Talking with Students about Generative AI
Generative AI Literacy
Learning how to use GenAI technologies appropriately is rapidly becoming part of academic and career development. Many students will increasingly be expected to use AI to generate content in their professions. It is crucial that their education plays a role in developing their critical thinking and reflective skills around the evaluation of a range of sources, including AI-generated material.
What do we need to do to prepare students to engage with GenAI tools responsibly, ethically, safely, and in an informed manner? What do we need to tell them, or discuss with them, to ensure their experience is positive, responsible, and informed, in their courses at Centennial and beyond?
Critical GenAI literacy for students will include the following:
General GenAI knowledge (students need to know/understand)
- what is GenAI and how does it work?
- what tools exist?
- what limitations, risks and ethical considerations exist?
- how does GenAI relate to academic integrity?
- how is GenAI impacting the workplace? What is the future potential of these tools? What GenAI skills are required?
Using GenAI (students need to practise)
- how can students use GenAI tools to support learning and generate content? See Chapter on GenAI for learners.
- what strategies are most efficient/effective for interacting with GenAI tools to produce meaningful outputs (prompt engineering)?
- what copyright considerations should be considered?
Critical analysis of GenAI outputs (students need to practise)
- how should students analyze output to modify or add to prompt in order to obtain the desired output?
- what critical analysis of output should occur before content is used (i.e. content accuracy, bias awareness, ethical considerations, source verification)?
Resource to use with your learners
We have created this google slide deck for you to use/adapt as you begin your conversation about GenAI with your learners. We would love feedback or stories about how you facilitated your conversation!
Extend the Conversation
If you want to extend the conversation, here are some additional questions you can ask as part of an open discussion with your learners – full disclosure, ChatGPT helped generate these discussion questions! but we edited them.
Discussion Questions
- How can generative AI be used to enhance teaching and learning in a post-secondary setting?
- What are the potential drawbacks or risks of incorporating generative AI into the educational process?: This might stimulate a discussion on issues like fairness, privacy concerns, and the potential for AI to make errors.
- Can AI-generated content replace human instructors for certain teaching activities? If so, which ones and why?: This question encourages students to consider the value and irreplaceability of human instruction.
- How can we ensure that the use of AI in education doesn’t exacerbate existing inequalities (such as access to technology or learning opportunities)? This could spark a debate about equity and accessibility in education.
- Should students be taught how to interact with and utilize AI as a part of their educational curriculum? Why or why not?: This can lead to a discussion on the importance of digital literacy in the 21st century.
- How might generative AI impact academic integrity? Could it lead to increased plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty?: This question can provoke thoughts on how technology might be misused in an academic setting.
- How might the use of AI in formative assessment change the teacher-student relationship? Could it make the process more objective, or could it devalue human judgment and feedback?: This question can stir a discussion on the human aspects of teaching and learning.
Attributions
This page has been adapted from:
Generative Artificial Intelligence in Teaching and Learning at McMaster University Copyright © 2023 by Paul R MacPherson Institute for Leadership, Innovation and Excellence in Teaching is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Future Facing Assessments by Eliana Elkhoury and Annie Prud’homme-Généreux is licensed under CC BY 4.0
How Should we Talk to Students About AI? by Monash University is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
