Guidelines for responsible use of AI in learning and teaching

Artificial intelligence is developing fast, and AI competence is already considered part of civic skills. Organizations and educational institutions are researching and developing the use of artificial intelligence in parallel, even though practices have not yet been established. In the future, there will be more similar applications and models, and their functionalities will continue to develop. At the Lapland University of Applied Sciences, we continuously monitor the development of artificial intelligence technologies and update our guidelines accordingly. We want to encourage and motivate our students and staff to utilize artificial intelligence.

Regardless of your role, consideration of principles for responsible use of AI is of high importance. These principles include essential practices based on law. Please, familiarise yourself with the principles thoroughly.

Artificial intelligence skills are the workplace skills of the future

Artificial intelligence is a new skill for working life, and it is a good idea to learn the basics early on. You need these skills now and especially in the future.

• Use artificial intelligence as an aid and support in learning.
• Discuss and give feedback to your teacher on the success of using artificial intelligence.
• Participate in discussions and share information: You are part of the university community, so discuss the ethical use of artificial intelligence and participate in initiatives by school communities and organizations to promote the responsible use of artificial intelligence.
• Maintain and develop your AI literacy to understand and evaluate the functioning and outputs of AI.
• Report errors and shortcomings related to the use of AI in teaching promptly.

The wise use of artificial intelligence supports learning

Using artificial intelligence helps you learn more effectively. That is why AI is often also referred to as supportive intelligence. However, you are always responsible for the content of your study assignments and the materials subject to evaluation. When you use AI tools, you should consider the following:

• Apply AI: You should understand the possibilities of AI applications in learning, working  and daily life.
• Know your responsibility: Develop your AI competence and be critical of what AI produces, because the author, in other words you, is always responsible for what they produce. That is, you are responsible for the content. Do not simply copy what AI produces without considering its accuracy. You should also make sure that any thoughts and ideas which do not have a source reference are your own or in the realm of general knowledge.  Keep in mind that artificial intelligence can hallucinate or produce misinterpretations and incorrect information. You can learn more about the challenges and limitations of artificial intelligence here, for example.
• Understand the limitations of artificial intelligence: Artificial intelligence systems are just software and come with limitations. Artificial intelligence lacks conscious content knowledge, understanding or responsibility. Understand these limitations so that you can assess the feasibility of using AI in different situations.
• Adhere to the general ethical principles, such as fairness, equality and respect.
• Always indicate any use of artificial intelligence in your thesis and in RDI activities.

Your teacher will instruct you in the use of artificial intelligence in different study modules in accordance with the recommendations of Arene’s (2024) Traffic Light Model.

Artificial intelligence in teaching

As a teacher, you are aware of the AI tools available in your sector and how they will impact the future of the sector. As a teacher, you know how to use AI yourself, recognise the practices in your sector and understand how students’ learning can be supported with the help of artificial intelligence. As a teacher, you are able to identify AI use that hinders learning and development.

As a rule, students are allowed to use artificial intelligence. It is important to guide students in responsible and appropriate use of artificial intelligence. This includes students reporting the use of AI in the outputs and being able to critically assess the information it produces. Teaching in universities of applied sciences is based on a competence-based approach. In the context of AI use, the planning of teaching focuses on how the use of artificial intelligence can support learning and the achievement of the pursued competence and how it is connected to the pursued competence.

Arene’s Traffic Light Model and the following may assist in the planning and implementation of teaching that uses AI:

• By experimenting, you will get a feel for how artificial intelligence works in the competence contents of your occupational sector.
• Use the Traffic Light Model to define how AI can be used in each learning assignment. Try various AI applications in advance to see what kind of answers they provide for the learning assignment.
• Prefer to create learning assignments that require activity and implementation, analysis and reflection.
• Instruct students to document their learning process and to reflect on what they have learned and to justify their choices. Feedback given during the learning process improves and supports competence development and enables you, as a teacher, to better monitor students’ competence development.
• Apply diverse methods of demonstrating competence. In addition to text, the output can be in video or audio format, a picture, a poster or a demonstration of verbal competence (by an individual or a group), etc.
• Guide your students to evaluate the  of their content and to combine information from different sources.
• Note the limitations of plagiarism detection programs.

Using artificial intelligence requires responsibility

• Many AI applications are free but require signing in. Do not use your UAS credentials when you create your credentials for such applications. An exception to this is Microsoft Copilot, to which students and personnel of Lapland University of Applied Sciences have access rights. For more detailed instructions on using the Copilot AI service, see here.
• You cannot enter copyrighted materials to AI applications without the author’s consent.
• Keep data protection in mind: Do not enter sensitive, confidential, or privacy-threatening information (name, contact details, date of birth, social security number, student number, etc.) into AI applications and platforms. This means you cannot enter research data containing confidential information into AI applications.
• Keep the data subject’s rights in mind: If you process research data with artificial intelligence, you need the consent of the research subjects / target group.
• We comply with the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act, which states that high-risk systems are not developed as part of the studies (including theses).

Instructions for Handling Academic Misconduct

Using AI in theses, learning outputs and publications of Lapland UAS

Research is subject to scientific research criteria and ethically sustainable data collection, research and evaluation methods (see e.g. Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR), TENK, 2023). Please note that the use of AI is also subject to limitations and ethical principles related to good scientific practices (see, e.g. the EU Guidelines). Note the following at the outset:

• You yourself are responsible for all the material you produce.
• You are free to use various artificial intelligence (AI) services for familiarizing yourself with the topic, generating ideas, and conducting information searches. You may utilize AI during the preparation phase to brainstorm key themes and the structure of your work, as well as to explore research methods. AI can also be used to help identify search terms, plan and conduct information searches, generate ideas, understand complex concepts, solve problems, check language and style, and assist in analyzing research data—provided that ethical principles are observed.
• Always remember to cite the original source. Every text has an author behind it (a person or an organization, not a program or application). Therefore, AI is not considered a scientific source, and text content produced by AI must not be used directly in a thesis. When using AI, the conventions of academic writing must be followed. Ideas, information, wording, or any other material originating from others may not be presented without proper referencing.
• The most reliable information can always be found in peer-reviewed research publications. The use of AI does not replace the skills required for searching and utilizing scientific knowledge.
• In the written part of the thesis, students are required to report the use of AI transparently. The use of AI must be indicated in the Introduction section of the thesis or, alternatively, in the Methods section if it was part of the research methods. The section must specify which AI applications were used and how they were used. (An example: “The authors used the Copilot version GPT-5 AI tool in the preparation of the text of this thesis to outline the thesis structure and familiarise themselves with and list ideas for the possibilities of the platform economy in Chapter 2.1 of the thesis, and, finally, for proofreading. The authors have reviewed and edited the content created by the tool and take full responsibility for the text content.”)
• AI must not be used in the maturity test.

What is the basis of the AI policies?

ARENE’s recommendations on the use of artificial intelligence for universities of applied sciences.

REGULATION (EU) 2024/1689 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence and amending Regulations (Artificial Intelligence Act).
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202401689

Lapland UAS Code of Conduct

In addition, the use of AI in teaching and learning is governed by the ethical guidelines available on the European Commission’s website.
https://op.europa.eu/fi/publication-detail/-/publication/d81a0d54-5348-11ed-92ed-01aa75ed71a1