Accepting AI in my classroom wasn’t easy. I signed up to teach psychology, critical thinking, and clear communication—not to become a technology instructor. Managing Canvas, SPSS, and digital literacy felt like enough. But then AI and ChatGPT showed up to rewrite the rules of writing. Rather than spending time trying to outsmart AI (spoiler: we probably can’t because AI is constantly updating and adapting to humans), I’ve focused on integrating it meaningfully into my courses. I feel a professional imperative to prepare my students with skills they will likely need in the next chapters of their lives.
Using backward design, I reconsidered what I wanted students to take away from each assignment and whether AI could or should be used. Similar to sex or substance use educational approaches, it seemed unlikely that an abstinence-only AI policy would work. Students will use AI, so we should teach them how to do so ethically and responsibly. Instead of banning AI use, I now guide students in seeing it as a tool to enhance learning. In the end, AI didn’t just change my courses, it challenged me to double down on being a lifelong learner. Though I can’t promise redesigning important aspects of your course will be fast or easy, I hope the tips and resources below provide a starting point and show ways to make the process clearer and more enjoyable for you and your students.
Bring AI literacy and information into your course early
Favorite resources for faculty to learn about AI and conceptualize AI’s role in higher education
- Bowen, J. A., & Watson, C. E. (2024). Teaching with AI: A practical guide to a new era of human learning. Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Mollick, E. (2024). Co-intelligence: The new era of human and machine collaboration. Penguin Press.
- Darby, F. (2024, October 30). 5 small steps for AI skeptics. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/5-small-steps-for-ai-skepticsopens in new window
- Eaton, S. E. (2023). Postplagiarism: Transdisciplinary ethics and integrity in the age of artificial intelligence and neurotechnology. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 19, Article 23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-023-00144-1opens in new window
Favorite resources for students to read/watch for class discussion
- Anderson, D. J.,… Zurcher, A. (2024). Student guide to artificial intelligence. Elon University’s Imagining the Digital Future Center and the American Association of Colleges and Universities. https://studentguidetoai.org/opens in new window
- Abrams, Z. (2024, April). Addressing equity and ethics in artificial intelligence. Monitor on Psychology.opens in new window https://www.apa.org/monitor/2024/04/addressing-equity-ethics-artificial-intelligence
- Daily, C., (2023, October). Define ethics: An introduction to AI and its implications. https://medium.com/the-ai-educator/define-ethics-an-introduction-to-ai-and-its-implications-a19c2096bcdaopens in new window
- Anders, B. (2024, February 14). How students can use AI ethically [Video]. YouTube.opens in new window https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyf3YVWx6nwopens in new window
- I watch this 19-minute video with them to initiate the discussion on how to write strong prompts and use AI ethically to improve their writing.
Develop a clear syllabus policy
My syllabus “AI, Plagiarism, and Academic Misconductopens in new window”, and tools like the Generative AI Syllabus Statement Tool (Seaver College)opens in new window can assist. Your institution may have helpful resources as well.
Provide AI statements on every assignment
Specify how AI can or cannot be used and explain why for each assignment. I have this information included in all assignment directions. It is time-consuming at first, but faculty and students need clarity and transparency regarding expectations and guidelines.
Step back and reconceptualize what skills you want students to gain from each assignment using a backward design approach
Next, ask how AI can be used ethically and responsibly to help. Not every assignment will benefit from AI, but this step has required me to reconceptualize old assignments and create new ones. Whether I want AI to be involved or allow AI to be used in an assignment is partially up to me, but it mainly relies on students being motivated to do strong work and engage in ethical AI use. Instead of banning it, I have tried to find ways to infuse it into my course. Here are a few ideas of how I have updated and changed assignments to accept AI’s role in education. I believe we have a professional responsibility to help students gain experience with using AI while teaching them the strengths and weaknesses of this technological tool.
Thinking like a scientist
Use AI to refine personal interests into scientific research questions, evaluate AI-suggested sources, and critically analyze AI’s accuracy and reliability. Students must find and evaluate the sources and reflect on AI’s role in the process.
Recapping a semester
Create a top five concept recap video with personal applications and creative elements, using AI for connections and creative themes. Students must connect the concepts to the book or class to ensure they are referring to course content, but they can use AI to help make it fun and creative.
Summarizing class notes
Design organized module recaps that ask students to provide the notes they took during class and lab each day while using AI for structure. They can also use AI to develop career-relevant examples of their favorite concepts from the module. They need to attend class/lab for the content, but they can use AI to organize and help make new connections.
Summarizing journal articles
Design detailed worksheets to explain the main content of the article and a separate section to critique validity. Using detailed worksheets helps break it into manageable steps and reduces the temptation to outsource the task to AI. They are instructed to use their own knowledge for summary information since I am evaluating their ability to read and extract important information. In the worksheet, they are prompted to ask AI questions they did not understand while reading and evaluating AI’s responses to their questions. AI can also be used to develop suggestions to improve the limitations or help with ideas to extend the article’s findings with a new sample or setting.
Restating assignment directions
Suggest that students use AI to simplify detailed instructions and check drafts to align with assignment criteria. This tip has helped several students understand what I am asking as they worked through my directions.
Practicing clinical interviewing
Simulate client interactions using AI to practice interviewing skills, question formulation, redirecting clients, and specific therapeutic techniques. I haven’t tried this tip yet, but the idea was inspired by an articleopens in new window from my philosophy colleagues using AI conversations to deepen students’ ability to engage in deeper dialogue.
Using AI in scientific writing
Develop AI-assisted writing prompts for refining structure, clarity, and organization in academic papers. Strong prompts can help AI serve as a writing tutor to assist students in the process of writing. The video linked above is a great starting point, and LinkedIn Learning also has some excellent resources for this process.
Require AI disclosure from students with each assignment
Students should always explain how they used AI in the assignment and provide necessary output, screenshots, or links in this disclosure. I make these AI disclosure statements worth five points of every assignment, and it’s more of a pass/fail grading system. If they didn’t use AI or only used Grammarly or features built into Google or Word, they can briefly state this information for an easy five points.
Teach them how to write clear, detailed prompts
Show them the importance of crafting an excellent prompt. The resources linked above provide a starting point for conceptualizing this process, but it’s actually fun to do it in class with them, too. I have shown them how I prompted AI to make worksheets for them, how I have used it to help me accomplish tasks, etc. Take a class question that stumps you and show them how they could prompt AI for insight while being critical of the output.
Guiding ethical AI use through effective prompting
- Example: Here is a current set of prompts I am using with studentsopens in new window while writing their introduction sections.
- Important reminder for prompts when using AI as a writing assistant: Explain the importance of adding a statement like, “When reviewing my work and providing suggestions, do not add any additional sources or content. Only take what I have written and provide feedback on my words because I do not want you to add any new information to my writing. You can make suggestions, but do not make additions.” These types of prompts guide ethical AI use in student writing. Prompt generation is also a key element to ethical and appropriate AI use. This skill is valuable for both faculty and students to continue developing.
Do not rely on AI detectors
Countless flaws are inherent in using these tools as valid indicators of AI misconduct. See “Professors Cautious of Tools to Detect AI-Generated Writingopens in new window” and “Why you should use caution with AI detectorsopens in new window” for more details. Importantly, every large language model update makes AI sound more human. Thus, these detectors are becoming less accurate each day. These detection tools may be one piece of evidence to examine, but they are very problematic and should be used cautiously and sparingly. Responsible AI is easier to teach than using a flawed tool for evaluating student work. There are also numerous lawsuits from students who claim they are being falsely accused of AI misuse.
Remember our role as educators when they make mistakes—use initial mistakes as learning opportunities
We continually learn new insights about AI every single day. I have lost count of how many times I have had my mind blown by what AI can do. Though I am very serious about academic misconduct in my classes, even scholars are debating how to handle this so-called era of post-plagiarismopens in new window. In addition to academic debates about AI and plagiarism, students are getting mixed and inconsistent messages from many faculty simultaneously. I can’t fault them for being confused. In my course, I try to balance clear policies with intellectual humility as I approach students who make mistakes. I don’t know why they made the mistake. Depending on the issue, it may be a stern reminder about course policies. More serious issues may result in zero, with the option of earning 50% credit for resubmitting in their own words. It may result in an irrevocable zero and referral to the Dean of Students. How do I catch these types of things without relying on AI detectors? The design of the assignment is key. For example, when evaluating the limitations of an article, did you know that a researcher in 1980 noted their major concerns about the increasing role of social media and online dating in romantic relationships? Did you know that when recapping our first week of class, we spent one class period discussing multiple in-depth case studies (spoiler alert—I don’t use case studies in this course and definitely not in the first week)? When you adjust assignments to work with AI, it becomes easier to see when AI was misused to summarize an article or class notes. I do not want them to fear me or AI; they should approach using AI ethically and clearly know my expectations and rationale about AI. Requiring an AI statement on each assignment allows you to leave comments like “This assignment feels like you used AI very heavily, yet you didn’t document this use or output in your disclosure statement. I am unclear whether you could explain X, Y, and Z in your own words because these ideas feel like AI, not an undergraduate student, authored them. I cannot provide any points for this work, and I invite you to contact me if you feel that I have made a mistake in this assessment. If you did submit work containing undocumented AI use, please use this as an important reminder to behave responsibly and ethically. Future violations will result in more severe consequences.” I keep a running spreadsheet of AI warnings and escalate as needed. This system has been successful, and I am still refining it.
Use AI to make teaching fun
I enjoyed using AI to create new worksheets or a trivia game for class discussion. Give AI information about what you want students to learn from the discussion and what they were asked to know/read before they arrived. Next, ask AI for some creative ways to engage students with the process. AI can help generate examples of multiple-choice questions for practice tests, activities for students, prompts for small group discussions, new worksheets, etc. Learning to treat AI as an assistant (see Ethan Mollick’s book linked above for more on this idea) has been the best part of learning to use AI. How can AI help me do my job more efficiently by helping bring the fun parts of teaching back to the classroom? How can I harness the power of AI to revamp assignments, class activities, and discussion prompts?
Ask students how they are using it in their lives
Be both a content expert in your field and a lifelong learner of crucial technology like AI. Students seem to have a full range of emotions and thoughts about AI in their lives—ask them and learn from them, too. They see what their peers are doing. They are using new apps and engaged in popular culture. They have taught me about their grandmother getting AI-created audio phone calls from them about needing bail money. They have taught me that AI can help students with severe ADHD schedule breaks to eat and be active. They have taught me that AI can re-explain my directions in a way that is clearer for them. In a sense, we are all on the same playing field here. AI is a relatively new tool for all of us, and I can attest that embracing AI isn’t easy or quick, but it has been rewarding for me and my students.
AI Disclosure: The content and ideas above were created by the author. Grammarly (Grammarly, 2025) and the built-in editor in Word (Microsoft, 2025) assisted with clarifying the writing. ChatGPT (OpenAI, 2025) helped consolidate my original opening ideas into a briefer introduction and turned my assignment information into a more concise list. Please reach out with any suggestions or your favorite AI resources via email.
Erica Noles
Senior lecturer
University of North Carolina Wilmington