Integrating Generative AI Safely into the Classroom

GenAI can be a game-changer in your coursework—but only if you know how to navigate the rules. Every professor has their own expectations for GenAI use. Some may encourage it, others may limit it, and a few might ban it altogether for certain assignments.

Scenario

You’re in a writing-intensive history class, and the professor encourages brainstorming with GenAI but requires that all final analysis be your own. You decide to use Microsoft Copilot to create a list of possible thesis statements for your paper on the Cold War. One of the GenAI’s suggestions sparks an idea, but you completely rewrite it in your own words, adding sources from your textbook and library database. You then mention in your bibliography that GenAI was used for brainstorming, along with the exact prompt you gave it.