48 Principles for Using AI in the Classroom and How to Acknowledge It
48 Principles for Using AI in the Classroom and How to Acknowledge It
Joel Gladd
This chapter offers a practical guide to navigating AI in both your college courses and your future career. Whether you’re excited about AI, skeptical of it, or somewhere in between, you’ll need to understand how these tools fit into your academic and professional life.
In this chapter, we’ll cover:
- How AI is changing different career fields, from healthcare to automotive repair
- The different ways you might work with AI (as a “centaur,” “cyborg,” or even a thoughtful “resister”)
- How to follow your college’s AI policies while still building valuable skills
- Clear guidelines for properly citing and acknowledging AI use in your coursework
By the end, you’ll have a clearer picture of how to approach AI tools thoughtfully.
Why do I need to understand generative AI?
College courses aim to provide students with durable skills, meaning those strategies and critical thinking skills that translate most obviously into workplace environments. Today we’re seeing a transformation in professional workflows because of how generative AI (GenAI) and other forms of machine learning can augment what professionals do.
In May 2024, Microsoft reported that GenAI usage doubled in the previous months, “with 75% of global knowledge workers using it.” Those who do say it saves time, focus, become more creative, and make their work more enjoyable. In August 2024, another report showed that 86.5% of employees in some fields used GenAI at work.
Here’s how some work departments are using it, covering a range of backgrounds from marketing and business to STEM-related fields such as computer programming:
- social media content
- planning and building marketing strategies
- search engine optimization (SEO)
- content ideation (brainstorming, etc.)
- writing content
- content research
- bug-fixing and debugging software
- code generation and research
- drafting messages to customers
- analyzing customer feedback
Those in healthcare may think this is all about writing and coding, but AI is transforming the healthcare industry as well. In addition to the above, AI models are now:
- automating documentation;
- helping with data entry and extraction;
- managing communication;
- monitoring regulatory compliance;
- helping with administrative workflows and task prioritization;
- facilitating patient outreach;
- image enhancement for better diagnosis;
- noise reduction and pathology prediction;
- personalized treatment plans;
- clinical support;
- research and development of new drugs.
Perhaps you’re considering something in the trades and think this is all about writing tasks. Not at all. Those in the automotive repair industry, for example, will begin seeing GenAI:
- analyze vehicle data, symptoms, and repair history to suggest potential issues and solutions more accurately;
- interpret complex diagnostic codes and sensor readings;
- analyze images or descriptions of parts to identify them accurately