Purpose of AI Guidelines
These guidelines serve as a resource for Fort Lewis College faculty, staff, and students to navigate the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI (GenAI). As AI becomes increasingly integrated into the digital tools used in our daily activities, this document aims to:
Developed by a committee of 麻豆免费高清无砖码区faculty and staff, these guidelines encourage consistent and thoughtful approaches to AI use, aligned with FLC’s educational values and commitment to integrity. This is not a handbook on the specifics of using AI tools but instead provides guidelines on how to use AI tools while protecting privacy and keeping 麻豆免费高清无砖码区intellectual property safe. Members of the 麻豆免费高清无砖码区community are encouraged to review this document annually for guidance on updating policies that are impacted by AI or when considering using a new AI tool for personal productivity or in-class instruction.
The cross-functional AI Governance Committee has developed these guidelines. The committee recognizes that appropriate use of AI tools will vary by context. Faculty decide whether any type of AI tool is allowed in a course or on an assignment, and they are strongly encouraged to make their policy clear in course syllabi. The use of AI in all other functions across 麻豆免费高清无砖码区should consider the following guidelines and be aligned with data governance and FERPA policies.
The 麻豆免费高清无砖码区Marketing & Communications Department has developed guidelines for AI usage within communications and marketing materials.
An AI tool refers to any software that uses machine learning, natural language processing, neural networks, or other computational techniques to perform tasks that traditionally require human intelligence. The range of tasks that AI tools can do include, but are not limited to:
These tools vary in complexity, from simple spell checks to advanced generation of functional computer code. These guidelines recognize all types of AI that can generate or transform content.
At FLC, we acknowledge that AI will continue to evolve, and AI-powered tools are hard to avoid. We are committed to fostering an environment that prepares students for the workforce and supports staff and faculty to use tools that improve their productivity. Here are guiding principles adapted from TeachAI, an initiative by leaders in education and technology that creates practical tools to assist in using and monitoring AI in education settings (see Resources section for a link to the source document).
AI is one of many technologies used at FLC, and its use will align with existing regulations to protect student privacy, maintain academic integrity, ensure accessibility to those with disabilities, and protect against harmful content. Faculty are strongly encouraged to specify their AI policy in the course syllabus. Without a clear policy, unintended AI use that contradicts course expectations may occur.
We will not share personally identifiable information with consumer-based AI systems. We will thoroughly evaluate existing and future technologies and address any gaps in compliance that might arise. We educate our faculty, students, and staff about AI. Promoting AI literacy among faculty, students, and staff is central to addressing the risks of AI use and teaches critical skills for students’ futures. All members of the 麻豆免费高清无砖码区community will have access to resources to develop their AI literacy, including initial training and best practices in using AI. Faculty interested in adapting instruction to use AI tools can access training and resources through the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).
In continuing to guide our community, we will work to realize the benefits of AI in education, address risks associated with using AI, and evaluate if and when to use AI tools, paying special attention to misinformation and bias.
We will use AI to help us reach our community’s goals, including improving student learning, teaching effectiveness, and college operations.
We are committed to evaluating AI tools for biases and ethical concerns, ensuring they effectively serve our diverse educational community. The 麻豆免费高清无砖码区AI Resources Committee maintains a list of AI tools available to students, faculty, and staff.
AI tools can provide recommendations or enhance decision-making, but faculty and students will serve as “critical consumers” of AI and lead academic decisions about its use. Faculty will have shared governance in decisions on how and where AI tools are used.
All campus community members must adhere to academic integrity policies regarding AI use. The 麻豆免费高清无砖码区Integrity Procedures on GenAI and any AI-related policies outlined in course syllabi take precedence. It is the responsibility of individuals to review and comply with these relevant campus guidelines.
Understanding that AI and technologies are evolving rapidly, we regularly review and update our policies, procedures, and practices frequently and regularly.
The totality of the risks of using AI tools is not fully understood. 麻豆免费高清无砖码区is committed to monitoring risk, communicating broadly when new risks emerge, and keeping reference documents updated with known risks.
All output generated by or edited by AI tools must be reviewed for inaccuracies. The primary types of errors include:
A lack of accountability and transparency in the source data used to train AI models and how user data is stored and potentially used can create ethical dilemmas and privacy risks when using AI tools. A few common examples are:
As with any technology, AI tools are vulnerable to being outdated, cumbersome, and not adequately protected.
AI tools can introduce legal risks, particularly in areas where intellectual property, liability, and regulatory compliance intersect. Fort Lewis College is committed to proactively understanding these risks, regularly reviewing the legal frameworks governing AI, and providing users with best practices for mitigating legal exposure.
Before using any AI tool, it is recommended that you consider the following topics:
Consult the list of approved AI tools before trying to use a new one you heard about from a friend or came up with from an internet search. The 麻豆免费高清无砖码区AI Resource Committee has considered the critical privacy, safety, and functionality issues for you.
Not all AI tools are created equal, and each has been optimized with a specific outcome in mind, such as generating citations, summarizing text, or processing large numerical data sets. For example, ChatGPT could be great at summarizing meetings or lecture notes, but it is not the right tool for help with a scientific literature review.
Many new AI tools are designed to be easy to use, but it can be easy to use an AI tool and not get the best performance out of it. Attending training can improve the results you get from an AI tool and reduce privacy risks. At FLC, training is offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning, Reed Library, the AI Resources Group, and the AI Institute at the 麻豆免费高清无砖码区Center for Innovation.
Most AI tools reserve the right to use any information you type in as a prompt or upload to the tool to train their models. Protected information includes personal data (e.g., mailing address, social security number, student ID), 麻豆免费高清无砖码区data (e.g., grades, budget details), and any proprietary data (e.g., results from an unpublished research project). Complying with federal regulations such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) when handling sensitive data is crucial. These laws protect student education records and personal health information, respectively, and require careful consideration to ensure AI tools do not inadvertently share or process such data.
It is essential to review results carefully for accuracy and clarity. In the same way you check the results of an internet search for quality links you can trust, text generated by AI needs a human to review the results for accuracy. One way to do this is to ask the AI tool for references that you can check yourself.
Yes! Properly citing the use of Generative AI (GenAI) tools in creating written materials, visual images, or other outputs is essential for maintaining transparency, academic integrity, and accountability. Examples of how to cite AI can be found in the Resources section of this document.
In APA 7th Edition, you would cite it as a personal communication. Since personal communications are not recoverable, they are only cited in the text and do not appear in the reference list.
In-text citation: (OpenAI, personal communication, October 21, 2024)
If citing a published version of the model (like an article or documentation): OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT: Language model. OpenAI.
In Chicago style, you would handle it similarly to software or personal communication.
In-text citation: (OpenAI, accessed October 21, 2024)
Bibliography: OpenAI. ChatGPT. Accessed October 21, 2024. .
In MLA style, you can
In-text citation: (OpenAI)
Works Cited: OpenAI. ChatGPT. Version 4, OpenAI, 2024, .
AI text humanizer: A class of AI tools explicitly designed to edit content from generative AI to sound more like natural language. These are often marketed to individuals looking to pass AI detection tools. Algorithmic bias is a systematic and repeatable error in the results of a computer system, like AI, that results in unfair outcomes. These errors often reflect and amplify societal biases in the data used to create and train the system. Since the details of the data used and the algorithms applied are the intellectual property of the system's developers, it can be challenging to prescreen for these errors or biases.
Confidential information: Sensitive data is restricted to authorized individuals or organizations to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, or harm. This can include, but is not limited to, health data, academic records, and financial information.
Generative AI (Gen AI): A type of AI that can create new content, such as text, images, or music, by learning patterns from existing data.
Large Language Models: Advanced systems that train on vast amounts of text data to understand, generate, and manipulate human language.
Machine learning: A type of AI that enables systems to learn from and make data-based decisions without being explicitly programmed for each specific task. It includes different approaches, such as supervised learning (learning from labeled data), unsupervised learning (finding hidden patterns in unlabeled data), and reinforcement learning (learning through trial and error with rewards).
Personal information: Like confidential information, it is any data related to an identifiable individual, including names, contact details, and personal identifiers like social security numbers.
These guidelines will be reviewed at least annually and edited more frequently if needed if they meaningfully impact the types of AI tools available, the regulatory landscape, or changes in related 麻豆免费高清无砖码区policies. An interdisciplinary team will review edits to this document's content before implementation, and the document will be versioned and tracked in the Document History table at the end of this document.
This document was created by collaborating with the 麻豆免费高清无砖码区AI Governance committee and a paid version of ChatGPT 4o (11/2024 to 12/2024). The AI tool created an initial outline and provided suggestions on concise wording.聽