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Undergraduate Students

You have an obligation to act with honesty and integrity and abide by the rules of the syllabus for each course. You also have an obligation to yourself to learn more about a technology that may have a significant impact on your life. Check your course outline for a statement on permitted and forbidden uses of AI; it will change by course. Where you are uncertain, ask your instructor for guidance.

Student Q&A: Learning with Artificial Intelligence

Book an appointment with a Student Learning Specialist here:  https://learning.uwo.ca/Support/appointments.html

This information is provied by Learning Development & Success (LDS)

What exactly is "Generative AI" and how does it work?

Answer: Generative AI (e.g. Gemini, ChatGPT, or Claude) is a type of artificial intelligence that can develop new content based on the information and programming it has. It can make text, images, or code.

Think of it as a highly advanced "autofill" or "prediction engine." It doesn't actually "know" facts or understand concepts the way humans do. Instead, it looks at the words you’ve typed and predicts what the most statistically likely "next word" should be, based on patterns it found in the books, articles, and websites it has "read."

Technically, it works through probabilistic modeling. It breaks down the information it has been fed into small "tokens" and calculates the statistical probability of which tokens are most likely to coexist or follow one another. When you give it a prompt, it mathematically predicts the most likely output based on the patterns it acquired during training.

  • LDS Insight:  Gen AI’s use of probability makes it a prediction engine. As such, it can sometimes prioritize producing what is most probable over what is accurate. Sometimes, Gen AI responses might sound logical and look good, but are factually incorrect . This is sometimes called a hallucination. Like any other tool, you need training on how to use Gen AI effectively and you also need to check its work. There are teams on campus that can help you learn more about how to use Gen AI effectively such as Learning Development and Success.
  • For additional information about how Gen AI machines work, you can refer to this online article.
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How can I use AI as a personal tutor?

Answer: Sometimes, it is a good idea to use AI as a personal tutor. You need to treat AI as a mentor, not an answering machine. You need to prompt AI to act as that mentor who guides you toward the answer rather than just providing it. If you wish to go one step further, ask it to withhold the answer from you and wait for you to learn and find the answer. AI can check the answer for you later.

Example:

  • Prompt Idea: Act as a supportive tutor for a second-year Biology student. I will show you a few problems I am stuck on one-by-one. Don't solve it for me. Don’t provide the answers. Instead, ask me a question about the first step to help me think through the logic. If it is a challenging one, you can give me a hint, but only if the problem is a challenging one. 
  • NOTE: Always cross-reference the AI's tutoring with your official course materials. AI can hallucinate, meaning it can provide wrong answers confidently, so your course material is always the final reference.

For further information on active recall and learning, you may review this paper by Dunlosky et. Al, 2013.

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How can I use AI to help me study effectively?

Answer: You can view AI as a study partner. It is not a shortcut. When using it to understand course concepts and ideas, think of it as a digital peer rather than an all-knowing body of information. Instead of asking AI to summarize a chapter, you can ask it to help you engage in active recall. For example, you could study the chapter and take notes on the major ideas or points. Then, try to recall the information you learned. If you can’t remember or are not sure, you can prompt AI to assist you. Consider the following prompt ideas:

  • Prompt Idea: "I am studying [Concept’s Name] on the topic of [Course Name or Course Subject or Unit Subject]. I am not sure if I remember everything well. Can you provide five questions that I can use to evaluate my knowledge of this topic, using one question at a time? Don’t provide answers unless I ask for them."
  • Prompt Idea: "I have written some notes on [Topic] for my [Course/Subject/Unit]. Can you help me make sense of these concepts using real-world examples or analogies?"

If you are interested in learning more about active retrieval, you may consult this article by Karpicke and Grimaldi, 2012.

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I used AI to get some sample questions to practice for my exams and did well on those questions; however, I did not do well on my actual exams. Why?

Answer: There could be various reasons for that. Because AI often relies on the most probable outcome when it generates information, it might have generated the most probable questions, which can be a set of similar recognition questions, focusing on lower-level information. At university, we are required to perform well on a variety of questions, including the ones focusing on higher thinking and learning such as synthesis or application.

  • The Fix: Ask the AI to generate questions for an exam that cover all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, a learning model often used in education which explains different levels of learning. Or simply ask AI to generate case-study style or application-based questions.
  • NOTE: AI can not operate at the thinking level that humans can; therefore, the final decision on whether a question and answer are correct is on you as a learner.

Interested in learning more about using AI as a personal tutor? You may read further in this paper by Mollick and Mollick, 2023.

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Can AI help me with my time management and executive functioning?

Answer: Yes! AI is a great tool to help you manage your assignments and time at university, especially when projects feel big and thus overwhelming and/or confusing. If a project feels too big to start, you can ask AI to help you break it down.

  • Prompt Idea: I have a 15-page research paper due in three weeks. I need to research these three theories: [Theory 1], [Theory 2], and [Theory 3], then I need to find three social issues and try to explain them using one or more of these theories. I am lost. Can you help me break this assignment into a few smaller, manageable tasks with estimated timeframes?
  • Result: This reduces the barrier to enter the workspace and helps combat procrastination. AI will break the task down to smaller tasks that feel more manageable.

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Does using AI count as cheating if I just use it to check my grammar?

Answer: First thing you need to do is to check your course syllabus to see if AI use is allowed. At Western, academic integrity policies vary by instructor. Some professors view AI grammar checkers as helpful tools, while others might see them as an unauthorized editing service that changes your unique voice.

  • Rule of Thumb: Even if you are allowed to use AI for grammar and spelling, and you notice the AI is suggesting new ideas or restructuring your entire argument, you might have crossed into unauthorized assistance. Always refer back to your course syllabus or ask your instructor: Is the use of AI tools for proofreading permitted for this assignment?

This Centre for Teaching and Learning page can help you learn more about academic integrity at Western University.

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How do I cite AI if I used it for my assignment?

Answer: If your instructor permits use of AI, you must disclose using it. Most citation styles (APA, MLA, Chicago) now have specific formats for AI.

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Learning Development & Success also has two excellent AI resources on their website: