Constructive Uses of Generative AI at KPU: A Student Guide
Generative AI to Support your Learning
Follow Instructor Guidelines:
Check your course syllabus for a statement on GenAI use for your course. Different courses may have different requirements, and your instructor can guide you if you are unsure of what these may be. Carefully read your instructors' guidelines for use in assignments and course activities.
For support with using AI for accessibility, contact accessibility services: https://www.kpu.ca/access.
Original Work
Any course work you submit as a student should be your own and appropriately cited. Your judgement and your ideas should be represented in your work. Simply paraphrasing GenAI output does not, by itself, make it your own work. It is important that you apply your own thinking and creation through your own analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and critique. Misue of AI can result in an academic integrity breach.
- Be transparent about generative AI use.
- Cite sources properly - see link KPU Generative AI Citation Guide
- Use with integrity - see link Generative AI and Academic Integrity
Respect Intellectual Property (Copyright)
Entering content made by instructors or other students to AI tools without permission infringes on copyright. Be sure you understand the copyright status of material you’re using and submitting for course assignments. (See links: Copyright Basics, GenAI Copyrights)
Protecting Your Privacy and Security
- Your Data Protection Matters: Avoid sharing personal or sensitive information with generative AI tools. Sensitive information includes your voice, personal experiences, and identifying information such as course or student number. (See link: Privacy and Security)
- Your Security is Important: Use reputable platforms to access generative AI services and review what you are agreeing to. Be cautious of phishing attempts and unauthorized access. (See link: GenAI Technology Platforms)
Social and Environmental Impact:
- Evaluate the potential risks to Indigenous data sovereignty, reproducing cultural bias, and systemic inequalities by assessing whether AI is the most suitable source and evaluating GenAI results before using them.
- GenAI tools use significant amounts of electricity, consider ways to limit power consumption. (See link: Environment and Social Impact of GenAI)
When generative AI is allowed in your course or assignment:
1. Understand Strengths: What is it good at?
These strengths will vary depending on what you’re studying, but mainly, generative AI can provide you with an introduction to a topic, explanations, overview of key points, and generate many examples quickly to brainstorm with you. Generative AI might also be used to critique your work, recognizing that it will not have the subject matter expertise that a tutor or instructor will have in giving specific feedback.
2. Understand Limitations: What are its weaknesses?
Generative AI can produce inaccurate or biased information, even if it seems confident in its responses. This goes beyond incorrect citations/links to deeper issues such as the possibility it leaves out important information or misinterprets findings. It’s important to check and evaluate output using other sources to consider different perspectives. Your critical thinking skills are key. (See link: Assessing AI Generated Content)
3. Learn with AI: Use AI as a learning aid, not a replacement.
Although AI can help with some activities, staying engaged in the learning process by asking questions, and consulting instructors and other sources is the best way to support your learning. Generative AI can serve as a helpful starting place, but don’t rely only on AI generated content. Build your digital literacy skills by assessing different sources to broaden your understanding. Be curious and critical of what you find and use your research skills to come to informed conclusions.
4. Ask AI for Guidance Instead of Output: Try customizing your prompts.
Ask generative AI to break down the process for a specific problem as opposed to answering it for you. This can help you with the steps you need to generate your own response instead and avoid the temptation to shape your answer to the generative AI output.
5. Document and Cite Your Use:
If you use GenAI to generate content (text, images, videos etc.) shared with others, it’s important to document the tools and techniques you used. Maintain a record of your process and prompts in case you are asked to share or demonstrate your work. (See link: Citing AI)
6. Ask Questions:
If you have questions about AI use, a new tool, or generative AI output, talk with your instructors. These conversations are helpful in working collaboratively to understanding this new technology. It also shows your instructor that you are a critical and informed user of the technology.
7. Stay Informed:
Keep up to date with the latest developments in AI and guidelines. This is a rapidly evolving technology so the guidelines provided will likely change. It’s important for you to stay informed. (For updated information see: https://www.kpu.ca/generative-ai)
Personal Study Practices:
As per KPU guidelines, outside of course assignments and activities, students may choose to use GenAI tools as long as the student is not inputting copyright materials into the tools and is not using restricted tools like DeepSeek on KPU systems (e.g. network, devices).
- Using Gen AI tools for personal studying would not constitute an academic integrity breach as long as the direct outputs of those tools are not present in submitted course work and/or the tool is not being used during an exam, unless these tools have been explicitly permitted by an instructor for these situations.
- Using generative AI for personal studying is not required for students.
Support for study habits may include
- Planning and prioritizing
- Goal setting
- Breaking down tasks
- Generating examples
- Organizing your notes
- Simplifying complex concepts or presenting them in a different way
- Suggesting related topics for research
- Automated transcription and summarization
- Exam preparation, including generating study questions, acting as a chatbot tutor, etc.
GenAI tools can be useful for studying purposes but be aware that the content generated may not be accurate or at the level of your learning, so verify information when using this as a study source. For support with studying see: https://www.kpu.ca/learningcentres
