Monday, March 25, 2024

#lilac24 Plagiarism and AI tools: An example of linking information- and digital literacy in your teaching

 Pam McKinney from the first session after lunch at the Lilac conference, on Plagiarism and AI tools: An example of linking information- and digital literacy in your teaching by Anna-Lena Hoh. Anna is based in the Netherlands at Maastricht University, which is a very international university. She works across the university supporting digital literacy. There is a cross-institutional working group on digital literacy, and there is activity to develop teaching and support in this area. They use the ACRL definition of information literacy, which seems very standard, but there seems to be a wide range of definitions of digital literacy in use in the Netherlands. Anna spoke of the "battle of the literacies" where there are many competing conceptions and definitions of information and digital literacy. She encouraged us to think about the theoretical similarities between these models, for example, academic digital creation, ethics, safety.  All student assessments are digital, so students need support in using digital tools. 

They run a plagiarism workshop which includes elements of how chat GPT can be used ethically.  They asked students to define how ChatGPT tools fit within current definitions of plagiarism, and look in detail at the current rules and regulations and whether the use of chatGPT is allowed.  The IL team worked with Anna to design teaching around use of AI tools. They did some experimentation with a range of AI tools, to see where they thought they could offer meaningful support for the institution.  They have monthly sessions now for staff to encourage critical appraisal of the tools, and explore disciplinary differences in the tools. There is a need to combine information and digital literacy experts in supporting use of AI in the institution.

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