Module 3: Ethical Standards in Teaching, Mentoring, and Professional Activities

The Science Education program within the School of Education hosts a STEM summer camp for middle school students called World Changers Robotics Camp. Doctoral student Shikhar Kashyap (at left) helps two campers with coding for their lego robot.

doctoral students helps middle school campers with coding their lego robot

Welcome to Module 3!

As a graduate student in the School of Education, you will have opportunities to engage in meaningful activities outside of your classroom studies. You may, for example, have a role as teacher or mentor. In these roles, and when you engage in professional activities in general, there are ethical standards that will guide your work, as well as your behavior and interactions with others.

This module will explore these ethical standards specific to teaching, mentoring, and engaging in professional activities. It will also identify how AI may impact your work in each of these roles.

After completing this module, you should be able to:

Describe ethical standards relevant to work in the areas of teaching, mentoring, and professional activities.
Explain Virginia Tech’s guidelines relative to the use of AI in the classroom.
Identify the limitations of AI tools for teaching and learning purposes in the classroom.
Apply to syllabi your knowledge of Virginia Tech guidelines relative to the use of AI in the classroom.

Teaching

Doctoral students in the School of Education may have opportunities to teach undergraduate courses or serve as teacher educators (e.g., supervising student teachers), while master’s students may participate in internships, practicums, and student teaching in local K–12 schools or serve in other education-related roles.

In these roles, candidates are expected to adhere to relevant professional and ethical standards associated with their program area and teaching context. These standards may include those aligned with program-specific frameworks, such as Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) (initial licensure), Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (Educational Leadership), International Literacy Association (Reading Specialist), or American Counseling Association (ACA) (Counselor Education), as well as applicable institutional, state, and federal policies (e.g., FERPA) or standards (e.g., Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation [CAEP], Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs [CACREP], Virginia Uniform Performance Standards [VUPS], etc.)

Program professors, advisors, and supervisors will provide guidance to ensure that you understand and are able to apply the ethical principles and practices relevant to your specific role and program.

AI & Teaching

Syllabus

The OUAI’s online Syllabus Requirements and Guidelines states clearly that instructors must provide undergraduate students with clear expectations relative to the University Honor Code and the use of AI software. Unauthorized use of AI software by undergraduate students may meet the definition of several categories of academic dishonesty in the UHC.

If you are assigned a role teaching Virginia Tech students, you should share the following information with them both early in the course and throughout the semester:

Be clear, specific, and transparent in your syllabus and in class discussions about if, when, and how students may use AI for their work in your course. Your policy may identify:

Prohibited AI use

Students may NOT use AI for any assignments in your course.
Use of AI for any purpose in your course would constitute a violation of the University Honor Code.

AI use for specific assignments

Students may use AI only for specific assignments designated by you. Clearly explain, and provide examples of, what this looks like.
When they use AI for these specific assignments, they must disclose how AI was used, with appropriate citations. Explain, and provide examples of, proper citation.

Permissible AI use

It’s okay for students to use AI for ANY assignment.
When they use AI for these specific assignments, they must disclose how AI was used, with appropriate citations. Explain, and provide examples of, proper citation.

Using AI in a supported environment can help to improve your students’ AI literacy, which is increasingly important in the workplace.

Using AI for academic work can also impact what content your students learn and what skills they develop. If using AI for a specific task or assignment will get in the way of that learning or development, share that with your students.

Explain why you chose your policies clearly, including pedagogical considerations such as how AI may help or hinder their learning and development as students and as future professionals in their field.

Explain how assignments will be assessed. If grades and other evaluations are of their own ideas and intellectual work, what they submit must be their own intellectual work.

Grading

If you’re concerned that your students are using unauthorized AI on your assignments, you may be tempted to use AI detection tools to “catch” them cheating. However, their use is not recommended.*

No AI detection tool is 100% reliable, and no such tool is licensed or endorsed by Virginia Tech. You may use a tool’s report to inform conversations with students about inappropriate use of AI, but may NOT use it to identify cheating. Proceed with caution, and remove all personally identifiable information (PII) from what you ask AI to analyze.

* Reports from AI detectors are not accepted by the OUAI as evidence for Honor Code cases.

Mentoring

“Mentoring plays an integral part in the [academic and] professional growth and development of graduate students at Virginia Tech” (Virginia Tech Graduate School, n.d.).

As a graduate student at Virginia Tech, you are expected to "seek out mentors and advisors to help [you] prepare for professional careers and responsibilities" (Virginia Tech Graduate School, 2025).

When working with your mentor(s), you have the following responsibilities:

Identify how you will communicate with your mentor (e.g., email), and stay in communication with them relative to your academic and research progress.
You alone must conduct your independent research for your degree. Your mentors and committee members may advise you, but may not conduct your research.

In the School of Education, you may also have opportunities to mentor other graduate students or undergraduate students in your field, helping them grow personally and professionally.

Since successful mentoring depends on a strong relationship of trust and respect between the mentor and their mentee, mentors should:

Be willing to invest time and energy in getting to know their mentee, including their interests, needs, goals, and concerns
Understand and appreciate differences in perspectives and cultures
Show respect for their mentee, regardless of their identities
Remain open to learning new ideas and perspectives
Share with their mentee resources relative to scholarly ethics and integrity

Discuss with your mentee how, when, and why they are, or are not, using AI in their roles as graduate students, undergraduate students, student teachers, researchers, or Graduate Assistants.

Professional Activities

As a graduate student in the School of Education, there are numerous other professional activities in which you may engage.

You may, for example, attend professional or research conferences; attend recruiting events for potential new students; attend local, regional, or national meetings for practitioners in your content area; attend professional development sessions on or off campus; or volunteer in the local community or with nearby K-12 school districts.

In these professional situations, you aren’t representing just yourself. You’re also representing the School of Education, the College of Liberal Arts and Human Studies, and Virginia Tech. In such a capacity, remain aware of, and follow, guidelines relative to ethics and integrity.