OHIO Faculty Course AI Policies and Guidelines

Course Policy

As part of the evolving educational landscape, this course will incorporate the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GENAI) systems, such as ChatGPT, as a learning tool. This policy outlines the appropriate use of GENAI in this course, specifically focusing on fostering academic integrity, critical thinking, and a deep understanding of course content.

Students are encouraged to utilize GENAI thoughtfully and responsibly under the following conditions:

Permissible Uses of GENAI

1. Final Project: Students are permitted to use GENAI systems for all aspects of their final project, including but not limited to:

• Research and idea generation.
• Drafting project outlines and sections.
• Refining language and formatting.
• Soliciting feedback for improvements.

Note: Students must ensure that the final submission reflects their own understanding and analysis, and GENAI-generated content must be properly contextualized and acknowledged.

2. Problem Setup and Concept Clarification: GENAI can be used to:

• Clarify the setup of chemistry problems.
• Gain deeper insight into concepts discussed in class.
• Explore alternative approaches to problem-solving.

Prohibited Use: Using GENAI solely to generate answers without engaging in the learning process is strictly prohibited. The goal is to enhance understanding, not to bypass critical thinking.

Documentation and Transparency

To maintain academic integrity and transparency, any use of GENAI during the semester must be thoroughly documented:

1. Prompt Documentation:

Students must save and submit all prompts or questions posed to the GENAI system. This includes any modifications made to the prompts during interactions.

2. AI Feedback Record:

Students must provide a complete record of all responses or outputs generated by the GENAI system, regardless of whether the feedback was ultimately used in the assignment or project.

3. Reflection on AI Use:

For every assignment or project where GENAI is utilized, students must submit a brief reflective statement (approximately 150-200 words) describing:

• How GENAI contributed to their work.
• Specific ways it enhanced their understanding of the material.
• The steps they took to validate and adapt the AI feedback to align with course concepts.

Ethical and Academic Standards

1. Ownership of Work:

While GENAI can assist in the learning and creative processes, the final work must represent the student’s own understanding, interpretation, and synthesis of the material.

2. Proper Attribution:

Any content or ideas influenced by GENAI must be cited appropriately. 

3. Misuse of GENAI:

Failure to document GENAI use or relying on it to substitute for personal understanding and effort will be considered a violation of the university’s academic integrity policy and may result in disciplinary action.

Training and Support

To ensure students use GENAI effectively:

A workshop on responsible GENAI usage will be conducted during the first two weeks of the semester during lecture.

Examples of appropriate and inappropriate use will be shared in class.

Office hours and discussion boards will be available for students seeking guidance on integrating GENAI into their learning process.

Purpose and Philosophy

The intent of this policy is to integrate GENAI into the learning environment as a tool for exploration and innovation, not as a shortcut to answers. By documenting their interactions with GENAI, students will develop reflective habits and critical skills essential for their academic and professional growth. The faculty is committed to supporting students in navigating this emerging technology responsibly and effectively.

By adhering to this policy, students will not only comply with course requirements but also gain valuable experience in leveraging GENAI as a tool for lifelong learning and scientific inquiry.

Policy Statement

You will find that the organizational studies courses try to provide you with real world experiences that mimic what are common workforce experiences. In almost all workplaces, employees are encouraged to use whatever tools make them more efficient and effective on the job. Certainly, AI are tools being used just like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. So in this course, if you find an AI tool to make your work better, you are allowed to use it.

There are two important things to consider, however. One is that the original work must be your own. Thus, you CANNOT ask AI to create an assignment for you.

You must do the assignment. You can, though, ask AI for ideas to get started, to make a completed assignment better, to give suggestions for how to improve, etc.

Your work must always be your work first and foremost.

As in all academic endeavors, you must let the person reviewing your work know you used AI by indicating it. Here is an example: The creator of this assignment used AI to assist in its development. The specific program used was (whatever used, i.e., ChapGPT, CoPilot, etc.).

If citing AI usage is necessary, you should cite using the platform, and the date used. For multiple cites from same platform on the same date you should use a small letter after the date to differentiate the different cites. Finally, you should

include the prompt you used. Here are a couple of examples: (ChaptGPT 3.5, January 24, 2025a) List some famous leadership quotes I could include in a paper on leadership. 

(ChatGPT 3.5, January 24, 2025b) Please correct any grammatical errors in my paper.

Ethical and legal use of AI is your future. As long as you use it as a tool and not to do the work and you let everyone know through a statement or citing, it is not only permissible to use but encouraged.

Policy Statement

Permission & Restrictions. Students have limited permission to use generative AI (GenAI) tools for assignments in this course. When explicitly permitted by the instructor, students must:

• Properly document and credit the GenAI tool(s) used;
• Clearly cite the specific tool and include a brief explanation of how it was used; and
• Verify the accuracy and validity of any references or content provided by the tool, especially in regard to copyright and academic integrity.

GenAI tools can be valuable learning aids—but they cannot learn for you. Using GenAI to complete assignments on your behalf (e.g., generating written content and submitting it as your own work) is prohibited. Submitting AI-generated content without disclosure or misrepresenting it as your own (e.g., copy-pasting or paraphrasing GenAI output) is a violation of academic integrity.

Any such violations will be reported in accordance with Ohio University's Code of Conduct. If you are unsure about how to appropriately use GenAI tools in this course, please contact me via email or speak with me directly.

Capabilities and Limitations. GenAI tools are not all-powerful or foolproof. They are trained on large datasets that include pre-existing and potentially copyrighted material. As a result, their output may be inaccurate, misleading, or even plagiarized. While they may mimic human writing, they do not guarantee factual accuracy or reliability.

It is your responsibility, not the tool’s, to ensure the quality, accuracy, and originality of all submitted work.

As outlined in the course syllabus, some assignments may require e-submission through Turnitin, which includes functionality for detecting AI-generated text. 

Unauthorized Use. Unauthorized use of GenAI tools will be reviewed under the Ohio University Code of Academic Integrity.

Unintentional plagiarism or fabrication of data, even if generated by AI, can have serious consequences.

Depending on the nature of the violation, academic penalties may range from a failing grade on the assignment or course to a formal referral to the Office of Community Standards and Student Responsibility (OCSSR).

Please use GenAI tools responsibly and act with integrity for the sake of your personal character and your academic success.

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL•E are now widely available, and you're expected to use them in this course. However, you must properly document and credit any AI tools you use—cite the tool and briefly describe how you used it. This follows good citation practices and helps me give better feedback on your prompt engineering.

Remember that AI tools aim to produce human-like content, not accurate content. They're trained on limited, potentially outdated datasets that may include copyrighted material. This means using AI could result in inaccurate information, plagiarism, or copyright violations. You're responsible for ensuring the quality, integrity, and accuracy of all work you submit—not the tool. While you have flexibility in how you use AI, avoid unintentional plagiarism or data fabrication. Act with integrity for both your character and academic record.

Regarding my own AI use: I'll always disclose when I use AI for course content (like wording rubrics). I won't intentionally run your work through AI detection tools or use AI for grading, as these aren't reliable enough for college courses. If I suspect undisclosed AI use, I'll contact you to discuss it.

MGT 2000 Introduction to Management Course Policy

Generative artificial intelligence tools (AI) is software that creates new text, images, computer code, audio, video, and other content—have become widely available. Well-known examples include ChatGPT for text and DALL•E for images. This policy governs all such tools, including those released during our semester together.

All analysis assignments submitted for this course should represent your own thinking and effort and should be prepared entirely by you. Any use of generative AI at any stage of your work in this course constitutes academic dishonesty and is a violation of course policy and of the Ohio University Student Code of Conduct.

However, there will be an opportunity to use AI-generated text for an extra credit assignment (not required). This assignment represents permission from Dr. Hoyt for the use of generative AI technologies. Including AI-generated materials in coursework without receiving advance permission and providing proper citation constitutes academic dishonesty and is a violation of course policy and of the Ohio University Student Code of Conduct.

When you use generative AI tools to complete assignments in this course, in ways that I have not explicitly authorized, I will apply the Ohio University and College of Business Code of Academic Integrity as appropriate to your specific case. In addition, you must be wary of unintentional plagiarism or fabrication of data. Please act with integrity, for the sake of both your personal character and your academic record.

Guidelines for effective and ethical use of AI

1. Always write your own first draft…do not use AI. Writing your own first draft not only engages you with the material, but it is imperative to effectively use AI for any assistance later.

2. Do not use AI to rewrite your draft. You can use AI to more effectively organize your material and suggest grammar and spelling changes

3. Use prompting for AI to more effectively record or report what you have learned. Prompt to look for gaps in your analysis or documentation. Prompt to examine any other viewpoints, principles or theories that may apply. UseAI to examine your analysis to ensure that you have defined, fully explained, and integrated applications for each principle, model, or theory used in the analysis.

4. Report on AI’s role. Submit prompts and brief statements on how using AI enhanced your analysis indicating how AI tools informed your process and the final product, including what prompts you used and how you validated any AI-generated citations

5. Properly cite all AI contributions.

This course policy applies to all AI tools, including but not limited to:

• General-purpose generative AI tools: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, DALL·E, etc.
• Education-specific ("teacher") AI tools: MagicSchool AI, Diffit, Brisk Teaching, Eduaide.ai, etc.
• Paraphrasing software: Spinbot, QuillBot AI, Wordtune, etc.

The distinction between general-purpose and education-specific tools matters for how they fit the permitted/limited uses below: teacher tools like MagicSchool or Diffit are generally well-suited to permitted uses such as generating student-facing materials, since that's what they're built for. General-purpose tools like ChatGPT or Claude are more flexible but carry no built-in guardrails for classroom use, they are just as capable of drafting a reflection or synthesis for you as they are a quiz question, so the responsibility for staying within permitted uses falls entirely on you.

All work submitted in this course must be your own and must comply with the University's academic regulations.

✅ Permitted Uses of AI Tools

You are permitted to use AI tools throughout this course. You are especially encouraged to use them for:

• Brainstorming ideas for assignments
• Revising or editing your own written work — this means AI may help with sentence-level clarity, grammar, and flow after you have written your own ideas, not generating the ideas, arguments, or connections themselves
• Creating student-facing materials for lesson plans, such as:
• Quiz questions
• Classroom activities
• Generating practice examples, explaining a concept in a different way, or helping you outline a plan for an assignment before you write it

If you're unsure whether a specific use falls within these permitted categories, ask before you submit the work — it's much easier to clarify in advance than to resolve after the fact.

Some assignments may require the use of AI tools. In such cases, instructions will clearly explain how to use them.

❌ Limitations on AI Use

AI tools should not be used to:

• Write reflections on course readings, personal experiences, or class discussions
• Synthesize learning from reading or other course materials — this includes asking AI to identify connections between readings, summarize what you learned, or organize your reflective thinking into an argument
• Generate the substantive content of any assignment where the point of the assignment is to demonstrate your own thinking, interpretation, or synthesis

The distinction: AI may polish language you've already generated. AI may not generate the ideas, connections, or reflective insight that the assignment is designed to assess. If AI is doing the thinking, it's not permitted use — even if you rewrite it in your own words afterward.

AI tools are not participants in our classroom and cannot replicate the learning that occurs through discussion boards and engagement.

🔒 Data Privacy

• Do not upload identifiable student work, names, or other FERPA-protected information — including from field placements or practicum sites — into any AI tool.
• When testing tools like Magic School AI or Diffit on lesson materials, use fictional or de-identified student examples only.
• Be cautious about uploading your own unpublished coursework or personal information into free/consumer AI tools, as you do not control how that data may be stored or used.

📌 Academic Integrity Requirements

To maintain academic integrity, if you use AI:

1. Disclose it. Include an AI Acknowledgment anytime you use AI in an assignment (see below), regardless of how much or how little you used it.
2. Cite it properly if you use direct AI-generated text:

• Place the text in quotation marks
• Provide an APA in-text citation and include the AI in your reference list (APA guidance)
• Note: Direct quotation of AI output is only appropriate for permitted uses (e.g., quoting a sample quiz question AI generated for a lesson plan). It is not an acceptable way to incorporate AI's words into a reflection, synthesis, or any assignment assessing your own thinking — even with a citation, quoting AI in place of your own analysis does not meet the assignment's purpose.

Failure to properly cite AI-generated content, or use of AI in a prohibited context, may be considered a violation of academic integrity under university policy.

⚠ Important Considerations

AI-generated content may:

• Be inaccurate, misleading, or biased
• Contain hallucinations (false or fabricated information)
• Lack proper or accurate citations (e.g., some tools provide incorrect or fabricated references)

You are responsible for verifying the accuracy and appropriateness of any AI-generated content you choose to include.

📝 AI Acknowledgment Requirement

Every assignment must include an AI Acknowledgment — regardless of whether you used AI or not.

If you used AI, your acknowledgment should include:

• The name of the AI tool used
• A description of how the tool was used
• A clear indication of which parts of the assignment were generated or assisted by AI

If you did not use AI, include a brief non-use acknowledgment instead (see template below). This keeps the disclosure requirement consistent across all submissions and confirms the omission was intentional.

Where to include it:

• Written documents (papers, lesson plans, reflections): at the end of the document, before references
• Slide decks: on the final slide, or in the speaker notes of the title slide
• Discussion board posts: as a final line or comment on the post itself
• Other formats: ask your instructor if placement is unclear

Sample AI quotation (for permitted uses only)

"The science of reading encompasses the multidisciplinary study of cognitive, linguistic, and neurological processes involved in comprehending written language" (OpenAI, 2026).

Citation:

OpenAI. (2026). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com

For tools without a standard AI-citation convention (e.g., MagicSchool, Diffit), cite using the same general APA format — tool name as author, year, tool name in italics with a bracketed descriptor, and the tool's URL:

MagicSchool AI. (2025). MagicSchool [AI tool]. https://www.magicschool.ai

AI Acknowledgment Templates

Use acknowledgment:

I used [name of AI tool] to help me [explain how you used it]. It did [explain what it did well] well. I had to change [explain what you had to change] because [tell me why]. I [would/would not] use it again because [tell me why].

Non-use acknowledgment:

I chose not to use AI because [explain your reason]. I [would/would not] choose not to use it again because [tell me why].

I created the initial draft of this policy, then revised the policy using Claude for the 25-26 school year. I revisited the policy for the 26-27 year using Claude and made additional updates. I provided extensive responses to the prompts to create the final policy. I would use Claude again to help me update this policy because it reminded me to include the data privacy section and updated AI tools.

You may use AI to help you differentiate your lesson. You are responsible for ensuring the reliability and validity of AI output and that it meets the assignment requirements. Include a copy of the prompts and output with your final submission (you can do this by printing the webpage as a PDF). You may also use AI to help you revise and edit. If you choose to use AI, include a statement about how you used AI at the end of your lesson plan.

Sample AI Statement for an Assignment:

I used Chat GPT to help me brainstorm ideas for my paper about the Science of Reading. Once I had written my initial draft, I input it into Chat GPT and asked it to give me feedback to help me with revisions. I incorporated those revisions into my final piece.

You may use AI to help you write your newsletter, create images, or design the template. 

Based on the statement from Pearson, you may NOT use AI when working on your edTPA tasks. I encourage you to use the editing tools available to you in Word to support correcting grammar, spelling and mechanics errors.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) USE POLICY:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) use is selectively and meaningfully encouraged in this course. This course will focus on the ethical use of AI with an aim to increase the students’ efficiency as writers and ensure the effectiveness of their writing processes and products. Students are allowed to use AI within the boundaries stated in the syllabus, i.e. they will be allowed to use AI for a specific project to fulfill certain prescribed goals, and they will be required to include a statement of AI use based on the guidelines provided and with the inclusion of screenshots. However, there will be flexibility regarding the extent and nature of AI use for the one specific project prescribed for AI use.

To sum up, for this course,

• AI use will be limited to one specific project, i.e. The Personal Narrative of the Other (Empathy project)

• AI use in at least one manner will be considered mandatory for the project

• The degree and nature of AI use for the project can and will be determined by the student based on an open in class discussion on the importance of ethical, efficient, and effective use of AI in the context of this course, and possibly, beyond it.

• The project will have a reflection with screenshots asking students to record the steps they took in relation to AI use.

• The project and the use of AI will be further discussed in the final reflection submitted at the end of the semester as well.

General Policy

Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides another tool to conduct analysis, create, and present research in the field of sociology. My goal in this class is to provide guidelines to help you utilize this tool judiciously. Ultimately, I hope that you will be better equipped to ethically implement AI in your future career.

The use of AI in my courses falls into three categories: situations in which no AI may be utilized, assignments where it may be used on a limited basis, and assignments in which AI is actively utilized as part of a course project. As a general rule, AI is not permitted in all tests, quizzes, and discussion posts. These assignments should be based solely on your own knowledge and creativity. Unless otherwise specified in class, all students found to be using AI in these assignments will receive a failing grade for the work.

For other assignments, you are encouraged to utilize AI, but to a limited degree. In these cases, you are still expected to do most of the work. Specifically, projects and papers may utilize AI to enhance their work in these types of assignments. This may include utilizing tools like Grammarly to review original work for grammar, clarity, and precision. In other cases, Copilot (OU supports Copilot for faculty and students; go to OU’s websiteLinks to an external site. regarding Copilot for more information; you should be able to access it through Outlook). It may be used to help you create projects or improve the scope and breadth of a project.

When this is done, students should 1. Discuss with the professor how the AI tool will be used in the project, 2. Create footnotes to explain the role AI played in any part of the project, and 3. Utilize proper citation for AI in sociology (adapted from APA) (see below).OpenAI. 2023. ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chatLinks to an external site.

Class-Specific Policy

For this class, you will be expected to obtain an account (free or paid, at your discretion) with platforms such as Perplexity or Elicit. You may utilize other ones, but I encourage you to utilize your time in this class to learn a new platform.

Some assignments will require full use of AI to complete the assignment. In these cases, the goal is to train you in the use of different AI tools to complete and properly cite your work. Specifically, in this class, you will be conducting (2) research projects, one qualitative and one quantitative. While the primary goal is to learn about research processes, you will be expected to have a brief (approximately 5 pages) literature review for each project. The same literature review may be used for both projects if you are examining the same research question for both projects. You will also be asked to present your research findings.

Here are some guidelines for the use of AI to do this work:

1. Your first goal in each project is to pick a research question that you will use to conduct a literature review and then two research projects, one quantitative in nature and one qualitative. Pick an AI platform from which you plan to create a literature review. You may also do this manually utilizing traditional library resources or a hybrid of both AI and traditional methods of literature review.

2. AI may be utilized to help you analyze your data. This is especially useful in qualitative data analysis. In this case, you will be asking AI to look for themes in your qualitative data.

3. Ultimately, you must present your findings to the class. AI may be used to help you come up with interesting ways to present your findings. It should also be used to edit your presentation. Of course, you are responsible for actually presenting them.

AI Rights & Responsibilities

You should know that you are fully responsible for the following things when applying AI on these projects:

1. You should check with me whenever you are uncertain about whether or how to utilize AI in any part of your project. This collaboration can be very useful, and it will ensure that you are doing things properly!

2. You must cite your work noted in the previous section.

3. You are responsible for errors created by AI. AI has limited access to copyrighted and proprietary research. It also will “make up” research findings when it is not able to find it. Therefore, you must fact-check your work!

4. You must demonstrate your knowledge of sociology created by AI in your research project. In other words, the project must show that you properly understand the research you are citing! This is a great learning opportunity as AI will teach you things about your project that you probably were unaware of.

Artificial intelligence can be a great tool in creating, administering, and presenting research in sociology. The goal of this class is to learn ethical applications of these tools and use it to create new types of social research projects.

Context for AI use in this class: Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, DALL-E, and others) can be very useful in the context of teaching and learning. What we always want to make sure of, though, is that we are not bypassing opportunities to learn, which is the main reason we are in college together, by having AI do our work for us. The aim of the readings and assignments in this course is to contribute to what you personally know and can do. I want you to really know things for yourself, for valuable information and abilities to become part of who you are as a unique, intelligent person and emerging professional. Typing something into a GenAI tool and having it produce an answer that you then pass on to someone else, is not the same as knowing the thing for yourself and having it be part of your existing, ongoing knowledge base to be drawn upon and applied to future conversations, learning, and projects. For this reason, when completing assignments for this class you should not use GenAI tools unless I specify otherwise, or you obtain permission from me in advance. I want to see your thinking, not that of AI. To be clear, you are not permitted to submit assignments that have been fully or partially generated by AI unless explicitly stated in the assignment instructions. All work submitted must be your original work. That said, you are permitted to use GenAI for the following purposes:

Generating ideas: Use tools to brainstorm, find examples that may be useful to review, pose questions that will help you go further into the topic at hand.

Revising: After completing your own draft, leverage GenAI tools to get feedback on grammar, style, and coherence. Use the feedback to refine and improve your drafts.

Creating images: You may use GenAI to create images for assignments, where relevant.

In instances where you are permitted to use GenAI, it is important that you do so mindfully, being ever aware of its effect on your personal and professional development and intellect. For this reason, whenever you use GenAI to help you with a class assignment, you need to be forthcoming about what tool(s) you used and how. When using GenAI tools for our class, you should adhere to the guidelines that follow.

Guidelines for Using GenAI Tools Ethically and Effectively

1. Consult with Instructor: Always discuss the intended use of GenAI tools with the instructor and obtain approval before using them for any assignment.

2. Maintain Academic Integrity: Be sure that your use of GenAI tools supplements and does not replace your own independent work. Avoid over-reliance on AI-generated content.

3. Cite the Tool: Document the use of GenAI tools at the end of your assignment or, for papers including a Works Cited page, as the first item(s) on your Works Cited. Note: It does not matter that the tool may not be in alphabetical order on the Works Cited page. I want you to list any GenAI tools first as part of mindfulness in the Works Cited page. Include the tool used, the version, and the date of use.

• Example: "OpenAI ChatGPT Version 4 used on March 16, 2025."

4. Provide a Rationale and Reflection: At the end of the assignment, submit the following: 1) a brief rationale (100-150 words) explaining how you used the GenAI tool to assist you with the assignment and explain why its use was appropriate, and 2) a brief reflection (100-150 words) explaining how using the GenAI tools affected your learning and/or process involved in completing the assignment.

A caution about AI: It is important to remember that AI-generated content is not always reliable and accurate. Because GenAI tools are trained in pre-existing materials, they may produce biased, outdated, and copyrighted material. As such, copying from AI-generated information may result in plagiarism and copyright violations. It is your responsibility – not the tool’s – to ensure the quality, accuracy, integrity, and originality of all work you submit in this class.

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism: If you use GenAI tools to complete assignments in this course, in ways that I have not explicitly authorized, I will apply the Ohio University Code of Conduct as appropriate to your specific case. In addition, you must be wary of unintentional plagiarism. Please act with integrity, for the sake of both your personal character and your academic record. 

Description

Ah jeez, Uncle Bob posted a sketchy article on Facebook again. How do I know if I can trust the information? Does the author seem legit? How would I find other reliable information on this same topic? Look no further! Throughout this course, you will be introduced to the basic principles of scientific research and different ways to conduct research in social sciences. You will get acquainted with the logic of research design, learn more about some common forms of data collection, and develop basic research skills that you can use to conduct your own research and critically evaluate research presented by others.

In addition to learning how to efficiently conduct research, you will also learn how to use Artificial Intelligence when doing research. As an AI-enhanced course, you will leverage AI tools to refine research questions, analyze data, generate insights, and enhance your overall research methodology, ensuring you are well-equipped with modern research skills and technologies. An AI-enhanced research methods course is expected to benefit students in the following areas of your professional development:

Efficiency and Innovation: Integrating AI tools into the course allows students to experience and leverage cutting-edge technology that increases research efficiency and fosters innovative approaches to problem-solving. This prepares them for modern workplaces, such as those in the FBI, NGOs, and corporate settings, where technology-driven research methods and rapid data processing are increasingly essential.

Transparency and Integrity: The course emphasizes the importance of maintaining academic integrity by thoroughly documenting and justifying the use of AI tools, ensuring that students can confidently and ethically use AI in their future roles, whether in government agencies, non-profit organizations, or corporate research teams.

Inclusivity: AI tools provide valuable support for students and those with diverse learning needs by offering accessible resources and personalized assistance, thereby enhancing their ability to conduct high-quality research and collaborate effectively in global and multicultural work environments.

This course focuses on becoming both a critical consumer and producer of research, allowing learning to transcend beyond the walls of our classroom and be applied to lives and careers where we will be constantly confronted with the need to evaluate the validity and source of information presented to us. Furthermore, because research methodology can be applied to almost any topic, students are encouraged to integrate their knowledge and learning from other courses into the development and critique of the research methods learned within this class.

AI-Use Policy

We will use AI in this class to generate text, images, and music. As such, we will need a framework to prevent mis-attribution of work. Students are permitted to use AI (including text bots like ChatGPT and Claude, as well as writing assistants like Grammarly) to brainstorm for and edit assignments. You must always acknowledge the use of AI. Do this by adding a quick note to the submission that includes the name of the AI used, how you used it, the prompts that you used to generate your material, and how you edited the generated material. Disclosure of AI use aligns with good citational practice and allows me to give helpful feedback on your prompt engineering. Examples of AI acknowledgements will be shared and discussed in class.

Do not use AI to generate text for your weekly discussion posts. I design these posts to encourage sharing and reflecting on songs, artists, and moments that are meaningful to your personal music history. There is much to learn from your musical story and only you can generate that content. You may use AI to help check your posts for grammar and clarity.

A word of caution about using AI in a music history class: Text bots tend to overstate the importance of bands, albums, songs, and musical artists, especially when given a general prompt like, "Who is Fleetwood Mac?" Furthermore, while fairly reliable with biographical information, AI frequently gets key information wrong about historical recording and performance practices. Pop culture history is a relatively new and very messy discipline. Rarely do the training sets for GenAI have access to the most current and accurate research.

Finally, as far as my own use of AI, I will always share when I have used it on course content. (Spoiler alert: I use ChatGPT to help with wording for all of my grading rubrics.) In the spirit of fostering a culture of disclosure and trust, I will not run your assignments through any sort of AI-detection, nor will I use AI to grade your work. These tools are not yet robust or secure enough for use in a college course. If I suspect that you are not disclosing your use of AI, I will contact you to discuss further.