Using genAI at Deakin
I think it's going to really change how we do things. I think it's one of those big pivotal points in time where the world kind of changes.
Will Cook, student, Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Cyber Security
AI should be viewed as a tool to enhance human capabilities, increase productivity, and drive innovation.
Josh Kilinc, student, Bachelor of Computer Science
Will
I think, it's going to really change how we do things.
I think it's one of those big pivotal points in time where the world kind of changes.
And, you know, it's kind of like when the Internet came along, emails came along.
Rohan
I think the one thing that makes generative AI different from other tools is that it's easy.
It allows very easy access to information and it reduces the friction between,
you know, Googling something and going to links, actually finding it yourself.
But what's really tricky is that every tool that you use ... ChatGPT, Gemini,
Bard... anything, it says that the information may not be accurate.
So a lot of the time, if I'm using it for something serious, I have to check that anyway.
So it's really just a lot more work for me. So definitely I use it and
I double check, I fact check things when I'm using it for something important.
Will
I mainly use it in law for kind of helping me come up with some ideas for essays and assessments.
So I'll kind of have a conversation with general AI and discuss some of my ideas with it,
and genAI can come back to me and say, Well, could I improve it somehow?
How could I improve it? Could I make it more critical or could I make it more brief or specific?
Or what can I really do with the different assignment questions?
And how can I build upon my initial kind of points or research areas I'm going to focus on for a particular essay?
You have to remember that everything you get from ChatGPT is what the internet is.
So there there are biases in the internet. There are people who lean certain ways, as you know, you get high speech on the Internet.
All those kinds of certain different things you get will be part of ChatGPT's answer.
So it's important to make sure that you critically think about what you're getting back.
Kaviya
I remember for one of our units, we had to do a summary of whatever content we had learned.
We had to do a summary and put it in our own words and also use technical terms.
So initially I wrote it on my own and then I used AI just to enhance my ideas to give me more ideas,
plus to then maybe a look at my writing skills and enhance my writing.
It did a pretty good job, but sometimes it has some inaccuracies,
so you really have to read through the content you get from the A.I., because sometimes it's not what you expect to get.
Rohan
Actually, I was taking one of my math units at the time and I was using ChatGPT with it - it was kind of a new thing at the time,
and I was having some trouble with one of the questions, so I asked it to explain it to me.
It went so wrong. Oh, one really important thing to realise is that it cannot be fully trusted.
It's not a source of truth, it's really the information that it's getting is mostly from the web and the data that it learns.
So it may not necessarily be right. So if you're using it for something important like an assignment or you're learning something off it,
it is really, really - and I cannot stress this enough - it's really important to check things yourself because there's been cases where I know
a lot of friends who submitted proper assignments with it and they made no sense.
Everything the AI wrote made no sense. So you really have to fact check those things.
Kaviya
I would say if they want help from AI, they can seek help
but to not become too dependent on AI, they should think of it like: What if one day there's no ChatGPT and none of those things?
So would they still be able to do the assignment or would they not be able to do it?
Will
And you want ChatGPT to just output a response and when you don't understand what it's actually
doing because there may be other things in there that you didn't actually anticipate in the first place.
It's important to critically think about what it's outputting.
Rohan
Don't try to use it to write your assessments, use it to learn to write.
That might be a better way of putting it.
If you're trying to write something about, let's say, the Constitution, you can use it to learn things about what the Constitution is,
learn what it is, and then write it in your own words rather than copying what that AI gives you.
I feel like that using the AI to tutor you rather than to write for you is a much better way to write your assessments.
Kaviya
I was still my first year in my second trimester and everyone was telling me to just use ChatGPT, it's easier.
I was sceptical at first, but then I realised that it can be quite helpful, that it can help you,
but just don't be too dependent on it because I know people from the same field as me,
different universities, different regions, and they are like one of my friends told me that they don't know anything about coding.
Because they just use ChatGPT, which does all the work for them.
But then when you're looking for a job, you will have a technical interview
to do. So I don't think I will be able to help in that case.
Will
You also have to be careful when it comes to actually asking it to summarise a piece of information,
because there may be key points in there that you're missing out on that
the AI doesn't think are important, but are actually important for what you're studying.
So now it's always important to make sure you're reading the thesis statement or the introduction at least,
and the conclusion just to kind of get a sense of what the actual article is about and not just kind of an overall summary of it.
And if there's more information you want to get from it, just read the whole thing.
Kaviya
Everyone uses AI now, mostly everyone, but they just need to know how to use it, learn how to use it, and to not just copy.
Will
Generally stay away from actually asking it to write things for you, rather focus on
you actually doing the writing and it giving you feedback, a bit like a tutor.
Rohan
Don't use generative AI to write your assessment. It's very obvious a lot of the time and sometimes it does make really dumb mistakes.
Will
Everyone always thinks that ChatGPT is the only AI tool out there.
But I think it's important to have a look at different ones available, have a play around with them.
There's not a whole lot of guidance on the Internet for when it comes to these tools.
So, you know, trial and error I think is your best friend when it comes to it.
Will
I think, it's going to really change how we do things.
I think it's one of those big pivotal points in time where the world kind of changes.
And, you know, it's kind of like when the Internet came along, emails came along.
Rohan
I think the one thing that makes generative AI different from other tools is that it's easy.
It allows very easy access to information and it reduces the friction between,
you know, Googling something and going to links, actually finding it yourself.
But what's really tricky is that every tool that you use ... ChatGPT, Gemini,
Bard... anything, it says that the information may not be accurate.
So a lot of the time, if I'm using it for something serious, I have to check that anyway.
So it's really just a lot more work for me. So definitely I use it and
I double check, I fact check things when I'm using it for something important.
Will
I mainly use it in law for kind of helping me come up with some ideas for essays and assessments.
So I'll kind of have a conversation with general AI and discuss some of my ideas with it,
and genAI can come back to me and say, Well, could I improve it somehow?
How could I improve it? Could I make it more critical or could I make it more brief or specific?
Or what can I really do with the different assignment questions?
And how can I build upon my initial kind of points or research areas I'm going to focus on for a particular essay?
You have to remember that everything you get from ChatGPT is what the internet is.
So there there are biases in the internet. There are people who lean certain ways, as you know, you get high speech on the Internet.
All those kinds of certain different things you get will be part of ChatGPT's answer.
So it's important to make sure that you critically think about what you're getting back.
Kaviya
I remember for one of our units, we had to do a summary of whatever content we had learned.
We had to do a summary and put it in our own words and also use technical terms.
So initially I wrote it on my own and then I used AI just to enhance my ideas to give me more ideas,
plus to then maybe a look at my writing skills and enhance my writing.
It did a pretty good job, but sometimes it has some inaccuracies,
so you really have to read through the content you get from the A.I., because sometimes it's not what you expect to get.
Rohan
Actually, I was taking one of my math units at the time and I was using ChatGPT with it - it was kind of a new thing at the time,
and I was having some trouble with one of the questions, so I asked it to explain it to me.
It went so wrong. Oh, one really important thing to realise is that it cannot be fully trusted.
It's not a source of truth, it's really the information that it's getting is mostly from the web and the data that it learns.
So it may not necessarily be right. So if you're using it for something important like an assignment or you're learning something off it,
it is really, really - and I cannot stress this enough - it's really important to check things yourself because there's been cases where I know
a lot of friends who submitted proper assignments with it and they made no sense.
Everything the AI wrote made no sense. So you really have to fact check those things.
Kaviya
I would say if they want help from AI, they can seek help
but to not become too dependent on AI, they should think of it like: What if one day there's no ChatGPT and none of those things?
So would they still be able to do the assignment or would they not be able to do it?
Will
And you want ChatGPT to just output a response and when you don't understand what it's actually
doing because there may be other things in there that you didn't actually anticipate in the first place.
It's important to critically think about what it's outputting.
Rohan
Don't try to use it to write your assessments, use it to learn to write.
That might be a better way of putting it.
If you're trying to write something about, let's say, the Constitution, you can use it to learn things about what the Constitution is,
learn what it is, and then write it in your own words rather than copying what that AI gives you.
I feel like that using the AI to tutor you rather than to write for you is a much better way to write your assessments.
Kaviya
I was still my first year in my second trimester and everyone was telling me to just use ChatGPT, it's easier.
I was sceptical at first, but then I realised that it can be quite helpful, that it can help you,
but just don't be too dependent on it because I know people from the same field as me,
different universities, different regions, and they are like one of my friends told me that they don't know anything about coding.
Because they just use ChatGPT, which does all the work for them.
But then when you're looking for a job, you will have a technical interview
to do. So I don't think I will be able to help in that case.
Will
You also have to be careful when it comes to actually asking it to summarise a piece of information,
because there may be key points in there that you're missing out on that
the AI doesn't think are important, but are actually important for what you're studying.
So now it's always important to make sure you're reading the thesis statement or the introduction at least,
and the conclusion just to kind of get a sense of what the actual article is about and not just kind of an overall summary of it.
And if there's more information you want to get from it, just read the whole thing.
Kaviya
Everyone uses AI now, mostly everyone, but they just need to know how to use it, learn how to use it, and to not just copy.
Will
Generally stay away from actually asking it to write things for you, rather focus on
you actually doing the writing and it giving you feedback, a bit like a tutor.
Rohan
Don't use generative AI to write your assessment. It's very obvious a lot of the time and sometimes it does make really dumb mistakes.
Will
Everyone always thinks that ChatGPT is the only AI tool out there.
But I think it's important to have a look at different ones available, have a play around with them.
There's not a whole lot of guidance on the Internet for when it comes to these tools.
So, you know, trial and error I think is your best friend when it comes to it.
Generative AI (genAI) refers to AI platforms that draw on large data sets and use machine learning to generate unique text and media outputs. Some well-known platforms include ChatGPT, Microsoft Co-pilot and Google Bard. Many long-established tools such as Grammarly and Photoshop also have genAI capabilities.
The applications of genAI in the arts, IT, architecture, law, business, and many other disciplines are expanding and evolving rapidly. GenAI can also be more broadly used in your studies to explore ideas in an intuitive and conversational way or to get writing feedback.
This guide was co-designed with Deakin students. It provides introductory advice for undergraduate students and focuses on the use of text-based genAI platforms.
Many Deakin undergraduate students are already using genAI for different study tasks, including brainstorming and getting writing feedback. Undergraduate students should be particularly cautious when using genAI. The less expertise you have in a discipline, the greater the risks there are in using and relying on these tools.
When we asked Deakin students how they should be using genAI, they agreed that it should be used in a way that is both beneficial to learning and supports acting with academic integrity. They were also aware that different genAI platforms were better for some study tasks than others, and that for some tasks it was not appropriate to use at all. In this guide we cover some of the most common uses by Deakin students.
Remember to always read assessment instructions carefully and check with your unit chair if it is acceptable to use genAI in your assessment.