Artificial Intelligence is increasing in prevalence on campus. Many of the College’s faculty have included new AI policies on course syllabi this year. These policies range from a total ban on the use of AI to specific regulations. Beth Salerno, Associate Academic Dean and a Professor of History, says that the Dean’s Office reached out to faculty members with student concerns about whether or not the use of AI was allowed in their courses. The Dean’s Office “encourages faculty to write or adapt course policies that assume students want to know how to use or not use AI tools honestly and within appropriate disciplinary and course guidelines.”
Officially, Saint Anselm College does not ban or allow the use of AI in classrooms; that is up for the faculty to decide individually. Students must follow the policy that a college faculty member has outlined in the syllabus for the class.
Professor Adam Walton from the English department is currently restricting the use of AI in his courses. He says, “The English courses I teach require critical thought and original writing, which AI-generated writing by definition doesn’t qualify as and can even fetter.”
All students take EN105, a first-year writing course. Here, students learn to master fundamental principles. For this course taught by Professor Walton, students are plagiarizing if they use generative AI to produce creative work for them. Just as if the written piece was taken from online or from another student, using uncredited AI disobeys the college’s academic honesty policy.
Professor Walton is not the only one on campus who disallows the use of AI in his classroom for this reason. New hire Professor Jesse Saywell from the English department, says that many students utilize AI to do their work for them. When students do not look over the work that AI or ChatGPT has done for them, “they’re doing a disservice not only to themselves, but also to their classmates. If they haven’t learned the information, they are unable to participate in classroom discussions – which, in my opinion, is where the best college learning takes place.”
Students come to college to achieve higher levels of education that will prepare them for the workforce. The common problem that Professor Saywell points out is that AI is not perfect. It has been made by humans and trained using human source material— some of which could contain mistakes. Saywell takes his stance on this issue by saying that AI is not going away anytime soon. According to him, colleges have a critical role to play in teaching students how to use and analyze the results of generated AI responsibly.
Professor Saywell worries about the future of how students will use AI if they aren’t learning how to use it critically. He asks, “if we do not continue to evolve intellectually, how will we know if the information AI is generating is factual or not?”
In Saywell’s classroom, the issue of students using artificial intelligence in classroom learning is not just about citing sources properly. It is about the fundamental experience of college learning taking place. AI can disrupt students’ knowledge and class engagement if not used properly. The addition of the AI policies on Saint Anselm course syllabi is to direct students on how and when they can utilize it as a resource.
Some courses offered by instructors allow students to use AI to complement their learning in a structured way. Due to the nature of some areas of study, AI could be banned entirely in the classroom. In others, students may be allowed to use AI in a specific way or task with the proper citation. There are many ways that students can use or not use artificial intelligence on this campus, and any new addition to course syllabi regarding the use of AI is for student benefit. Saint Anselm students will inevitably discover what works best academically as they move into the school year. For some, artificial intelligence may play a role in their success as students. Others may choose not to use it or find that it goes against their instructor’s policy in the classroom. Artificial intelligence is not going away for the foreseeable future, which is why students will find policies about AI on syllabi this academic year.
