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AI Usage

click here to download a PDF of these guidelines

 

Valley View Local Schools

AI Usage Guidelines: When to use AI on your schoolwork

This guide uses a simple traffic light system to help you know when it's okay to use
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for your school assignments. Always remember that your
own learning and original ideas are the most important things!
 

🟢 Green Light: GO! (AI Use is Good!)

AI can be a super helpful tool to make your learning and work better, when you use it the right way.

  • Learning & Coming Up with Ideas:
    • Use AI to get new ideas for a project, quickly understand a long article, or get simple explanations for tough topics.
    • Make practice questions or flashcards from your notes.
  • Checking Your Work:
    • Use AI to find mistakes in your grammar or spelling, just like a spell-checker.
    • If you're writing computer code, AI can help you find errors or show you how to write something correctly.

🟡 Yellow Light: CAUTION! (Use AI Carefully)

You can use AI here, but be very careful, do most of the work yourself, and always tell your teacher.

  • Planning & Starting Your Work:
    • AI can help you organize your thoughts, create an outline for an essay, or write a very rough first draft for parts that aren't the main ideas.
    • You MUST change, rewrite, and add a lot of your own original ideas and writing. Don't just copy what the AI says and say it's yours.
  • Beginning Research & Organizing Info:
    • AI can suggest words to search for when you're doing research, or help you sort out information you've collected.
    • You are responsible for finding, checking, and citing (telling where you got) all your actual information yourself. AI can't do your research for you.

🔴 Red Light: STOP! (NEVER use AI This Way--It's Cheating!)

Using AI in these ways is like cheating and will lead to serious problems at school.

  • Turning in AI's Work as Your Own:
    • Copying and pasting anything from an AI tool (like essays, answers, or code) and pretending you wrote it yourself, without adding much of your own work or telling your teacher.
  • Using AI on Tests or Quizzes:
    • Using an AI tool during any test, quiz, or assignment where you're supposed to work completely on your own.
  • Creating Bad Content:
    • Using AI to make up false information, spread harmful ideas, or create anything that breaks school rules.

 

Remember: AI is just a tool, like a calculator or a computer. It can help you, but it can't replace your own brain! Your teachers want to see your understanding, your smart thinking, and your unique voice.