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Good practice Imported

genKI-Führerschein — University of Jena's "Dialogue Not Detectors" AI Competency Course

Germany · Jena · See the Germany profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 42% 53/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Instead of policing generative AI with detection software, Friedrich Schiller University Jena built a free, 60-minute self-paced "AI driving licence" course teaching responsible use; about 1,800 students completed it and three more German universities have adopted it.

1,800 students
Students who completed the course (by 2025)
500 students
Students earning the final certificate (by 2025)
28 %
Certificate completion rate (by 2025)
3 universities
Universities adopting the course

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Stabsstelle Digitale Universität / eTeach-Netzwerk Thüringen)
Period
2024-present
Region (NUTS)
DEG0
Keywords
higher education, academic integrity, AI literacy

Context

Rather than relying on AI-detection tools to police academic integrity, the University of Jena's Digital University office (Stabsstelle Digitale Universität), led by Christina Otto and Charlotte Steinke through the eTeach-Netzwerk Thuringen, launched the "genKI-Fuhrerschein" (generative-AI driving licence) in 2024 under the motto "Dialog statt Detektoren" (dialogue instead of detectors).

Objectives

Teach students how generative AI systems work, their benefits and limitations, rules for transparent use in academic work, and relevant tools for student life.

Activities

A roughly 60-minute, self-paced, modular Moodle course uses interactive exercises, including a "genKI traffic light", that prompt learners to make decisions in typical AI-use situations in their studies.

Results

By 2025, roughly 1,800 students had completed the course at Jena and around 500 had earned the final certificate; students and instructors reported it was practical and easy to embed as a lecture prerequisite. The course has since been adopted by the universities of Leipzig, Erfurt and Rosenheim, is released as Open Educational Resources, and is available via the Virtual Campus Thuringia.

Conclusions

The reported figures are participation and completion counts rather than a controlled study: only about 500 of the roughly 1,800 who started (28%) went on to earn the certificate, and no independent evaluation of effects on academic-integrity incidents or learning outcomes has been published.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Low-cost, in-house Moodle course built and maintained by university digital-learning staff; no external licensing costs described.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Built and launched in 2024; adopted by three further universities (Leipzig, Erfurt, Rosenheim) within about a year.
Staffing & skills
Stabsstelle Digitale Universitat (Digital University office), University of Jena, Christina Otto and Charlotte Steinke (project leads), eTeach-Netzwerk Thuringen

Conditions for success

  • Self-paced, ~60-minute Moodle format embeddable as a lecture prerequisite
  • Released as Open Educational Resources to ease adoption elsewhere
  • Distribution via the Virtual Campus Thuringia

Common failure modes

  • Only 28% of students who started (500 of ~1,800) completed the final certificate
  • No independent evaluation of effect on academic-integrity incidents

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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