AI Engagement Plan

As part of my commitment to ethical, transparent, and purposeful engagement with generative AI in this course, I am outlining the ways I intend to use AI tools throughout the semester. My goal is to enhance my legal understanding, improve the quality of my written and collaborative work, and develop responsible digital literacy practices that reflect the expectations of academic and professional environments.

I plan to use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity to assist with brainstorming, outlining, summarizing legal concepts, and simulating opposing viewpoints during class simulations. These tools will serve as learning aids, not substitutes for my thinking. I will also use Grammarly for writing enhancement and clarity. I understand that AI should be treated as a thought partner—helpful in framing ideas or clarifying complex topics—but the final analysis, writing, and interpretation must be my own.

To ensure responsible use, I will verify all AI-generated content against authoritative sources before including it in any submission. I will not rely on AI to generate complete answers, nor will I use it during assessments where independent work is expected. I will follow the course policy by disclosing all uses of AI in my assignments. This includes identifying which tools I used, why I used them, examples of the prompts I submitted, and how I evaluated the quality and accuracy of the output. I will reflect on whether the AI supported or complicated my learning process.

Specifically, I plan to use AI during the early stages of writing to help brainstorm legal arguments or organize case analyses. During simulations, I may use AI to roleplay a client, general counsel, or mediator to test my thinking and surface alternative strategies. For studying, I’ll use AI to quiz myself on foundational terms or help explain complex doctrines. However, I will avoid using AI to draft complete responses or to fabricate citations or case law, and I will not use the same AI-generated material in more than one submission.

Throughout the course, I will reflect on the effectiveness of my AI use and adapt my approach as needed. I understand that part of my learning this semester involves not only gaining legal knowledge but also learning how to work ethically and effectively alongside emerging technologies. This engagement plan represents my good-faith commitment to that process.

Use of Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI

Background

Generative AI refers to a class of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems capable of creating new content such as text, images, audio, or video. These systems, including but not limited to ChatGPT, Claude, DALL·E, Stable Diffusion, Copilot, and Gemini, are trained on large datasets and produce outputs that may appear original but are synthesized from existing knowledge. These tools are increasingly integrated into professional, academic, and creative workstreams, and their use is growing rapidly. Students must be prepared to use AI responsibly, ethically, socially, and legally. AI literacy, the ability to understand, evaluate, and appropriately apply generative AI, is now a foundational aspect of digital literacy. The ability to use AI well is increasingly treated as a professional skill. However, students must also critically engage with concerns about bias, discrimination, accuracy, privacy, security, intellectual property, and the broader implications of using AI in academia, business, and government.

Purpose

In addition to Seton Hall University’s Academic and Professional Integrity Policy, this course-specific AI policy outlines the appropriate and ethical use of AI in all work that involves original thought, analysis, or written expression by the student, including discussion boards, blog posts, research papers or projects, and exams. AI should be viewed as augmented intelligence. It does not replace a student’s independent thinking, but can support learning and skill development. AI tools may enhance critical thinking, legal reasoning, communication, and collaboration, but their use must be transparent, limited, and ethically grounded.

Permissible Use

Students may use the following types of AI tools, as appropriate for each assignment:

Language-based tools: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.
Code generation tools: GitHub Copilot (where applicable)
Writing enhancement tools: Grammarly, Quillbot, etc.
Research assistance tools: Perplexity, consensus.ai

Permitted uses include:

Brainstorming ideas or organizing an outline
Role-playing or scenario generation for simulations
Clarifying legal concepts or summarizing case law (with verification)
Drafting alternative perspectives for comparison and critique

Guidelines for AI Usage

Understanding: Students must understand how each AI tool functions, including its limitations, biases, and potential inaccuracies.
Originality: AI may supplement, but never substitute for, your independent thought. All written work must reflect your analysis and reasoning.
Transparency: Every use of AI must be fully disclosed according to the AI Use Disclosure requirements outlined below.
Verification: All AI-generated material must be critically evaluated and verified against credible sources. AI often produces outputs that are inaccurate, misleading, or fabricated.
Non-substitution: AI may not be used to generate full responses to assignments or to complete work intended to measure your understanding.

Prohibited Use

Students may not use generative AI:

To generate content intended to be submitted as original work without significant revision and verification
To complete exams, quizzes, or assessments designated as “no AI permitted”
To generate responses submitted under multiple names or to multiple courses
To fabricate citations, references, case law, or quotations
To bypass or minimally edit AI output to appear original

Any violation of these standards will be considered an academic integrity issue and handled per university policy.

AI Use Disclosure

For each writing assignment, project, or submission that includes AI assistance, students must include a disclosure that addresses the following:

Identify the AI tool(s) you used (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini)
Describe the purpose of your AI use (e.g., brainstorming, outlining, language refinement)
Include 1–2 sample prompts or queries, with links to the generated output if applicable
Explain how you verified the accuracy of the AI-generated content
Reflect on what you learned from using AI and how it affected your approach to the assignment

Sample Disclosure:

I used ChatGPT to help brainstorm defenses in a digital contract dispute. Prompt: “insert actual prompt.” The model suggested several potential arguments, which I reviewed against case law and narrowed down to two credible defenses. AI helped surface common defenses, but introduced some incorrect terminology I had to correct.

Assignment Directions

Refer to individual assignment instructions and grading rubrics for specific permissions or restrictions on AI use. Some assignments may prohibit AI entirely, while others may encourage structured engagement.

Academic Integrity

This policy complements and reinforces the Seton Hall University Academic and Professional Integrity Policy. All students are expected to:

Ensure the authenticity of their work, even when AI tools are used
Avoid plagiarism and fabrication, including misuse of AI-generated content
Disclose all AI use as outlined above
Uphold the ethical use of AI consistent with standards emerging in professional and legal fields.

Violations may result in academic penalties, including failure on the assignment or course, and referral to the appropriate university authority.

Evaluation and Review

This policy will be periodically reviewed and updated to reflect advances in generative AI, student feedback, and institutional guidance. Feedback is welcome and may be submitted to your instructor. For Instructor Disclosure: To see how I use AI in developing ShannonWeb materials and instruction, read AI Use. N.B. This policy was developed using generative AI in consultation with Professor Susan O’Sullivan-Gavin. Updated: October 1, 2026

Academic and Professional Integrity

Students must follow the Academic and Professional Integrity Policy outlined in the Student Handbook. in addition to the specific Academic and Professional Integrity Policy of the Stillman School of Business:

Dependability: Candidates are reliable, timely, and consistent in their presence and preparation for courses at the university and in their field settings.
Respect and empathy: Candidates are respectful in their address, writing, language, and physical space toward faculty, university staff, school personnel, peers, and students in the field.
Open-mindedness: candidates respect the context and experience of others; developing the skills to use that information in classroom conversation, writing, and lesson planning.
Integrity: candidates submit original work, fully cite all sources associated with the development of their work (including information from the internet), and recognize that the university fully supports the use of anti-plagiarism software in support of academic integrity. (Original student work is expected. Any work containing plagiarized material will result in an automatic “0” for the assignment.)
Passion for the profession: Candidates display, in action, word, and commitment, their passion for the profession of teaching, the right for all children to positive and productive learning environments, and their access to recognition that life as a teacher means dedication to life-long learning.

Plagiarism is wrong. I strongly advise against engaging in any activity that might be considered or misinterpreted as or appear to be plagiarism. This sort of activity includes using someone else’s ideas or work and representing it as your own, failing to give credit to a source of information correctly, and paraphrasing another’s work without credit, among others. Plagiarism also includes using the text or internet to find answers to quiz and/or exam questions and/or collaborating with others when completing a quiz and/or exam.

If you are unsure of what constitutes plagiarism, you will find a good primer on the subject here. Please visit the site and review its materials carefully.

If you are wondering if there are any penalties for plagiarism, please visit the Seton Hall statement on Academic and Professional Integrity linked above.

If I discover that you have engaged in plagiarism, you will fail the course. If I conclude that you knew, or should have known, that your submission needed to be properly sourced or because you negligently did not take the steps necessary to avoid plagiarism, you will fail the course.

This policy includes a statement on the Use of Generative AI.

A Note on Sexual Misconduct

Our school is committed to fostering a safe, productive learning environment. Title IX and our school policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. Sexual misconduct — including harassment, domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking — is also prohibited at our school.

Our school encourages anyone experiencing sexual misconduct to talk to someone about what happened, so they can get the support they need and our school can respond appropriately.

If you wish to speak confidentially about an incident of sexual misconduct, want more information about filing a report, or have questions about school policies and procedures, please contact our Title IX Coordinator.

Remote Learning

In the event that circumstances, e.g., hurricane, COVID spike, demand it, we are prepared to adapt and return to a remote, synchronous learning environment.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to move to a fundamentally different set of delivery modalities, e.g., HyFlex, hybrid, remote, synchronous, or not, or some combination of approaches to teaching and learning. We are increasingly working remotely in order to accomplish our work. That remote modality demands that we adjust our understanding of acceptable protocols for attendance and participation, whether a meeting or course attendance, engagement and participation.

While working together using a digital platform, e.g., Teams, Zoom, Slack, etc. it is important that you join the session with a live camera and muted mic. A live camera helps to create a sense of community and will help all of us to engage effectively during our discussions. If you only unmute your mic when speaking we can avoid feedback, unsolicited input from family, pets and others as well as any random noise. If you cannot be seen or heard by your classmates it will be difficult to actively engage in course meetings. That will have negative implications for your grade results. Please review the Protocols for Online Meetings and Classes for more information.

Online Courses

Before you move forward with any online or hybrid/blended course, I suggest that you complete the short survey prepared by the Teaching, Learning and Technology Center (TLTC) to help you in your decision to pursue online learning.

Some of you may be unfamiliar with an online learning environment. While the subject matter is generally the same as a face-to-face (F2F) course the differences in platform and delivery are frequently a challenge for some students. Online courses require you to be self-directed and organize your work differently than your previous experience in F2F classes. Online does not mean less structure or work. It is not an “easier” course than one offered in a F2F environment.

It is important that you consider a number of factors before you enroll in an online or hybrid/blended course. Those factors include time management skills, learning style and technology skills and access. Online learning anticipates that you are an active learner … someone who is motivated, self-directed and stays on task. If you prefer a more traditional lecture style learning environment where you use class meetings as an organizing structure to complete your assignments then an online course may not be the best choice. In my experience, considering these factors is an important prerequisite to enrolling in a course that offers an online or hybrid/blended learning environment.

You do not have to be physically present in a classroom or attend at a set time, or place, to take one of my online courses. There are no scheduled class meetings in my online courses. If you are enrolled in an online course, you need to be self-motivated and stay on task. All of our course interactions will occur in the cloud using Teams and Blackboard. That said, however, you will have assignments that must be completed when due. We will use Teams as our primary communication and collaboration platform. Please DM me in Teams if you need to reach me or have a question. We use Team for our video conversations, when necessary.

If you are concerned with your comfort level with an online learning environment, please DM me in Teams. I am happy to discuss your concerns.

Recording

Recording of classroom lectures, discussions, reproduction of web-based course materials and the redistribution of those recordings or other class materials for any purpose, without my written permission, is prohibited. My purpose is to assist in maintaining student academic integrity, to protect student and faculty privacy, to respect my rights to instructional materials, and to enhance compliance with copyright law.

Audio or visual recording, transmission, distribution of classroom lectures and discussions or reproduction of web-based course materials is prohibited, unless I have provided express written permission (on syllabi, course sites, email, or signed document), and all students in the class have been informed that audio/video recording may occur, and any guest speakers have also given permission. Permission to allow the recording is not a transfer of any copyright in the recording.

Any authorized recording of lectures or class presentations, distribution of classroom lectures and discussions or reproduction of web-based course materials, when authorized, is solely for the purpose of individual or group study with other students enrolled in the same class. The recording may not be reproduced, and/or uploaded to a web platform and/or environment that are publicly accessible or accessible to others not enrolled in the class.

Recordings of classes, course materials, or lecture notes, distribution of classroom lectures and discussions or reproduction of web-based course materials, when authorized, may not be exchanged or distributed for commercial purposes, for compensation, or for any purpose other than study by students enrolled in the class. Public distribution of such materials may constitute copyright infringement in violation of federal or state law, and/or University policy. Course materials include outlines, slides, presentations, readings, or any other content made available to students by me, including those made available through any course reserves system, learning management system, or equivalent.

It is not a violation of my policy for a student determined by the Office of Disability Support Services (DSS) to be entitled to educational accommodations to record or adapt classroom lectures or course materials for personal study. Students entitled to accommodations including recording must provide written notification to me from DSS. The restrictions on third-party web and commercial distribution set out apply to these cases.

Students must destroy any approved recordings at the end of the semester in which they are enrolled in the class unless they receive the instructor’s written permission to retain them or are entitled to retain them as an accommodation authorized by DSS.

Violation of this policy may subject a student to disciplinary action.

N.B. Policies of other Universities consulted in preparing this policy include those from the University of Virginia and Rutgers University.

Plagiarism

Cheating Is Wrong Plagiarism is wrong. I strongly advise against engaging in any activity that might be considered or misinterpreted as or appear to be plagiarism. This sort of activity includes using someone else’s ideas or work and representing it as your own, failing to give credit to a source of information correctly, and paraphrasing another’s work without credit, among others. Plagiarism also includes using the text or the internet to find answers to quiz and/or exam questions and/or collaborating with others when completing a quiz and/or exam.

If you are unsure of what constitutes plagiarism, you will find a good primer at plagiarism.org. Please visit the site and review its materials carefully.

If you are wondering if there are any penalties for plagiarism, please visit the Seton Hall statement on Academic and Professional Integrity.

If I discover that you have engaged in plagiarism, you will fail the course. If I conclude that you knew, or should have known, that your submission needed to be correctly sourced or that you negligently did not take the steps necessary to avoid plagiarism, you will fail the course.

Note on Instructor Practice: Transparency is part of accountability. You are required to disclose AI use where applicable; I disclose mine as well. See AI Use for my statement on AI use in developing course materials and instruction on this site.

This policy includes the statement on the Use of Generative AI included in the Course Policies section of this site.

One last thing …

If you are enrolled in my course, you have agreed to conduct yourself according to this policy on plagiarism. There is no opt-out alternative!

Engagement

Engagement, i.e., attendance, preparation, participation, and successful and timely completion of course deliverables, is mandatory. You will only succeed in our course if you engage.

It’s that simple.

Your performance will improve if you attend class regularly, are well prepared AND participate effectively in the learning environment, whether F2F or digital.

Yes … it IS that simple!

You are an important part of the team, including your professor and classmates, and you create an effective learning environment. Your engagement in our course learning environment plays a significant role in my assessment of your performance, in other words, the grade you earn in our course. Our course will demand a substantial investment of time and effort, and so will require a significant amount of preparation. You need to be self-motivated and stay on task to succeed. Dr. Jeffrey Bennett has developed some terrific “Hints on How to Succeed in College Classes” that I strongly suggest you review before we begin our course.

I will take attendance every time we meet in class. I will even take attendance if we have a class meeting in a virtual environment using a video conferencing platform. While our meetings will consist of lectures and discussions, I am not a big fan of the “Sage on the Stage” teaching model. Discussion will be the primary form of interaction in our course. Of course, those discussions will be both F2F and digital. We will use various technology-supported platforms to support our interactions, both in and out-of-class meetings. Your engagement in our digital discussions, whether enrolled in a F2F or web-based course, will also be an important part of my assessment of your performance.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to move to a fundamentally different set of delivery modalities, e.g., HyFlex, hybrid, remote, synchronous or unsynchronous, or some combination of approaches to teaching and learning. We are increasingly working remotely to accomplish our work. That remote modality demands that we adjust our understanding of acceptable protocols for attendance and participation, whether a meeting or course attendance, engagement, and participation.

While working together using a digital platform, e.g., Teams, Zoom, Slack, etc., you must join the session with a live camera and muted mic. A live camera helps to create a sense of community and will help all of us to engage effectively during our discussions. If you only unmute your mic when speaking, we can avoid feedback, unsolicited input from family, pets, and others, and random noise. If your classmates cannot see or hear you, it will be difficult to engage in course meetings actively. That will have negative implications for your grade results. Please review the Protocols for Online Meetings and Classes for more information.

Remember, if you consistently are unprepared or even underprepared, it will be very difficult to fully take advantage of our course learning environment. That lack of engagement is a lost opportunity for you and will reflect poorly when I assess your performance.

The Engagement Rubric below, adapted by Professor Sara Calhoun Davis from The Teaching Professor, forms the basis for assessing your course engagement.

Engagement Rubric
	A	B	C / D	F
Peer Interaction	Actively supports, engages, and listens to peers (ongoing)	Makes a sincere effort to interact with peers (ongoing)	Limited interaction with peers	Virtually no interaction with peers
Preparation	Fully prepared for every aspect of the course	Mostly, if not fully, prepared (ongoing)	Preparation is inconsistent	Rarely or never prepared
Participation	Plays an active role in discussions (ongoing)	Participates constructively in discussions (ongoing)	When prepared, participates constructively in discussions	Comments vague if given; frequently demonstrates lack of interest
Contribution to Class	Comments advance the level and depth of dialogue	Relevant comments are based on assigned material	When prepared, relevant comments are based on assignments	Demonstrates a noticeable lack of interest on occasion
Group Dynamics	Group dynamics and level of discussion are often better because of student engagement	Group dynamic and level of discussion are occasionally better, but not worse, because of student engagement	Group dynamics and level of discussion are sometimes disrupted by student’s engagement	Group dynamics and level of discussion are often disrupted by student’s engagement

You can influence my assessment of your course engagement positively by

Becoming more active and/or making more effective comments that raise the overall level of discussion and set examples for others, and
Asking thoughtful questions that will enhance discussion and engage peers and
Listen carefully to, support, and engage your peers in discussion. This will essentially improve others’ learning experience.

That said, you can also influence my assessment of your course engagement negatively if you

Do not engage in the course regularly through attendance, preparation, and participation, even though you meet attendance requirements. Even though you may have submitted assigned work, your contribution will not have added to the course discussion or
Dominating discussions, thereby restricting others’ participation and
Disrupting others’ opportunity to listen and/or participate, or
Making negative, offensive, and/or disrespectful comments during discussions or
Violating the privacy of individuals, or
You may not use electronic devices such as a cell phone, tablet, or computer for personal or unrelated coursework during class unless instructed to do so. There are no exceptions.

Deliverables

Reading

You will have reading deliverables for each class meeting … they must be completed before you arrive for class. If you are not prepared for class it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for you to engage effectively in our class. If you consistently do not engage effectively in class discussions it will have a negative impact on your performance and, therefore, my assessment of your performance. Your success in our course will require you to actively participate in the discussions that we conduct in person and in the cloud. The difference between engagement in a F2F and an online course is really about the platform.

Writing on a Digital Platform

Many of you may be unfamiliar with writing in a digital platform. Since this may be the first time that you will work in a digital platform I suggest that you review Professor Gerald Lucas’ essay, Writing Top Ten, as a starting point. If you are unfamiliar with the appropriate way to source your digital writing, and most of you will be, please review his discussion of Digital Citation for additional guidance on citation when using a digital platform. Since the correct use of hyperlinks will be important to your success in our course discussions I recommend that you consider his advice on using links in your digital writing.

When you use digital platforms to support your submissions you must incorporate multimedia (audio, video and images) in all of your writing deliverables. It is important for you to transition from thinking in terms of text on paper to a text+ environment. As Bo Ren suggests in his essay Why I Believe in Text,

“The future of text is going to be text+ (text + multimedia e.g. photos, videos, gifs, podcasts etc). … readers and users want text+ for a faster, more immersive, gratifying consumption experience. Multimedia stories are the future of text.”

If you have never used Teams before, visit the Microsoft Teams for Education – Quick Start Guide and video training for Teams.

Writing and Research

Many of your course deliverables will involve research and writing. Those assignments will also require that you meet both content and form requirements. I describe the requirements of each deliverable in terms of minimums to provide you with the opportunity to exceed those minimums. Most deliverables involve the use of digital platforms to deliver the content you have developed.

The content requirements are straightforward. You must provide a thoughtful, substantive and well-reasoned submission that draws upon the course readings and materials and that details your perspective and analysis of the implications of the issues raised in the question(s) posed. It is also important that you address the ethics issues raised by the assignment. You must also include sources sufficient to support all aspects of your submission.

The content requirements represent a significant expectation of performance. I may set a minimum requirement for the number of sources used in your submissions. I expect that your sources will be sufficient, both in quality and number, to support the breadth of analysis that I have described above.

The form requirements are equally straightforward. These form requirements are generally described in terms of a minimum word count and the use of live, in-text hyperlinks in lieu of footnotes/endnotes (please see Writing on a Digital Platform above). When you use digital platforms to support your submissions you must incorporate multimedia (audio, video and images) in all of your writing deliverables.

My assessment of your submission will be based upon the extent to which you meet the minimum requirements as to content and form required by that particular deliverable. You can improve your prospects for a strong outcome by exceeding the minimum requirements of the deliverable, i.e., expanding the scope of your content and analysis of the question posed, including addressing potential ethics issues, broadening the scope of the sources used to support that content and analysis, and meeting the form requirements outlined above.

It is important to remember, though, that if you simply meet the minimum requirements the result will be an average grade.

Writing deliverables will be completed using a digital platform unless otherwise specified. Please see your course syllabus for the specific assignment requirements.

Do not post a Word document, pdf or Google doc unless the deliverable specifically requires it.

Connectivity

When taking a quiz or exam, please be certain that your broadband connection is reliable and stable. My students in past semesters have occasionally experienced connectivity issues. In the past, this type of connectivity problem arises as a result of an interruption in your connection (a hiccup in your broadband connection) to Blackboard or where the test has opened in a new tab or window. When that happens your connection times out in the first tab/window while you are working in the second. That has the same effect as the first possible cause … your connection to Bb is interrupted. Your quiz/exam stays active in the second tab/window but stops recording questions because the connection was interrupted due to the timeout in the first tab/window. Your best option is to be sure that your browser opens the quiz/exam in the same tab/window where you originally logged into Blackboard.

Most frequently connectivity issues arise when using Wi-FI particularly when using a public Wi-Fi hotspot. It is best if you avoid public Wi-Fi hotspots when taking a quiz/exam. Be certain that your Wi-Fi connection is strong and stable. I suggest, if possible, that you connect your computer directly to your Internet source (router) via an Ethernet cable. This should assure that you have a stable connection while completing the course assignments.

If your connection is interrupted, I suggest that you exit Bb, login again, try to reenter the same quiz/exam attempt and finish the quiz/exam.