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Generative AI Fair Use Guidelines for NECO Students
The New England College of Optometry (NECO) encourages the responsible and ethical use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance learning, foster innovation, and prepare students for a future shaped by intelligent technologies. At the same time, NECO affirms the importance of academic integrity, critical thinking, and professional accountability in all student work.
To this end, students are expected to adhere to the following guidelines when using AI tools in academic, clinical, and research settings (click the drop-downs to learn more):
Authorized Tools
Transparency and Attribution
Academic Misconduct
Critical Engagement
Faculty Expectations and Course Policies
Professional and Clinical Responsibility
Respect for Others’ Work
Consequences of Misuse
Violations of these guidelines may be treated as breaches of NECO’s Academic Integrity Policy and subject to disciplinary action.
NECO reserves the right to update these guidelines as AI technologies evolve and as institutional values and accreditation standards require.
Best Practices for NECO Student Generative AI Use
While it may be tempting to delegate all your work to an AI tool, AI systems are imperfect and prone to errors, inaccurate information (hallucinations), and inherent biases. As a human using AI, you are responsible for quality, thoroughness, and accuracy; the same is true for any AI output presented in your work.
This includes checking the reliability of sources and including your unique perspectives, analysis, and insights. Before using generative AI tools for studying or coursework, be aware of the following (click the drop-downs to learn more):
When you are using generative AI tools, note that you are NOT permitted to share course content or anything else for which you do not own the copyright in any way or with anyone.
Refer to your faculty of record’s course syllabi for their AI use policy within a given course.
How can students use generative AI as a study aid?
In general, generative AI tools can:
- Summarize or explain complex topics
- Generate practice questions
- Generate study guides
Google Notebook is particularly useful for studying purposes:
- Organize notes: Use Notebook to create a digital notebook for each course. Organize your notes by topic, and use tags to easily find specific information.
- Annotate textbooks and articles: Import PDFs of articles into Notebook. Annotate them with highlights, comments, and questions.
- Collaborate with classmates: Share notebooks with classmates to collaborate on study groups, discuss concepts, and share resources.
- Create flashcards: Use Notebook to create digital flashcards for memorization. You can even quiz yourself within the app.
Generative AI 101
Generative AI Toolkit
These tools are all NECO-approved. Click on the box below to learn more about each.
Similar to ChatGPT, but can also process and generate images, audio, and other forms of media.
Can summarize documents, create study guides, timelines, FAQs, and audio overviews. See also: How to Use Google’s NotebookLM to Organize Your Research
“AI-powered academic search engine.” Includes 200M+ peer reviewed scientific papers.