High School to College Transition Interest Group

Meeting facilitators, Lindsay Bush and Jenna Pitera, posed a series of questions for discussion:

Does your school, district or institution have AI policies?

None of the institutions represented currently have AI policies, although there has been a lot of discussion around the topic. It is a confusing landscape. One high school addresses it through the acceptable use policy. One college addresses it vaguely through the school's honor code. Some colleges are discussing whether it should be part of an academic integrity policy. Some colleges would like to get faculty and staff to work on this, but need a directive from the administration. 

How do you implement your institution's AI policies in your daily teaching or library work?

At the college level, faculty members have a wide range of policies regarding the use of AI, so librarians need to figure out whether and in what circumstances individual professors allow the use of AI. Faculty, staff, and students do not always recognize when sources cited in AI results are fake. Some faculty get upset when students cite fake AI sources and may even want to discipline students for cheating. However, the use of AI and the prevalence of fake sources is not being addressed in courses, and faculty misunderstand a lot about it, so more formal training is needed. Schools and educators need to be more transparent about what is allowed and what is not. Detection software is unreliable. Some tools will say that content is plagiarized, but writer is "plagiarizing" themself!

How do you teach students to critically evaluate AI-generated content in your classroom?

Assignment that asks student to generate something with AI and then evaluate the response. Ask AI a question on a topic the student knows a lot about and evaluate the response. Teach about how the algorithm works & what it is using as sources. Many tools do not use information found in paid databases. It is difficult in K12 schools because most AI tools are blocked, so can't teach students how to use it. One source that is allowed is Magic School AI. One college librarian is working with an English professor to develop AI competency modules. Explaining to faculty where AI is pulling information from so they can better instruct their students. Vendors are adding AI to products at a fast clip, so library staff is trying to keep on top of that so they can better instruct students who ask library staff for help. Sometimes the AI cannot be turned off, so address the privacy issues related to that. 

Do you use AI tools in your own preparation and teaching process?

Some people use Google Arts & Culture's AI page to provide an introduction to Artificial Intelligence. Many people use Artificial Intelligence to create outlines for presentations or articles and to create Escape Room clues. One of the academic libraries uses NotebookLM to turn class notes into podcasts. Some students learn better with audio, and students also listen to the podcasts while doing other things to reinforce what they have learned in class. 

How do you collaborate with colleagues who have different comfort levels with AI technology?

People talked about how the discussion around AI is similar to that we had in the past with Wikipedia and Google. Library staff try to slowly introduce discussion about the importance of AI, that students need to learn how to analyze it and use it as a starting point. People in the workforce are often expected to use AI, so students need a chance to use it with guidance in an academic space so that they will be ready to use it effectively and ethically when they move into the workforce. It is an equity issue. Students who move from community colleges to four year schools need to have the same schools as students who entered four year schools directly from high school. 

Upcoming meetings

The next meeting of the group may focus on citation tools. If you have ideas for other topics, please send them to Susan D'Entremont at susan@cdlc.org   The date of the next meeting is to be determined. 

These tools and websites were mentioned during the meeting discussion: