Developing AI Standards of Conduct as a Class

Submitter: Carly Schnitzler, Johns Hopkins U

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The experiment:

In my first-year writing classes, my students and I worked together to develop AI Standards of Conduct. We did this in-class during the first week, with a few pedagogical goals in mind: 1) to begin to articulate the value of writing for their education, for their personal growth, and for their professional development; 2) to establish a culture of collaboration and co-creation in the classroom environment; and 3) to set clear guidelines for the use of LLM-powered writing tools in the writing classroom, grounded in students’ own values.

I gave a short overview of what LLMs are and how they work, followed by some questions (which often involved clearing up misconceptions) and discussion of past experiences. Then, small groups brainstormed and took notes session on two questions: 1) What’s the point of being in a writing class, if language models can generate passable text and score well on exams? and 2) How can this translate into course policy? Student responses became the basis for our AI Standards of Conduct, which I then put into the syllabus.

Results:

This went really well! I have asked students to help with setting course expectations (i.e., be respectful, give constructive feedback, etc.) during the first week of class since I started teaching writing. This activity felt like a natural extension of that expectation-setting work. A beginning of semester intake survey demonstrated that students were reluctant to use and/or disclose use of LLMs because of their associations with cheating and plagiarism, so it felt important to have clear policies for the class. I imagine the suggestions will evolve over time, but I’ve copied the resulting policies from Fall 2023 below.

AI Standards of Conduct:

• AI tool use should support—and not detract from—the goals of the course—developing critical thinking, analytical skills, personal voice, etc. To this end, AI generated output will not be permitted in any writing assignment (read: you can’t copy/paste output and turn it in).
• AI tools can be used for light brainstorming (think: getting unstuck from writer’s block, working through an outline) and light editing or revision. All uses of AI tools in any assignment must be disclosed. If you use AI tools in any part of the writing process, please disclose via this form: [link redacted].
• Conferences and revision are privileged over any disciplinary action in the case of over-reliance on AI tools in the course (read: if you’re relying on AI tools too much, I’ll ask to meet with you as a first step of intervention).

Relevant resources: Intake Survey

Contact: cschnit1[AT]jh[DOT]edu