5 Ways Students Can Leverage Generative AI to Improve Their Academic Performance and Career Prospects

By Najeeb G. Abdulhamid

I was recently working on a document about the ethical and responsible use of generative AI in academic research. It struck me that I hadn’t explored the potential of this technology for students themselves. So, I’ve compiled 5 potential uses cases for generative AI that can enhance learning while promoting responsible and ethical practices.

1. Leveraging Generative AI for Peer Feedback

One of the benefits of generative AI is that it can provide feedback on your work. Whether you are writing an essay, preparing a presentation, or working on a project, you can use tools like Bing Copilot, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude.AI to get comments on your draft. These tools can identify your strengths and weaknesses, suggest improvements, and ask insightful questions. This can help you polish your work and learn from your mistakes.

However, you should always verify and cite the feedback generated by these tools. Do not blindly accept or copy their suggestions without checking their accuracy and relevance.

2. Using Generative AI as a Personal Tutor

Another way to use generative AI is to get personalized tutoring. You can use these tools to review course materials, prepare for exams, and explore new topics. For example, you can use these tools to generate summaries, outlines, or flashcards from textbooks, lectures, or slides. You can also request practice questions, hints, and solutions tailored to your specific course and difficulty level. Additionally, you can use these tools to generate summaries, analyses, and insights based on your research questions and sources, allowing you to explore new areas of your field.

However, you should not use these tools as a substitute for your instructor, textbook, or classmate. You should still attend classes, do your readings, and participate in discussions.

3. Using Generative AI as a Source of Inspiration

Generative AI can also spark your creativity and self-discovery. You can use these tools to generate new ideas or content related to your interests, like stories, poems, music, images, recipes, or travel guides. This can help you discover hidden talents and passions, broaden your perspectives, and uncover new possibilities.

However, you should not use these tools to plagiarize or copy the work of others. You should always give credit to the original sources and the generative AI tools you used.

4. Using Generative AI as a Copilot to Conduct Research
Generative AI can also assist you in conducting research. You can use these tools for brainstorming and ideation, summarizing relevant literature, and exploring research questions, methods, findings, limitations, and recommendations. Additionally, these tools can help you refine your language and address potential grammar or clarity issues in your draft papers. This can help you conduct research more efficiently, communicate your findings with greater clarity, and effectively convey the significance of your work.

However, you should not use these tools to fabricate or falsify data, code, or results, or to misrepresent or exaggerate your findings and implications. You should always follow the ethical and responsible principles and practices of research, such as transparency, accountability, fairness, and privacy.

5. Leveraging Generative AI to Build Stronger Teams

With the rise of project-based learning, fostering effective teamwork is crucial. Generative AI tools can help you generate suggestions and tips for successful collaboration, such as strategies for setting roles and responsibilities, managing conflict, and resolving issues. These tools can also generate project plans outlining tasks, deadlines, and deliverables. Additionally, they can create templates that prompt you to define roles, goals, communication methods, and feedback mechanisms. This can help you develop interpersonal, leadership, and problem-solving skills, ultimately improving team productivity and satisfaction.

However, you should not use these tools to replace or undermine the human element and the social aspect of teamwork and collaboration.

A Word of Caution: Responsible Use is Key!

While these applications hold great promise, it’s crucial for students to check with their faculty and consult their academic integrity handbook first. If specific policy guidelines aren’t established, here are some golden rules for responsible and ethical use of generative AI tools:

• Verify all information: As the user, you are ultimately responsible for ensuring the accuracy, relevance, and appropriateness of your work. Do not blindly accept AI-generated content without thorough verification.

• Cite your sources accurately: This includes both the original sources you used in your work and the generative AI tools you employed.

• Beware of fabricated information: Generative AI tools can sometimes invent references and information. Always verify any suspicious content before including it in your work.

By employing these tools thoughtfully and ethically, students can enhance their learning experience, boost creativity, and cultivate essential skills for academic and professional success.
P.S:

To make this post more useful, I created some sample prompts for each of the five use cases I discussed above. You can use them to try out generative AI tools for yourself. Just follow this link t.ly/R5gPT to access the prompt library!

Image and poster credit: #generatedwithbingcopilot

#bingcopilot #ResponsibleAI #equitableai #studentsuccess

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