To address the ongoing debate concerning Artificial Intelligence (AI) usage in academics at Longwood, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Larissa Smith assembled an AI Task Force in August 2024. The Task Force has been directed to provide recommendations to Academic Affairs and the university community regarding best practices for AI usage.
In an interview with The Rotunda, Assistant Provost for Academic Outreach and Dean of the Greenwood Library Dr. Brent Roberts – who chairs the AI Task Force – shared a list of members, consisting of faculty and staff across the university. It also includes representatives from the Center for Faculty Enrichment (CAFE), the Digital Education Collaborative (DEC), Student Conduct & Integrity, IT and the Student Government Association (SGA).
“Hopefully, it'll provide some forums where faculty and students can discuss how they are using AI, and we can approach a way that allows some flexibility for everyone,” Roberts said. The Task Force distributed a survey to faculty members and is in the process of sorting through the results.
According to Roberts, the end goal of the Task Force – officially titled the ‘Provost’s Task Force on AI In Teaching and Learning’ – is to determine a “package of recommendations that will go to the provost.” This includes recommended policies, drafts of syllabus statements, and other resources.
Roberts said there will not be a “one-size-fits-all” policy, partially because different disciplines have different potential applications of AI, but also because there are a wide array of opinions from faculty on the applications and ethics of AI usage. “We have some faculty who are very excited about integrating AI into the curriculum… and at the other end of the spectrum, we've got people who think it's a disservice to teach them AI,” Roberts said.
Dr. Don Blaheta, associate professor of computer science, said in an interview with The Rotunda reducing AI use to plagiarism is “a misinterpretation of what AI is doing.” For the classroom, Blaheta said, “My AI policy is, essentially, it's a tool. Let's figure out what appropriate use of that tool means.”
While he does allow student use of AI, Blaheta recognizes its potential dangers. “My biggest academic concern is that, we all cut corners from time to time, because life comes at us, and if you do that once, whatever, but the student that is doing that routinely may be cheating themselves in a way that I can't help them with, and I really do not have a good answer to that,” he said.
In an interview with The Rotunda, Dr. David Magill, professor of English and chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages said, “My main concern is that they would use it to replace their own thoughts and ideas, because in English, particularly for me, the whole point of taking an English class is to read and discuss and think about these things and get your own ideas and challenge your own ideas and communicate.”
While Blaheta and Magill are not members of the Task Force, as professors, they still face the realities of AI usage in the classroom. However, they have differing opinions on whether Longwood should enact across-the-board policies concerning AI.
Blaheta said, “I do think that it should be required that everybody state their policy explicitly… Other than that, I think it's too early for the university to be setting that kind of university wide policy.”
Magill said, “I do think we need guidance that is consistent and that is rooted in fact… we need a policy that's going to allow academic freedom to an extent, but also that those that are using it understand the concerns that animate the kind of difficulties of AI.”
Beyond the lone student representative on the Task Force, Roberts said a student survey is in the draft phrase. He was unsure if there would be a question directly asking students if they had previously used AI for assignments. “In the last draft I saw, there was a question that was similar to that. Now, whether students will feel comfortable responding to that, it's hard to say.”
