Teaching and Learning with Generative AI

GenAI refers to a category of artificial intelligence tools that can create new content in response to instructions from a user. Depending on the tool, this content may include text, images, audio, video, computer code, data analysis, presentations, and other types of media.

Google Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude¹ are three widely used examples, but GenAI is not limited to a few individual products or one type of tool. Michigan Tech instructors have access to Gemini through the university’s Google Workspace environment, making it a practical starting point for those interested in exploring GenAI. GenAI capabilities are also increasingly included in search engines, productivity applications, learning technologies, creative software, coding environments, and other tools that instructors and students already use.

This overview provides a basic foundation for understanding how these tools work, what they can do, and the limitations instructors and students should consider when using them.

How does GenAI work?

Many text-based GenAI tools are built on large language models. These models are trained to identify patterns and relationships within large collections of text and other information. When a user enters an instruction or question (commonly called a prompt), the model uses those patterns to generate a response.

A GenAI tool does not understand information in the same way a person does. A text-based model generally produces a response by predicting likely sequences of words based on its training, the user’s prompt, and other information available to the system. Some tools can also search external sources, analyze uploaded materials, perform calculations, or connect with other applications. These additional capabilities may improve a response, but they do not guarantee that it will be accurate or appropriate.

Because GenAI systems are designed to produce plausible responses, their output may sound confident and well written even when it is incomplete, misleading, or incorrect. Effective use therefore requires human judgment, subject-matter knowledge, and verification.

What can GenAI do?

The capabilities of individual tools vary and continue to change. Common uses include:

• Brainstorming ideas, examples, questions, or possible approaches
• Drafting, revising, summarizing, or translating text
• Explaining a concept in different ways or at different levels of complexity
• Generating practice questions, case studies, scenarios, or sample responses
• Creating images, audio, video, presentations, and other media
• Generating, explaining, or troubleshooting computer code
• Organizing or analyzing documents and data
• Providing conversational practice, simulated dialogue, or preliminary feedback

These capabilities can support teaching and learning, but their value depends on how they are used. A tool that helps one student explore a concept may allow another student to bypass the intellectual work an assignment was designed to support. The educational value of GenAI therefore depends less on the presence of the technology itself and more on its relationship to the course learning objectives and the decisions made by instructors and students.

What are the limitations?

GenAI tools have significant limitations that users should understand.

Accuracy and fabricated information

GenAI tools may generate inaccurate statements, invented details, faulty calculations, or fabricated quotations and citations. This is sometimes described as an AI “hallucination.” Information generated by GenAI should be evaluated and verified using appropriate sources and disciplinary knowledge.

Bias and incomplete perspectives

The data used to develop GenAI systems may contain social, cultural, linguistic, and disciplinary biases. Generated responses may reproduce those biases, reinforce stereotypes, or present one cultural or disciplinary viewpoint as universal.

Limited understanding and judgment

GenAI can imitate reasoning and produce convincing explanations, but it does not possess human experience, values, professional responsibility, or disciplinary judgment. It may fail to recognize important context, ambiguity, ethical concerns, or the consequences of a recommendation.

Privacy and data security

GenAI tools vary in how they collect, store, and use information provided by users. Instructors and students should not enter student information, research materials, confidential university information, or other sensitive data into a GenAI tool. Additional guidance about institutionally supported tools and appropriate data use is provided in Using GenAI Responsibly.

Copyright and intellectual property

The development and use of GenAI raise questions about ownership, attribution, copyright, and the use of existing creative and scholarly work. Users should consider whether they have permission to upload materials and how GenAI-generated or GenAI-assisted content should be acknowledged.

Accessibility and equitable access

GenAI generated materials are not automatically accessible or accurate. Tools may also differ in cost, usability, accessibility, and availability. Instructors should consider whether requiring a particular tool creates barriers for some students and whether an appropriate alternative is needed.

Effects on learning

GenAI can assist with a task without necessarily helping a student learn how to perform that task. When a tool completes important intellectual work for students, it may reduce opportunities to practice foundational skills, work through productive struggle, develop confidence, or demonstrate independent understanding. Instructors and students should consider not only whether GenAI can complete a task, but whether its use supports the intended learning.

GenAI tools will continue to change

GenAI tools and capabilities will continue to evolve and increasingly become part of familiar applications. Thus, these resources focus on enduring questions about learning, judgment, transparency, privacy, and responsible use. Instructors do not need to become experts in every tool, but should maintain enough familiarity to make informed decisions about their impact on teaching and learning.

 

 ¹ It is the University’s policy that Michigan Tech faculty, staff, and students comply with funding sponsor or publisher requirements for the use of generative AI tools in research. Agency requirements can change rapidly. As of July 2026, the US Department of Defense (or Department of War) prohibits the use of all products and services provided by Anthropic, PBC, and its subordinate, subsidiaries, or affiliated offices or entities (including the AI platform commonly known as “Claude”) on DoD/DoW contracts. It is the researcher’s responsibility to comply with all contractual requirements of sponsored research projects.

There is no single approach to GenAI use that will be appropriate for every course, discipline, or assignment. Instructors may choose to integrate GenAI into some learning activities, allow limited use for specific purposes, or require students to complete certain work without GenAI assistance. These decisions should be guided by course learning objectives, disciplinary expectations, and the knowledge and skills students need to develop—not by the capabilities of a particular tool or concerns about whether students might use it.

Begin with Your Course Learning Objectives

Start by identifying what students should know or be able to do by the end of the course. Then consider how GenAI might support or interfere with those goals.

Questions to consider include:

• What knowledge and skills are most important for students to develop?
• Which skills must students be able to perform independently?
• Where might GenAI help students explore ideas, practice skills, or receive additional support?
• Does the ability to use or evaluate GenAI belong among the course learning objectives?

The same GenAI use may support learning in one situation and interfere with it in another. For example, using GenAI to generate several possible approaches to a problem might support exploration, while using it to produce a final solution may bypass the reasoning the assignment is intended to assess. The key question is not simply whether GenAI can complete a task, but whether its use supports the intended learning.

Consider Your Disciplinary Context

GenAI is affecting disciplines in different ways and at different rates. In some fields, it is already used to support activities such as writing, coding, analysis, research, design, and communication. In others, its uses remain limited, experimental, or inappropriate for particular kinds of work.

Consider how GenAI is influencing your discipline and what students should understand about its role:

• How is GenAI being used in your discipline?
• Which uses are likely to become relevant to students in advanced study or future work?
• What disciplinary knowledge and judgment are needed to evaluate GenAI output?
• What risks are especially important in your field, such as accuracy, bias, confidentiality, safety, or ethical responsibility?
• Are there standards or expectations from professional associations, accrediting bodies, or employers that should inform your course?

Students need opportunities to use GenAI, evaluate its output, recognize when it is inappropriate, and take responsibility for GenAI-assisted work. At the same time, they still need the foundational knowledge and disciplinary skills required to identify errors, question reasoning, and complete essential work independently.

The goal is not to incorporate every new GenAI use into the curriculum. Instead, determine which developments are relevant to the course and what students should be able to do with GenAI, evaluate about GenAI, and perform without GenAI.

Decide Where GenAI Use Is Appropriate

After reviewing your learning objectives and disciplinary context, consider where GenAI use can support learning and where students need to work independently. These decisions will often vary across assignments, assessments, or stages of a larger project.

For individual activities and assessments, consider:

• What is the assignment intended to help students learn or demonstrate?
• Could GenAI support that learning, or would it complete critical work that students need to do?
• Which uses of GenAI tools are permitted and in what stages of the work?
• Which work should students complete independently?

Expectations may differ within the same assignment. For example, GenAI might be permitted for brainstorming, generating questions, revising wording, or troubleshooting code, while the analysis, final solution, design decisions, or reflection must remain the student’s own work. In other cases, students might use GenAI as part of a structured activity in which they evaluate its accuracy, identify bias, verify sources, or improve its output using course concepts.

If students are required to use a GenAI tool, also consider access, digital accessibility, privacy, and whether an appropriate alternative is needed. These issues are addressed in more detail in Using GenAI Responsibly.

Revisit Your Decisions

GenAI tools and disciplinary practices will continue to change. After teaching the course, consider whether your use of GenAI supported the intended learning and whether your expectations were clear to students, and revise assignments or guidance as needed.

Once you have determined where GenAI use is appropriate in your course, communicate those expectations clearly to your students. Because students may encounter very different GenAI expectations across their courses, they should not have to guess what is permitted or how they are expected to use these tools.

Establish a Course-Level Expectation

Include a GenAI statement in your syllabus that establishes the general expectations for your course. Your statement should explain whether GenAI use is generally permitted, limited, or prohibited.  Consider including a brief explanation of how that approach supports student learning. Michigan Tech's Syllabus Guidance for Generative AI provides sample language that instructors can adapt for their courses. 

Provide Assignment-Specific Guidance

A course-level statement may not address every learning activity or assessment. When expectations differ by assignment, provide specific directions that identify:

• Whether GenAI may be used
• What types of GenAI assistance are permitted or prohibited
• Which parts of the work students should complete independently
• How students should disclose or document permitted GenAI use

Assignment-level guidance is especially important when GenAI may be appropriate for one stage of the work, such as brainstorming or revising, but not another.

Discuss Expectations with Students

Do not rely on the syllabus or assignment instructions alone. Discuss your GenAI expectations with students and explain how they connect to the learning objectives of the course or assignment. Encourage students to ask questions when they are uncertain about whether a particular use is appropriate.

GenAI does not change the fundamental expectations for academic integrity.

Define Unauthorized GenAI Use

Students should understand when GenAI use is permitted and when it would constitute unauthorized assistance. Michigan Tech’s Academic Integrity Policy identifies GenAI use that is prohibited by the instructor or inconsistent with University Policy 1.20 as an academic integrity violation.

Clear course and assignment expectations can help prevent misunderstandings and provide a stronger basis for addressing concerns when they arise.

If You Suspect Unauthorized GenAI Use

When you have concerns about a student’s use of GenAI:

1. Review the assignment expectations. Confirm that the GenAI use in question was prohibited or inconsistent with the directions students received.
2. Document the concern. Preserve the student submission and any relevant information that prompted the concern.
3. Talk with the student. Ask the student to explain how the work was developed. Drafts, notes, version histories, sources, or an explanation of the reasoning process may provide useful context.
4. Consider the available evidence. Do not rely on a single indicator to determine that misconduct occurred.
5. Use Michigan Tech’s established Academic Integrity procedures for reporting and resolving the concern.

Relevant university resources include:

• Michigan Tech Academic Integrity Policy
• Academic Integrity and Honesty Procedures
• University Policy 1.20: Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools

Use AI Detection Tools with Caution

AI detection tools cannot determine with certainty whether a student used GenAI. Detection results may produce false positives or fail to identify AI-assisted writing and should not be treated as proof of misconduct.

If detection information is available, treat it as one possible piece of information that requires additional review and instructor judgment.

As GenAI becomes more common in academic and professional settings, students need more than familiarity with individual tools. GenAI literacy includes understanding what GenAI can and cannot do, evaluating its output critically, and making informed decisions about when and how to use it.

Understand the Capabilities and Limitations

Students should understand that GenAI can produce useful, polished, and convincing content while also generating inaccurate information, fabricated sources, biased responses, or incomplete perspectives. Fluency and confidence should not be mistaken for accuracy.

Evaluate GenAI Output

Encourage students to apply their developing disciplinary knowledge when working with GenAI. They should verify important claims and sources, question reasoning, identify errors or omissions, and compare generated content with appropriate disciplinary standards and evidence.

Develop Responsible GenAI Practices

Students should learn to recognize when GenAI is appropriate for a task and when it is not. They should follow course and disciplinary expectations, protect sensitive information, and disclose or document GenAI use when required.

Consider the Impact on Learning

Students should reflect on how GenAI affects their own learning. A tool may help generate ideas, explain a difficult concept, or provide useful feedback, but it can also complete the intellectual work that students need to do themselves.

GenAI literacy will look different across disciplines. Helping students understand how GenAI is used, evaluated, and questioned within their field can prepare them to use these tools with greater judgment and responsibility.

GenAI can support many aspects of teaching, from generating ideas to revising course materials. Its value depends on how thoughtfully it is used and how carefully instructors review the results.

Identify Appropriate Uses

Instructors might use GenAI to:

• Brainstorm learning activities
• Develop focused discussion prompts that encourage application, analysis, or reflection
• Develop practice questions or sample responses
• Create scenarios, case studies, or role-playing activities
• Revise assignment instructions or course communications for clarity
• Generate alternative explanations of a difficult concept
• Create materials for students to critique or improve
• Review alignment among course learning objectives, assignments, assessments, and activities
• Develop an initial outline for a rubric, lesson, or presentation

GenAI can be especially useful as a starting point, but generated materials and recommendations should not be treated as finished products. Instructors are accountable for the accuracy and quality of the final materials they use in their courses.

Review and Revise Generated Content

Apply your disciplinary and pedagogical expertise before using GenAI-created content with students. Review it for:

• Accuracy and completeness
• Appropriate level and context
• Bias or missing perspectives
• Digital accessibility
• Alignment with course learning objectives
• Appropriate sources and citations

Instructors remain responsible for the quality and accuracy of course materials, communications, and feedback created with GenAI assistance.

Use Care with Student Work and Feedback

Do not enter identifiable student work, education records, or other sensitive information into a GenAI tool. Refer to Using GenAI Responsibly for more detailed guidance about privacy, data security, and institutionally supported tools.

GenAI may help instructors brainstorm possible feedback or identify areas for review, but it should not replace instructor judgment or the individual attention needed to provide meaningful feedback to students.

Be Transparent with Students

Instructors should disclose uses of GenAI in their courses, particularly when it has contributed substantially to course materials, learning activities, communications, or feedback processes. A brief explanation of how GenAI is being used can help students understand its role in the course and models the transparency and responsible use expected of them.

GenAI should support the instructor’s expertise and decision-making—not replace the human relationships, disciplinary judgment, and responsiveness that are central to effective teaching.

The availability of GenAI does not mean every assignment needs to be redesigned. It does, however, mean instructors should consider whether an assignment still provides students meaningful learning opportunities and appropriate evidence of their learning.

Review What the Assignment Measures

Begin by clarifying what students should learn or demonstrate through the assignment. Consider which parts of the work require disciplinary knowledge, reasoning, judgment, creativity, or skill—and which parts a GenAI tool could complete for the student.

Trying the assignment yourself with a GenAI tool can help identify where students might use it effectively, where it may produce weak or inaccurate results, and where it could bypass important learning.

Preserve, Modify, or Incorporate GenAI

Based on that review, you may decide to:

• Preserve the assignment and clearly identify the work students must complete independently.
• Modify the assignment so it better emphasizes application, analysis, decision-making, or course-specific knowledge.
• Incorporate GenAI intentionally by asking students to evaluate, verify, revise, or reflect on generated content.

The goal is not to make an assignment “AI-proof.” Instead, design it so that students must engage in the thinking and practice required by the learning objectives.

Make Student Thinking Visible

When appropriate, include opportunities for students to demonstrate how they developed their work. Examples include:

• Proposals, outlines, drafts, or checkpoints
• Explanations of key decisions
• Connections to course discussions, data, or experiences
• Verification of sources, claims, or calculations
• Brief reflections on revisions or GenAI use
• Presentations, demonstrations, or follow-up questions

These elements can provide additional evidence of learning while helping students become more aware of their own reasoning and decision-making.

Make Manageable Changes

Making small changes to assignments—such as adding a reflection, requiring students to justify a decision using course-specific information, or asking students to critique a GenAI response—may substantially strengthen an assignment.

Responsible GenAI use includes protecting privacy and sensitive information, selecting appropriate tools, and considering student access. GenAI tools differ in how they collect, store, review, and use information, so instructors should consider these practices before using a tool for teaching or requiring students to use it.

Use Institutionally Supported Tools

When possible, use GenAI tools supported by Michigan Tech. Faculty, staff, and students have access to Google Gemini through the university’s Google Workspace environment. Using Gemini while signed in with an MTU account provides stronger data protections than using many publicly available tools or personal accounts.

However, these protections do not mean that all university information may be entered into Gemini or another GenAI tool. Follow university guidance and use caution when working with nonpublic information.

Protect Sensitive Information

Do not enter personally identifiable information, student education records, confidential university information, protected research data, or other sensitive material into a GenAI tool.

Use particular care before uploading:

• Student assignments or identifiable student information
• Unpublished research or grant materials
• Proprietary or confidential information
• Copyrighted materials you do not have permission to share
• Information related to personnel, health, finances, or university operations

Caution: removing names may not be sufficient if other details could identify an individual or reveal protected information.

Consider Student Access

Before requiring students to use a GenAI tool, determine whether it is available without additional cost (Michigan Tech students have access to Gemini through the university’s Google Workspace environment), accessible to students with disabilities, and appropriate for the information they will enter. Consider whether the tool works effectively with assistive technologies such as screen readers and keyboard navigation, and whether students must create a personal account or agree to external terms of service.

When access, accessibility, privacy, or other concerns may create a barrier, provide an appropriate alternative. Using an institutionally supported tool can reduce—but may not eliminate—these concerns.

The following Michigan Tech resources can support your use of GenAI in teaching.

MTU Policies and Guidance

• AI Policy Guidance for Faculty and Staff — university guidance related to appropriate GenAI use
• Syllabus Guidance for Generative AI — sample language instructors can adapt for their courses
• Academic Integrity Resources — university expectations and procedures related to academic integrity
• University Policy 1.20: Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools — university-wide expectations for responsible GenAI use

GenAI Tools at Michigan Tech

Michigan Tech faculty, staff, and students have access to Google Gemini and Gemini Notebook through the university’s Google Workspace environment. When exploring GenAI for teaching, institutionally supported tools are generally the best place to begin.

Get Support

The Center for Faculty Excellence can help instructors explore how GenAI might fit their courses, review assignments and assessments, develop course expectations, and identify appropriate teaching strategies.

 

Generative AI tools were used to assist with drafting and refining portions of these resources. All content was reviewed, edited, and approved by Center for Faculty Excellence staff.