UC Irvine Division of Teaching Excellence & Innovation

Generative AI
for Teaching and Learning

Rapidly evolving generative AI tools include text-generating AI chat services (e.g., ChatGPT, Bard, Claude), as well as image-generating, audio, and video AI tools. These machine learning-powered tools are increasingly integrated into our daily communication apps, word-processing software, and technology broadly. In order to best serve our students, we need to engage with generative AI in meaningful ways across the curriculum.

At one level, generative AI tools are no different than any other tools with regard to their impact on teaching decisions. Faculty will need to consider how to leverage tools to benefit student learning, asking question such as:

  1. How can this help me prepare course materials or handle administrative aspects of instruction?
  2. How, if at all, can they help students master my course outcomes?
  3. Where, if at all, in my course should I be explicitly teaching how to use the tool?
  4. Where, if at all, is it appropriate in my course for students to use the tool independent of goals one and two?

Faculty also need to be aware of pitfalls and dangers, such as:

  1. How might use of the tool negatively impact students’ learning in the course?
  2. What equity and access issues does the existence of the tool raised for my course?
  3. How will I address concerns with data privacy breaches, intellectual property protection, algorithmic biases, and ”hallucinations”, situations where generative AI provides false information?

Ultimately, individual faculty will need to make decisions based on the context of their course, course objectives, students’ academic progression, and disciplinary-specific goals of their students’ learning experiences.

One of the challenges faculty have in making these decisions is that the tools are potentially moving faster than research into the use and impact of the tools. However, UCI has significant expertise in this space, and we will continue to update the information as we learn more from research. The following links provide important resources in this space.


Links to UCI statements and materials

A Statement from UCI Writing Pedagogy Experts

Teaching writing and communication, including digital tools, depends on context. Instructors and curriculum designers must consider students’ needs, disciplines, and academic progression. We assert the following:

  1. Students deserve quality writing and communication instruction, which promotes critical and creative thought, as well as good writing and communication habits.
  2. Students should learn about various tools – digital and analog – so that they better understand the capabilities, limitations, creators, purposes, and societal + environmental impact of these tools.

Resources

Relevant Statements on AI Tools

The OVPTL AI Advisory Committee has curated several relevant statements on the use of AI tools from various professional and educational arenas. Faculty may find these statements useful to consider as they make decisions related to AI tools in the classroom.

Relevant Statements on AI Tools from Professional and Educational Arenas

This document is periodically updated. If you have questions, please contact Waverly Tseng (waverlyt@uci.edu).

DTEI Events on Generative AI

In Spring 2025, DTEI hosted a speed round-style pitch competition in which several faculty shared their ideas on how AI can be leveraged by faculty and departments to make teaching more efficient and effective. Watch the videos below to learn more about innovative uses of AI to enhance teaching!

On May 21st, 2025, DTEI hosted a panel with School of Humanities where faculty shared their varied approaches to incorporating or moderating AI in humanities courses, including the strategies employed and perspectives on the potential role of AI in students’ writing development. Watch the recording below to learn about GenAI in Humanities courses.

OVPTL AI Advisory Committee

The OVPTL AI Advisory Committee was established in Fall 2025 with the mission of providing advice to the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and the Associate Dean of the Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation regarding the intersection of generative AI and instructional practices

Daniel M. Gross

Campus Writing & Communication Coordinator [chair]

Waverly Tseng

Educational Technology Specialist, Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation

Sarkis Daglian

Director of AI, Cloud & Client Solutions, Office of Information Technology

Jonathan Alexander

Chancellor's Professor, School of Humanities

Elisa Borowski

Assistant Professor, Samueli School of Engineering

Leanne Burke

Clinical Professor, Samueli School of Engineering

Liz Glynn

Professor, Claire Trevor School of the Arts

Tingting Nian

Associate Professor, Paul Merage School of Business

Bob Pelayo

Associate Teaching Professor, School of Physical Sciences

Megan Peters

Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences

Tetyana Vasylyeva

Assistant Professor, Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health

Adrienne Williams

Assistant Professor of Teaching, Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences

Tom Yeh

Assistant Professor of Teaching, Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences

Segio Gago-Masague

Associate Professor of Teaching, Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences

Council on Educational Policy, UC Irvine Academic Senate

Jean-Daniel Saphores

Professor, Samueli School of Engineering

Graduate Council, UC Irvine Academic Senate

Luyi Gui

Associate Professor, Paul Merage School of Business

Council on Teaching, Learning, and Student Experience, UC Irvine Academic Senate

 This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 23152984.  

© 2023 The Regents of the University of California