Researching and Referencing: Generative AI

AI tools can help personalise your learning and support your learning needs. You'll improve your digital literacy and be prepared to use these tools in your future workplace to increase productivity. These tools may also be used as assistive technology for learners that need extra support due to diverse needs.

As the use of AI becomes more widespread, employers are increasingly seeking candidates who have experience working with AI tools. Learning how to use generative AI tools can give students a competitive edge in the job market. Also, it can help you be more productive in the workplace. Discuss with your teachers most relevant AI tools for your field of study.

Your conversations with Generative AI are stored for further training of the model and are attached to your user account. People, not just AI, are involved in the training of AI and their staff have access to your data. Therefore, please do not upload any confidential or sensitive information about yourself, others, or your organisation. Each tool would have their own privacy policy.

 

Furthermore, any content you create, which is your intellectual property that you put through these tools for grammar check or rewriting in a different style, will be used in training the model. Consequently, it may be included in the content generated for others without giving credit to your work.

Read the privacy policy of the Gen AI tool and if they do have the option to turn off your data from being used for training of the model, it is advisable to do so especially with certain personal content. If you accidentally upload personal or confidential information, closing your account or deleting the particular chat will not stop your chat history data from being used to train the model.

Approved Gen AI tools for a more secure experience where you can login with your TAFE NSW credentials are Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise) and Adobe creative suite.

For ChatGPT you can request to remove the data via this page. For example, you can read ChatGPT's Privacy Policy. You can go to settings on ChatGPT and select the option to turn off your data from being used as shown below:

• Critical thinking skills – analysing the information generated by AI tools, comparing it with your current understanding and knowledge, checking original sources and course materials, and discussing with teachers. The use of AI tools should encourage the development of information literacy and critical thinking skills.
• Digital and AI literacy skills – AI Literacy is the ability to understand and form opinions on the role of AI, basic understanding of how it works, strengths, limitations, use AI tools responsibly. Learners may gain digital, specifically AI literacy skills by effective use of emerging technology useful for the workplace.
• Prompt engineering skills – knowing effective ways to interact with Gen AI tools to get the desired output.
• Communication skills - interaction with teachers and peers should be encouraged through classroom or online forum discussions on generated content while using AI tools.

The content generated by AI tools may contain biases and inaccuracies. It’s essential to approach such content critically, analyse it, and conduct further research to verify its accuracy. Most Gen AI tools use GPT-4 which was trained on data available until September 2021 online and isn’t necessarily sourced from reliable, credible channels. Exception is Gen AI tools developed within the organisation trained exclusively on company data but most will build on the pre-trained GPT-4. Some Gen AI tools such as ChatGPT Plus, Gemini, Bing Chat, Copilot have access to the internet and if you are asking about up-to-date information, you will be able to access them. However, when your query does not require current information, it will rely more on the trained data.

Assessments where the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence is permitted or required, will explicitly state the extent and the appropriate use in the assessment specifications. Inappropriate use of Generative AI is a breach of academic integrity, such as:
• Inclusion of content created by Generative AI is not permitted, unless otherwise explicitly stated in the assessment specifications.
• Not acknowledging the use of content created by Generative AI, where the appropriate use of such tools is stated in the assessment.

   

  TAFE NSW does not use Gen AI detection tools to identify inappropriate use.

   

  Where it is suspected that a learner has not submitted their own work, they may be invited to discuss understanding of the submitted content, the process of arriving at the solution and show any evidence such as drafts and research.

• There are currently no set guidelines to acknowledge these tools in Harvard or APA style. However, until these guidelines are developed, you can use the suggested referencing styles in the Referencing Generative AI Tools box in this guide

   

  Generative Artificial Intelligence is a rapidly changing space and we recommend that you check this page regularly for any updates as the APA and Harvard referencing styles have not confirmed a format for referencing content generated from AI tools

• A good source of regularly updated information for TAFE NSW staff is the Academic integrity SharePoint page

   

  Join the TAFE NSW Academic Integrity Network Teams site for updates and discussions.

   

  TAFE NSW staff will need to login and authenticate to access.

Spell checkers primarily rely on a database of correct spelling, alerting the user of any incorrect spelling with suggestions for corrections based on the closest matches. However, some also use AI technologies to suggest the most likely word based on the context. Generally, most spell checkers use a combination of both approaches. Grammar checkers improve the quality of writing by suggesting corrections. It is acceptable to use such tools for spelling and grammar checking, unless you are being assessed on spelling or grammar skills.

 

Grammarly has been incorporating AI in their products for about a decade. However, in April 2023, they released a new product called GrammarlyGo, which is built on GPT-3 and generates new content based on user prompts. Therefore, if an assessment requirement does not specify the use of Gen AI, using content created by GrammarlyGo would be unacceptable. This is different from using it to correct your spelling or grammar.

Closing your account or deleting prompts/chats will not stop your uploaded data from being used to train the model. You can submit a user content opt out request to OpenAI to ensure your data is not used at all.

Copilot (formerly known as Bing Chat Enterprise) – all TAFE NSW staff and learners have access to it when they login with TAFE NSW credentials.

 

Copilot for Microsoft 365 – currently TAFE NSW does not subscribe to this. However, if you are using a personal Microsoft account with access to Copilot for Microsoft 365, you should be mindful of academic integrity policy and not include generated content unless you are explicitly permitted to do so.

 

Acceptable use
Mandy was reading an article in a cooking magazine when she discovered an unfamiliar technical term. She aske ChatGPT for a definition and how to use the term in context. ChatGPT gave her a basic explanation, which she then clarified with her teacher in her next class.
Acceptable use
Ravi is an international student and struggling to understand the accent of the teacher. He asked the teacher if he can input her voice to a Generative AI tool and ask it to show the transcript and sometimes translate to Hindi. He asked further questions on the content taught to clarify – either in English or Hindi. However, it is important to continue to engage with various English speaking students and teachers to improve understanding various accents and language skills.
Unacceptable use
Alex was asked to write a research essay which had to include at least 4 references in the reference list.  He asked ChatGPT to write the essay. It produced a well worded piece of text, but Alex had no way of knowing if the information or references were completely factually correct. AI tools do not verify where their information comes from, or if the references actually exist.  

Acceptable use
Bob is preparing his Tertiary Preparation Certificate (TPC) students for the end of year maths assessment. After checking the format of the assessment he prompts ChatGPT to develop a practice assessment using the same format. AI tools can produce original questions for practicing, which enables the student to be well prepared.
Acceptable use
Chung has just finished studying for her final exam in programming. She enters the learning outcomes of the subject into a Generative AI tool, and asks it to generate sample exam questions. She then answers these questions and asks it to correct the answers she wrote and use this as a way to identify her weak areas.
Unacceptable use
Mary’s older brother did the same course at TAFE as she is doing. He still has all his notes and assessments from his course.  Mary discovers that her assignment is the same one her brother completed two years earlier.  She types the assessment question in to Chat GPT and receives a completed piece of work.  Mary adds some text from her brother’s assessment and submits it as her own.  None of the work is Mary’s own.  This is breaching the TAFE NSW student Rights and Responsibilities which state “As a student, you must NOT plagiarise, collude, or cheat in any assessment event or examination”

Acceptable use
Mohammad is doing a fine arts course and has been told by his teacher he may use AI to assist in the development of a creative piece of art.  The teacher explained that the students must illustrate what was AI generated and how it was used in the development of the student’s own piece.  Mohammed use AI to gather ideas for his own artwork.  He refers to them in his writing, and acknowledges the ideas in the development of his own creative artwork.
Unacceptable use
Helen is studying the Diploma Library practice.  As part of her Marketing and Promotions unit, she is asked to develop a brochure to advertise the library services.  Marks are given for content and appearance, using original ideas, which would best reflect the library service she is promoting.  Helen adds the text to the page, then adds an AI generated image which she did not acknowledge.  Helen had not asked permission to use AI, nor acknowledged that she had, and has not used original ideas for the image.