The University of West Florida has formed a task force to study how artificial intelligence can be used to teach and how students can use it to learn, even as colleges nationwide work to stop AI-powered cheating. The group, made up of faculty and staff, is weighing the benefits of the technology against the risks of misuse.
AI has changed the pace of academic work. A paper that once took hours can now be generated in seconds. Lauren Adlof, assistant professor of instructional design at UWF and a member of the task force, said AI use has grown quickly across campus.
"It has grown exponentially since I've been here," Adlof said. "And we realized students are using it, faculty are using it, and staff are using it."
Adlof said UWF employees are already using AI to create lesson plans, organize information, and analyze data. She described the university's approach as thoughtful rather than fearful.
"In education, we don't need to be afraid of AI, but we do need to be thoughtful of AI," Adlof said. "Students need the opportunity to demonstrate what they can do without the AI tool. They also need instruction and direction for how to use AI appropriately because those tools are used in the workforce as well."
Cheating still drives the conversation
Even as UWF explores what AI can do for learning, misuse remains a problem. A recent case at Alcorn State University went viral after history professor Dr. Jason Gibson caught 32 of his 35 students using AI on an assignment. Gibson had embedded a trap in the assignment post that exposed students who used AI to complete the work.
UWF said it does not collect data on how often its students cheat with AI.
Dr. Michelle Horton, executive director of UWF's Office of Teaching, Learning, and Technology, said AI is forcing instructors to rethink how they design assignments. That could mean breaking a large paper into smaller steps rather than waiting for a final submission at the end of the term.
"They may want to start scaffolding the assignment and doing bits of it at a time and working through areas where they can understand if a student is learning along the way, rather than at the end of the semester when a student produces a 10-page paper," Horton said.
"AI has caused a disruption in education from the beginning," Horton said. "Really what has resulted from that is rethinking how we assess our students, how learning is happening using the tools now available to us, rather than focusing on detecting cheating alone through the use of the tools."
Detection tools still exist for staff to use. The university said AI rules will differ by class and will be listed in each course syllabus.
Why this matters for educators
UWF's approach points to where classroom AI policy is heading. The emphasis is shifting from catching cheaters to designing assignments that show whether students learned the material. For faculty, that means scaffolding larger projects, stating AI rules clearly in the syllabus, and building in chances for students to work without AI assistance.
Teachers who need help making those calls can work through AI for Teachers courses on classroom integration, or follow AI for Education articles on classroom tools and learning optimization. The Alcorn State case is a reminder that misuse still happens. UWF's task force is evidence that the response can go beyond policing.
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