Describe and Document AI Use

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Promote transparency and the thoughtful, responsible use of AI by getting students to acknowledge, describe, and document their AI use (assistance or collaboration) for activities and assignments.

Note that how and to what extent you describe and document AI use in your teaching practices may vary.

Conestoga Guidelines for AI in Class

You may wish to provide students with the optional use of generative AI when they complete in-class activities and/or assignments. For assignments, Conestoga’s Evolving AI Guidelines provide the following recommendations to faculty:

“Written instructions must clearly state whether use of AI is permitted [for assignment]. When AI is permitted, students should also cite and reference its use appropriately. Best practices indicate they should also include an acknowledgement. For example, an assignment completed in collaboration with Copilot should include a statement like “This assignment was completed with the assistance of MS Copilot (February 20, 2024 version).”

Create and share a Statement of AI Use that explains your expectations to students up front.

1. Use APA-style references

Share your expectations with your students for including formal APA-style citations and references when generative AI has been used for an in-class activity or assignment.

The in-text citation is: “(Microsoft, 2024).”

The reference is: “Microsoft. (2024). MS Copilot (February 20, 2024 version) [Large Language Model]. https://copilot.microsoft.com/.”

See the Hub post Citing Generative AI for more information.

2. Describe the AI collaboration

When students detail their AI collaborative process with genAI, they deepen their understanding of their own work, uphold academic integrity, and prepare for an AI-driven future.

You may ask students to describe how they collaborated with genAI for the in-class activity or assignment. Here are some examples.

1. Initial draft generation: “I used generative AI to generate the initial text draft. I then reviewed, edited, and refined this draft to produce the final output.”
2. Idea generation: “I used generative AI to generate various ideas and concepts. I selected the most promising ones and developed them further on my own to create the final text.”
3. Content expansion: “I provided the AI with a basic outline or a set of key points. The AI then expanded on these points to create a more detailed and comprehensive text, which I revised and finalized.”
4. Iterative refinement: “I used the AI in an iterative process. I would input a draft, the AI would revise and enhance it, and then I would review and adjust the AI’s output. This cycle was repeated until the final text was produced.”
5. Language enhancement: “I wrote the initial text, and then used the AI to enhance the language, improve the style, and correct grammatical errors. The final output was a polished and refined version of my original text.”

Depending on your activity or assignment and what constitutes permitted genAI use in your course, you can create appropriate options for students to select and adapt. You might wish to to ask students to include this description at the beginning or end of their submission, or in a message along with their submission in eConestoga.

3. Provide documentation

Students can document their use of generative AI in several ways to demonstrate their active role in the development process. Here are some examples.

1. Screenshots: Capture images of the genAI interface during use, showing the input given and the AI’s output.
2. Prompt and Output Logs: Record and share the interactions with the genAI, including the prompts or questions, the AI’s responses, and adjustments made based on those responses.
3. Annotations: Students may be asked to highlight or make annotations on their final submission, indicating which parts were generated or influenced by the AI and providing a brief explanation.
4. Process documentation: Create a step-by-step account of the assignment process, detailing how the AI was used at each stage. See below for an example.

You may need to give instructions and/or demonstrate how students should keep track of their AI use. For instance, students may not know how to take screenshots

Note that the features will vary depending on the AI tool. For instance, in Open AI’s ChatGPT, an entire conversation can be copied, while MS Copilot only allows individual prompts and responses to be copied. The assistive AI tool Grammarly provides a downloadable performance report in PDF format, but the report does not describe how Grammarly was used.

4. Complete an AI process form or reflection

Completing an AI disclosure or process form helps students explain how much AI helped their work. It covers idea creation, research, planning, writing, and editing. It clearly distinguishes how AI may be used (or not if students opt out of AI use). This practice makes the role of AI transparent, helps students understand their learning, and makes them think about the right use of AI for the task(s). It may be a step that is added to requiring students to cite and reference AI outputs.

If you choose to use a process form along with an assignment, you may wish to review it with students well before the due date. Also, ensure that students are clear about your expectations for the permitted (and prohibited) use of AI and how they should keep track of their AI use. See The Optional Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in Assessments for details.

See this sample AI Process Form For Students, which you may wish to download and adapt for your assignments. This sample is adapted from “AI Disclosure Form” by François Jourde (2024) under the license CC-BY-NC-SA.

When might AI documentation not be necessary or desirable?

It depends. You may decide that students’ use of AI to brainstorm, information search, and acquire resources for a class activity or assessment may not need a description/documentation of their use of AI. The norms of the academic discipline of your professional area may also guide your decisions. When in doubt, refer to Conestoga’s Evolving AI Guidelines and contact your supervisor.

Final thoughts

If you wish to provide students with optional use of generative AI for activities and assignments, discussing the risks of using 3rd party genAI tools in class is strongly recommended. Also, you can help students understand your expectations by demonstrating what you ask of students. Finally, please note that students cannot be required to use a specific AI tool for class activities and assignments. Alternative opportunities with equitable support must be provided for any assigned tasks.

Note: In this post, examples were developed in collaboration with AI: detailed prompts were provided, and outputs were human-revised and finalized.