Appropriate use of GenAI technologies

A female student sitting in a cafe, wearing headphones and typing on a laptop

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) software like ChatGPT, Gemini, Midjourney, and GitHub Copilot creates new content such as text, images, code or audio.

Curtin supports the philosophy of teaching students to appropriately use GenAI technology in an ethical and responsible way to prepare them for future professional working environments.

GenAI technology is rapidly evolving and being incorporated into software programs, so it is important to understand when it can and cannot be used within your studies.

What is GenAI software?

GenAI is software focused on creating new content, such as text, code, images, or music. It can assist with tasks:

answer questions, create first drafts, have human-like conversations, summarise concepts,
generate examples (essays, poems, scripts, reflections, slides, outlines, images)
fix grammatical errors, paraphrase content, transcribe conversations
translate text between languages
and is always available.

What do I need to know about Gen-AI tools?

GenAI should be used with caution and only with permission for assessment tasks.

If used inappropriately, these tools may prevent student learning and critical thinking
GenAI systems contain bias
- Lack of diversity in training data – output replicates those biases
- Lack of transparency/accountability for output – no way to know how decisions were made
Accuracy of output must be verified – e.g. it fabricates references and other information
Acknowledgement and attribution rules apply
- Unapproved, inappropriate, or undisclosed use may be dishonest or unfair behaviour, and therefore considered misconduct.
Students are not permitted to upload work to GenAI tools that does not belong to them. This includes, lecture slides, transcription of audio, assessment questions and tutorial questions in which Curtin owns the copyright.
GenAI content detection is used at Curtin.

Takeaway point: when submitting any assessment, the final product must be your own work, not just output copied from GenAI software.

How do I know if I am using GenAI software?

The number of GenAI tools is rapidly evolving, and this requires you to understand and continuously review the capabilities of all the software you are using to complete assessment tasks.

Takeaway Point: If you are prompting programs to do something for you such as, ‘rewrite this paragraph’ or ‘translate this text,’ this indicates that you are using GenAI software.

How do I avoid academic integrity issues?

The key tenet of academic integrity is transparency.

You should be able to talk openly about the way you approached your assessment task, and all the software used, with your teaching team. If you can’t, this indicates that there might be a problem.

Can I use GenAI tools in my assessment task?

Check your assessment instructions carefully before using any GenAI software.

You are not permitted to use GenAI software in any assessment task unless written permission is explicitly granted by the Unit Coordinator (e.g. within Blackboard or the assessment specifications).

The library website on GenAI states that:

University courses assess your understanding of a topic or concept, as well as your ability to form opinions, think critically and communicate your ideas. For these reasons, you cannot use GenAI in the creation or critical analysis of content, including:

Writing any part of your assignment without Unit Coordinator approval and source attribution.
Paraphrasing or re-writing any part of your assignment.
Putting unit content (e.g. slides, unit outlines, speech-to-text) into text-based GenAI to create summaries.
Uploading any copyrighted content, including unit materials, scholarly journal articles, other texts etc.
Answering or checking online test questions.
Creating presentations based on content from your unit materials, reading or assignments.
Translating written assessments from another language into English.
Transcribing speech-to-text without permission of all parties.

Other examples of appropriate and inappropriate use of GenAI software can be found in Curtin’s Academic Integrity Guide for Students [.pdf 2.4MB].

You can also watch this video for more information.

I have permission to use it, now what?

If the use of GenAI software has been approved, you must:

Document its use
- Screenshot/save all work such as prompts used, answers produced, how you edited the output, purpose of using it, etc.
Verify the accuracy of all output you use
- Some GenAI software makes up information. If you submit that false output as part of your assessment task, it may be considered falsification or fabrication, which is considered misconduct.
Apply appropriate acknowledgement and attribution rules. This means:
- Use in-text citations
  - Where you have quoted or paraphrased GenAI text, you must include an in-text reference acknowledging the tool you have used.
- Include a declaration of use
  - A declaration must be included in your assignment after your reference list. It should detail which tools you have used to generate content in the process of completing your assignment and how they have been employed. The declaration must include the prompts you have used to generate information.
- For specific details on how to cite and declare your use of GenAI outputs, follow the advice for the referencing style used within your faculty:

Does Turnitin detect GenAI content?

Yes.

Curtin uses Turnitin’s GenAI writing indicator to check assessments for undisclosed use of Gen-AI software. The Turnitin report shows the text within the submitted student document that has been written with Gen-AI tools.

Turnitin’s tool is the only verified and endorsed GenAI detection software accepted at Curtin.

Some examples of tools, where the output will be flagged by Turnitin are:

Text generators like Chat GPT and Gemini
Language translation tools like DeepL
Paraphrasing tools like Quillbot and Grammarly (Free, Premium, and Business versions)

Note: only staff have access to view the GenAI information within the Turnitin Similarity Report. Turnitin controls this access, and it is not something that Curtin can alter.

For documents with 20% or more GenAI detection scores, this is what the Turnitin GenAI report looks like that staff will review. To prevent potential false positives, no score or highlights are shown for GenAI detection scores in the 1% to 19% range.

This means that you must be transparent and honest about your use of Gen-AI software within your assessments to avoid misconduct. Unapproved, inappropriate, or undisclosed use may be dishonest or unfair behaviour, and therefore considered misconduct.

What should I know about Grammarly?

The Curtin version of Grammarly is the only version accepted for use within any assessment task and its use will not be picked up within the Turnitin report as written by GenAI. Instructions on how you can access Curtin Grammarly is provided on the library website.

Do not use Grammarly Free, Premium, or Business versions. These versions all use GenAI prompting technology, and the use of this software will be picked up within the Turnitin report as written by GenAI.

What is Grammarly Authorship and can I use it with the Curtin version of Grammarly?

Grammarly Authorship allows students to document their writing process while working in Google Docs or Microsoft Word. By enabling Grammarly Authorship, you can generate a report that tracks your writing activity, which can be shared with your instructor if there are any questions about your writing process. It is recommended that you activate this feature when using the Curtin version of Grammarly by clicking the thumbprint icon.

Can I use tools like Microsoft Copilot within Word?

Copilot embeds a large language model into the Microsoft Office suite. This is GenAI software and students need to be cautious about using it. Ensure you have permission before using Copilot as part of any assessment task.

Takeaway Point: If you are prompting Copilot (or any similar tool) to do something for you such as ‘write, rewrite, paraphrase, translate, or edit etc.’, this indicates you are using GenAI software and it will be picked within the Turnitin report as written by GenAI.

Where can I learn more?

Visit the library website on GenAI for more information.

Read the Academic integrity student guide [.pdf 2.4MB] which includes a section on the use of GenAI software.

Check out the GenAI use at Curtin website.