Strategies for Common Assessment Types

An abstract or summary is a concise and condensed version of a longer document or research article, presenting the main points, key findings, and essential information in a clear and brief manner. It allows readers to quickly grasp the main ideas and determine whether the full document is relevant to their needs or interests. Abstracts are commonly found at the beginning of academic papers, research articles, and reports, providing a snapshot of the entire content.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Ask students to explain how they interpreted the source, justify what they chose to emphasize, connect it to course concepts, or reflect on the decisions they made while creating the abstract.

• Provide students with an abstract (existing, instructor-created, student-created, or AI-generated) and ask them to evaluate, revise, and improve it. Have students explain and justify their revisions with reference to the original source, disciplinary conventions, intended audience, or assessment criteria.

• Ask students to compare multiple abstracts of the same source and identify strengths, limitations, omissions, or inaccuracies. 

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Students can compare an existing abstract to a GenAI-produced abstract and consider the strengths and weaknesses of each.

• Students can be challenged to improve a specified abstract using GenAI and without reading the source document. They can then be asked to read the source document and reflect on the merits and demerits of abstracts in general, using abstracts to make research decisions, and using GenAI to produce abstracts.

• Students can turn one abstract into different abstract genres (e.g. a proposal abstract, a traditional scientific abstract, a lay abstract, etc.) using GenAI and identify the differences to assess which genre of abstract is suitable in different contexts.

An advertisement is a promotional message or communication aimed at promoting a product, service, event, or idea to a target audience. It often uses persuasive techniques, visuals, and compelling language to attract attention and encourage consumers to take specific actions, such as making a purchase or seeking more information.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• When students give a presentation (live or recorded) about an advertisement they created and/or engage in a question and answer (Q&A) about their advertisement, they must explain, justify, and defend their ideas. Even if students use GenAI in the development process, they exercise a range of important skills when they explain why they made particular design choices, how they considered their intended audience, and how their advertisement aligns with course concepts, assessment objectives, or constraints.

•  Ask students to critically evaluate the choices made in their advertisement, reflecting on the influence of AI tools (if used), and explain how they addressed ethical, equity, inclusivity, or other relevant considerations. 

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Students can be asked to produce an advertisement for the same product, service, event, or idea using the same GenAI prompt. They can then be asked to discuss or report on the quality of the output in terms of specific variables (e.g. creativity, persuasiveness, inclusivity, etc.), identify similarities and differences in two or more outputs of their own or of classmates, consider the merits/demerits of this use of GenAI, compare outputs, and more.

• Students can be challenged to develop the best prompt for achieving a GenAI output that meets certain pre-specified goals.

• Using an AI-generated image as a design brief, have students imagine that a client has generated the image and is asking them to create an advertisement from the brief. Have students interrogate the strengths/weaknesses of the AI-generated design brief, compare and contrast their end products, and reflect on the extent to which they engaged in human-GenAI collaboration and why. Students can also be asked to evaluate the risk potential of creating an advertisement from an AI-generated image.

A bibliography is an alphabetized list of sources, such as books, journal articles, websites, media, etc. that are relevant to a course or project. An annotated bibliography includes brief descriptions or annotations that summarize, evaluate, and explain the content, relevance, and quality of each source. These annotations provide readers with insights into the source's content and its potential usefulness for research or reference.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Design annotated bibliography assignments that require students to explain why each source was selected, how it relates to their research question, and how they intend to use it within their project. 

• Ask students to evaluate the quality, relevance, credibility, and limitations of their sources. Students should justify why particular sources are authoritative, identify gaps or biases in the literature, and explain how different sources contribute to their understanding of the topic. Encourage students to engage with diverse perspectives, methodologies, contexts, or voices relevant to the topic. This helps develop information literacy, critical evaluation skills, and a more nuanced understanding. 

• Provide students with specific guidelines for an annotated bibliography. For example, ask students to include: a properly formatted citations in a specific style; one to three relevant quotations, including page references; information about the author; one to three sentences explaining why this source is relevant to their term paper (or other project); one to three sentences explaining how they intend to (or think they might) use this source to develop their term paper (or other project); identity one of more of the following: the theoretical approach, the research method, the intended audience, how thoroughly it addresses the topic, etc.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Have students design a question and ask a GenAI tool to produce an output (e.g. essay, article, op-ed, etc.) based on an annotated bibliography that the student created or that they asked a GenAI tool to create. Next, have students take the output and review it for accuracy and completeness before editing and adding both content and citations to improve upon the GenAI output. Consider adding an assignment component that asks students to reflect on what they learned during this process.

• Have students use GenAI to produce an annotated bibliography for a topic that is course-adjacent. Have students critique the GenAI output using what they’ve learned in the course to date.

• Have students use GenAI to produce an annotated bibliography, interrogate it for accuracy, omissions, gaps, etc. and then improve upon it with or without the assistance of GenAI. Ask students to students write a reflection on the process.

An article or book review is a critical evaluation and analysis of a piece of writing, such as an article or a book. It typically includes a summary of the content and the reviewer's assessment of its strengths, weaknesses, and overall value.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Require students to connect their review to course concepts, themes, theories, or discussions. 

• Students can compare one or more published/peer reviews and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each. Ask them to explain which review is most effective and why, with reference to specific features, evidence, and evaluative criteria. Ask them to reflect on how they developed their evaluation criterion. 

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Have students identify the thesis of an article/book from an article/book review and then prompt GenAI to do the same. Ask students to compare the two and submit a reflection on their observations.

• Students can prompt GenAI to interview them about an article or book to surface and refine their opinions, responses, and reactions to the article/book.

• Students can compare one or more existing article/book reviews to a GenAI produced article/book review and consider the strengths and weaknesses of each.

• Students can be challenged to improve a specified article/book review using GenAI and without reading the article/book review. They can then be asked to read the article/book review and reflect on the merits and demerits of article/book review in general, using article/book reviews to make reading and other decisions, and using GenAI to produce article/book reviews.

Case analysis refers to a systematic examination and evaluation of a particular situation, problem, or scenario. It involves gathering relevant information, identifying key factors, analyzing various aspects, and formulating conclusions or recommendations based on the findings. Case analysis is commonly used in business, law, and other fields to make informed decisions and solve complex problems.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Have students engage in case analysis in real time and/or in technology-free environments. 

• Release case information in stages, introducing new facts, perspectives, or constraints over time. This encourages students to adapt their reasoning, reconsider earlier conclusions, and demonstrate how they respond to evolving information.

• When students work in groups, prohibitions against GenAI use can be supported via collective norms (peer pressure).

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Present students with GenAI use cases from the field to support interest in GenAI literacy, make students aware of common/developing uses in their field, and/or to draw attention to potential biases, harms, and ethical considerations.

• Have students interrogate a case analysis generated by AI using such questions as: What did GenAI do well? Are there any gaps, biases, inaccuracies, misinformation, etc. in the case analysis? What risks, biases, and ethical considerations should be considered when considering using GenAI to perform case analysis?

In these questions, test-takers are presented with a scenario or case study and must analyze the information to answer related questions.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Ask students to explain their reasoning, defend their conclusions, consider alternative approaches, or reflect on how they arrived at their recommendations.

• Use questions that draw on course-specific discussions, readings, presentations, or experiences.

• Consider incorporating case-based questions into oral, in-person, discussion-based, or other interactive assessment formats where students can elaborate on their thinking and respond to follow-up questions. 

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Students can use GenAI to explore alternative interpretations of a case, identify relevant considerations, generate possible solutions, or challenge their initial assumptions. Ask students to compare their own analysis with AI-generated responses and reflect on the strengths, limitations, assumptions, or omissions in each.

• Consider using GenAI to generate novel or modified case studies that target specific learning outcomes, introduce additional perspectives, or highlight particular challenges. 

A case study is an in-depth analysis of a specific individual, group, organization, or situation. It involves thorough research, data collection, and detailed examination to understand the context, challenges, and outcomes associated with the subject of study. Case studies are widely used in academic research and professional contexts to gain insights into real-world scenarios.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Ask students to explain and defend their analyses using course concepts, theories, frameworks, or professional standards. 

• Incorporate opportunities for reflection, discussion, peer feedback, presentations, or question-and-answer activities that allow students to explain how they arrived at their conclusions and respond to alternative interpretations.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Prompt a GenAI tool to “write a case study about X” to get output in a more traditional case writing style (e.g. “write a case study about a small food service business trying to attract new customers with limited marketing budget”). Have students correct the output, expand upon it, consider it from gendered lenses or Indigenous perspectives, make it more inclusive, add citations, add relevant academic references, or analyze it in one or more course-specific manners.

• After students write their own case studies, have GenAI solve them using different input instructions to help students learn about their cases from different perspectives. 

• Have GenAI summarize sections of student-written case studies to help students see salient points more easily as they build their executive summaries.

• Have students use GenAI to produce case studies they’re interested in exploring. Such case studies might, for example, situate a current issue in the past or a past issue in the present, future, or imagined parameter set. 

A client report is a formal document prepared by a service provider or agency to communicate the results, progress, or recommendations of their work to their client. It typically includes an analysis of data, achievements, challenges, and future plans related to the project or services provided.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Whenever possible, incorporate opportunities for feedback from clients, community partners, industry professionals, or other relevant stakeholders. Authentic audiences can help students focus on the quality, clarity, and applicability of their work. 

• Ask students to critically evaluate the opportunities, limitations, risks, and ethical considerations associated with using GenAI to support professional communication, analysis, or report writing. 

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Students can interrogate a client report written by GenAI for bias, omissions, gaps, blind spots, creativity, novel ideas, etc.

• Students can collaborate with GenAI to write a client report and then reflect on what they learned from this collaboration experience.

• Students can have GenAI assess their writing for different reading levels/audiences and then use that feedback to improve their drafts.

• Students can have GenAI play the part of the client and give them feedback on their client report. Students can then revise their draft based on this feedback and explain why they made the changes they did, making specific reference to the original text.

Students read an instructor-selected text and respond to questions focused on specific content, skills, and learning outcomes.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Create prompts that focus on making connections with personal experiences (e.g. How does this relate to something you learned or experienced, in a previous week’s class, outside of class, in another course, when you were younger, etc.?) and with student-generated content (e.g., How does this relate to a class discussion, discussion board post, student presentation, etc.?)
• Have students engage in social reading via whole class, small group book clubs, or literature circles. Social reading gives students opportunities to design their own learning, gain confidence in discussions, analyze and critique their peers’ arguments, consider perspectives different from their own, and develop social skills and connections.
• Have students use a platform such as Perusall to engage in social annotation. Social annotation requires learners to comment on assigned text with or without reading prompts, review and engage with the comments of others, connect the assigned text with prior knowledge, and position the assigned text within the context of personal experience. 
• Engage the Socratic questioning method, selecting question types that are aligned with the learning objectives and outcomes associated with the assigned learning material at hand. You can find a list of Socratic questions at Questions for Socratic Dialogue.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Have GenAI produce a summary of a chosen text and have students interrogate it for bias, relevancy to the course, authenticity, authority, etc.
• Have students compare their answers to questions with GenAI’s answers to the same questions and then consider: What are the similarities and differences? How do you feel about GenAI’s answers? To what extent do self-authored answers versus GenAI’s answers support your knowledge, understanding, skills, and progress toward learning outcomes? This can be used as a synchronous/in-class learning activity, as a graded or ungraded assessment, or as a learning artifact for inclusion in a portfolio. 
• Have students dialogue with an assigned learning material using GenAI and then write a summary of what they learned or a reflection on the benefits and drawbacks of using GenAI in this way.

Students work in pairs, groups, or teams to produce a specific end product such as an essay, report, case study, prototype, presentation, poster, etc. 

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Require students to explain and justify the recommendations, analyses, and conclusions presented in their collaborative work.
• Incorporate staged submissions, peer review, instructor feedback, or revision opportunities throughout the assignment. Iterative development processes encourage students to engage with feedback and reflect on how their work evolves over time.
• Require students to write a reflection, record a video, or engage in a synchronous discussion with you or a TA about how they used feedback, referencing specific examples from their work to illustrate iterative changes or why they chose not to act on particular feedback.
• Encourage students to engage with a range of relevant perspectives, sources, and forms of evidence. Drawing on diverse viewpoints can help strengthen critical thinking, information literacy, and the quality of collaborative work.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Use GenAI as writing collaborator. Have students and their AI collaborator give each other feedback on their writing. This can help students reflect on how their writing style is unique, improve their ability to communicate well, identify biases in GenAI outputs, and find an authentic voice in their writing. Students can be asked to produce a reflection on the positive and negative impacts GenAI had on their ability to communicate effectively and authentically.
• Juxtapose GenAI and human collaboration. Have pairs of students, each student with their own research question, topic, or scenario, collaborate with a GenAI tool and their student partner to produce final products (one final product per student). Students can be asked to use track changes to show how their essay (or other final product) was improved along the way. After assignment submission, have a discussion or ask students to submit a reflection on the process of working with the GenAI tool and their student partner using prompts such as: What worked well and what didn’t? How did your student partner help you produce a better final product? How did the GenAI tool help you produce a better final product? What were the benefits and drawback of your student partner versus your GenAI partner? 
• Have GenAI suggest multiple revision options for more effective wording, alternate phrasing, etc. and have students explain which revisions options they accepted, rejected, and built upon and why they made these choices.

A concept map is a graphical tool used to organize and represent the connections and relationships between different concepts or ideas. It typically uses nodes or boxes to represent concepts and lines or arrows to show the connections or links between them, helping to visualize the relationships and hierarchy of ideas.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Concept maps, diagrams, and notes can be included as assignment components. Providing multiple ways for students to represent their learning can generate richer evidence of understanding.
• Concept maps can be assigned after an assignment has been completed as a means for students to represent the knowledge and understanding they realized through the assignment. 
• Ask students to develop a concept map over time, adding to it or revising it at the end of each week or unit, or at midterm and end of term based on new course content students read, watched, listened to, or thought about. This can be done individually, in pairs, or in groups.
• Incorporate opportunities for students to review, revise, or build upon concept maps created by their peers. Students can be asked to develop concept maps (individually, in pairs, or in groups) on a whiteboard during synchronous class sessions.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Have students ask GenAI to summarize a large concept or course topic. Challenge students to interrogate the output as they create concept maps that that are robust, relevant to the course, inclusive, and equitable by, for example, making decisions about what content to include and exclude, filling in gaps, making connections, adding citations, and addressing biases. 
• Have students use a GenAI output such as an AI-generated Infinite Conversation to create a concept maps that shows connection and/or plots fundamental arguments, reveals gaps, exposes biases, and shows superficiality. Students can then be tasked with making improvements to the original concept map through further research and/or by integrating their course-based learning.
• Have students create a concept map using a GenAI like Mural that has been specifically designed to create concept maps. Have students critique the output and then work to improve upon it either with or without the assistance of one or more GenAI tool(s). As a final step, have student reflect on the process using such prompts as: what are the merits and drawbacks of using GenAI to produce a concept map? what challenges or frustrations did you experience when creating the initial concept map? shat challenges or frustrations did you experience when improving upon the initial concept map? Attempt to align prompt questions with learning outcomes.

A content summary provides a synopsis and the most salient or pertinent components of a journal article, book, film, or other source material.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Students can be asked to include specific types of connections in their content summaries, for example, connections between the source material and specific course content, one or more specific course materials, other courses they’ve taken, personal experiences, a pop-culture reference, a specific artifact (image, song, artifact), etc.
• Request that content summaries speak to the source material’s relevance to the course, a specific unit or theme of the course, a specific assignment, a specific research question, etc.
• Have students comment on source materials’ credibility, currency, objectivity, etc.
• Ask students to compare and critique multiple summaries of the same content, including those produced by peers or AI tools, and justify which are more effective and why.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Have GenAI summarize a piece of course material. Ask students to point out the shortcomings and missed nuance of the GenAI output and then have them reflect on how nuance shapes their overall understanding of a topic. 
• Have GenAI summarize several pieces of course content and build a wider literature review. Consider prompts such as: What themes has the GenAI tool focused on? What themes has it ignored? What do its biases and gaps appear to be and why are those important for understanding the topic? 
• Have students reflect on the benefits and drawbacks of using GenAI to summarize course materials, (potential) research sources, process documents, reports, etc.

A debate is a structured discussion between two or more individuals or teams with differing viewpoints on a specific topic or issue. Participants present arguments and counterarguments to support their positions, aiming to persuade the audience and ultimately reach a resolution or conclusion. Debates are commonly used in academic settings, public forums, and formal competitions to foster critical thinking, communication skills, and understanding of diverse perspectives.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Have students engage in debate in person, in a synchronous online session, or submit a recording of a live debate.
• Have student prepare for debate individually and submit a preliminary brief. Next, assign debate partners or groups at a set time and have students share and compare their preliminary briefs with the partner/group. Finally, have student partners/groups engage in a debate and/or produce a new collaborative brief. Consider asking students to write a reflection on the process leading up to the debate or collaborative brief.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Students can use GenAI to anticipate counter arguments from the opposition and produce a brief on their potential rebuttals.
• Students can use GenAI to investigate logical fallacies and weak points in their own arguments and those of other (peers, opposition, etc.).
• Create debate partner profiles with GenAI or have students create debate partner profiles with GenAI. Have students engage in debate with one or more GenAI created debate profiles or use the profiles to demonstrate formal debate techniques.
• Ask student to reflect on the process of using GenAI in one of the ways noted above using prompts such as: What are the merits and drawback of engaging with GenAI in this way? What was productive and what was unproductive about this use of GenAI? Did you notice or can you identify any (potential) biases, gaps, ethical concerns, etc. related to using GenAI in this way? Student might complete their reflection in writing, in a video, in a voice memo, in a class or small group discussion, in an online discussion forum, or in a one-on-one or small group meeting with you or a TA.

A definition is a clear and concise explanation that describes the meaning of a specific term, concept, or object. It aims to provide a precise understanding of the item being defined, often by using words, phrases, or context that distinguish it from other similar or related things.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• If the goal is for students to know and apply key definitions, ask them to use definitions in context rather than simply recalling them. For example, students might compare related course concepts, identify examples and non-examples, explain the significance of a term, or apply a definition to a novel situation.
• Provide students with examples of poor, misleading, or inaccurate GenAI definitions or otherwise inform them of this limitation.
• If there is a reason for students to memorize definitions and be able to produce them spontaneously, make this reason clear to students and consider low-stakes or no-stakes (ungraded) activities and assessments that support the task of memorization.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Have students define terms with GenAI and evaluate the output using such questions as: Is the output correct, complete, and discipline- or context-specific?
• Have students compare and contrast definitions of terms offered by the instructor or in assigned course materials to definitions produced by GenAI.
• Have students compete to produce the best AI-generated definition of a term and then have them share and compare their final definitions. Ask students to reflect on whose definition is the best and why, how many prompts it took them to get a ‘complete’ definition, what prompts or prompting strategies they used, which prompts or prompt strategies were the most and least fruitful, and how they went about evaluating the quality of the definitions outputted by GenAI.
• Have students define terms with GenAI at different levels of complexity (e.g. explain this term to me like I’m 5, like I’m a novice learning, like I’m an experience practitioner) to develop their understanding.

A description of a process is a step-by-step account or narrative that outlines the sequence of actions, tasks, or events involved in completing a particular activity or achieving a specific goal. Process descriptions are commonly used in various industries to document procedures, guide employees, and ensure consistent and efficient workflows.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Ask students to explain not only what the process is, but why it works and when it should be used.
• Require students to apply a process to a specific example, scenario, case, or problem and justify the decisions they make at each stage.
• If relevant, ask students to compare alternative processes, evaluate the strengths and limitations of different approaches, or determine which process is most appropriate in a given context.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Have students prompt AI to generate a process description and then interrogate it for accuracy, completeness, nuance, etc.
• Have students collaborate with GenAI to produce a process description.

A discussion post invites students to share their knowledge, understanding, thoughts, perspectives, and other gauges of learning via responses to a prompt.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Initiate a discussion with students about the purpose(s) of discussion forums and the relationship between GenAI use and that purpose(s).
• Have student include references to course materials (including page number) in their discussion posts.
• Have students incorporate multimedia elements (e.g. images, infographics, audio reflections, video reflections) into their discussion posts.
• Encourage connections with personal experiences, personal interests, course-specific content (like student presentations) and/or very current events via discussion post prompts.
• Have students take a stand on controversial topics related to course content and support their positions with evidence drawn from course content, one or more specific assigned learning materials, and/or an outside source that they are required to identify and/or link to.
• Have students produce original creative content (e.g. a photo, collage, digital art, poem, allegory, mnemonic) in response to a discussion prompt. Invite other students to comment on how the creative content posted helped with or expanded their understanding.
• Prompt students to find a recent news article, social media post/thread, government reports, study, academic publication, or mainstream publication that responds to a discussion question. Have student post a link to their find, a summary of its contents, and a comment on its significance to the discussion question/prompt at hand. Invite students to comment on the ‘finds’ of others in response to specific prompts.
• Consider adding an anonymous 5-star rating to online discussion posts. Invite students to identify posts they think might be GenAI by assigning star ratings (5 stars = I’m positive a human wrote this, 4 stars = I’m pretty sure a human wrote this, 3 stars = I think this is a human-GenAI collaboration, 2 stars = I’m pretty sure GenAI wrote this, 1 star = I’m positive GenAI wrote this. The function of this strategy should be educative (what reads like GenAI and why?), not shaming or punitive. Grades shouldn’t be associated with student ratings.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Invite students to use GenAI to identify real-world examples, applications, use cases, etc. related to specific course content or in response to prompts and post them to a discussion forum.
• Have students use GenAI to identify common fallacies, misunderstandings, or debunked claims related to course content and posts them to a discussion forum.
• Provide students with a prompt or question and have them engage in a discussion about it with GenAI. Have students share their findings, take aways, funniest or most ridiculous output, etc. in a discussion forum or reflection.

These questions require test-takers to analyze or interpret diagrams, charts, graphs, or images to answer specific queries.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Incorporate visual materials that are discussed in class, collected during fieldwork, created by students, or otherwise connected to the specific context of the course.
• Require students to explain the reasoning behind their interpretations, identify patterns or relationships, justify conclusions, or connect visual information to course content, theories, or frameworks.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Have students interrogate a diagram, chart, graph or image generated by GenAI (either by you or by themselves) for errors, flaws, etc.
• Present students with pair of diagrams, charts, graphs or images – one generated by AI and one generated by a human – and have them discuss which is better and why.
• Use AI to generate a diagram, chart, graph, or image that highlights a common error, flaw, omission, etc. discussed in class or in course content.

A structured written response to a complex or probing research question(s). An essay calls for the exposition of a thesis and is composed of several paragraphs including an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. It is different from a research paper in that the synthesis of bibliographic sources is not required.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Focus on the process of writing rather than the final written output and have students submit research questions, drafts, outlines, and references along with the finished essay. These can be submitted for review at set points during the course of the project or collected with the final essay submission. 
• Ask students to include specific types of connections in their essays. For example, ask them to draw connections with other course materials, specific course materials, other courses, personal experiences, a pop-culture reference, a specific artifact (image, song, artifact), etc.
• Scaffold essay components, have students respond to peer and instructor feedback at each stage or at specific points in the project, and add a reflective component that asks students to reflect on how feedback contributed to producing a better final product.
• If use of GenAI is permitted, require students to cite GenAI in the body of the essay, document their use of GenAI, and/or submit a GenAI declaration/acknowledgment statement.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Scaffold essay components and incorporate GenAI feedback alongside (not replacing) instructor and peer feedback.
• Have students map the development of their essay through drafts and write a concluding reflection on the roles of GenAI, peer feedback, and instructor feedback in their essay development process.
• Consider permitting students to use GenAI tools to copyedit their work. Take note that commonly used editing tools like Grammarly may now rewrite sections of text in addition to correcting spelling, grammar, sentence structure errors, etc.
• Consider permitting students to use GenAI tool to improve their ability to effectively communicate ideas and information.
• Consider inviting students to upload a paragraph of their writing into a University-approved GenAI tool and prompt the tool to summarize the main point of the paragraph. Students can then revise the paragraph if the GenAI didn’t accurately identify the main message.

Exams and tests assess knowledge, proficiency, or skill in at a particular point in time.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Take note that there are many GenAI ‘test taker’ plug-ins that students might engage when completing a test/exam in an unsecured environment (i.e. online, at home, or unproctored).
• Consider incorporating low-stakes, multiple-attempt, and two-stage testing into your teaching practice. De-centering grades can decrease the temptation to cheat, encourage self-evaluating knowledge, understanding and skills, and help students identify knowledge, skill, and learning gaps.
• Write questions that include student-generated content (e.g. discussion board posts, student presentation content, peer feedback, etc.) or course-specific content (e.g. lecture materials, guest lecture content, field trips, experiments and other in-class activities, etc.).
• Create questions that focus on making connections with personal experiences (e.g. How does this relate to something you learned or experienced in a previous week’s class? Outside of class? In another course? When you were younger?) and with student-generated content (e.g. How does this relate to a class discussion? a discussion board posts? a student presentation?)
• Build in metacognitive pieces that ask students to reflect on the process of learning, how they arrived at their answers, what techniques they used to study, and what actions they are (or have) taken to grow their knowledge/skills.  
• Require students to submit graphs, calculations, diagrams, etc. that must be produced by the student to arrive at an answer.
• Have students write some exams and tests in secured environments (e.g. in-person, proctored, without the use of technology [unless necessary for the task or for accessibility]).
• Adopt authentic assessments that have students demonstrate competencies (i.e. knowledge and/or skill[s]) that are likely to be required in a course-related employment field.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• If the test or exam is “open book” (as all take-home and online tests/exams should be assumed to be), require students to cite the resources they use, including GenAI, and/or include a GenAI declaration/acknowledgement of use.
• Adopt authentic assessments that have students demonstrate competencies (i.e. knowledge and/or skill(s)) while also using or collaborating with GenAI in a way they might do when working in a course-related employment field.

An executive summary is a condensed version of a longer document or report that provides an overview of the main points, key findings, and major recommendations. It is typically aimed at busy executives or decision-makers who need a quick understanding of the content without delving into the full details. Executive summaries are commonly used in business proposals, project reports, and research papers to present essential information concisely.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Ask students to do more than summarize information by requiring them to identify key findings, prioritize information, justify recommendations, or tailor the executive summary to a specific audience, purpose, or context.
• Have students consider the knowledge base and/or level of expertise necessary to critically evaluate a GenAI produced executive summary and improve upon it.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Use GenAI to construct a ‘persona’ for a hypothetical reader, identifying elements like the reader’s main interests, responsibilities, and areas of expertise vs. low knowledge. Use this persona to help outline, draft, and revise the summary.
• Have students use GenAI to produce an executive summary of something they have written or are very familiar with, have them consider the strengths and weaknesses of the output, have them consider any biases, gaps, harms or ethic considerations related to using GenAI to produce executive summaries, and have them write, record, or discuss their thoughts in a reflection.

An experiment is a procedure or other activity carried out to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, illustrate a known fact, or practice a skill(s).

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• GenAI can’t be of assistance if its use is prohibited during an experiment that is directly observed by the instructor, TAs, and/or lab instructors.
• GenAI is of limited productive assistance during experiments that require physical manipulations.
• GenAI is of limited productive assistance during experiments that require interpersonal interactions.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Students can use GenAI to identify materials and/or steps necessary to carry out an experiment or to augment opportunities for success.
• Students can consult GenAI after a failed experiment to troubleshoot the ‘why’ of the failure.

Fact Sheets ask students to identify and communicate relevant information or evidence to illuminate or frame a particular issue, problem, need, event, or subject. Policy Briefs typically include the additional step of making a recommendation or a rank-ordered set of recommendations to a policymaker.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Require students to explain why particular information was included, omitted, or emphasized in their fact sheet or policy brief.
• Ask students to critically evaluate sources, assess the quality and strength of available evidence, and explain how differing perspectives, interests, or stakeholder needs influence policy decisions and recommendations.
• Incorporate opportunities for peer review, stakeholder feedback, reflection, or revision.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• GenAI is good at summarizing and can be employed to identify salient information to include in a fact sheet or policy brief.
• Students can be asked to fact-check and verify information gleaned from GenAI to include in a fact sheet or policy brief.
• Students can be asked to improve a fact sheet or policy brief generated by AI. 

See "Laboratory or Field Notes."

Test-takers must complete sentences or passages by filling in the missing words or phrases. This type of question tests recall and understanding of specific information.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Note that there are many GenAI ‘test taker’ plug-ins that students might engage when completing a test/exam in an unsecured environment (e.g., online, at home, or unproctored).
• Consider incorporating low-stakes, multiple-attempt, and two-stage testing into your teaching practice. De-centering grades can decrease the temptation to cheat, encourage self-evaluating knowledge, understanding and skills, and identify learning gaps.
• Write questions that include student-generated content (e.g. discussion board posts, student presentation content, peer feedback, etc.) or course-specific content (e.g. lecture materials, guest lecture content, field trips, experiments and other in-class activities, etc.).

Engaging with Generative AI

• Consider permitting students to use GenAI to complete a fill-in-the-blanks test and make these assessments low-stakes or no stakes. This approach supports learning as well as students’ self-awareness of both competence and gaps in their knowledge and/or understanding.
• Provide students with a completed fill-in-the-blanks test, have them identify the answers they think are correct and incorrect, and then have them complete a corrected fill-in-the-blanks test for grading.
• Using a two-stage testing approach, have students complete the fill-in-the-blanks test individually in a secure environment and submit the test for grading. Immediately or very shortly after, have them complete the test a second time using whatever tools they want (including GenAI). Make test 1 worth 40-70% of the grade and test 2 the remainder.

A flowchart is a graphical representation of a process, workflow, or algorithm, using various shapes and arrows to show the sequence of steps or decisions involved. It helps visualize the logical flow and decision points, making it easier to understand and analyze complex processes.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Require students to explain and justify the structure of their flowcharts, including why particular steps, branches, connections, or decision points were included.
• Incorporate opportunities for students to compare different representations of the same process or system and explain the strengths and limitations of each.
• Produce or source a flowchart that contains errors or omissions. Have students consider the knowledge base and level of expertise necessary to interrogate the flowchart and improve upon it.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Have students collaborate with GenAI to produce a flowchart. Consider having students reflect on the process and respond to prompts such as: How did GenAI help you produce a better flowchart than you might have produced without collaborating with GenAI? What are the strengths and weaknesses of using GenAI to produce a flowchart? What are the merits and demerits?
• Produce or source a flowchart that contains errors or omissions. Have students correct it and improve it with the assistance of GenAI.

Infographics are visual representations of ideas, information, and data.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Focus grading rubrics on how concepts are illustrated and connections between information rather than the artistic product or components designed which can be assisted by GenAI. 
• Produce or source an infographic that contains errors or omissions. Have students consider the knowledge base necessary to interrogate and improve upon it.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Have a GenAI tool output a base graphic for students to augment, correct, and build out based on set criteria. 
• Explore having GenAI create images for infographics. PowerPoint’s “Slide Designer” is a GenAI tool that’s readily available for students to experiment with. It creates slide designs based on slide content. 
• Ask students to create their own ‘design brief’ using GenAI, then either design the infographic based on that design brief or trade design briefs with another student to compare the ask vs the output.
• Brainstorm analogies and metaphors with GenAI (like Google’s textFT tools), encouraging students to push beyond the cliche towards something unique and useful to their specific audience. For example, choosing what icon to use to represent an image, or a relatable example that appeals to their audience.

An instructional manual is a detailed document that provides step-by-step guidance, explanations, and procedures on how to use, assemble, operate, or perform specific tasks with a product or system. It aims to help users understand and utilize an item effectively and safely.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Have students consider the skills and knowledge base necessary to evaluate a GenAI created instruction manual.
• Ask students to reflect on the risks, assumptions, accessibility considerations, and communication challenges associated with GenAI created instruction manuals.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Have students prompt AI to generate a ‘base’ instruction list using and then have students improve upon the output (by adding, removing, modifying, reordering, etc) on their own, in collaboration with a peer, or in collaboration with GenAI. This removes what some consider the more ‘boring’ mental work of getting an instruction manual started.
• Have students prompt AI to generate an instruction manual and then interrogate it for accuracy, completeness, nuance, etc.
• Have students collaborate with GenAI to produce an instruction manual.

An inventory involves systematically listing and categorizing items or resources to assess their availability, quantity, and condition. In an educational context, students might conduct an inventory of books in a library, equipment in a lab, or supplies in a classroom, enhancing their organizational and data collection skills.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Have student conduct an inventory in a real, place-based context.
• Provide students with an inventory and have them verify, correct, and or respond to it in or with reference to a real, place-based context.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Use GenAI to identify key words or categories to organize books, documents, or artefacts. Compare the outputs with an archival cataloguing system like, for example, the Dewey Decimal System, etc.

A letter to the editor is a written communication submitted by a reader to a newspaper, magazine, or online publication, expressing their opinion, feedback, or comments on a particular article, topic, or issue. It is intended for publication and allows individuals to share their perspectives with a broader audience.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Have student research and report on the GenAI use policies of discipline-, topic-, or domain-specific publications.
• Have students consider the merits and demerits of using GenAI to produce or assist with creating a letter to the editor.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Invite students to use GenAI to create different personas (for the writer or readers) to help students find an angle for their letter to the editor.
• Invite students to brainstorm hooks/ledes with GenAI to develop multiple catchy opening lines to choose from or work with (instead of going with the first one that comes to mind).

A literature review, commonly referred to as a “Lit Review”, is a comprehensive summary and analysis of existing research and scholarly writings on a particular topic. It aims to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge in a specific field and may be a part of academic research or a standalone piece.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Ask students to include an assessment of relevancy (e.g. to course topics, course themes, student discussion board posts, etc.) for each source in their literature review.
• Have students assess the authority, reliability, and currency of each source.
• Ask students to identify areas of consensus and disagreement within the literature and explain how these debates have shaped understanding of the topic.
• Ask students to include specific types of connections in their literature reviews. For example, ask students to draw connections with course topics, specific course materials, personal experiences, a reference, etc.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Ask GenAI to produce a literature review on a particular topic, concept, or theory. Have students assess the literature review for bias, currency, omissions, etc. and then revise it. 
• As an extension of the above, have students work on the same topic, concept and theory in pairs or groups and then have them compare the results of their GenAI literature reviews, assessments, and improvements. Ask students to reflect on which group’s final product was the best and why.
• Starting from a list created by a research-assistant-style GenAI, have students chase down the citations to find other useful articles. In this way they practice using GenAI as a first step (not the only step).
• Compare and contrast the literature searches from different tools with the sources students find through their own database searches to help them understand the importance of searching in multiple databases and with more than one tool.
• Have GenAI identify and organize key words to demonstrate thematic similarities between resources.
• Invite students to generate outlines of different kinds of literature reviews (topical, chronological, methodological, etc.) using AI and assess which ones are most appropriate for the specific literature review being asked of them.

A multimedia or slide presentation is a visual communication tool that combines text, images, audio, video, and other media elements to deliver information or a message to an audience. It is often used for educational, business, or informational purposes and can be presented in person or virtually using software like Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Emphasize the content explanation and delivery of the presentation over the design elements.
• Emphasize design element choices/decisions made by the student.
• Have students explain why they organized their presentation the way they did, why they chose particular colours, images, etc.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Ask students to prompt GenAI to create an image that supports the message of the slide, then build a version of that image using simple icons/stock images embedded in the slide design software, using GenAI to brainstorm but still making creative decisions.
• Have students create a slide using GenAI and assess it using basic visual design principles to identify what they would need to revise in order to turn it into a useful slide.
• Invite students to provide the GenAI with a summary of the presentation and prompt it to generate a slide-by-slide outline that focuses on one message per slide. Students can then use this outline to get out of the habit of having one slide with multiple bullet points.

A news story is a journalistic piece that reports on current events or recent developments, providing objective information in a factual and unbiased manner. A feature story, on the other hand, is a more in-depth and creative piece that explores human interest topics, profiles individuals, or delves into issues from a unique perspective.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Have student research and report on the GenAI use policies of discipline-, topic-, or domain-specific publications.
• Require students to gather and incorporate original reporting, such as interviews, observations, primary documents, field notes, or local information.
• Require students to consider multiple perspectives on an issue and explain how they evaluated competing claims, evidence, and sources when constructing their narrative.
• Incorporate opportunities for students to fact-check, verify sources, and document their reporting process.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Invite students to brainstorm hooks/ledes with GenAI to explore different options.
• Have students use GenAI to brainstorm different metaphors or angles that the story/feature could take.
• Have students create audience personas using GenAI to better understand what information different readers might want.

Notes on reading are annotations, comments, or summaries taken while reading a book, article, or any other written material. They serve as aids for understanding, retention, and later reference, helping the reader recall essential points and ideas from the text.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Explain the purpose and different processes of note taking to students. Help students to understand that annotations, comments, and summaries taken while reading (or watching or listening) are intended to help them encode, remember, and retrieve information.
• Students can be asked to submit a personal reflection on their preparation for an assessment including answers to such questions as: what helped or hindered their performance during the assessment? What they would do differently if they could repeat the assessment? What steps can they take to improve their performance going forward?

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Invite students to use GenAI to make notes on readings and have them consider the merits and demerits of relying on AI generated notes.
• Have students use GenAI to “talk with their texts”, querying texts to further their knowledge and understanding. Have students discuss which prompts, questions, iterations, etc. resulted in more and less useful outputs.

In an observational assessment evaluative information about knowledge, skill, and ability is obtained through direct observation by an evaluator (e.g. instructor, TA, lab assistant, peer, or self.) 

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Write questions that include student-generated content (e.g. discussion board posts, student presentation content, peer feedback, etc.) or course-specific content (e.g. lecture materials, guest lecture content, field trips, previous in-class activities, etc.).
• Require students to include student-generated and course-specific content in their responses.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Students can use GenAI as a preparatory tool to advance knowledge and hone skill before they engage in an observational assessment. For example, they can ask GenAI to summarize the steps necessary to complete a particular task or to identify common task errors as a means of studying.
• Have students use GenAI to create a topic outline or bulleted skeleton of an answer and then improve upon it with course-based learning. 
• If use of GenAI is permitted, have students cite GenAI contributions, submit the queries they made to GenAI along with the raw outputs that resulted, and provide a reflection on their use of GenAI in completing the assessment.

An oral report is a form of communication in which a person or group of persons present information, findings, or ideas verbally to an audience. It involves speaking in front of others, often in a formal setting, and delivering a structured presentation that may include visual aids, such as slides or props, to support the content. Oral reports are commonly used in academic settings, business environments, and various professional settings to share knowledge, research findings, project updates, or persuasive arguments. Effective oral reports require clear organization, articulation, and engaging delivery to effectively convey the intended message to the listeners.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Have students deliver oral reports in person or in a synchronous-online environment.
• Include a question from the audience and/or questions from the instructor component.
• Emphasize the content of what is spoken over the content and design elements of slides, etc.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Invite students to use AI to generate a persona of the person or group the oral report might be directed toward.
• Have students use GenAI to assess the organization, clarity, concision, etc. of their presentation points as summations of the oral contribution as a means of strengthening their oral report skills.

During peer evaluations, students review, assess, and provide feedback on other students’ work.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Facilitate a class discussion on the merits and demerits of using GenAI to provide peer feedback. Arrive at a course policy collaboratively.
• Have students write a reflection on the peer feedback received using prompts such as: What do I agree with? What do I disagree with? What will I do (or have I done) to address the feedback? How will (or did) the feedback I received make my next draft (or final product) better?
• Ask students to submit a “response to peer feedback” statement with the next or final submission explaining how they addressed the feedback they received or why they chose to reject it.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Invite students to use GenAI as a peer, offer feedback on their research and writing, and suggest avenues for further exploration that reveal richer connections and application of information.  
• Have students design a question and have GenAI write an article based on that question. Next, have students engage in a scholarly review of the article generated including comments, corrections, suggestions for improvement, etc.

A portfolio is a collection of artifacts of learning (e.g. reflections, annotations, presentations, discussion board posts, assignments, test answers, etc.). Students engage in a variety of learning activities throughout the term and then compile a portfolio to show evidence of their learning journey. Portfolios provide a comprehensive and organized way to present evidence of learning, growth, and accomplishments over time. A digital collection of artifacts of learning is commonly referred to as an ePortfolio, short for electronic portfolio.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Require students to explain how different artifacts relate to one another and how they collectively demonstrate their development over the duration of the course, program, or experience.
• Ask students to document revisions, milestones, challenges, pivots, or moments of learning throughout the portfolio development process.
• Have students annotate portfolio artifacts to explain what each artifact demonstrates, what they learned from creating it, and how it contributes to their broader learning goals or professional development.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• GenAI can be a collaborator or contributor to individual portfolio items and its contributions can be cited and/or acknowledged. 
• GenAI can give feedback on portfolio items like written work and provide comments, feedback, and next steps that students can pursue in their research. Students can integrate or ignore the feedback, provide rationale for these decisions, and reflect on other ways to advance their knowledge, understanding, skills, etc. with and without assistance from GenAI.

A poster presentation is a visual representation of research, typically demonstrating knowledge of theory, literature review, methods, and findings. A large printed visual display intended to catch the attention of an audience, a poster often contains a combination of text, images, and graphics to communicate information or promote a particular message, event, or cause.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Ask students to walk you through their poster presentation and/or answer questions about it from the audience.
• Consider inviting members of the university community, practitioners, and/or community stakeholders to view and/or adjudicate a poster presentation event.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• GenAI is useful for summarizing key points, drafting executive summaries, and prioritizing information for inclusion on posters. 
• GenAI can help design graphics and suggest layouts for posters, assisting with the organizational flow of the end product. For example:
  • Image generators can produce images that can help illustrate concepts or provide visual excitement in a poster; 
  • PowerPoint’s Slide Designer feature uses GenAI to suggest layouts based on content. Using it as an idea generator can help students see their information presented in different ways instantly.

Students explain a concept, process, idea, project, or experiment to an audience via oral, audio, or visual communication. Presentations can be delivered live (in person or virtually) or recorded.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Presentations are excellent ways to augment other written assignments and to extend learning, using multiple means to assess student learning holistically.
• Include questions from the audience and/or questions from the instructor.
• Have students respond to peer and instructor feedback on their presentations, including specific commentary on what they could do to make their presentation better.
• Have students produce a second presentation based on the feedback received on their first presentation.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• GenAI is especially useful for summarizing key points, which can be included on slides. 
• GenAI can help design graphics and slides for presentations. For example,
  • image generators can produce images that can help illustrate concepts or provide visual excitement in a presentation,
  • PowerPoint’s Slide Designer feature uses GenAI to suggest layouts for each slide based on its content.
• Invite students to use AI to generate assertions for the Assertion-Evidence slide design style.

Students develop a product, proposal, experiment, experience, or app to inform and/or test designs.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Require students to submit and document multiple prototype iterations rather than only the final product.
• Ask students to identify design constraints, explain trade-offs, and justify the decisions made throughout the prototyping process.
• Ask students to document failed ideas, abandoned approaches, unexpected challenges, and how problems were addressed during development.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• GenAI can debug and write code as well as natural language text. GenAI can become a debugging tool used to help students diagnose problems with prototypes and code.  
• GenAI can be used to summarize papers and other text to help identify what is most salient in the writing. This can help improve written communication and guide where to place emphasis in grant proposals, pitches, etc.

See "Exams and Tests."

Reflection papers ask students to consider what they have learned in the context of their lived experiences, use what they have learned to inform future action, or consider the real-life implications of their thinking. Compare to “Essay” and “Research Paper/Research Essay.”

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Ask students to reflect on how their understanding of a topic, skill, belief, or practice changed over time.
• Require students to reference specific experiences, assignments, discussions, feedback, decisions, challenges, or moments from the course and explain their significance.
• Ask students to identify assumptions they held, misconceptions they overcame, questions they continue to have, or areas where their thinking has evolved.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Ask GenAI “if-then” questions and have students offer personal reflections on the output or interrogate the output for biases, gaps, and other shortcomings.
• Prompt GenAI to interview the student, asking questions one at a time (and asking follow-up questions) to critically reflect on their understanding, or on their analysis of a text.

A formal document requesting financial support for a research project from a granting agency or organization. The proposal outlines the research questions, objectives, methodology, budget, and potential outcomes. It familiarizes learners with the process of seeking funding and strengthens their research and persuasive writing skills.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Have student research and report on the GenAI use policies of SSHRC, NSERC, CIHR and/or other discipline-, topic-, or domain-specific granting agencies.
• Have students consider the merits and demerits of using GenAI to produce or assist with creating a research proposal for a granting agency.
• Break the proposal into staged components and ask students to explain how feedback on earlier stages influenced subsequent revisions.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Students can be permitted to use GenAI to produce pieces of a scaffolded assignment (e.g. summaries of research sources, a procedural outline, a timeline, etc.) or as an approved source for basic information about a topic, event, person, procure, etc. Remember to require students to cite and/or acknowledge GenAI.
• GenAI can be used to suggest effective wording or alternate phrasing for written work. 
• GenAI can be used to check drafts for gaps, problems, and other deficiencies.

A scaffolded assessment is a larger project, case, essay, problem, or assignment broken up into smaller, progressive learning activities (“chunks”) that build toward a final summative assessment. 

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Require students to revise their work between stages and explain how feedback informed subsequent versions.
• Incorporate opportunities for peer review, self-assessment, instructor feedback, or revision checkpoints throughout the assignment so that learning is demonstrated as an ongoing process rather than a single submission.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Students can be permitted to use GenAI to produce pieces of a scaffolded assignment (e.g. summaries of research sources, a procedural outline, a timeline, etc.) or as an approved source for basic information about a topic, event, person, procure, etc. Remember to require students to cite and/or acknowledge GenAI.
• GenAI can be used to suggest effective wording or alternate phrasing for written work. 
• GenAI can be used to check drafts for gaps, problems, and other deficiencies.
• University of Waterloo instructors can find additional strategies for scaffolding writing assignments through the Writing and Communication Centre (WCC) and Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE).

See "Abstract."

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is a popular competition among research-based graduate students that can also be used as an assessment tool for all students. In a 3MT, students are allowed one slide and three minutes to present course content, a specific topic, research, or a project to a general audience.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Incorporate a live presentation and question-and-answer component that requires students to expand on ideas, clarify concepts, and adapt their explanations in response to audience questions.
• Students can be asked to include specific types of connections in their Three-Minute Thesis presentations. For example, connections with other course materials, specific course materials, other courses, personal experiences, a pop-culture reference, a specific artifact (image, song, artifact), etc.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Invite students to paste sections or the entirety of their thesis into a GenAI tool (IST at University of Waterloo recommends logging into Copilot with University of Waterloo credentials) with the precursor “Summarize:” or “Summarize this:” and have them reflect on the results. Have students regenerate their responses repeatedly to see how the nuance of the output changes and gain new perspectives about what stands out or might be veiled. Have students write a reflection or make a presentation to the class that discusses their findings.
• GenAI can help design graphics and slides for presentations. For example, image generators can produce images to help illustrate concepts or provide visual excitement in a presentation, and PowerPoint’s Slide Designer tool uses GenAI to suggest layouts for each slide based on the slide’s content.
• Invite student to use GenAI to brainstorm metaphors, analogies, and visual metaphors to help a lay audience understand complex research.
• Invite students to use GenAI to create a design brief for the slide, adapting & revising with original/attributable visuals.

A timeline is a visual representation of a chronological sequence. Students can either create their own timelines or critique and edit sourced timelines.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Ask students to justify why particular events, developments, discoveries, decisions, or milestones were included in the timeline and why others were omitted. The selection and prioritization of events can reveal students' understanding of the topic.
• Ask students to annotate key events with explanations of their historical, social, scientific, cultural, or disciplinary importance.

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Use GenAI to produce a timeline or to identify the precipitators of a historical events (e.g. “Summarize the causes of the French Revolution”) and have students use this output to consider how narrative and perspective are subject to bias, how GenAI and the historical cannon privilege some stories while erasing others, etc.  
• Have students prompt AI to generate simulated time travel and then interrogate the output with reflective questions such as: what assumptions did the AI make to produce the image? Is it possible to prompt the AI to make the selfies more authentic to the time/place?
• Have students prompt AI to generate a scene that is inspired and informed by course content.

These questions require test-takers to determine whether a given statement is true or false based on their knowledge of the subject.

Mitigating Inappropriate Use of GenAI

• Include novel course-based content in true/false questions (e.g. information from student presentations, in-class discussions, experiential learning activities, etc.).
• Use true/false questions on ungraded diagnostic assessments.
• Use true/false questions on ungraded, complete/incomplete, or low-stakes formative assessments where the goal is support (rather than evaluate) learning.
• Have students write summative assessments that include true/false quizzes a secure (synchronous or in-person supervised environment).

Engaging Responsibly with GenAI

• Accept that a student may choose to use GenAI to complete true/false questions and have them produce a reflection or engage in a discussion on the merits and demerits of completing a diagnostic, formative or summative assessment in this way.
• Use a GenAI tool to create questions based on course content and have students evaluate the merits of the questions generated (questions could be generated by you or by students).

See "Case-Based Questions."