We urge instructors to have conversations with their students about generative AI tools to help us all navigate this landscape and make careful decisions about GenAI use. Even (or especially) if you feel unsure about the use of GenAI, you can learn from your students about the varied ways they might be using these tools, as well as their enthusiasm or concerns. And students can benefit from your perspectives and intellectual approaches to evaluating AI output.

Approach the conversations with curiosity, and with a goal of learning more about your students’ varied experiences, their feelings, and concerns. We are all in the midst of understanding these new AI tools, including which aspects might be helpful, which might be harmful, and how they may fit (or not) into our own values, practices, and goals. Consider having some dedicated class time to discuss these developments, as well as impromptu conversations, to learn from each other, and to explore areas of ambiguity or disagreement.

Here are some possible discussion prompts and topics:

Ask Students About Their Experiences with GenAI 

• How have they used it for classes? Do they think it has helped them learn? How?
• How did they feel about the quality of the information it returned?
• Do they have concerns about its use in class or with assignments?
• If they had a younger sibling or friend in middle or high school, would they recommend that they use GenAI for schoolwork?
• Share ways that you are trying to learn more about GenAI, and ask students what they are doing to learn.
• How do they think that GenAI may be changing how people learn, create, process, and find information? Has it personally changed their processes for reading, writing, or other work?
• How do they feel that GenAI may affect how people connect with each other? Do they think it is making a difference on our campus?
• How important do they think GenAI will be for their work after Cornell?

Within Your Discipline

• How might GenAI change research or communication in your field?
• Share your own experiences in using GenAI for your work – either positive or negative.
• Ask students for advice on a dilemma you may be having about using GenAI in your own work. For example, how would they feel if you used it for grading or feedback? Creating slides, etc.?
• Share with students your own concerns about how GenAI may change student learning. What key skills, practices, or values do you feel may be at risk? Do they agree or disagree?
• Try GenAI tools together. Ask students to try using a GenAI tool for a specific purpose within your discipline. Discuss together the advantages and limitations of the tool.

Discussing GenAI and Academic Integrity

• Consider asking your students to reflect on their values by completing the questions in Liz Karns’ Canvas course module on academic integrity and values. The module can be customized and added to your course’s Canvas site and used as a starting point for conversations.
• In what situations do they feel that using GenAI would be cheating? Are there grey areas or areas where they feel unsure?
• What do they think are some reasons that students use GenAI in ways that don’t fit with principles of academic integrity? How can instructors design assignments to help avoid these situations?
• Marc Waktins, director of the Mississippi AI Institute and a lecturer of writing and rhetoric at the University of Mississippi, suggests asking students to draft their own statement or personal policy for GenAI use. This could be another jumping-off point for in-class discussions about their own values.
• Ask for their input on GenAI course policies. For example:
  • Provide students with a list of your assignments. Explain what you are hoping they will learn from these assignments. In small groups, ask them to list when it might be helpful to use GenAI, or when using GenAI might impede their learning. Take their ideas into consideration as you draft a GenAI policy to share back with them in another class session.
  • Give students a draft of your GenAI-use policies. Ask them to identify areas that need more clarification or policies that should be added.

Limitations, Ethical, and Environmental Concerns

• Ask students to read an article or listen to a podcast about AI ethics, environmental impacts, or other issues, and discuss in small groups or as a whole class. Some possible resources for discussion include:
  • Some Ethical Considerations for Teaching and Generative AI in Higher Education
  • Modern Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines
  • MIT: We Did the Math on AI’s Energy Footprint
  • 15 Times to Use AI, and 5 Not To

For other guides to having conversations with students about generative AI we recommend:

• University of Minnesota: Talking to students about GenAI
• Ohio State: AI Teaching Strategies: Having Conversations with Students