Gen AI Policy

Writing Consulting Policy on Generative AI

Approved by the 2024-25 Peer Writing Consultant staff (March 10, 2025)

Peer Writing Consultants are trained to support students as they develop confidence and proficiency as writers. For both consultants and the writers they work with, this requires skilled navigation of rhetorical, cultural, and technological factors—including Generative AI. 

The Writing Consulting program is committed to supporting all Albion College students as they learn to compose effective, authentic texts with or without Generative AI. We aim to do so in the following ways:

• We encourage students to talk about their AI-assisted writing during consultations.

• • • No student will be turned away for having used Generative AI.

• We respect course policies on the use of Generative AI.

• • • At the start of a consultation, Peer Writing Consultants routinely ask to review the assignment sheet or prompt with the writer, and in so doing may learn to what extent Generative AI is allowed. In the absence of an explicit statement in the assignment, consultants may ask about the course AI policy in the syllabus.
    • If it remains unclear whether use of AI is allowed, consultants will err on the side of caution and suggest that the student avoid its use. The consultant will not use Generative AI during the consultation and will advise the student to speak with their professor.
    • When an assignment permits or requires Generative AI, consultants may assist the student in using the technology according to the assignment guidelines. 
    • While consultants will do their best to gather all pertinent information, it is ultimately the student’s responsibility to disclose any parameters around AI use for the course or assignment at hand.

• We prioritize exploring the writer’s capabilities over the technology’s.

• • • Even when an assignment permits Generative AI, consultants may encourage students to practice critical thinking and problem solving in these specific ways:
      • Gather information on a topic by visiting individual source(s) and collecting source information
      • Brainstorm ideas for a topic by reflective writing or talking through diverse positions on an argument.
      • Outline ideas through visualization strategies like mind mapping
      • Reword ideas by soliciting a reader’s perspective or interpretation
    • While consultants receive some training in Generative AI (primarily ChatGPT), they are not experts. If faculty require particular use of Generative AI for their assignments, students should receive explicit guidance in class.

• We model critical, independent thinking about the implications of AI use.

• • Consultants have the choice of whether to use Generative AI in their sessions if the student’s assignment allows. Not all consultants are ethically comfortable using the technology, in which case they may explain their rationale to the writer and/or refer them to another consultant.