Using AI to support your studies

The main purpose of higher education is to support the development of new skills, knowledge, and abilities, and to build critically informed perspectives on your subject area. Just as the use of AI is becoming common across a range of industries, it is also becoming more widespread in education. It can be a powerful tool to support the learning process. 

However, it is important to keep the purpose of education in mind. The only way you can develop your knowledge, skills, and abilities is through your own practice. 

You can work through the resource below to explore appropriate and suggested uses of AI for study support outside of your assessments: 

Study resource: Responsible use of AI in study support 

This resource also contains an introduction to suggested and recommended AI tools for students with specific learning differences, students with disabilities, or those who have a disability support plan in place, alongside the wider role of AI in accessibility. For more information, you can contact the university's Disability Support Service.

There will be different policies and approaches in place across different subject areas. You should always check with your tutors about using AI tools to support your studies. 

For any part of your studies in which you are not being assessed, you should make careful judgements about how (and how much) you make use of generative AI to support your learning.

Remember, asking an AI tool to perform a task for you, particularly tasks that are core to your learning, could bypass the development of vital skills. 

When using generative AI to support your studies outside of your assessments, the university provides access to and recommends use of Microsoft Copilot, with your University of Nottingham login.  

When you are logged in, Copilot will not record your prompts, inputs, and uploads as training data. This is the best way to maintain privacy and data protection whilst using generative AI. 

 To access Microsoft Copilot: 

1. Login to Office 365 (your university email, calendar, and OneDrive)  
2. Click on the Copilot logo in the top right of the window (Microsoft Edge) or in the left-hand menu (Chrome)
3. Look for the green shield and tick icon to ensure you are protected  

See the Microsoft 365 support pages for more information on using Copilot. 

For support with key study skills, including time management, reading, interacting with academic information, and preparing for exams and assessments, with and without using generative AI, you can access help from the Libraries’ Learning Development team.

They provide support through:

• Online asynchronous resources
• Regular webinars
• 1-to-1 support