Student Use of Generative AI (GAI) at Missouri S&T

This past spring 2024, a faculty task force representing all three colleges met to develop guidelines that would assist S&T faculty with developing their own course policies for student use of generative AI (GAI). In addition to faculty, representatives from IT Security and the Wilson Library also participated in the task force. The goal was to produce a series of clear and reasonable criteria faculty could use if they deemed necessary for their courses.

The task force produced three levels of GAI use in courses:

These categories are not intended to be comprehensive; the GAI task force recommends that faculty include their own written policy regarding students’ GAI use. Widespread use of the above images by S&T faculty may promote more consistent student recognition of course GAI policies. The images will be included in the syllabus material provided to all faculty members by the office of Undergraduate Education before the semester starts. They will also be automatically included in syllabi created using Simple Syllabus.

Why levels are helpful:

• Instructors have academic freedom to set acceptable levels of GAI use in their classroom, and students need to clearly understand the expectation from one instructor to another.
• When an academic honesty issue is raised, a clear statement on the syllabus such as the red—no use of GAI is acceptable—makes the case easier to address.
• Student resources such as tutoring, or the S&T Writing & Communication Center can help students operate within the rules set by the instructor.

Here are some useful examples of how GAI can be used in teaching:

• A detailed collection of over 20 examples from Harvard University https://aipedagogy.org/assignments/
• The book Teaching with AI by Jose Bowen and C. Edward Watson, CAFE has copies you can borrow or you can check out a digital copy from the S&T library.
• A detailed list of prompts, ready to cut and paste from Jose Bowen who spoke at S&T in March 2024 at https://teachingnaked.com/prompts/
• An article for U Penn’s Wharton School on using AI in various ways, downloadable at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4475995

Using AI checkers:

• The UM system does not endorse nor provide an AI checker. These have been shown to be highly unreliable and biased. Faculty are therefore cautioned against attempting to use this type of software. GAIs are constantly updating, and detection software has not been able to keep up.

Additional optional GAI statements and images:

When GAI is allowed you must verify and cite all claims and information appropriately. GAI are known to hallucinate and may include bias. Do not blindly trust the information an AI generates. You must also not adopt generated content without reflection and revision to make it your work.

If an instructor designates different levels for assignments or projects within a course, it is recommended that each assignment within the course or assignment be tagged as green, yellow, or red. These icons can be used to tag individual assignments.

Downloadable Files

Downloadable pdf of the document Student Use of Generative AI (GAI) at Missouri S&T (google drive)

Zipped file of Missouri S&T official GAI images to use in your syllabus or course content Google Drive link to zipped file of GAI images. 

Images included in this file:

• Greenlight images
  • Greenlight image full-text, full-size
  • Greenlight image full-text, small size
  • Greenlight image partial-text, full-size
  • Greenlight image partial-text, small-size
  • Greenlight icon for assignment use
• Yellow light images
  • Yellow light image full-text, full-size
  • Yellow light image full-text, small size
  • Yellow light image partial-text, full-size
  • Yellow light image partial-text, small-size
  • Yellow light icon for assignment use
• Red light images
  • Red light image full-text, full-size
  • Red light image full-text, small size
  • Red light icon for assignment use

The Generative AI policy taskforce:

• Dan Reardon, Chair (Student Success and English/Technical Communication)
• Susan Murray (Online Education, CAFE, Psychology, and Engineering Management/Systems Engineering)
• Cassie Elrod (Business and Information Systems)
• Jossalyn Gale (Writing and Communication Center and English/Technical Communication)
• Daniel Forciniti (Faculty Affairs and Chemical Engineering)
• Tsangyao Chen (Business and Information Systems)
• Sherry Mahnken (Library)
• Perry Koob (IT)

Missouri Online Generative AI information

Missouri S&T Library