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AI Unleashed: Navigating Ethical Integration of Generative Tools in an Undergraduate Classroom

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Conference

2025 ASEE Southeast Conference

Location

Mississippi State University, Mississippi

Publication Date

March 9, 2025

Start Date

March 9, 2025

End Date

March 11, 2025

Conference Session

Professional Papers

Tagged Topic

Professional Papers

Page Count

14

DOI

10.18260/1-2--54202

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/54202

Download Count

56

Paper Authors

biography

Bryn Elizabeth Seabrook University of Virginia

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Bryn Seabrook is an Assistant Professor in Science, Technology, and Society at the University of Virginia.

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Abstract

As generative AI tools increasingly permeate educational settings, the need for a critical examination of their integration in undergraduate classrooms becomes paramount. This paper establishes a general understanding of AI technologies and their implications for teaching and learning. Faculty are asked to explore the ethical considerations inherent in employing these technologies, challenging the notion of their inevitability. While AI presents transformative opportunities for enhancing learning, it also raises significant ethical dilemmas regarding equity, privacy, and academic integrity. Educators share the responsibility to teach about how innovations should reduce the risk of bias, including AI. At the same time, faculty often lack resources to develop skills for effectively discussing AI ethics with students, colleagues, and other communities. There is no nationwide consensus on how these tools should be used in higher education. Scholars like Ethan Mollick, José Antonio Bowen, and C. Edward Watson have published extensively on establishing a general understanding of AI tools, including preliminary guides for exercises that can be translated in classroom practices. While these works are informative and timely, they also rely on the assumption that AI adoption is inevitable. This paper aims to move beyond these preliminary discussions in order to introduce faculty to a new narrative about the inevitability of AI. Specifically, this paper aims to empower educators to become informed advocates for ethical AI practices, ultimately shaping a classroom environment that balances innovation with integrity. By rethinking the role of AI in higher education, faculty and students alike can practice a reflective and responsible approach to technology use, ensuring that the benefits of AI are harnessed without compromising core educational values.

Seabrook, B. E. (2025, March), AI Unleashed: Navigating Ethical Integration of Generative Tools in an Undergraduate Classroom Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Southeast Conference , Mississippi State University, Mississippi. 10.18260/1-2--54202

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