Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-2025
Abstract
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is disrupting traditional assumptions about law students’ authorship of their written assignments. Faculty are concerned about their ability to tell whether students are writing their own papers or simply using AI tools like ChatGPT. This article offers practical strategies for addressing this problem, focusing on teaching and grading practices that promote transparency, accountability, and learning.
It recommends that faculty require students to include AI use certification cover sheets with their papers, disclosing whether and how they used AI tools during the writing process. The article also explains how faculty can shift from purely summative to use more formative assessments, which provide insight into students’ thinking and help them improve their analysis and writing. It suggests that faculty assign shorter, staged tasks and require students to use AI for some of them. Faculty can review AI chat transcripts to better understand student thinking and provide well-focused feedback.
Rather than trying to determine whether students used AI tools, these approaches give faculty better methods to assess authorship and promote learning. They also help faculty adapt their teaching practices to the realities of AI-influenced writing. The article includes sample language for syllabi, grading rubrics, and assignment design.
Recommended Citation
John Lande,
Did Your Student or a Bot Write This Paper?: Teaching and Grading in the Age of AIUniversity of Missouri School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2025-49
(2025).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/facpubs/1363