assessments for Autumn session.
1. Bring your students into the conversation
Encourage students to think critically about AI and its role in learning. For starters, you could send an announcement in Canvas that encourages them to engage with you on this issue and will help give you pointers on how your assessments could be adapted. They will have their own awareness and views on AI usage, perhaps even more than you – it has been an inescapable topic lately!
2. Demonstrate ChatGPT in the classroom
Use examples of questions that show students the limitations of AI, such as factual and referencing errors that would be obvious to a human marker. You could extend this demonstration by outlining the amount of work it would take to fact-check and correct – busting the myth that AI is a time-saver.
3. Offer clear guidelines, including how AI should be acknowledged
Students will need clear and consistent guidance on what they can and can’t do with AI in each subject. If AI is allowed as part of the assessment task, provide clear guidelines on when it is appropriate to use it (e.g. during draft development use only) and encourage students to acknowledge AI usage as part of the referencing process. If you are part of a teaching team, check with your Subject Coordinator to ensure your message is consistent across the cohort. This resource on Guidelines for Generative AI has good guidelines examples and considerations for referencing.
4. Give your assessment a context that’s personal, unique or current
Set or adjust a question that requires students to reflect on a real-life aspect of their learning. You could frame this written assessment around unique in-person components of the subject, like guest presentations not available elsewhere, a field trip or a discussion held in a live class during the current semester. Basing a task on more current content may provide a level of short-term protection against the limitations of AI datasets.
5. Sell the purpose of writing as a sustainable skill
Remind students this is their opportunity to practice and learn in a supportive environment so they’ll be able to operate effectively in their chosen career. You could challenge students with a question such as ‘Why learn to write in 2023?’, then gather responses (perhaps using Mentimeter) and showcase some reasons they might not have thought of.
Find out more
As AI evolves and higher education adjusts, our Artificial Intelligence in learning and teaching collection will be updated and enhanced with new resources and real case studies from UTS academics.