🤖 AI Use in This Class: Expectations & Best Practices
AI tools can be powerful supports when used properly and major obstacles when used poorly. In this class, AI is treated like any other professional tool: it can help you think, plan, and improve your work, but it cannot replace your thinking, creativity, or technical skill.
This page explains when AI use is appropriate, when it is not, and what is expected of you across all course focus areas.
🎯 The Big Idea
AI should help you:
- Think more clearly
- Plan more effectively
- Solve problems
- Improve your work through feedback
AI should not:
- Do the work for you
- Replace skill development
- Remove decision-making from the process
If AI is doing the core creative or technical work, it is being misused.
✅ Good Times to Use AI
AI is encouraged when it supports thinking, planning, and refinement.
🧠 Planning & Idea Development
- Brainstorming project ideas
- Refining a vague idea into a clear one
- Stress-testing whether a project is realistic
- Helping generate questions, outlines, or checklists
Example:
“Help me turn this idea into a clearer project plan.”
✍️ Writing Support (Notion, Proposals, Reflections)
- Rewording ideas more clearly
- Checking tone and clarity
- Expanding reflections based on your own notes
- Helping structure an explanation
Example:
“I wrote this reflection. Help me improve clarity without changing the meaning.”
🛠️ Technical Problem-Solving
- Troubleshooting software issues
- Explaining how a tool works
- Helping you understand why something went wrong
- Suggesting workflows or efficiency tips
Example:
“My audio isn’t exporting correctly in Premiere. What are common causes?”
🎨 Feedback & Revision
- Asking for critique on work you already created
- Identifying areas for improvement
- Comparing two design choices
Example:
“Here is my poster layout. What could be clearer or more effective?”
❌ Bad Times to Use AI
AI is not allowed when it replaces your learning or creative output.
🚫 Creating the Final Product for You
- Writing full scripts, reflections, or proposals from scratch
- Designing posters or graphics for you
- Generating full video concepts shot-for-shot
- Producing finished copy you did not meaningfully write
If the work does not sound, look, or think like you, it is a problem.
🚫 Replacing Skill Development
- Letting AI decide edits instead of learning Premiere
- Letting AI design instead of practicing Photoshop
- Letting AI generate models instead of designing in TinkerCAD
You are here to build skills, not outsource them.
🚫 Hiding AI Use
- Copying AI output without understanding it
- Submitting AI-generated work as your own thinking
- Avoiding effort by “letting AI handle it”
If you cannot explain your work, you did not do the work.
🎬 AI Use by Course Area
🎬 Premiere Pro
Appropriate
- Help planning a shot list or structure
- Troubleshooting export or audio issues
- Feedback on pacing or clarity
Not Appropriate
- Writing full scripts or voiceovers for you
- Deciding all edits or transitions
- Replacing hands-on editing practice
🖼️ Photoshop
Appropriate
- Brainstorming layout ideas
- Getting feedback on hierarchy or clarity
- Help understanding tools or effects
Not Appropriate
- Generating final designs
- Choosing all colors, fonts, and layouts
- Skipping the design process
🛠️ 3D Printing
Appropriate
- Brainstorming functional solutions
- Thinking through design constraints
- Troubleshooting print issues
Not Appropriate
- Generating full models
- Avoiding iteration and testing
- Printing designs you do not understand
🧾 Transparency & Responsibility
You are expected to:
- Use AI intentionally
- Be able to explain your decisions
- Show evidence of process and iteration
- Own your final work
You may be asked:
- How AI helped you
- What decisions you made yourself
- Why you chose a specific approach
Not being able to answer these questions is a red flag.
⚠️ Bottom Line
AI is a tool, not a shortcut.
If AI helps you:
- Think better → good
- Learn faster → good
- Work more professionally → good
If AI helps you:
- Avoid thinking → not okay
- Avoid learning → not okay
- Avoid effort → not okay
When in doubt, ask.
Using AI well is a skill. Using it poorly will hurt your learning.