OP-GDL-01 – Artificial Intelligence Guidelines
| Effective Date: | August 2024 | Review Date: | As Required |
| Document Status: | PUBLISHED | Original Version: | 2024.1 – Located on the ITS Staff Portal |
| Authorised by: | Chief Executive Officer | Document Owner: | Alexander Mueller |
WARNING! – UNCONTROLLED WHEN PRINTED! – THE ORIGINAL/LATEST/CURRENT VERSION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS KEPT IN THE I.T.S POLICY AND PROCEDURES MANUAL LOCATED IN THE STAFF PORTAL.
01. Objective
These guidelines aim to ensure transparency in the use and interpretation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within Intelligent Training Solutions (I.T.S.) for learning, teaching, assessment practices, and operational functions. They provide clarity on how AI, including ChatGPT and other similar software, can be utilised by students and staff, promoting responsible and ethical AI usage.
02. Scope
These guidelines apply to all students, staff and other individuals associated with Intelligent Training Solutions who are responsible for Artificial Intelligence (AI) usage in the context of learning, teaching and/or operational functions.
These guidelines consider:
- Awareness, literacy and usage of AI in the learning and teaching approaches conducted across Intelligent Training Solutions.
- Assessment artefacts and modes applied to assess student learning.
- Development, approval, use and management of AI software, systems or platforms developed or created for use by Intelligent Training Solutions.
- Approval, use and management of AI software, systems or platforms procured for use by Intelligent Training Solutions.
AI is a rapidly evolving technology that offers substantial opportunities for enhanced productivity, automation, and improvement. However, I.T.S. recognises that its rapid advancement also introduces risks that must be carefully monitored and mitigated. Intelligent Training Solutions is committed to addressing these risks appropriately.
Our guidelines will be regularly updated to reflect ongoing changes in AI applications and regulations. These guidelines should be considered in conjunction with other relevant governance documents, including policies, procedures, and work instructions.
03. Definitions
| Intelligent Training Solutions |
also referred to as:
|
| AI | Artificial Intelligence |
04. Guideline Statement
AI may be used at Intelligent Training Solutions for functions that support Intelligent Training Solutions strategic plan, including for administrative and operational functions and learning and teaching activities.
05. Ethical Principles of AI Usage
Intelligent Training Solutions acknowledges the voluntary Australian Artificial Intelligence Ethics Framework to guide the use of AI by staff and students of the college. These principles encourage and guide usage in a manner which is:
- Human-centred: Achieves safer, fairer outcomes of Australians. AI should bring beneficial outcomes for individuals, society and the environment for Intelligent Training Solutions and the broader community.
- Is fair: AI will be accessible and inclusive at Intelligent Training Solutions and monitored to ensure they do not perpetuate injustice and disparity, particularly to underrepresented and marginalised groups.
- Protective of privacy and security: AI systems and outputs will respect the privacy rights of staff and students at Intelligent Training Solutions. Appropriate mitigation measures will be enforced to reduce the risk of potential security vulnerabilities, unintended application and abuse risks.
- Transparent: Intelligent Training Solutions staff and students can understand when they are being significantly impacted by AI and understand when an AI system is engaging with them.
- Contestable: Where any AI system significantly impacts a member of the I.T.S community, there will be a timely process to allow people to challenge the use or outcomes of the AI system.
- Accountable: Human oversight of all AI systems and implementation will occur.
The use of AI at Intelligent Training Solutions must follow all applicable state and federal laws and meet regulatory requirements for Vocational Education and Training.
06. Operational Functions
Embracing the potential of AI, I.T.S seeks to leverage this technology across its operations, extending beyond learning and teaching into operations, procurement, and support. The rapid advancements in the field of AI have created numerous opportunities to engage with tools that can have a profound impact on productivity.
07. Operation Efficiency, Competitiveness and Adaptability
Intelligent Training Solutions supports a culture of continuous improvement with the usage of AI potentially enhancing operational efficiency across its RTO, in line with the Colleges operational and strategic goals.
AI technology may be used for a wide variety of operations to enhance consistency, speed, and organisational agility. It can also be implemented to identify issues, risks, opportunities, and control improvements.
08. Student Wellbeing and Support
Intelligent Training Solutions encourages the use of AI technology to enhance student wellbeing and support, with appropriate strategies for maintaining student privacy and obtaining consent to engage in AI content (and the associated ability to opt out if requested).
AI powered systems may support the provision of course and career advice, academic assistance, and wellbeing support. The use of AI systems will be utilised to enhance the student experience, assisting to ensure the regulatory requirements of Intelligent Training Solutions are continually met.
09. Appropriate Protections and Responsibilities
Intelligent Training Solutions will ensure that appropriate protections are in place to maintain data and privacy protections. This includes omitting staff or students’ personal details into AI programs such as ChatGPT when used as a free version or outside of Intelligent Training Solutions control such as a public computer.
Robust protection measures will be included in operational plans relating to data collection, retention and sharing, and the associated privacy considerations in line with legislation and regulatory requirements. Where necessary, consent will be sort for the use of AI in the use and analysis of data.
Information Technology Systems will be regularly updated and enhanced to ensure the suitability, reliability and protection of infrastructure for AI.
Staff and students are responsible for any content produced or published that includes AI-generated material.
10. Development and Procurement of AI Tools
At the time of writing these guidelines, Intelligent Training Solutions does not incorporate the use of AI technology in operational systems designed by Intelligent Training Solutions, for example, the student learner portal. Third party applications such as Monday.com etc… make use of AI technology. In these circumstances, Intelligent Training Solutions intends to apply these guidelines.
Intelligent Training Solutions supports both the development and procurement of AI tools to provide educational and/or commercial opportunities. The selection and purchase of AI tools require rigorous evaluation, considering factors like cost-effectiveness, scalability, ethical considerations, and compatibility with existing systems. The purchase of AI tools is subject the approval of the Chief Executive Officer and/or the directors of the company.
11. Learning and Teaching
Intelligent Training Solutions believes that AI can provide significant benefits to learning and teaching in vocational education. The inherent risks to academic integrity will be mitigated by the College in the following ways.
11a. Building Awareness, Understanding and Generative AI Literacy
Intelligent Training Solutions is committed to building AI literacy in all staff and students.
Intelligent Training Solutions academic and teaching staff have a crucial role to play in supporting learning and assessing the capability and competency of students. It is anticipated that the role of staff will progressively change and adapt to meet the ongoing changes AI will bring, however, their role will remain vital in student education.
Students are encouraged to explore and use AI technologies as tools for learning and research under the guidance of teaching staff. Course and unit coordinators must clearly define the extent to which AI tools can be utilised in coursework. Trainers and assessors will provide guidance to VET students on when AI technology can be utilised in learning and assessment activities. Student usage guidelines can be found throughout this document.
Staff are encouraged to stay informed about the ethical implications of AI and integrate responsible AI use into their teaching and assessment methods. Staff will have access to training tools, relevant to their needs.
11b. Learning, Teaching and Assessment Design and Practice
Intelligent Training Solutions requires staff to provide clear communication to students regarding the use of artificial intelligence as part of assessment practices. Authorised use, and limits of use, need to be clearly stipulated and communicated to students within the Unit Outline, and as part of learning, teaching and assessment details. Assessments should consider the potential use of AI tools, ensuring that the assessment measures students’ understanding and critical thinking skills.
Where AI is permitted, it is likely to impact the expectations made of students to demonstrate learning or attainment of learning at various stages of their studies. Regular review of learning outcomes and associated assessment is required to ensure that learning and assessment is focused on learning tasks not readily performed by AI.
11c. Academic Integrity and Misconduct
Academic Integrity is the cornerstone of our educational community. The responsible use of AI technologies can enhance learning and research opportunities, but it must be done with integrity and transparency.
Where questions of Academic Integrity arise, guidance can be found in the Academic Integrity Procedure.
Where a student has engaged in Academic Misconduct, the Student Misconduct Procedure provides guidance on the appropriate processes to undertake in the event of suspected academic misconduct.
12. The Colleges Defence Mechanisms
Intelligent Training Solutions is committed to meeting legal, ethical and regulatory requirements. To maintain its obligations, several defence mechanisms ensure data safety, privacy of staff and students and educational and research integrity.
Defence mechanisms include critical review of tools to understand:
- Purpose and Use: utilising tools that have a clear purpose and match the desired use requirements.
- Reliability and trustworthiness: utilising tools developed by reputable, trustworthy providers, with verification of the accuracy and reliability of data outputs. This includes the provision of adequate supports and training to ensure usability.
- Legal and ethical considerations: ensuring the products chosen for use across the College maintain the privacy and security of staff and student data; clear intellectual property and copyright requirements; ensuring equity of access and sustainable practices.
13. Student Usage of AI Technology
Intelligent Training Solutions students may use AI Technology to support their education to ensure that they are effectively building on their skills and knowledge within the content matter of the coursework they are currently working on.
For this reason, Intelligent Training Solutions will accept the use of AI Technology in a students work for the following reasons:
- Seek guidance on how to structure an assessment or response.
- Seek guidance on how to start a response to a question.
- Seek guidance on the information that should be included within a response.
- Seek information and ideas on the course information to complete the tasks required.
- Seek guidance on where to find information.
- Ask questions on material that a learner does not understand.
- To proofread the learner’s work.
- To receive feedback on the learner’s responses.
- Improve the learners written communication skills by refining language and style.
Important: Students must always write their responses in their own words and must not directly cut and paste the AI response into their coursework.
13a. Limitations of AI Technology
- Occasionally incorrect: Information and facts produced by AI products such as ChatGPT are remarkably accurate but are always stated with certainty despite being sometimes wrong. Current figures suggest that Chat GPT hallucinates 15-21% of the time.
- Unsubstantiated: It cannot create an academic reference list or explain where the information is from.
- Out-of-date: It operates offline and is trained from data from mostly pre-2021, so does not and cannot consider the most recent events or developments in a field.
- Biased: all datasets contain some form of bias, and AI will reflect any biases contained in its training data.
- Lower quality or generic responses: AI-generated responses often produce longer, more complex content that demonstrates a broad scope of knowledge on the subject matter. However, this can result in answers that are less direct and do not fully address the specific intent of the question.
- Often lack-lustre: AI generated outputs tend to be reasonably generic and lack the colour, nuance, personality and elegance that writing should have. Topics or questions that are complex, abstract, or require a deep understanding of a particular context are particularly challenging for AI models.
Where AI is used by students, it is their responsibility to ensure the content is thoroughly fact-checked and edited as required.
If a student cannot corroborate and confirm the facts in AI-generated content, they will not be permitted to use that portion of the content until its accuracy can be verified.
AI should be used to supplement the work of students, and at no time should it be relied upon to be used in place of the work of students.
Whenever students use AI-generated content, it must be clearly cited with a footnote and an accompanying comment indicating its use. This includes:
- Where the student has re-worded an AI generated response into their own words.
- Where the student has used AI technology to proofread their work and changes have been made based on the feedback from AI technology.
- Where the student has used AI technology for ideas and or guidance on what to write.
Prior to using any AI, students should source and read the privacy policy for the respective AI being used to fully comprehend the way in which personal and other information is collected.
If there is any question regarding the content of the respective AI privacy policy, students should consult their trainer.
Please refer to the Intelligent Training Solutions Student Help Centre for guidance regarding assessment misconduct.
IMPORTANT: Where a student is suspected of using AI Technology and AI Technology has not been referenced, Intelligent Training Solutions will treat each case as cheating or plagiarism and a result of Not Yet Competent will be awarded. Students will be required to resubmit their work with repeat offenders risking cancellation of their course and forfeiting all fees paid.
13b. How Students Must Reference AI Technology
Students that use AI Technology must reference AI Technology by:
- Providing the URL and name of the AI Technology used
- Providing the version number of the AI Technology used
- Providing the question, the learner asked the AI Technology to answer.
Referencing AI Technology must be included at the end of each question where AI Technology has been used to support the response to the question.
Intelligent Training Solutions will accept the following referencing within the workbook and the assessment.
EXAMPLE:
ChatGPT-4o (July 18, 2024) OpenAI Privacy Policy
Available at:
https://help.openai.com/en/collections/6864268-privacy-and-policies (Accessed: 27 January 2024).
IMPORTANT: Where a student is suspected of using AI Technology and AI Technology has not been referenced, Intelligent Training Solutions will treat each case as cheating or plagiarism and a result of Not Yet Competent will be awarded. Students will be required to resubmit their work with repeat offenders risking cancellation of their course and forfeiting all fees paid.
13c. How Students are NOT to Use AI Technology within Course Work
Students must ensure that they do not use AI technology in their coursework under the following circumstances, among others:
- Ask AI Technology to write the response to a question or assessment with the intent to copy and paste.
- Ask AI Technology to write a complete assignment response with the intent to copy and paste.
- Copy and paste responses from AI Technology directly into coursework.
- Share Intelligent Training Solutions resources with AI Technology by cutting and pasting Intelligent Training Solutions questions or course information directly into an AI system.
14. Accountability and Risk Mitigation
Intelligent Training Solutions has robust management structure and practices to ensure the ethical use of AI across all aspects of learning, teaching and operations.
The I.T.S managerial team serves as the ultimate accountable body, overseeing the strategic direction and ethical governance of AI initiatives. I.T.S governance documents, including policies and guidelines, will be regularly reviewed, and adapted to evolving AI technologies and regulatory changes.
Through established managerial structures, Intelligent Training Solutions will ensure that appropriate approvals are obtained for AI projects, including considerations for data privacy, fairness, and potential societal impacts. These structures provide a framework for evaluating the ethical implications of AI applications and ensuring alignment with institutional values and regulatory requirements. Transparency mechanisms, including clear reporting and documentation, will be utilised to demonstrate and provide clear decision-making. Training and awareness programs for staff and students, will be utilised to build a culture of responsible AI use in all learning and teaching and operational aspects.
Continuous monitoring and auditing practices will be utilised across the RTO to assess AI systems for bias, errors, and performance issues. These evaluations should inform ongoing improvements and adaptations.
15. Breaches and Complaints
Breaches of these Guidelines will be addressed under the Staff Code of Conduct or the Student Code of Conduct as appropriate. For complaints regarding AI usage please follow the Complaints Management Procedure.
16. Legislative Context
- Australian Skills Quality Authority ASQA – Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015
- Australian Qualifications Framework AQF
- National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011
- Other Federal and State Legislation and Regulations as appropriate
17. Responsibility
- The General Manager is responsible for monitoring the implementation and outcomes of this guideline.
- The Chief Operations Officer (as the Document Owner) or delegate is responsible for maintaining the content of this guideline document and scheduling its review.
18. Promulgation
The Artificial Intelligence Guidelines will be communicated throughout the College via:
- Intelligent Training Solutions Safety Culture app.
- Distribution of emails to Contractors / Support Staff / Trainers and Assessors / Directors / RTO staff
- Documentation distribution, example: Student Learner Portal
19. Implementation
The Artificial Intelligence Guidelines will be implemented throughout the College via:
- An Announcement Notice via the Intelligent Training Solutions Safety Culture App; and
- Staff and student induction/training sessions.
20. Guideline Approval and Publication
This guideline has been approved for publication by the Chief Executive Officer, Alexander Mueller.
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SIGNATURE | DATE: 01/08/2024
Revision History
POLICY DOCUMENTATION REGISTER
| REVISION | DATE | DOCUMENT VERSION | DESCRIPTION OF MODIFICATION |
| 1 | July 2024 | 2024.DRAFT |
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| 2 | August 2024 | 2024.1 |
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| 3 | December 2024 | 2024.1 |
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