AI in This Course
Course Notes
This course uses generative AI tools (Google Gemini) in assignments, as recommended by our industry advisors. Students use AI for research, writing and feedback, and create their own design work.
Why This Course Uses AI
This course uses generative AI as part of the assignments. Our industry advisory board encourages us to teach current industry practice, and employers now expect graduates to work with AI. In Microsoft and LinkedIn’s 2024 Work Trend Index, 66% of business leaders said they would not hire someone without AI skills.
Using AI here is not cheating. Cheating is turning in work you did not do as if you did. In this course, AI use is assigned, it is disclosed in an AI-use log with every assignment, and you are graded on your own thinking: your research, your decisions and your design work. Other courses may set different rules, and those rules apply in those courses.
Your work is not used to train AI. You will use Gemini with your Maricopa account. Under the district’s Google for Education agreement, what you enter is not reviewed by people, not used to train AI models, and not used for ads. Always sign in with your Maricopa account, never a personal one. Your instructor will not put your work into any public AI tool.
AI does not make your work. Gemini helps with research, writing, feedback and planning. It never designs: your marks, layouts and visual decisions are your own, and you will show your process.
You will learn to question it. AI makes confident mistakes and reflects bias in its training data. This course teaches you to check every answer and to think critically about what AI gets wrong and what it costs.
Rules
- Use Gemini with your Maricopa account, never a personal account and never another AI service. When a step asks you to work from your own sources, use Gemini Notebook with the same account. This course does not use Gems.
- Gemini writes, it never designs. It may research, draft, give feedback and plan. Every visual decision is yours.
- Your first resume draft and your Personal Goals Statement notes are written by you. Later drafts may use Gemini feedback, with every kept change tracked and logged.
- Every assignment that uses AI carries an AI-use log row: the tool, what you asked, and what you kept, changed or rejected. “No AI used” is a complete entry.
- Check every fact Gemini gives you against a source you open yourself, and never submit a first AI draft.
- Remove your phone number, email and street address before you paste anything into Gemini.
Students Under 18
Some Gemini features are not available on accounts for students under 18 (Google, Gemini feature access by age). The table lists each blocked feature and what to do instead. No grade depends on a blocked feature.
| Not available under 18 | Where this course would use it | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini Live (spoken conversation) | AI Mock Interview | Type your answers in the Gemini chat; typed sessions are accepted and graded the same way |
| Deep Research | Not required in any assignment | Search the job boards and library databases yourself |
| Image editing, video and music generation | Not used; Gemini never designs in this course | No change |
| Thinking model and Audio Overviews | Not required | Use the standard Gemini model |
| YouTube uploads (on some accounts) | Recorded assignments | Share the recording from Google Drive with Maricopa and add your caption file |
LinkedIn requires members to be at least 16 (LinkedIn User Agreement). Students under 16 build a Professional Profile page on their Google Sites portfolio instead; each LinkedIn assignment explains the alternative.
Read the Sources
- Google for Education, Gemini for Education (see “Your data is not human-reviewed or used to train AI models”)
- Google Workspace with Gemini FAQ for Education
- Microsoft and LinkedIn 2024 Work Trend Index
- International Energy Agency, Energy and AI