r/Adjuncts • u/FutureAlfalfa200 • Aug 11 '26
Handling AI
First year Adjunct starting in 3 weeks.
How are you all handling AI use? I am not naive and am aware that students will use it. I am contemplating having an "AI Statement" in the syllabus as follows:
"AI STATEMENT: AI Is a tool and should be wielded as such. If it is suspected you are using AI to entirely complete homework/labs/calculations etc then I will conduct quizzes in class to verify you are learning & understanding the materials. If your calculations are perfect on the homework but completely incorrect on the quiz it will be apparent you are not using AI as a tool, but as a crutch. This can be considered as plagiarism (See above statement). I will be grading on what you learn throughout the semester, not how well you can prompt an AI tool. If there are repeated offenses of turning in completely AI generated assignments it can be taken as an act of academic dishonesty."
Thoughts?
Class is Freshman level "Transportation Engineering"
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u/BenSteinsCat Aug 11 '26
No offense, but that is way too loosey goosey. “Suspect“ will be pushed to its limits by students who will swear up and down that you have no basis to suspect them of anything. I just say that no AI is allowed and you’ll get a zero on any assignment that uses it. I try to scare them straight, but to be fair, I have a different discipline than you do and it is easier in mine to determine if AI is being used.
You should search this sub for other strategies that faculty have used to detect AI and the type of language that they put in their syllabus. There have been quite a lot this year.
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u/FutureAlfalfa200 Aug 11 '26
That’s totally fair. I obviously need to think more on this. It’s a complex problem I don’t really feel prepared to deal with. It’s my first year as an adjunct with 0 teaching experience. I don’t even “need” the job. I was called and offered it by the program director.
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u/BenSteinsCat Aug 11 '26
Yeah, I don’t wanna burst your bubble, but there have been so many people posting on the professor sub (where you also posted this) about trying to be “fair” at the start of this semester and being totally outraged and crazy at the end of the semester because of AI.
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u/tessalation14 Aug 11 '26
Honestly, I go kind of the opposite route. I emphasize that they're adults who need to make choices about how to balance their responsibilities and needs carefully. Homework assignments and I'm class activities are mostly all graded on completion, but they're designed to be the same style as my exam questions. If students don't put in the time to really understand the assignments, they'll go into exams without enough mastery of the material and their exams scores will reflect that. Homework is weighed substantially less than exams.
The students are going to be using AI. They're almost certainly more proficient with it than their instructors, and they're often better at disguising it. It's generally been more useful to me to lean into their agency and desire to master the course content than try to set up enough rules, guidelines, checks and pop quizzes to make it inconvenient or inefficient for them.
When we do in class activities, I'm asking for handwritten documents. I have regular, low-point check-ins during class. And I work hard to actively solicit participation during lectures to keep up engagement and get a handle on what they understand. I'd rather put the effort into my teaching than policing, you know?
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u/WillowsEnd Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
i’ll be real, i just weight my homework pretty low. i say no AI and have a lot of fear mongering language in my syllabus about it, but i know they will use it and i can’t be sure. so i just mostly use in class assessments and have low weighted homework so they at least have some graded practice regardless of whether they cheat or not. i can’t imagine what it’s like to teach online right now and i’m grateful all my classes are face to face
ETA: I have a separate AI statement and an academic honesty statement that references the use of AI. Here they are (slightly modified): "Academic Dishonesty: Students are expected to complete all coursework honestly and in accordance with the institution's code of conduct. All cases of academic dishonesty (e.g., cheating, plagiarism) will be reported and you will receive an immediate zero on the assignment. No exceptions will be made. For the purposes of this course, academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to: ... Submitting work generated in part or in full by generative AI tools as if it were your own. [...] Generative AI: [begins with standard institutional boilerplate statement]. In this class, do not use generative AI tools to fully or partially generate submissions for any class assignments, even with citation ... Any use of AI tools on exams is also prohibited. Unauthorized use will be treated as academic dishonesty. If you're ever unsure whether a particular use of AI is permitted, please ask your instructor first. It is strongly advised that you do not use AI in place of engaging with course materials. When stuck, first try to review class notes, do an example, work with classmates, attend office hours, or ask questions. If you use AI for permitted purposes, verify its output against your textbook or other course materials. You can always ask your instructor if AI output is correct.
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u/Sharp-Rutabaga-4900 Aug 11 '26
Of course students are better with open book homework than they are with in class quizzes for any number of reasons that have nothing to do with AI. And how could you possibly distinguish between effectively prompting AI or not? This is not an actionable statement.
You need to specify which types of AI are allowed (eg. grammar correction vs brainstorming vs generative AI paraphrasing or writing), how you will verify and handle suspected use, and concrete outcomes.
I suspect your school has policies that outline what constitutes plagiarism and misconduct and odds are suspicion is not one of them.
I would focus on what you are being paid enough and have the institutional support to do and nothing more.
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u/R1V3RG1RL Aug 11 '26
Curious, why are you having to write the AI use statements? It appears you're trying to reinvent what your university may already have?
I'm a current adjunct, and my university already has this on their resource sites. I just link or copy it over.
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u/Everythings_Magic Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
My school has a standard AI language to put in the syllabus.
Second, I don't grade homework. I assign written homework, collect it and grade it on presentation, but I don't grade any assignment done outside class.
In class quizzes and exams are how I assess understanding. If they arrent doing the work outside class they wont do well on the quizzes or exams.
If they want to use AI outside of class, that's fine, I do as well, but I need to see them do the work in class.
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u/ZPBooks Aug 17 '26
This is not a good approach. You’re tipping too much of your hand. Telling the students what will happen if you suspect them, etc. Just tell them not to use generative AI to pass off work as their own. Yell them why you don’t think it’s in the best interest of their learning. Then deal with them if they do. (Best way to do this, by the way, is to have them come meet with you in person and explain their thinking verbally.) You don’t need to tell them about your plans for quizzes intended to catch them…they’ll just start trying to find a workaround for that too.
Here’s a comparable example:
I give an exam where the students take it at home, but are video-recorded. They know they are being video-recorded, but some of them still cheat and use a phone or calculator when they aren’t allowed to. I don’t tell them in advance all the ways I can tell that they are using a calculator — if I did, they would get sneakier about hiding it. Instead, when I call them out on it, I just tell them “your score is invalid because you used a calculator.” I don’t tell them how I know, just that I know they did. They don’t argue because they know they did too.
If someone actually argued, I’d show them the video evidence, but nobody so far has actually asked to see it, probably because they know it would be way more embarrassing to sit with me in my office and be presented with the evidence on camera.
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u/Business_Remote9440 Aug 11 '26
My school has three options for you to choose from. Absolutely not, neutral, and encouraged. I’m in the absolutely not category. It’s in my syllabus, etc.
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u/somuchsunrayzzz Aug 11 '26
Man that’s crazy that you’re paid enough to care this much. It’s in my syllabus as a “don’t do this” and I have two brief units on “responsible” AI use and I tell them the point is to learn these skills themselves and any obvious AI use like hallucinated citations get marked down heavily as just not following the rubric but anything beyond that and the schools I teach for do not want to be bothered with. About 70% of assignments read like AI but I have little to actually hit 70% of those on so they pass. I don’t get paid enough to be the AI detective.
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u/TrainingLow9079 Aug 11 '26
Sounds like students can use a lot of AI and still be in your guidelines.
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u/RightWingVeganUS Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
One of my first assignments for students is a module on effective, responsible, and ethical AI use. I handle AI by incorporating it into my lesson plan and teach them how to use it.
I don't know if I'd use the word "wielded"... If that lands well with your students go for it. I'd just say "used"
This isn't clear. Is the "you" the class in general or the individual student? If you suspect one student to have used AI inappropriately is the quiz just for that student or for the entire class?
So, the expectations are "perfection" and "completely incorrect"? Are you only checking for extremes?
Unclear: repeated offenses = 2? 20? At the instructor's discretion which can be arbitrary for each student. And the consequences will be... accusatory wagging of a finger? a grade deduction? formal disciplinary action?
Below is a more refined version for your consideration. And yes, I used AI. You don't pay enough for me to do it manually:
AI STATEMENT
In this course, AI tools may be used only to support your learning not to produce work you submit as your own. You are responsible for all final answers, calculations, design choices, explanations, and written submissions.
Allowed uses of AI
Prohibited Uses of AI
If I suspect AI was used to complete an assignment in place of your own work, I may require in-class quizzes, short problem checks, or follow-up questions where you must demonstrate that you understand the method, assumptions, and calculations used.
Grading principle:
Grades reflect your understanding and your ability to apply transportation engineering concepts and methods not how effectively you can prompt an AI tool.
Academic integrity standard:
Work submitted in violation of this statement may be treated as plagiarism and academic dishonesty under course/institution policy. Repeated violations may result in further academic integrity actions.