ChatGPT in IR Classrooms: Ban It or Teach Responsible Use?

Context

🔍 Eight-week classroom lab and discussions

An eight-week laboratory engaged students in structured experiments and conversations about ChatGPT and other open GenAI chatbots. The lab tested how these tools are actually used by students and surfaced classroom dilemmas about teaching and assessment in the presence of large language models.

Core questions explored

🧭 Key questions raised by the lab

• How should learning objectives in political science and international relations change when GenAI is widely available?
• Which assessment methods are best suited to environments where students regularly use generative AI?
• Is banning GenAI a viable option, or should instruction focus on responsible and ethical use?
• What are the realistic strengths and limitations of GenAI for disciplinary learning and skill development?

What the article does

🔎 What was documented and analyzed

• Describes the design and activities of the eight-week laboratory that experimented with ChatGPT utilizations alongside student discussion.
• Documents student reactions, classroom interactions, and the pedagogical trade-offs that emerged during experimentation.
• Analyzes potentialities and limitations of GenAI tools for IR and political science teaching without claiming definitive prescriptions.

Practical implications

💡 Guidance and next steps for instructors

• Maps the decision space facing instructors (ban, restrict, integrate, or teach responsible use) and the assessment choices that follow.
• Identifies the need to revise learning objectives and to rethink assessment methods in light of GenAI’s presence.
• Offers a framework for educators and departments to deliberate which objectives and assessments to adopt in courses where students will use GenAI.

Why it matters

⚖️ Why this matters for pedagogy and assessment

Political science and international relations pedagogies currently lag in addressing GenAI. Clarifying how these tools should be treated in classrooms will shape what skills are taught, how learning is evaluated, and how academic integrity and ethics are upheld going forward.