Ethical AI: Student Research Presentations

​I frequently ask my students to create instructional videos, or video presentations to summarize major projects or research reports. In some of my instructional design classes, the mechanics of creating an instructional video (timing, narration and narrator presence, color schemes, text fonts, closed captioning, etc.) are the point of the activity -- the aspects that I am evaluating. But, in the case of presenting summaries of major projects or research reports, those mechanics are not part of the course learning objectives. That scenario presents an opportunity to provide students with practice using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in fun and ethical ways.

​This scenario is the case for students in one of my Applied Research Project courses. At the end of the course, students submit a full five chapter research report (structured much like a dissertation) on a research project they've designed and conducted in their own K12 classrooms. I also ask them to post an 8-10 minute video presentation that summarizes their project -- what questions they were exploring, how they did it, what they learned, and what recommendations they now have for future research and practice. The point is not to master the mechanics of video creation. Rather, it's an opportunity to share their work with their classmates (and perhaps their colleagues at their own schools). 

​In this scenario, it is perfectly acceptable to use AI tools to do the work of creating the video summary. It's not cheating, since the content to be presented is work that the students have already spent several weeks (or months!) producing. But, AI tool choice is important. Large Language Model (LLM) tools like ChatGPT (Open AI, n.d.) or Midjourney (n.d.) draw from the web at large. They risk incorporating information beyond what students have produced themselves -- which increases the risk of spreading false or misleading information (or plagairisng the work of others!). For an activity like this, I like to use Google's (2026) NotebookLM. 

​In the following video (Power, 2026), I demonstrate how I modelled this approach for my students using one of my own research published research papers (Power et al., 2025). I added my paper into a new "project" in NotebookLM, and gave it the following prompt:

Create a short (5-6 minute) summary of this research project. Discuss what prompted this research, what questions were explored, and what the researchers learned about the efficacy and impacts of alternative pathways to teacher certification.

​You can view NotebookLM's summary video (Google, 2025) here:

A Word of Caution: Privacy Restrictions

​An important caveate for my Applied Research Project is that their Research Ethics Approval only allows them to share their data and results within their post-secondary research course, and their own schools. They cannot share the results publicly. (This is a restriction from Section 6 of the Province of Nova Scotia's Research Ethics Guidelines (Government of Nova Scotia, 2019), which allows an exemption from full REB review for teachers conducting classroom-based research projects as part of approved post-secondary studies within the province.) 

In this context, my recommendations for my students would be:

• Use your school board provided Google Workspace account to access NotebookLM. That will ensure compliance with privacy and data storage requirements.
• Export the final AI-generated video as an MP4.
• Upload that video into the workspace provided by your post-secondary instructor.
• If you are using Google Drive to share the presentations with your classmates, be sure to follow the steps to activate automated Closed Captions for your video (to meet Digital Accessibility requirements).
• Only share the video link with your instructor, classmates, and colleagues at your own school.

​Final Note: Cite It!

​When using AI tools to create and share content, don't forget to properly cite the AI-generated media! The proper format for citing an AI-generated video in APA v7 is:

AI Tool Company (Year, Month Day). Name of video. [AI-generated video]. Name of AI tool. URL of AI tool.

​For example, the proper citation for the AI-generated summary of Power et al. (2025) would be:

Google (2025, December 12). The Road Less Travelled [AI-generated video]. NotebookLM [Video generator]. https://notebooklm.google.com/

References

Google (2025, December 12). The Road Less Travelled [AI-generated video]. NotebookLM [Video generator]. https://notebooklm.google.com/

Google (2026). NotebookLM [Small Langauge Model AI application]. https://notebooklm.google.com/

Government of Nova Scotia (2019). Research and Information Sharing Request Guidelines. [PDF file]. https://www.ednet.ns.ca/docs/researchandinformationsharingrequestguidelines.pdf

McAdoo, T., Denneny, S., & Lee, C. (2025, September 9). Citing generative AI in APA Style: Part 1—Reference formats. [Web log post]. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/cite-generative-ai-references

Midjourney (n.d.). [Large Language Model]. https://www.midjourney.com/home

Power, R. (2026, January 21). Ethical AI Video Presentations. [Video]. https://youtu.be/G8sLYD41jKE

Power, R., Gimbert, B., Cristol, D., & Hambrock, H. (2025). The Road Less Travelled: Alternative Pathways for Teacher Candidates. International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education Revue Internationale Du E-Learning Et La Formation à Distance, 40(2). https://doi.org/10.55667/10.55667/ijede.2025.v40.i2.1384