Question
How can faculty use artificial intelligence responsibly and effectively in teaching and learning?
Answer
Faculty should use AI as a support tool for course design, assessment planning, and student engagement while maintaining human oversight and professional judgment.
Generative AI
Generative Artificial Intelligence, or GenAI, is changing how faculty design courses, support students, create instructional materials, and evaluate learning. These tools can help with brainstorming, drafting, summarizing, organizing, and adapting instructional content, but they require thoughtful human oversight. Faculty should use AI in ways that protect student privacy, support academic integrity, promote equitable learning, and align with course outcomes.
Faculty are encouraged to approach AI as a human-in-the-loop teaching and productivity tool rather than as a replacement for professional judgment, subject-matter expertise, or pedagogical decision-making.
What Is Generative AI?
Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence tools that can create new content in response to user prompts. Depending on the tool, GenAI may produce:
Written explanations
Lesson plans
Draft emails or announcements
Assignment ideas
Rubrics
Quiz questions
Study guides
Summaries
Images
Discussion prompts
Common examples include tools such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, BoodleBox and AI features embedded in learning platforms, productivity software, search engines, and discipline-specific applications.
Generative AI works by identifying patterns in large amounts of data and predicting likely responses based on a user’s prompt. It does not understand information the way a human expert does. AI-generated content may sound confident while still being incomplete, biased, outdated, misleading, or incorrect.
Faculty should treat AI output as a draft, suggestion, or starting point — not as a final authoritative source.
Core Principles for Faculty Use
Faculty use of AI should be guided by the PACT Model: Privacy, Accuracy, Context, and Transparency.
PACT Model for Responsible AI Use
1. Privacy
Protect student, employee, institutional, and research data.
Faculty should not enter sensitive, confidential, or personally identifiable information into public AI tools unless the tool has been approved for that specific use and appropriate data protections are in place.
Do not enter the following into AI tools:
Student names connected to academic performance
Student ID numbers
Grades
Disability accommodation information
Conduct records
Advising notes
Financial information
Health information
Unpublished sensitive research data
Personnel information
Any information protected by FERPA, HIPAA, contractual obligations, or institutional policy
When in doubt, remove identifying information
2. Accuracy
AI can produce inaccurate information, fabricated citations, false summaries, and misleading conclusions. This is often called a “hallucination.”
Faculty are responsible for verifying AI-generated content before using it in instruction, assessment, research, communication, or decision-making.
Before using AI-generated material, check that:
Facts are accurate
Sources exist and are cited correctly
Examples are appropriate for the discipline
Instructions match course expectations
Content aligns with current policies and standards
No unsupported claims are presented as fact
Biases or stereotypes have not been introduced
AI may be useful for generating possibilities, but faculty expertise is required to determine what is accurate, appropriate, and pedagogically sound.
3. Context
The quality of AI output depends heavily on the context provided in the prompt. General prompts often produce generic results. Better prompts include information about audience, course level, learning goals, constraints, tone, and desired format.
For example, instead of asking:
Create a discussion question about ethics.
A stronger prompt would be:
Create three discussion questions for a 200-level undergraduate business ethics course. The questions should help students apply ethical decision-making frameworks to workplace use of generative AI. Use accessible language and include one follow-up question for each prompt.
Faculty can improve results by including:
Course level
Discipline
Student background
Learning objectives
Assignment purpose
Required format
Constraints
Tone
Accessibility considerations
Examples of desired output
4. Transparency
Faculty should be transparent with students about when and how AI may be used in a course. Students need clear expectations regarding whether AI tools are prohibited, permitted with limits, required, or encouraged.
Transparency may include:
A syllabus statement
Assignment-specific AI instructions
Citation or attribution requirements
Examples of acceptable and unacceptable AI use
Discussion of why the policy supports course learning outcomes
Guidance on how students should document AI assistance
Transparency helps reduce confusion, supports academic integrity, and creates a shared understanding of responsible AI use.
Human-in-the-Loop Philosophy
Faculty should approach AI through a human-in-the-loop philosophy. This means that AI may assist with certain tasks, but a human remains responsible for judgment, interpretation, verification, and final decisions.
AI can serve as a co-pilot for brainstorming, drafting, organizing, adapting, and reviewing content. However, faculty remain responsible for:
Academic quality
Course design decisions
Assessment validity
Student privacy
Fairness and equity
Accuracy of instructional materials
Compliance with university policy
Final communication with students
Final evaluation of student learning
AI should support professional judgment, not replace it.
FERPA and Data Security Guidelines
Faculty must protect student educational records and personally identifiable information under FERPA and applicable university policies.
Safe or Lower-Risk Uses
The following uses are generally safer because they do not require identifiable student information:
Drafting a generic rubric
Creating sample discussion prompts
Generating practice quiz questions
Brainstorming active learning activities
Rewriting instructions for clarity
Creating examples for a fictional student scenario
Developing a study guide based on instructor-created notes
Drafting a general course announcement
Creating a template for feedback comments
Higher-Risk or Unsafe Uses
The following uses may violate privacy or institutional expectations if done with unapproved tools:
Uploading student papers that include names or identifiers
Asking AI to grade named student work
Entering student grades or performance data
Uploading accommodation letters
Sharing advising notes
Entering conduct or disciplinary information
Uploading sensitive research data
Asking AI to make decisions about students
Using AI to evaluate employees or personnel information
If AI use involves student records, sensitive information, or institutional data, consult appropriate YSU guidance before proceeding.
What NOT to Do with AI
Faculty should avoid using AI in ways that compromise privacy, accuracy, fairness, or academic responsibility.
Do not use AI tools to:
Upload identifiable student work
Upload grades
Upload class rosters
Upload student ID numbers
Upload advising notes
Upload accommodation letters
Upload health or conduct information
Make final grading decisions
Replace individualized academic judgment
Generate official policy interpretations without verification
Create citations without checking them
Evaluate students, employees, or applicants using sensitive data
Share confidential research, personnel, or institutional information
Circumvent established university procedures
Produce content that will be distributed without human review
AI should not be used as the sole basis for decisions that affect students’ grades, academic standing, privacy, opportunities, or access to support.
For additional faculty resources, register for access to the Faculty Essentials Module in Blackboard.
If you need further AI training or would like to schedule a one-on-one consultation, please contact IT Training Services