As part of an ongoing program between the Student Success Hub and the Calvin T. Ryan Library staff, a workshop was held discussing the ethical use of artificial intelligence. The presenters spoke to students on how to prevent accusations of plagiarism by AI and how to integrate it into classwork.
David Arredondo, the collections librarian and an associate professor, said education should be the foundation for AI use.
“Students need to come in and understand the foundations of their discipline, like how to use citations, how to think critically and how to put their ideas together in a paper,” Arredondo said. “If AI is jumping in front of that, if you’re putting AI use too far upstream, and it’s interrupting being able to develop that kind of knowledge and skills – that’s where I think you’re going to find yourself in trouble.”
Arredondo and co-presenter Grace Fuchser, a graduate assistant, noted some of the bad habits of generative AI writing. In a comparison of different Large Language Models query responses, they pointed out overusage of em dashes, minimal sentence length variation and answering rhetorical questions through the use of three adjectives as signs of AI writing.
Arredondo also said that students should prepare to talk to their professors about AI.
“AI can’t be held accountable, but you can, so be prepared to explain how you used AI to show your work,” Arredondo said. “Find your course’s AI policy, and keep your chats and messages so you can cite it properly when you use it.”
Fuchser highlighted other uses of tools that students can utilize, like NotebookLM, which allows users to create podcasts from submitted notes. It also allows users to ask AI hosts direct questions.
“From creating flashcards to the podcast, or even kind of organizing your own notes into documents, I think there is a lot of opportunity, but because it’s a little bit of a novelty, it can be a bit daunting to get into,” Fuchser said.
Some students, like freshman Liam Mosher, are skeptical about the use of AI in class and the world at large.
“AI should not be used,” Mosher said. “Period. Full stop. I’m rather worried about AI in a broader sense due to how many companies and people think that it is a great replacement for the worker. I prefer to learn from someone who has expertise on the matter, not a Large Language Model.”
The sessions will be held until April and will cover different ways for students to be successful in their classes. The next workshop, at 3 p.m. on Feb. 18, will discuss research resources beyond the library that can be accessed while being off-campus.
