5 Tips for Encouraging Students to Use AI Ethically

Strategies teachers and administrators can employ to set students up for success with ethical AI decision-making.

While many initial conversations around generative AI in schools centered on concerns of plagiarism and cheating, further exploration indicates that tools like ChatGPT can be used positively to tailor learning experiences and engage students.

As these tools become more advanced and prevalent, understanding how to ethically incorporate them into the classroom is key. Without clear guidelines and teacher training on how to use AI ethically, these tools have the potential to be misused and applied in ways that detract from students’ learning experiences. Yet, schools and education systems have been slow to explore how AI can and should be used in classrooms.

foundry10’s Digital Technologies and Education Lab is conducting multiple research studies to address that gap and explore the ethical concerns teachers and students most often navigate around generative AI. Informed by that research, here are some practical tips to help educators effectively and ethically utilize AI in their classrooms.

Model examples of ethical AI use

Proactively modeling how to use AI ethically helps guide students to apply it appropriately in their school work. Giving examples also demonstrates the difference between leveraging AI for genuine understanding and merely using it as a crutch. For example:

• Teach students how to cite AI-generated content correctly.
• Discuss examples of AI being used to plagiarize the work of others.
• Frame generative AI as a helpful reference tool, not as a tool to generate content that students can use verbatim as their own.

Students should also be taught to frame appropriate ChatGPT prompts that don’t cross into the realm of cheating. For instance, rather than asking ChatGPT to solve a math problem directly, they could ask it to explain the concept behind it, like how to cross-multiply or factor.

In modeling how to use AI ethically, it’s also important to be specific about what you mean by “ethical behavior.” UNESCO’s AI competency frameworks and OSPI’s human-centered AI guidance are helpful resources to inform your classroom definition and initial guidance, and our recent study also found that incorporating student voice in defining and creating guidelines for ethical AI behavior helps increase student buy-in and could provide unique perspectives.

Engage students in the “why” behind assignments

Connecting students to the intention or “why” behind an assignment allows them to fully understand the task at hand. This could look like explaining what research and comprehension skills you want students to practice for a reading assignment or how completing practice problems will help them better prepare for an upcoming test.

From that shared understanding, you can explore together how AI might be helpful or not very helpful in achieving the assignment’s goal. This prompts students to think critically about the strengths and weaknesses of AI tools and encourages them to use it as a learning tool instead of as a shortcut to avoid doing work they don’t connect to.

Explaining the “why” can also create opportunities for you to set clear boundaries for when it is appropriate to use AI for an assignment. Explaining the skills you want students to practice or why you don’t want them to use AI gives them a better understanding of that boundary and why it’s important to respect it.

Communicate the value of independent work

Reinforcing why critical thinking is necessary with AI is an important part of using these tools ethically. Students should think critically about the responses they receive from these tools and when it is most appropriate to use them, depending on the assignment.

For example, if a student asks a tool like ChatGPT to give them a quote supporting their argument, they should ensure that the quote is attributed correctly by researching to verify that response. Creating activities that allow students to practice critical thinking and consideration with AI helps emphasize the importance of developing that skill.

Connecting these independent work skills to students’ futures outside the classroom can also be helpful. Just as technological advancements have impacted many fields, there is still the need for human touch and design in working with the technology. The same can be said for working with AI — it is still up to people to evaluate the impact and accuracy of its responses and design for AI tools to be successful.

Emphasizing the reality that students will likely need to apply some ethical framework for working with AI in their future careers encourages them to explore further how AI ethics can be applied to the fields they’re interested in.

Teach students how to use AI without cheating

Contrary to popular belief, research indicates that ChatGPT use has not broadly increased cheating in high schools since its introduction. That being said, tools like ChatGPT offer significant opportunities for students to find both positive (i.e. using AI to quiz them on science concepts) and negative (i.e. using an AI to write an essay for them) shortcuts in their work, so it is important to establish clear expectations around cheating.

Make sure students understand what constitutes cheating in the context of AI and how doing so could impact their learning. Our research found that this was one area where students were craving more guidance:

“I would want more guidance on how to use it properly just so we know how to use it without cheating with it to make sure that we’re actually learning.” — 9th grader, age 14, from a foundry10 focus group

If students better understand the strengths and weaknesses of these tools, they will be less likely to rely on them inappropriately. You can explore the limitations of AI with your students by:

• Engaging in a class discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of AI tools.
• Allowing students to practice cross-referencing and verifying information they get from AI tools.
• Discussing a specific ethical concern with students, like whether AI steals work from artists or how to recognize AI in the world around you.

Reduce unnecessary time burdens where possible

One factor that strongly contributes to students cheating or looking for ways to shorten the amount of time they put into an assignment is when they feel overwhelmed by their workload and the amount of homework they have for each course.

“For me, school days are just really long. I wake up, go to school for eight hours, I take AP classes, things like that. Sometimes I have practice. I literally come home, do my homework, and go straight to sleep sometimes. I pretty much have no free time on weekdays sometimes.” — 11th grader, age 16, from a foundry10 focus group

These time pressures can lead students to misuse AI in order to stay on top of their workloads. Consider reducing unnecessary time burdens by offering each student a free pass on an assignment for each class. Solicit feedback from students on how they feel about your class’s workload and adjust accordingly to help students better manage those pressures.

Looking for more guidance?

As AI tools continue to be integrated into classrooms and the workforce, it’s important for teachers to incorporate lessons about or involving AI ethics. Doing so helps better prepare students to make ethical choices about how and when to use AI.

Teachers can expect more guidance and frameworks in the coming year, including UNESCO’s AI competency frameworks. foundry10’s Digital Technologies and Education Lab is working to better understand teacher and student perspectives on AI ethics and its role in the classroom. You can read more AI recommendations for teachers about this work in our recent blog series.