GenAI for Education: Smart and Ethical Assignment Use

In today's educational landscape, students are increasingly turning to GenAI (Generative Artificial Intelligence) tools like ChatGPT for assistance with assignments and essays. However, it's crucial to understand how these tools can be used ethically and effectively, avoiding accusations of cheating or academic misconduct. This blog post explores smart strategies for students to leverage GenAI, maximizing their academic performance while maintaining integrity.

Understanding Assessment Briefs with GenAI

The first step towards ethically using GenAI is to fully grasp the requirements of your assignments. This means carefully reviewing the assessment brief and understanding the specific criteria for evaluation. GenAI can assist you by:

• Simplifying Complex Instructions: GenAI can break down dense, jargon-heavy assessment briefs into simpler, more understandable language.
• Identifying Key Requirements: Use GenAI to extract the core objectives, WORD limits, and marking criteria from the brief, ensuring you address all aspects of the assignment.
• Generating Questions: Ask GenAI to formulate questions based on the assessment brief, prompting you to consider all angles of the assignment.

Here's how to use ChatGPT for understanding your assessment brief:

1. Upload the Assessment Brief: Upload your assignment brief document to ChatGPT (

   ).

2. Ask for Simplification: Prompt ChatGPT to 'Please read the attached assessment brief and help me understand the instructions in simple terms'.
3. Review and Refine: Carefully review ChatGPT's explanation and refine your understanding of the assessment requirements.

Outlining and Structuring Assignments for Clarity

A well-structured assignment is crucial for achieving high marks. GenAI can help you create clear and logical outlines that enhance the coherence and flow of your work. By using GenAI for this stage, students can organize their thoughts more efficiently and logically.

1. Generating Initial Outline: Ask GenAI to create a potential outline based on the assessment brief. For example: 'Create an Outline for a 2000-word Essay on [Topic]'.
2. Refining the Outline: Review the generated outline and add, remove, or modify sections to better Align with your specific ideas and the assessment criteria.
3. Adding Key Points: Ask GenAI to suggest key points or arguments for each section of the outline, providing a solid foundation for your writing.

Enhancing Research with GenAI Assistance

GenAI can be a valuable research assistant, helping you identify Relevant sources and summarize key information efficiently. Here’s how:

• Finding Sources: Use GenAI-powered research tools like Elicit to quickly discover relevant academic Papers and articles.

  Elicit helps students filter through a vast number of sources with AI-assisted precision, allowing for identification of high-impact research papers quickly.

• Summarizing Text: Upload lengthy articles to ChatGPT and ask for concise summaries of key points, saving you time and effort. Here’s how:
  1. Copy and paste the text, then ask a question. 'Please summarize the main arguments of this paper'.
  2. Ask a question to make sure all text content was uploaded.
  3. Revise the summarized text for understanding the main point of the whole document. Note: Be sure to read the key research by yourself and find information yourself. ChatGPT can only act as a rephrase tool.

Clarifying Complex Concepts

Often, university modules can be challenging to understand. GenAI can assist with simplifying complex concepts:

• Explain Module Concepts: Input complex terms or theories into GenAI and ask for clear, concise explanations.
• Provide Examples: Request GenAI to provide real-world examples or case studies to illustrate the concepts.
• Generate Questions: Ask GenAI to generate questions that test your understanding of the concepts, helping you identify areas for further study.

By clarifying concepts, you can more deeply understand the essay.

Brainstorming and Idea Generation

The initial stages of essay writing often involve brainstorming and generating ideas. GenAI can help:

• Generating Ideas: Input your essay topic and ask GenAI to suggest potential arguments, perspectives, or themes. Always remember to manually check if the answer is useful to avoid generating misinformation.
• Exploring Themes: Request GenAI to explore different facets of the topic, expanding your understanding and helping you develop unique angles.
• Creating Mind Maps: Use GenAI to create mind maps that visually organize your ideas and connections, aiding in the planning process.

Brainstorming new ideas is a valuable way to approach a difficult essay or research problem.

Enhancing Grammar and Style for Professional Submissions

A polished writing style can significantly improve your grade. Use GenAI to review and refine your work:

• Grammar and Spelling Check: Input your text into GenAI and ask for it to identify and correct any grammar or spelling errors.
• Style Improvement: Request GenAI to suggest improvements to sentence structure, Clarity, and tone, ensuring a professional writing style. Also, ensure to check for APA reference and citation.
• APA Style Check: Ask for checking if the APA writing was implemented correctly.

This will enhance the presentation of the content and make sure that the academic writing standards are there.

Maintaining Authenticity and Avoiding Plagiarism

While GenAI can be a powerful tool, it's essential to use it responsibly and avoid plagiarism. Here’s how:

• Avoid Direct Copying: Never submit GenAI-generated content as your own work. Always paraphrase and rewrite the text in your own words, ensuring your unique voice and perspective are Present.
• Properly Cite Sources: If you use GenAI to identify or summarize sources, always properly cite those sources in your assignment, giving credit to the original authors.
• Verify Information: GenAI tools can sometimes generate inaccurate or misleading information. Always verify the accuracy of the information before including it in your work, using reliable sources such as: turnitin.

Understanding the Limitations of GenAI

GenAI has several limitations that students must be aware of:

• Lack of Critical Thinking: GenAI can generate text, but it lacks the ability to think critically or offer nuanced insights. Always apply your own critical thinking skills to evaluate and interpret the generated content.
• Potential for Bias: GenAI models are trained on vast amounts of data, which may contain biases. Be mindful of potential biases in the generated content and address them in your work.
• Limited Creativity: GenAI can assist with idea generation, but it may not always produce original or innovative ideas. Use GenAI as a starting point and build upon its suggestions with your own creativity and insights.