Center for Teaching and Learning

Generative AI can be helpful to people completing the kinds of work that we are doing together in this course, and you may be expected to use it in your future endeavors. However, in order to be able to use generative AI effectively—not only in the sense of producing useful results, but also of being able to distinguish when it is or is not appropriate, ethical, and responsible to use it—you first need to become deeply familiar with our subject, and the kinds of analytical approaches that scholars typically apply to it, for yourself. It is only by developing your own capacities as a critical thinker and communicator that you will be fully empowered to make wise choices about when, how, and why to use—or not use—generative AI in the future. For this reason, you are not permitted to use generative AI while studying or completing work for this course.

I recognize that it is difficult (if not impossible) for you to avoid all encounters with generative AI, as many software applications, library databases, and other resources that I may encourage you to use while completing your work now incorporate AI features beyond our control. As such, I will not hold you accountable for engaging incidentally with third-party AI tools (e.g. using an “AI-enhanced” search function within a database licensed by the library, or simply reading an automatically-generated AI summary of a search result). Rather, this policy applies to cases in which you might be tempted to seek assistance from a generative AI platform (including, but not limited to, frontier LLMs like GPT-5, Gemini, or Claude) to summarize, create, complete, or revise work for this course, which—as above—I expect you to perform without assistance.

Generative AI has a place in the work that we are doing together in this course, and likely in your future endeavors. One of my goals for this course is that you further develop your AI literacy—that is, not only a sense of how to use generative AI tools to produce useful results, but also a sense of when and why to use them (or not use them) so as to preserve your own voice and agency as a human responsible for the knowledge you consume and produce.

In order to make sure that you are using generative AI in a way that contributes to your learning, and does not shortcut it, I am placing limitations on the ways in which you may use it. In this course, you:

• may use generative AI to develop your understanding of a concept, to practice a skill, to review course material (e.g. by self-quizzing), and for other, similar purposes in which you are employing generative AI to facilitate your learning separately from the formal work that you submit for evaluation, which must be entirely your own intellectual product.
• may not use generative AI when completing any assignments that will be submitted and graded. This means that you may not use generative AI to refine written work and/or code (e.g. with Grammarly or Claude Code), even when you have drafted it substantially on your own; to help you perform analytical tasks that are part of assignments (e.g. identifying or analyzing patterns within large datasets, interpreting figures, etc.); to transform material you have created in one genre into another (e.g. to transform an essay into a website); and for other, similar purposes in which you are employing generative AI to enhance or refine your assignment submissions.

I encourage you to read and take to heart the AI Framework for Brandeis Students when contemplating whether it is appropriate and genuinely advantageous to incorporate generative AI into your studying. Ultimately you are responsible for what you learn through your interactions with AI, including the assumptions and/or biases that generative AI may reproduce as well as the factual claims it may make.

Generative AI has a place in the work that we are doing together in this course, and likely in your future endeavors. One of my goals for this course is that you further develop your AI literacy—that is, not only a sense of how to use generative AI tools to produce useful results, but also a sense of when and why to use them (or not use them) so as to preserve your own voice and agency as a human responsible for the knowledge you consume and produce.

In order to make sure that you are using generative AI in a way that contributes to your learning, and does not shortcut it, I am placing limitations on the ways in which you may use it. In this course, you:

• may use generative AI to refine and polish the assignments that you submit for a grade, so long as the ideas, arguments, and analyses included in them is substantially your own. This means that you may use generative AI to refine written work and/or code (e.g. with Grammarly or Claude Code) that you have drafted substantially on your own; to help you perform analytical tasks that are part of assignments (e.g. identifying or analyzing patterns within large datasets, interpreting figures, etc.); to transform material you have created in one genre into another (e.g. to transform an essay into a website); and for other, similar purposes in which you are employing generative AI to enhance or refine your assignment submissions. In these cases, you must always cite your use of generative AI. Please consult the Library's Guide to Citing Generative AI for additional information on proper citations for artificial intelligence.  
• may not use generative AI to develop your understanding of a concept, to practice a skill, to review course material (e.g. by self-quizzing), and for other, similar purposes in which you are employing generative AI in a way that substitutes for your own substantive thinking and learning. The best way to obtain mastery over the material in our course is to think, brainstorm, test yourself, and rethink on your own.

I encourage you to read and take to heart the AI Framework for Brandeis Students when contemplating whether it is appropriate and genuinely advantageous to incorporate generative AI into your work. Ultimately you are responsible for what you submit, including the assumptions and/or biases that generative AI may reproduce as well as the factual claims it may make.

Generative AI has a place in the work that we are doing together in this course, and likely in your future endeavors. One of my goals for this course is that you further develop your AI literacy—that is, not only a sense of how to use generative AI tools to produce useful results, but also a sense of when and why to use them (or not use them) so as to preserve your own voice and agency as a human responsible for the knowledge you consume and produce.

In this course, you:

• may use generative AI to develop your understanding of a concept, to practice a skill, to review course material (e.g. by self-quizzing), to refine written work and/or code that you have drafted substantially on your own (e.g. with Grammarly or Claude Code), to identify or analyze patterns within large datasets, to interpret figures, to transform material in one genre into another (e.g. to transform an essay into a website), and for other, similar purposes in which you are employing generative AI either to facilitate learning or to enhance or refine work that is substantially your own intellectual product.
• may not submit AI-generated work as if it were your own, without proper citation, or use AI to alter or fabricate data in ways that may be construed as research misconduct. Please see the Library’s Guide to Citing Generative AI for additional information on proper citations for artificial intelligence.   

I encourage you to read and take to heart the AI Framework for Brandeis Students when contemplating whether it is appropriate and genuinely advantageous to incorporate generative AI into your workflow. Ultimately you are responsible for the content of the work that you submit, including the assumptions and/or biases that generative AI may reproduce as well as the factual claims it may make.