AI in your learning

AI is typically used to refer to all AI, including generative AI (GenAI) and machine translation (MT).

AI is evolving rapidly, and it is not always clear when a tool uses AI. Grammarly is a good example. It uses AI, MT, and GenAI. For that reason, UQ refers to AI, but the UQ rules on AI are about how students use AI tools that generate content.

UQ’s AI rules are focused on content creation or assistance.

AI

Artificial intelligence or AI is embedded into our digital world. It is designed to perform specific tasks based on set rules or data, like finding the fastest route or recognising faces. You likely use AI everyday, including for:

• grammar checkers – Grammarly, Microsoft Word’s editor tools
• spelling and autocorrect tools – Built into word processors and browsers
• search engines – Google, Bing
• voice-to-text transcriptions – Otter.ai, Apple Dictation
• data analysis tools – Excel functions, SPSS, MATLAB.

Machine Translation (MT)

Machine Translation or MT is an automated process in which a computer program converts text in one language into another. Examples of using MT:

• Converting an assessment you wrote from one language to another.
• Translating a website into another language to help you interpret it.

Many UQ students use Grammarly. It can directly translate text written in over 15 languages to English.

Generative AI (GenAI)

Generative AI or GenAI creates new information or outputs—like images, text, music—based on existing data. Examples of these tools include ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.

But existing tools, like Microsoft PowerPoint, now include GenAI when they generate slide decks or images from your text (or voice) prompts. Using GenAI in your studies includes:

• text generation – ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Co-pilot, Grammarly
• image generation – DALL-E, Midjourney, Adobe Firefly
• video or audio synthesis – Descript, Synthesia
• code generation – GitHub Copilot, Codex
• essay drafting, reviewing literature, and summarisation – ChatGPT, Perplexity AI.

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For more in-depth definitions of AI, read:

• What is Artificial Intelligence?
• Machine Translation for assignments.

There are many ways you can use AI tools to support your learning and study.

Using good prompts or instructions in AI tools is a good start to get more relevant outputs.

In 2024, 81% of UQ students who responded to the Student perspectives on AI in higher education survey were using AI in their studies.

UQ students were using AI in diverse ways. The most common ways students reported using AI in their studies were to:

• edit and improve writing
• generate ideas and examples
• summarise notes, readings and other materials.

Other ways you can use AI to help you, include to:

• perform repetitive tasks
• simplify complex concepts
• generate images
• translate languages
• check content and get feedback.

All over Australian higher education, students and staff are finding helpful ways AI can support learning and study. Students and staff at the University of Sydney have shared AI prompts to support AI use to:

• explain, including prompts to
  • connect new concepts with previous knowledge
  • learn through analogies
  • prepare questions.
• practise, including prompts to
  • create multiple choice questions
  • learn through conversation.
• study and revise, including prompts to
  • create a study plan and timeline
  • outline key academic topics.
• apply concepts, including prompts to
  • connect topics to current events or in different contexts.

Adapted from AI in Education by the University of Sydney, shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.

If you want to use AI more effectively as a learning tool, you might want to read the AI prompt ideas from the University of Sydney.

In the Student perspectives on AI in higher education survey, reasons that discouraged UQ students from using AI in their studies included concerns about:

• breaking university rules
• inaccurate or made-up information
• privacy of data
• ethical considerations
• not doing the work themselves.

"When using AI, you can let AI do all the thinking for you, which can suppress your ability to problem solve on your own."

UQ student voice forum, July 2024.

While AI tools are very powerful, they have a range of limitations:

• GenAI models that recombine information to produce responses also produce inaccuracies.
• Information provided by GenAI tools is often produced without acknowledgement or reference to the source of that information.
• The data used to train the models has biases and these biases can be amplified in GenAI models.
• AI tools are modelled to imitate aspects of intelligence, but they do not have the same capabilities as humans.
• AI suggested changes may change your intended meaning, even if only used for editing assistance.

In addition to the limitations, many UQ students are thinking deeply about how AI impacts learning.

A July 2024 Student Forum on GenAI allowed students to share a range of views on AI. Five key messages emerged:

1. Students recognise AI’s potential for significant impacts in their learning, future careers, and society broadly. There is a desire to be supported by UQ to feel prepared and confident for the future with AI.
2. Student experiences with AI at UQ have differed vastly from one course to another, dependent on the approach taken by teaching staff.
3. Students are aware of the risks to their skill development if reliant on AI for tasks essential to learning (critical thinking, problem solving, research analysis), and want to retain the integrity of their learning experience.
4. When messaging from teaching staff or PhD supervisors is unclear, it can lead to confusion, unresolved questions, and fear and shame among students – if discussions are “shut down” or there is no space to ask questions, students feel uncomfortable seeking clarification, risking misuse and a lack of understanding about acceptable practices.
5. Although students may be using AI more than their teachers, students recognise that teachers have the subject matter expertise to demonstrate how AI may or may not be applicable to their discipline, and help guide them towards appropriate usage.

"It kind of doesn't sit right with me, like all the years of learning. And now we're just giving it away, like all these skills that I've developed till now. I don't want to give it away."

Sha, UQ social work student, 2024.

Quote from How students talk about GenAI (PDF, 217 KB).

What may or may not be acceptable, even with appropriate acknowledgement and referencing, will depend on course learning outcomes. If there is any doubt, check with your course coordinator.

The following are examples of acceptable and unacceptable use of AI for study.

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Example 1 – Using AI for grammar and spelling

Acceptable use of AI:

• You use Microsoft Word Editor or Grammarly to review spelling, grammar, and punctuation in your essay.
• Why it’s OK* - this is considered an editing tool, similar to autocorrect, and doesn’t generate new content.

Unacceptable use of AI:

• You use Grammarly to rewrite entire sentences or paragraphs without acknowledgment or when AI use is not allowed in the assessment.
• Why it’s not OK - it starts to shift from simple assistance to significant content contribution. Using AI when not allowed in your assessment is always not OK.

*In courses where the learning outcome is about you learning grammar or spelling, use editing tools outside of class to support your learning and to prepare you for assessment where you do not have access to such tools.

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Example 2 – Using AI to brainstorm ideas

Acceptable use of AI:

• You use ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot to brainstorm ideas for an essay, like generating a list of potential topics or examples.
• Why it’s OK* - this is comparable to a brainstorming session with peers or using a library resource, provided you do the actual writing.

Unacceptable use of AI:

• You use GenAI tools to generate an entire essay outline or full paragraphs.
• Why it’s not OK - The tool is now completing the intellectual and academic work expected of students at UQ.

Unacceptable use of AI:

• You brainstorm with friends, and all use ChatGPT together, then you copy the ideas from your friends and AI into your assessment.
• Why it’s not OK – You submitted work that is not your own, which is a form of plagiarism called collusion that is a violation of UQ’s academic integrity rules.

*In courses where the learning outcome is about generating ideas or brainstorming, use AI tools carefully when you study to ensure you are prepared for assessments where such tools are not allowed.

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Example 3 – Using AI to analyse data

Acceptable use of AI:

• You use Excel or SPSS to analyse survey data for a project.
• Why it’s OK* - these tools follow programmed instructions, and you are interpreting the results and calculations.

Unacceptable use of AI:

• You use a GenAI tool to generate a complete data analysis and explanation/interpretation, submitting it as your own work.
• Why it’s not OK - the analysis is no longer your own.

*In courses where the learning outcome is about writing the scripts, codes or formulas to command statistical software tools, use AI carefully when you study to ensure you are prepared for assessments when such tools are not available.

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Example 4 – Using GenAI to create images or slides

Acceptable use of AI:

• You use DALL·E or PowerPoint Copilot to generate an image or slide background for a presentation, acknowledging its use.
• Why it’s OK* – the tool enhances visual appeal without contributing to the intellectual content.

Unacceptable use of AI:

• You generate a diagram or infographic containing key ideas or data points but claim it as your own work.
• Why it’s not OK - This constitutes an unacknowledged contribution of intellectual content.

Read UQ’s rules for using AI to understand what is allowed in your courses at UQ.

Further resources:

• AI applications and task examples in the Artificial Intelligence Digital Essentials module provides more examples.
• Evaluating AI-generated content has more information on checking the quality and reliability of the information.