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Ed tech firm urges universities to develop AI policies, integrate technology
A large educational software company is urging university leaders grappling with the exponential growth of artificial intelligence to tackle the issue promptly, as a recent study found more than 90 percent of college students currently use AI.
Genio, a popular educational software company for note-taking, recently rolled out a free AI policy template for colleges and universities that provides a framework on how administrators can best approach the growing paradigm shift.
“Absence of [an AI] policy is itself a policy decision,” said Josh Nesbitt, chief technology officer of Genio, in a recent interview with The College Fix.
Nesbitt said he’s alarmed by a study published earlier this year that found 92 percent of undergraduates are already using AI tools, while only 36 percent of students are receiving support to develop AI skills.
Many institutions are “essentially abandoning their students to navigate this complex landscape alone,” he said. Without guidance from college leaders, students who have AI skills will have a “significant advantages over those who don’t,” Nesbitt said.
Genio’s customizable eight-page template covers topics such as purpose, guiding principles, AI in assessment and academic integrity, ethical considerations, and risk mitigation.
The template outlines 10 principles that should guide AI use within the institution, with an emphasis on a human-centric, ethical, and responsible approach.
Genio also strongly recommends the establishment of an AI Governance Body responsible for overseeing policy implementation, ethical considerations, and promoting AI literacy.
A section on “AI in Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum” suggests faculty have “discretion and guidance” to determine permissible AI tools, which must be clearly communicated in syllabi.
Institutions are also encouraged to “integrate AI literacy and ethical AI considerations into relevant curricula.”
Nesbitt said AI can be used “to free faculty from unproductive friction so they too can focus on what they do best: teaching, research, and mentoring.”
“AI can be used as a gym – a place for training, challenge, and growth – or as a diet pill, a way to bypass effort in the hope of fast results. One builds skill and habit, the other builds dependency,” Nesbitt told The Fix.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for AI education in K-12. Nesbitt said colleges must embrace AI education too. Using AI in education is not about allowing students to be lazy but rather to create “productive friction that promotes learning,” he said.
The key for faculty is to use AI under “the principle of augmentation rather than replacement” and with heavy “transparency,” he said.
Nesbitt also said he recommends that colleges and universities help faculty stay current with AI developments through training to understand how to model appropriate AI use for students.
Nesbitt added that since AI detection “is fast becoming impossible” academia should focus on “upfront declaration” in “a trust based system to ensure the use of AI only serves to enhance educational quality.”
But there are challenges to creating an AI policy. First off, Nesbitt said, is “the element of the unknown.”
Many faculty are unfamiliar with AI and some are resistant to change, he said. What’s more, AI is changing at an astonishing rate which can leave a policy outdated quickly.
“Departments often have different, and sometimes competing, needs or concerns regarding AI,” he said.
With that, the primary goal is to develop a comprehensive policy that empowers each campus group, he said. Once in place any AI policy will have “to be regularly updated while maintaining consistency in enforcement” and should be viewed as “an iterative process,” he added.
AI education in colleges “needs to be embedded across disciplines” rather than “an elective,” Nesbitt said.
An example of AI usage could be “having students submit the prompts they used to generate AI responses, explain their rationale for using AI in that context, and critically evaluate the outputs they received,” he said.
AI usage in higher education could also change the way testing happens. Nesbitt suggested tests should “move beyond traditional assessments that can be easily completed by AI toward project-based learning, to alternatives such as oral assessments and portfolios that demonstrate genuine understanding and application.”
He said he sees students becoming more of “an active participant in its [knowledge’s] construction.”
“The ultimate vision is that students are capable of leveraging multiple AI tools to support their individual learning styles while preserving the essential human elements of education: curiosity, critical thinking, and the joy of discovery,” he said.
Genio’s AI policy template is available for download.
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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: An artificial intelligence illustration / Canva
