Banning the use of AI in your classroom isn’t likely to stop students from using it. If you want to encourage appropriate use (or non-use) of artificial intelligence tools, you should consider making your class more transparent. The American Council on Education lists transparency as one of the 5 factors that contribute to engagement and student success. “Transparent teaching involves making the implicit explicit for students so they understand why they are engaged in certain tasks and what role the course plays in their learning journey.1” Students are often tempted to cheat (with or without AI) when they don’t understand why they are doing an assignment or see it as “busy work.” Making your assignments transparent can help prevent it.
How Transparent Is Your Classroom?
If you’ve been teaching the same course for a while, adding transparency may take some reflection and work on your part. Ideally, for each assignment you should share with your students a clear explanation of the following:
Why is the assignment relevant?
How is the assignment related to
Other course content?
Future courses?
The “real world”?
What do you hope the students will get out of the assignment?
Being able to articulate the above will go a long way towards eliminating busy work and creating a course that works well for you and your students. Revisiting assignments to make them more transparent may require some tough decisions -- if you can’t answer all of the above questions with solid reasons, then it may be time to eliminate or revise some assignments. The good news is that revising an assignment to make it more transparent should also make it more AI-proof.
Students Aren’t Mind Readers
Something that we often don’t remember as teachers is that students can’t read our minds and that they don’t yet have the context to understand what is important. Building transparency into your teaching can help students to
See the big picture
Understand what they need to do to be successful
Apply what they are learning appropriately
What your transparent assignment looks like will vary depending on what you teach, the importance/weight of the assignment, and the type of assignment. Fortunately, there are some places you can go to learn more.
Measuring Transparency: A Learning-Focused Assignment Rubric has a very useful rubric you can use to help you determine how transparent your assignment is. It prioritizes and explains the different criteria and can guide you as you build or modify assignments.2
TILT Higher Ed – This website is focused on Transparency in Learning & Teaching and provides a framework as well as numerous examples.3
How Do You Know If It Worked?
As you build transparency into your course, you should consider adding a reflection element. There are different approaches for this, but all of them involve asking students to reflect on what they have learned and how it applies to them.
3-2-1 Technique – this is a popular reflection to use following lectures, but it could be adapted to be a post assessment reflection. Have students list 3 things they learned while completing the assignment, 2 things they will use later/elsewhere, and 1 question they had when they were done.
How did I do? – After the assignment has been submitted, remind the students what the goal was and ask them to tell whether the assignment accomplished that goal. Suggestions for improving the assignment or advice for future students are other possible topics for reflection.
What About AI?
As you are revisiting your assignments to increase transparency, look for places where the student could use AI in the completion of the assignment. The thoughtful inclusion or exclusion of AI that is addressed at the assignment level will keep the conversation about AI open in your classroom and keep your expectations front and center.
If there are things that you don’t want students using AI to complete, tell them. Be explicit and make sure that you are explaining what skills they will be learning by completing the assignment without AI assistance. Addressing the use of AI by students should not be a one-and-done, first-day-of-class discussion. Keep the lines of communication open and be prepared to address it throughout the semester.
My Recommendation
I’d like to recommend the Teaching In Higher Ed Podcast with Bonni Stachowiak. This podcast addresses topics on teaching and education that are timely and engaging including the following episodes on Transparency and AI. There is also a searchable database of topics and guests.
Intentional and Transparent Assessment – Episode 259 with Natasha Jankowski
Expanding Our Collective Understanding of Generative AI – Episode 501 with Autumm Caines & Maya Barak
Equipping Educators to Navigate AI – Episode 498 with Stein Brunvand
Jankowski, N. A. (2017). Unpacking Relationships: Instruction and Student Outcomes. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.
Palmer, M. S., Gravett, E. O., & LaFleur, J. (2018). Measuring Transparency: A Learning-Focused Assignment Rubric. To Improve the Academy A Journal of Educational Development.
TILT Higher Ed Examples and Resources. (2024, January 31). Retrieved from TILT Higher Ed: Transparency in Learning & Teaching: https://tilthighered.com/tiltexamplesandresources