Use of AI in Teaching
The potential opportunities and pitfalls of Generative AI (GenAI) currently has a high profile due to extremely rapid advances in the technology. What is the position of BSU on how AI can be used in teaching, assessment and feedback?
The potential opportunities and pitfalls of Generative AI (GenAI) currently has a high profile due to extremely rapid advances in the technology.
In early March 2023, a general discussion meeting was held with a range of colleagues across the University where there was a general feeling of positivity around the potential of GenAI to support learning and the opportunity to be innovative with more authentic assessments.
However, GenAI does not necessarily always produce factually accurate responses and cannot critically evaluate in a way a Higher Education student would be expected to in their assessments, and we are aware that it might be tempting for students to use it to copy and paste information, particularly if in a last minute panic.
Students need to be aware of these limitations and, of course, that simply copying from a GenAI source without acknowledgement is:
- plagiarism;
- not helpful for their own learning and development.
What is BSU's policy position on the use of AI?
Our Assessment and Feedback policy includes the following statements regarding GenAI:
"Bath Spa University acknowledges the opportunities and benefits afforded by generative AI and supports staff and students in its effective and appropriate use."
"Students should be made aware that using information created with generative AI and passing it off as their own work is plagiarism. This is not acceptable in any academic or professional work as outlined in our academic misconduct policy."
"Modules Leaders should provide guidance for students on how they might use generative AI to inform or support their assessments, including if they may not use it and how this should be acknowledged and referenced in the student’s formal submission. An Assessment Brief Template is available which suggests appropriate wording for alternative scenarios."
Does BSU use any AI detection tools?
At present, Bath Spa University will not be using digital tools to detect the use of generative AI (such as Turnitin’s AI detector) as they have not proved to be suitably reliable. If an assignment looks suspicious, AI detection tools are currently unable to provide the proof or evidence to back this up; they present a significant number of false positives and negatives.
Colleagues are advised against using non-supported third party AI checking tools, as these have not been tested for accuracy and could potentially lead to wrong accusations.
We recommend that, as usual, academics should be aware of written material that is beyond the known capabilities of the students or uses language or writing styles inconsistent with the student's previous work as an area of concern. Essentially: this remains an academic judgement.
For further queries, contact Learning Innovation and Skills.
This stance will be reviewed on a regular basis. It is important to note that as GenAI rapidly becomes more sophisticated it also becomes harder to detect. Considering the design of assessment will be more important than trying to retrospectively identify the use of GenAI.
The University will maintain an active watching brief on technological and sectoral developments in GenAI and other topics in digital education through its Digital Fluency Advisory Group, in order to ensure that we remain up-to-date in our response and support for staff and students.
Guidance and Support
This guidance document for staff and students sets out the benefits and pitfalls of using GenAI and suggests an approach for acknowledging and referencing its use, when appropriate.
Using Generative AI: this set of videos from Bath Spa's Academic Skills team provides guidance to students on the use of GenAI
This 'assessment brief' template can be used by module leaders to clearly indicate whether or not GenAI may be used to help with assessments.
This Generative AI & Assessment review tool can be used by programme and module leaders to review the use of GenAI within assessments, and to consider the risks and actions required (download and save the tool to use it for your module/programme review).
A presentation by Catherine Lawler, Schools of Sciences, at the 2023 Learning & Teaching Symposium provides a useful case study in using ChatGPT with students to help them understand the benefits and pitfalls.