In 2025, Justin Olmanson, Azadeh Hassani, and Minji Jeon, investigated how students use generative AI. This work yielded a six-level taxonomy:
- Not for me: Don’t know how, too risky, don’t need it, I want to learn…
- Escape: Either (L1) Don’t want to, no time, low energy, or (L2) Too tedious, peripheral, meh…
- Get me going/started: help me: plan, brainstorm, find sources, write a first paragraph, get me unstuck…
- Feedback please: Critique my thinking / work and make suggestions, keep me company…
- Help me learn: Explain concepts / ideas, guide me, test my understanding…
- Magnify my work: Help me be more creative, productive, and ambitious…
Research shows that there is rarely consensus among students at all levels as well as among faculty in terms of what constitutes cheating (Gallant and Rettinger, 2025). This is an even larger issue with the growing ubiquity of generative AI and the many ways it can be used. For example, there are ways of using AI as a study partner, much in the same way as working with other students as part of a study group. In your class, is this cheating or an allowed use of AI? For other examples of how ambiguous some initially obvious-seeming policies may be, read chapter 2, “Communicating Integrity,” in The Opposite of Cheating (2025)—available online through the libraries.
Because of the confusion of how AI may be used, Olmanson and several CEHS colleagues have made use of the taxonomy to help students better understand how AI may or may not be used in their classes. Below is the policy Olmanson used in his TEAC 259 course (Reproduced with permission.)
Example Policy
Course: TEAC 259: Instructional Technology
Justin Olmanson PhD
Artificial Intelligence Policy:
Struggle and effort are an important part of learning, developing professional skills, and producing work that is yours. AI should not replace your struggle and effort but rather, should be used to support your learning, and expand your analysis, critical thinking, problem-solving, and production.
The use of AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini is allowed in this course under particular circumstances. For homework and projects, you must clearly indicate your use of A.I. tools and provide appropriate documentation of exactly how the tool was used. In this course we use the categories of AI use for learning and coursework (see Table 1).
Table 1: Six Categories of Ai use for learning and coursework.
| AI Use Category | Examples | Status and Directions |
| Do all the work for me | Using AI to complete a last-minute class project because you were too tired, ran out of time, or didn’t see the point of the project. | Prohibited. Instead contact the instructor & talk it out. |
| Do my busywork | Using AI to complete course projects or parts of projects because you feel they are repetitive or will not help you learn anything. | Discouraged without permission. Contact instructor. |
| Get me going/started | Using AI to summarize instructions, help with planning, write an outline, write a first sentence, or get you unstuck. | Allowed. Document your use & include in the project. |
| Give me feedback | Using AI to check your thinking or work, give you encouragement or suggestions about where your project is: strong, missing something, or next steps. | Allowed. Document your use & include in the project. |
| Help me learn | Using AI to explain new or difficult concepts or procedures step by step or holistically by using accessible language and examples. | Allowed. Document your use & include in the project. |
| Magnify my work | Using AI to go beyond what the assignment or project requires | Encouraged. Document your use. |
Table 2: Prompt examples for each category of A.I. use for learning and coursework
| A.I. Use Category | Prompt Examples | Rationale |
| Do all the work for me | “Please use the assignment instructions below and the attached rubric and source documents to complete the assignment for me. I've also attached a previous similar assignment that I did so that you can use my style and voice.” “Use the picture of my calculus quiz to give me the answers to each question.” | Why: Prohibited. When AI does your work for you, you don’t learn anything and you lose the chance to develop professional skills and a good work ethic. |
| Do my busywork | “Write me a short summary of the attached article that I can post on a canvas discussion board.” “Clean up my citations and put them in APA format.” | Why: Discouraged without permission. Let your instructor know that you do not see the learning potential in the task. |
| Get me started/going | “I’ve got this assignment and I’m not sure how to get started, here are the instructions below, summarize what the assignment is asking me to do and give me two things I could do to get started. This is for class so do not offer to do my thinking for me.” “I’m stuck on the calculus problem in the screenshot. I’m supposed to find the volume of a solid of revolution. I found the intersection points of the two curves but I don’t know what to do next, give me a hint.” | Allowed. Using AI to get you started or unstuck is permissible, but if you are not careful it will try and do the entire task for you, so be clear that you only need a nudge to get some momentum. |
| Give me feedback | “Take a look at my first draft of the project I’m working on as well as the project instructions and rubric below and give me your honest assessment. Tell me what looks good, what needs work, and what grade you think I would get if I turned it in now. Do not offer to make any changes for me, just act as a supportive teacher.” | Allowed. Getting feedback in a timely fashion can be difficult, AI offers one of the fastest ways to get suggestions. Just be sure to tell it to offer feedback only. |
| Help Me Learn | “Help me understand the concept of predicting reactivity in organic chemistry, treat me like a beginner and, if possible, use relationship or basketball metaphors.” “Probe my understanding to see if I fully understand the concept of translanguaging. When you notice gaps in what I know, help me fill them.” “Pretend to be Lev Vygotsky and let me ask you questions about your theory of the Zone of Proximal Development.” | Encouraged. AI can be a useful way to learn new concepts, test your understanding, or learn in a new way. |
| Magnify My Work | “I’m supposed to write song lyrics about the Civil War (see my lyrics pasted below). Can you help me write a heavy metal musical score for the song?” “For my theater class I need to read three plays by the same author and then chart the playwright’s growth over time. I want to do this for not just three plays by Shakespear but all of them, can you help me?” | Encouraged. Using AI to take control of your learning can allow you to explore topics outside of course expectations but within your interests. |
This policy is based on recent work in learning and coursework in higher education:
Olmanson, J., Hassani, A., & Jeon, M. (2025). A Taxonomy of Generative AI Use for Learning in Higher Education. Proceedings of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) 2025 Conference, Research and Theory Division, Featured Research. https://doi.org/10.35542/osf.io/8ajbg_v1
Olmanson, J., Hassani, A., & Jeon, M. (Under Review). A Taxonomy of Generative AI Use for Course-Related Independent Learning in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.35542/osf.io/zebk4_v1