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Academic Integrity

academic integrity
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Educators and policy-makers around the world are trying to understand the ever-evolving role that AI will play in teaching, learning and how students will demonstrate understanding. Generative AI has significantly shifted the educational landscape as students can use AI to instantly generate information that cannot be located or checked online. This technological development will make detecting plagiarism very difficult. While there are online tools available that claim to be able to detect writing produced by AI, these tools are not always accurate and are very time consuming for educators to use.
 
Considering the many ways that AI could be used for learning, it's common to find educational institutions taking a position such as the following:
 
‘The use of ChatGPT and/or generative AI does NOT automatically equate to academic misconduct.’ Rather, the use of AI may vary depending on the age of students, the curriculum and the purpose of a learning activity. Further, educator autonomy and discretion plays a role as well. In light of these factors, we might consider establishing guidelines very similar to what is stated by the University of British Columbia:
 

  • If using ChatGPT and/or generative AI tools on coursework has been prohibited by the educator, then using these tools would be considered to be academic misconduct.
  • If using ChatGPT and/or generative AI tools has been permitted by their instructors, then the instructors should make sure to convey the limitations of use and how it should be acknowledged, and use should stay within those bounds.
  • If the use of ChatGPT and/or generative AI tools has not been discussed or specified by the educator, then it is likely to be considered as prohibited.
 
 
UBC provides further guidelines that reflect SD67’s position:

“Students should not assume that all available technologies are permitted. If students are not sure about whether AI tools are allowed, as with any tool, they must ask their instructor for clarity and guidance.”  


As all sectors of our society become more familiar with generative AI, students in SD67 can expect that educators will increasingly provide guidelines on the use of AI through course outlines, syllabus, and class expectations.