While many universities initially found themselves playing catch-up with rapid advancements in artificial intelligence following the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, East Tennessee State University is staying one step ahead of the emerging technology in order to better prepare students for a 21st century job market.
ETSU Executive Vice Provost Robert Pack said the university recently drafted several key guidelines governing the use of AI by students and staff. The move comes after state legislators passed a law last year that requires public colleges and universities to submit AI policies to the Tennessee Board of Regents by July of 2025.
Pack, who is also a member of the university’s Generative AI Task Force, said Monday that university administrators are already planning to release ETSU’s official “AI principles†in the coming weeks, ahead of the board’s deadline. He said the university already laid out AI guidelines through its Center for Teaching and Learning, as well as syllabus resources on AI tools.
Pack said ETSU’s approach to AI has so far revolved around “core principles of transparency and disclosure, privacy, data protection, human oversight and accountability.†He added that the current rules generally prohibit students and researchers from passing off AI-generated content as their own work and caution users against relying too much on AI without fact-checking, among other stipulations.
“We're focusing on how to adopt best practices and best principles for its use, rather than putting our heads in the sand or worrying about it,†Pack said. “In fact, embracing the use of generative AI in teaching and learning is a thoughtful approach compared to just completely prohibiting it out of hand.
“If a professor is using generative AI to help them prepare slides for a class, for example, all of that material needs to be vetted and verified for accuracy,†he continued. “I think we need to be very mindful about what we allow it to do with respect to that kind of work so that we don't get too reliant on it.â€
In addition to policymaking, Pack said ETSU researchers are exploring the impact generative AI could have on accelerating research across all disciplines and on the field of instructional design.
One recent study, led by Dr. Tian Luo of Old Dominion University and co-authored by Dara Young from the ETSU College of Public Health’s Department of Biomedical Health Sciences, surveyed 70 instructional designers from higher education institutions and other organizations to formulate best practices moving forward.
Their findings indicated that instructional designers have a favorable opinion of generative AI and use it for brainstorming new ideas, handling low-stakes proofreading and enhancing collaboration.
That study also identified common concerns among those who utilize AI, including the quality of the content created, data security and privacy and concerns over authorship and plagiarism.
ETSU College of Public Health Dean Dr. Randy Wykoff said generative AI tools have “rapidly become an inevitable part of the world we live in.â€
“At the same time, we have come to increasingly rely on the science of instructional design to assure student learning,†Wykoff said. “Studies such as these will become essential as both fields evolve rapidly, and I am deeply appreciative of Ms. Young and her colleagues for publishing one of the first articles studying the inter-relationship of both fields.â€
Pack is hopeful that AI could even start to help save lives in the years ahead. The key word there is “help.â€
“With respect to health care, medical research journals are now beginning to publish articles on the use of generative AI and how it helps clinicians in their daily practice. But again, the clinician is still in charge,†he said, emphasizing the need for human oversight.
For more information on ETSU policies and programs relating to AI, visit their website at .
