Westmoreland County Community College Library: Generative AI Faculty Research Guide: Guiding Student Use of AI

What Does Ethical AI Use Mean?: a Student Guide to Responsible Generative AI Use
Information from Adam Woodrow and Brian Dunst that you can share with your students. This link is also on the Generative AI Student Research Guide.
Link Location on the Generative AI Student Research Guide
Student Guide to Artificial Intelligence
“As AI begins to influence teaching and learning, as well as many operations of colleges and universities, students need a road map to help navigate these changes,” said Elon [University] President Connie Book. “This guide was written from the student perspective and includes practical advice on using AI responsibly while in college and preparing for the AI future.”

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The guide will be updated as AI continues to evolve, with changes made to the guide’s website and revised editions published for future academic terms.
Ethical AI Use Checklist for Students
From Turnitin. Check work against this list.

How Students Can Use AI

ChatGPT and other generative AI can be valuable tools, but it’s essential for college students to use it in conjunction with other academic resources. It is not a substitute for human interaction, personalized guidance from faculty, or dedicated study efforts.

Some of the ways students can and are using gen AI:

Brainstorming ideas
Coming up with topic ideas
Explaining complex information in simple terms
Translating text to different languages
Writing or debugging Code
Preparing for exams and quizzes

Adolescents’ use and perceived usefulness of generative AI for schoolwork: exploring their relationships with executive functioning and academic achievement
8/27/24
Findings from this study reveal that adolescents with more EF problems tend to perceive generative AI tools as more useful for schoolwork, especially for completing assignments.
AI can help − and hurt − student creativity
2/1/2024
How People Are Really Using Gen AI in 2025
4/9/25
New BYU computer science study shows four ways students are actually using ChatGPT
4/23/24
To see the research, click on "Files" link on the left side of this article.
Why AI is no substitute for human teachers
8/15/24

Strengths of Using AI

Large Knowledge Base - Generative AI tools are trained on a vast amount of data, which enables it to have a broad knowledge base covering various topics, including history, science, technology, and more.

Language Generation - They are capable of generating human-like responses on a wide range of topics. It can provide informative and coherent responses to various questions, engage in conversations, and provide relevant information.

Versatility - They can be used for a wide range of applications, including answering questions, providing explanations, generating content, offering suggestions, and more.

Limitations of Using AI

May not have practical knowledge or understanding of current events
May not always ask for clarifications when faced with ambiguous queries (Counter this with refinement of prompts.)
May struggle to understand context or interpret nuances accurately
Inability to verify information
May make up stuff (Hallucinations)
Ethical concerns (There may be bias, equity, and privacy issues.)