Statement on AI usage in my courses

Other instructors at NC State University and elsewhere are welcome to quote, adapt, or use this statement in their own courses, preferably with a link to this page.

The Main Points

You are never required or expected to use generative AI in this course. Everything can be completed without it.
AI may be useful for explanations, hints, feedback, and additional practice. You remain responsible for checking its work and for developing your own understanding.
Try a problem yourself before asking AI for help. After receiving help, close the tool, wait about 30 minutes when possible, and then try a similar problem without assistance.
Do not submit work that you cannot explain, justify, or reproduce independently.
If I believe that AI use is interfering with your learning, I will not punish you for that concern alone. It may change how I help you and may lead to a conversation or an additional demonstration of understanding.
You may share limited course content with AI for immediate, personal learning. Do not upload large collections of course materials, create products based on my work, distribute course content, or present adaptations of my work as your own.
Never use AI or automated tools to access locked examinations, answer keys, restricted question banks, proctored materials, or other content you are not authorized to access. Such conduct will result in a RAIV report and a recommendation for no credit in the course and the strongest appropriate sanctions.

Please read below for detailed explanations of my AI guidance and policies.

General Use of Generative AI

I use generative AI to assist with course organization, problem creation, wording, and other aspects of teaching. However, I remain responsible for all course content. I review, revise, and make the final decisions about anything included in this course.

AI is a tool that is likely to remain part of education and professional life. However, I recognize that some students have serious moral, environmental, intellectual, or personal objections to its use, and I want to respect those concerns. You may also find yourself wondering how much your classmates are using AI and whether you are falling behind if you choose not to use it. You are not required or expected to use generative AI in this course. Everything in the course can be completed successfully without it, and your decision not to use AI will not count against you in any way.

On the other hand, you may find generative AI useful for learning mathematics. It can explain a concept in a different way, help identify an error, generate additional practice problems, or ask questions that help you check your understanding. However, AI can also produce incorrect mathematics, unclear reasoning, inappropriate methods, or notation that does not match our course.

You remain responsible for your own learning and for the work you submit. In the age of AI, an important life skill is learning how to use these tools without allowing them to replace your own thinking.

A productive use of AI should help you become more independent. For example, you might ask for a hint, request an explanation of one step, compare two methods, or ask for a similar problem to solve on your own. After receiving help, close the AI tool and give yourself some space before checking your understanding. When possible, wait about 30 minutes, then attempt a similar problem without assistance. This delay gives you a better indication of what you have actually learned and retained.

Copying an answer or solution that you do not understand may help you complete an assignment, but it does not prepare you to use the mathematics independently. Your work should demonstrate that you understand the reasoning, can justify the steps used, and can complete a comparable problem without outside assistance.

When using AI in this course:

Attempt the problem yourself before asking for help.
Ask for hints or explanations rather than only final answers.
Check AI-generated mathematics against course materials and your own reasoning.
Wait about 30 minutes after receiving help, then use a new or similar problem to check whether you retained the idea.
Do not submit AI-generated work that you cannot explain and solve yourself.

Moodle records information such as page access, assignment activity, submission times, quiz attempts, and general patterns of course participation. I may review these records when evaluating unusual or inconsistent course activity. Moodle logs may not necessarily establish that a student has used AI improperly, but they may provide context when considered alongside submitted work, assessment performance, communication, and other relevant information.

If I have reason to believe that a student is relying on AI in a way that is interfering with learning, I will not treat that concern by itself as a punishable offense. However, it may affect how I respond to requests for help. I may ask the student to explain submitted work, describe the methods used, or complete a similar problem independently so that I can better understand what support is needed. This may also lead to a conversation about appropriate uses of AI, productive study habits, and how to use outside help without allowing it to replace the learning process. In some cases, I may require an additional oral or written demonstration of understanding. The purpose of that demonstration is to identify gaps in understanding and determine how I can best help the student move forward.

Misuse of AI

Unauthorized access to course materials

It may now be possible, or may become possible, to use AI agents or related automated tools to access course materials that students are not authorized to access. Examples include locked examinations, examination questions, answer keys, restricted question banks, or materials intended to be available only during a scheduled and proctored assessment.

Using or attempting to use AI, an AI agent, automation, software, another person, or any other unauthorized method to access, reveal, copy, transmit, or complete such materials is a serious academic-integrity violation. This includes unsuccessful attempts to access restricted materials.

Use of course materials with AI

Course materials are provided for the personal educational use of students enrolled in this course. These materials may be protected by copyright or other intellectual-property rights held by me, NC State, or third parties. They include, but are not limited to, original problems, examinations, question banks, solutions, videos, notes, transcripts, explanations, course pages, organizational materials, and other content that I create or provide.

You may use limited portions of course materials with a generative AI tool for immediate, personal educational purposes. For example, you may ask for clarification of a mathematical step, an explanation of a concept, feedback on your reasoning, or a similar practice problem. Any such use should support your own learning and should be limited to the material reasonably necessary for that purpose.

You may not upload or provide substantial collections of course materials to an AI system, AI agent, public repository, commercial service, or other third party. You may not use course materials to train, customize, evaluate, or build an AI system or product. You may also not direct an AI system to create answer keys, solution manuals, derivative question banks, summaries, study guides, videos, websites, commercial resources, or other products based substantially on course materials.

You may not use AI to transform, repackage, imitate, or reproduce my work and then present, publish, distribute, sell, or submit the resulting content as though it were your own original work. Minor changes in wording, notation, format, order, examples, or presentation do not transfer authorship of the underlying material to you. You may not remove attribution, conceal the source of the material, or represent AI-generated adaptations of my work as your own creation.

Access to course materials as an enrolled student does not grant permission to claim authorship, republish the materials, create derivative products for others, or make the materials available outside the course. Permitted use is limited to supporting your own learning in the moment. It does not include creating content for distribution, building a collection of course materials outside Moodle, or using my work as the basis for materials that you represent as your own.

Academic-integrity response

If I have reason to believe that a student has used or attempted to use AI to gain unauthorized access to restricted materials, compromise a proctored assessment, obtain or distribute examination content, or substantially reproduce protected course content for unauthorized purposes, I will submit a Report of Academic Integrity Violation, or RAIV, to the NC State Office of Student Conduct.

For conduct of this severity, I will recommend no credit for the course and the most serious sanctions that are appropriate and available under university policy. The final determination and any university-level sanctions will be governed by NC State’s academic-integrity and student-conduct procedures.