Crystena Shandall-Parker, Social Development Studies
Summary: Adapt this instructor disclosure of GenAI use statement from SDS 131R, which explains why and how the course instructor used GenAI to create additional ways for students to engage with the course materials, while also explaining the restrictions around AI use.
Sample wording – Course outline transparency template:
GenAI Policy Explanation
AI and Learning
Learning is an active process that involves working with concepts, making mistakes, and developing critical thinking and reflection skills. When we use shortcuts (such as AI tools) to bypass this process, we skip the steps that help our brains retain the information we are learning about. This means we create a shallower understanding of the subject matter and may not develop the skills necessary to work in our chosen field. Over-reliance on AI can limit creativity, as we neglect to cultivate our own voice and ideas. In essence, while GenAI tools are powerful allies for productivity, they are not substitutes for effort and intellectual engagement— especially as we are learning how to research, think critically, and otherwise practice skills in a given field. AI tools should only be used to improve productivity once the underlying skills have already been mastered—or at the very least, attempted.
As employers increasingly seek proficiency in GenAI tools, and as many people use these tools in non-work/non-school parts of their lives, the mood has shifted in education from banning/restricting/outmanoeuvring AI tools toward “how can we best leverage them for learning?” After a few years of struggle, we are starting to see some guidelines on appropriate use of tools for efficiency and for learning. Note, however, that these are not the same thing.
How I Have Used AI in Developing this Course
While creating this course, alongside the CEL team, with Dr. Melanie Misanchuk leading this course development, we prepared all of the content without using GenAI tools.
This was important to us to ensure that what I am teaching you comes from my verified knowledge. I was able to do this because I have deep experience in the field after years of study and research. At the time of this course preparation, I was also simultaneously preparing a manuscript for a book about Peacebuilding Pedagogies. I wrote the entire draft of this book (200 pages at this time of writing) without using any GenAI tools, as I wanted to ensure that all of the ideas, the analysis, the synthesis, and the structure came from me and my brain. I wanted to guarantee that all of what I was putting in the book was based on what I had learned and researched over the years, not something that a tool generated from dubious sources on the Internet. However, I did use GenAI for productivity in a few ways—for both my book and this course.
I fed the material I wrote into the AI tools NotebookLM and Contact North's AI Tutor Pro to expand the types of learning activities for you: podcasts, and the multiple choice questions for quizzes.
Again, these activities are all based on material I wrote: my ideas, my creation. Notably, I wasn’t able to create podcasts or mindmaps or quiz questions based on our textbook, because I do not own the copyright to the textbook, and by copyright law, people are only allowed to upload material that they themselves have created or otherwise own copyright to.
How You May Use GenAI in this Course
Because the goal of this course is for you to learn how to research, think critically, and otherwise practice skills, I request that you do not engage with GenAI outside of the tools I have provided for you already. Specific instructions about permissible AI use are part of the instructions for each assignment.
Remember, if you use GenAI to generate your answers and assignments, you will not be prepared for the final exam.