Brophy College Preparatory AI Guidelines for Academic Integrity — Flint AI Policy Library

Brophy College Preparatory

AI Guidelines for Academic Integrity

Introduction

These Artificial Intelligence guidelines, published in the Fall 2024, serve as a framework for Brophy College Preparatory students, faculty, staff, and parents. Guided by Brophy’s AI Philosophy, this serves as clarity and direction as we seek to incorporate AI into learning and classroom conversations, explore the myriad new possibilities AI creates, and examine the ethics, inequities and risks of computer-generated content. It is noteworthy that these guidelines originated as recommendations from Brophy’s Student AI Committee.

1. Assistive AI Allowed by Default, Generative AI Requires Teacher Permission

Brophy’s 2023/2024 AI guidelines stated that students can and likely would use AI, but only with teacher permission. The intent of this policy was to prevent students from using AI to easily plagiarize academic work or take unfair advantages. While that remains a concern, the approach limited—if not prohibited—many legitimate benefits that AI creates. Consider three short case studies:

Under that policy, if a student uses AI without a teacher’s permission to research an assigned academic topic and find primary sources, he is committing academic dishonesty, even though he could do the same thing with Google Scholar or an academic database such as EBSCO.
A student who was struggling to complete an assignment at home and who asked AI to describe a topic in an easier to understand way could be committing an academic ethics violation, even though he could find the same help from a knowledgeable parent, Khan Academy or another teacher’s YouTube video without question.
A student who used AI without permission to identify grammatical mistakes in an essay may be academically dishonest even though a student could seek help from a parent, a paid tutor, or the Peer Editing Network on campus with no consequence.

In order to lean into the powerful potential of AI with a special emphasis on making sure students have equitable access to resources to help level the academic playing field, the Student AI Committee recommended that Brophy should essentially flip the guidelines so that some level of AI is always acceptable unless specifically prohibited. This change requires clarity and instruction for students and faculty, particularly about how to identify the line between assistive and generative AI.

AI Levels for Academic Integrity

Level 0: AI cannot be used. This is reserved for secure testing and in class assignments where AI should not be used in any form.

Level 1: AI can be used in an assistive role for research, brainstorming and problem solving like with a search engine, Khan Academy, or Youtube.

Level 2: AI can be used for minor content revision and refinement like with PEN, a tutor, or parent help, as well as graphic creation, all with appropriate citations.

Level 3: AI can be used in a generative role to significantly alter or create content with appropriate citations.

MLA offers citation guidelines for AI. If students are unsure about AI use they should always consult with teachers before submitting work. As always, students should expect to submit any written work through Turnitin.com as a standard plagiarism check.

This change is consistent with Brophy’s AI philosophy statement to teach students how to responsibly use this powerful tool while also emphasizing academic integrity.

2. Users Must Take Full Responsibility for AI Content

AI can be a helpful tool to summarize content, generate text, analyze data, plan lessons, build projects, and brainstorm ideas. However, students, faculty and staff members must always take full responsibility for whatever content he or she presents, regardless of the level of AI use.

3. Concerns About Student AI Use Should Maintain A ‘Start a Conversation’ Approach

If teachers are concerned about potential academically dishonest AI generated content because of differences in writing style, an AI detection tool, or other reasons, they should initiate a constructive conversation with that student.

4. AI Literacy Vital for All Users

As AI continues to redefine how we learn and work, it is important that all students, faculty and staff are especially open to and seek out AI literacy.

5. AI Generated Feedback, Grades, and Formative Assessments

AI can significantly streamline the feedback process for teachers and students on routine assessments by providing instant, targeted feedback.

6. AI Should Allow Users to Repurpose & Reinvest Time

Students, faculty, and staff can consider ways that AI can save time in their work in line with school and academic ethics policies.

Works Cited

Arizona Institute for Education and the Economy. “Generative AI in K-12 Education Guidance | College of Education.” Generative Artificial Intelligence in K-12 Education, Northern Arizona University, 2024, https://nau.edu/aiee/azai. Accessed 3 October 2024.
Digital Promise. “AI Literacy – Digital Promise.” Digital Promise, https://digitalpromise.org/initiative/artificial-intelligence-in-education/ai-literacy/. Accessed 3 October 2024.