Learn with AI

Check the Rules First: Every class is different. One professor might let you use AI to brainstorm, while another might ban it completely. Always read the syllabus for each assignment before you start. If in doubt, talk to your faculty member.

Double-Check the Facts: AI makes mistakes and sometimes invents fake information. Never take its answers at face value. You are the one who needs to read over, check, and confirm that everything it gives you is actually true.

Know How to Cite It: If AI helps you build an outline, write code, or fix your paragraphs, you will need to credit it. Make sure you know how your instructor wants you to show that AI was used.

Keep It in Your Own Voice: AI is great for fixing grammar, but the final project should still sound like you. Don’t let the tool replace your own thoughts, opinions, and writing style.

Watch What You Share: Be careful about what you type into an AI. Never upload private personal info or important, unpublished research. Assume the AI will remember and use whatever you give it.

Make Sure You are Still Learning: Skipping the hard part of an assignment might save time today, but it can hurt you later. Ask yourself: If the AI does this for me, am I missing out on a skill I actually need to learn?

Know Its Limits: AI is smart, but it doesn’t actually “think” or understand things the way humans do. It can struggle with math, recent news, or deep topics, so don’t expect it to be perfect.

Useful Links

• Clark’s AI Policy
• Student Guide to AI (Elon University and AAC&U, External Site)
• Questions to ask before using AI (Stanford University, External Site)

Ask Before You Use: Instructors have different policies on AI. One might love if you use AI to build a study guide, while another expects zero AI involvement. If you aren’t 100% sure where the line is for a specific task, check your syllabus, or ask your professor first.

Own Your Own Ideas: Academic integrity means being honest about what is actually your work. If an AI does all of the brainstorming, all of the structuring, or all of the writing, it’s no longer your assignment—it’s the AI’s.

Show Your Work (and Cite It): If AI helped you map out an outline, debug code, or polish a paragraph, you need to acknowledge it. Use the proper citation style your professor requires, and never hide the tools that helped you get there.

Changing a Few Words Doesn’t Cut It: Generating a full response with AI and then swapping out a few adjectives or rearranging sentences is still a violation of integrity. The core thinking and analysis are supposed to come from you.

Don’t Cheat Yourself Out of the Skill: College is about building cognitive muscles. If you rely on AI to handle every difficult reading or complex problem, you may graduate with a piece of paper but miss out on the actual skills you need for your career.

Useful Links

• Goddard Library AI Resources
• How to cite AI (APA, External Site)
• How to be transparent about your AI use (MLA, External Site)

As a Personalized Tutor: Ask the AI to explain a confusing concept from class as if you are completely new to the topic. You can ask endless follow-up questions or ask it to break down the idea into simpler parts until it fully clicks.

To Quiz Yourself: Paste your lecture notes into the AI and ask it to generate a 10-question practice quiz or a set of flashcards. This uses active testing to train your brain, which is much more effective than just re-reading the textbook.

To Create Real-World Analogies: If a theory feels too abstract or technical, ask the AI to connect it to everyday life. For example, you could ask it to explain how a computer’s RAM works by comparing it to a physical office desk.

To Find Visual and Contextual Examples: If you learn better by seeing things, ask the AI to describe how a process looks step-by-step, or ask it to paint a picture of the historical background surrounding a specific event you are studying.

To Better Understand Dense Text: If you are staring at a massive, complex academic article, ask the AI to give you a high-level overview of the main arguments first. Reading this summary beforehand gives you a mental roadmap that makes tackling the actual text much easier.

To Practice for Presentations: You can paste your talk outline or speech notes into the AI and ask it to act like a professor or classmate. Have it throw likely follow-up questions at you so you can practice thinking on your feet and see where your gaps are.

Useful Links

• How to make AI your study buddy (Google, External Site)