Top 10 Tips for Students

Don't assume the learning strategies that worked for you last year will work this year, or that what works in one class will work for another. Also, don't assume that learning will be easier or harder in an online, hybrid or in-person class.

Your learning in this moment of time will be up to you, and you might be best served by taking the opportunity to revisit and perhaps even re-invent the way you study and learn. 

The AI Office likes and endorses the strategies offered to you by The Commons. Briefly, they are:

1. Identify your learning spaces
2. Know your course
3. Stay organized
4. Build your learning community
5. Stay engaged

The Academic Integrity Office wants you to stay away from non-UC San Diego resources/websites/tutoring companies that advertise themselves to you as being "helpful", or "caring" about you, or "learning platforms". They are none of those things. Most of these sites are predatory - they don't care about you or your learning. They want your business and they have been known to use the personal information you give them for their own profit - they have even been known to extort/threaten the very students who are their customers!

You should also avoid relying on artificial intelligence (like ChatGPT) to cognitively off-load your academic work. The tools aren't reliable, you don't know how your privacy and security is being compromised, and you could be offloading your learning.

You are very fortunate at UC San Diego as our campus is rich with resources for you. Through the Commons, the Library, OASIS, Academic Success Coaches, and many, many other units, virtual services are available to you.

Here are just some of the virtual campus and in-person resources that exist to help you learn and thrive in your academic studies:

1. Your course instructor and IAs. They are your first resource. So many instructors and IAs mention that students don't take advantage of their assistance - whether in "office hours" or by appointment/request. Reach out to them first if you're struggling.
2. The Teaching + Learning Commons offers several resources through their Academic Achievement Hub, such as:
   1. Personalized Learning Strategies Tutoring
   2. Content Tutoring
   3. Supplemental Instruction & Study Groups
3. Writing Consultations & Workshops
4. Student Success Coaching available virtually from the Student Success Coaching Program.
5. OASIS Programs offer support programs regardless of what year you’re in.
6. Check with your academic department for any available online/ virtual tutoring options

Ask yourself these questions:

• What core values guide your everyday decisions and actions?
• What values are you most proud of or would want others to know?
• What values would you want people to think of when they think of you?

Learning isn't easy - there are stressors and pressures not normally present in your life. Keeping a tight focus on your core values will help you stay true to who you are. Go deep when you think about these values. We're not talking about things like "success" or "graduating" - those are extrinsic or performance-oriented goals. What are the values underlining those things? For example, for some the value is "caring" because success and graduation means that they are better positioned to care for their loved ones. For others, the value is "learning" because success and graduation means that they have learned something.

Write down the 4-5 values that are most important to you and remember them when you are in situations that are difficult or challenging.

We suggest considering the 6 values of academic integrity:

• Courage
• Responsibility
• Honesty
• Fairness
• Trustworthiness
• Respect

How can you approach every day and every decision with these values in mind?

It is tempting to focus solely on passing a class or getting a degree while you are in university. After all, grades matter. However, grades and degrees only matter - they only have value in society - because they are meant to be symbols of something else - something more fundamental: learning, knowledge, skills, qualities, and capabilities. Without these underlying fundamentals, grades and degrees are empty and meaningless.

Instead of focusing on your grades, focus on learning and on mastering the content and the skills you can gain while being a student (e.g., time management, self-discipline, organization, communication, teamwork, written communication, oral communication).

If you focus on learning, you will:

• Resist the temptation to use artificial intelligence (like ChatGPT) or to reach out to online sites/ outside services that promise things that are too good to be true (e.g., We promise to get you an A! We will help you write your paper and pass your course! Tell us your assignment and we'll get it done for you in 24 hours!)
• Reach out to your instructor and/or IAs when you are struggling because they know the content and assessment standards best
• Use the UC San Diego resources established to help you learn and help you develop learning strategies
• Be satisfied with your success and your failures, and not so focused on every single grade point
• Be less tempted to cheat to get that one more grade.

You are not a super hero - you are human.

So, know your limits. Attend to self-care. Tune into what your mind and body are telling you. Build in leisure and stress-reducing activities. Again, UC San Diego has you covered!

• Check out UC San Diego Recreation's The Playground! You can sign up for daily reminders to breath and stretch, as well as take advantage of their online recreational instructional videos.
• Sign up for Get Up Tritons! for daily tips
• Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) is always available for you.

Know your limits and communicate to your Instructor and your IAs.

• If you need to, ask for an #integrityextension - it's better to ask for an extension to complete an assessment than to cheat to get it done on time.
• Reach out to admit you are struggling and ask for help - we know it can be difficult to do this, but it is better to ask them for help then to go to non-UC San Diego services (that might lead to you being alleged with an integrity violation)

Remember that a "bad grade" earned honestly is much easier to overcome than a "bad grade" earned by cheating.

It is your responsibility to understand what is, and isn't, cheating in each of your classes. The rules might be different from class to class and even assignment to assignment.

1. Read the syllabus and course page(s) very carefully. Note what the instructor tells you about cheating, plagiarism and integrity and ask questions if it isn't clear.
2. Get a refresher on the values of UC San Diego. Take the Integrity Tutorial that you took in your first quarter here.
3. Remind yourself about proper citation and attribution practices when writing. Review the Library’s How to Cite resource.
4. Still not sure? Don't ask Reddit or WeChat or any other social media site. Ask us! You can always ask AI Office - no judgement. We're happy to give you advice. Just email us at aio@ucsd.edu or "walk into" our virtual front desk.

With the popularity of ChatGPT in the media, you may wonder if it’s cheating to use ChatGPT.

Participate in our ChatGPT poll and learn more about what the university thinks.

In any instructional environment, whether remote or in-person, you will form study groups or other helpful groups with your fellow students. This can be great for learning!

However, such groups can also, unintentionally, lead to integrity violations. We recommend that if you set up such study or learning support groups amongst your friends that you set clear boundaries for what you will, and will not, do for each other. And we recommend that you remind everyone that the purpose of the group is to help each other learn.

So, here are some boundaries we recommend:

1. We will not share our assignments, exams, essays, homework, or answers to any assessment with each other
2. We will not complete assignments or exams together when we were asked to complete them individually
3. We will be fully transparent with our professors and communicate to them who are study group mates are so they can check for themselves that we worked together with integrity
4. We will teach each other the material and we will share our knowledge, but not about the specific assignment or exam questions (unless we are allowed to collaborate, and then we will be transparent about that collaboration with our instructor).

We already said this under Tip #2 but it bears repeating - don't use ChatGPT and other GenAI tools (e.g., Bing Chat, Google Gemini, Grammarly) to complete your assessments unless you've been given explicit permission from the Instructor and then if you have, only use them in the manner they've authorized. Just using them for research? Don't! They are not designed for that and so they will give you false sources. You should use google scholar or researchrabbit instead. Using them for studying? Might be okay, but be careful - again, they confabulate (make up stuff) and so you could be learning the wrong things. Using them to summarize your readings instead of reading the original sources? Bad idea. Again, they make stuff up so the summary is likely not accurate.

And always stay away from online sites like Quizlet, StudyBlue, Chegg, CourseHero, Studypool, etc. Any site that offers you a platform for sharing material that isn’t yours to share (e.g., professor’s lectures, homework, assignments or exams; textbook solutions; article or book chapters) or hooking up with “tutors” who will “help” you complete your academic work. These sites are bad for you; not only do they hinder your learning, but they can result in an academic integrity violation.

Hundreds of students have been reported for using these sites.Do not let your temptation for a "good grade" negate your values and your focus on learning.

• Gut Feeling: Do you feel, in your gut, that the action you are about to do is an ethical one?
• Values Test: Would honesty, respect, responsibility, trustworthiness and/or fairness be upheld by your action?
• Standards Test: Would the action in the situation uphold the Academic Integrity Policy or the Instructor's course integrity standards?
• Exposure Test: Would you be okay if your action was exposed to the professor, the IA, your parent or the AI Office?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then it might be an unethical choice and you should reconsider engaging in it.

Don't let your friends get themselves into trouble by engaging in an integrity violation. If you see something about to happen, say something and try to stop it. You can do this by:

Recognizing the Ethical Issue (using the 4 tests in Tip 9)

Assess (All the possible IDEAs for Acting)

• Interrupt – the behavior to stop a potential academic integrity violation from occurring
• Direct – those involved to alternative actions that will allow them to excel with integrity
• Engage – others (e.g., other students, Tutors/IAs, &/or the Instructor) to discuss options or to respond
• Authorities – report the behavior to your supervisor, the Instructor &/or the Academic Integrity Office

Decide (on the best IDEA for acting in your particular situation by reapplying the 4 tests)

• Gut Feeling – which IDEA feels like it is the right one?
• Values Test – which IDEA upholds honesty, respect, responsibility, trustworthiness and/or fairness?
• Standards Test – which IDEA upholds course, professor or institutional standards?
• Exposure Test – which IDEA would you feel comfortable sharing with the Academic Integrity Office?