Creating AI Use Statements: Clear Guidelines for Responsible Practice

Writing AI Use Statements for Curriculum

This workshop/PD session is designed for educators aiming to effectively manage the evolving role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education. As AI becomes “extremely accessible” and “here to stay,” progressing and developing rapidly, there’s a critical need to set clear expectations and boundaries for its use in the classroom. Many students harbor misconceptions about what is allowed, and there’s often a lack of consistency across different classes and instructors.

This course provides the next level of “actually writing down and articulating what students are allowed to do”.

In this course, you will learn to:

Understand the Purpose of AIU Statements – Discover what AIU statements are and why they are essential for providing a “clear description of how AI tools can be used” and “setting those boundaries” in your educational context. The ultimate goal is to “galvanize understanding” across a school, program, and individual classes.

Explore Different Models of AI Integration – Examine various progressive levels of AI use, offering different “levels of control or expectations that students could have”. These can range from “no use allowed” to “limited use” (e.g., for concept clarification, practice questions, study guide creation), “moderate use,” and “fully integrative/collaborative use” where AI is encouraged to support learning outcomes.

Draft Effective AIU Statements – Learn the foundational elements of crafting AIU statements, including practical examples. The course will guide you through key questions that faculty need to consider when designing their policies:

• “What tasks could AI help with in your course?” such as offloading ideas, ideation, outlining, processing, analyzing, or brainstorming.
• “What shouldn’t AI be used for?” (e.g., writing entire essays, analyzing literature, or answering comprehension questions).
• “How will students document use?” including showing prompts, discussing their process, explaining what they did, or referencing/citing AI use.
• “What are the consequences for misuse?” which could range from an academic offense to a zero, a redo, or a conversation to ensure learning has occurred.

Communicate AI Expectations Clearly – Develop skills to articulate expectations to students, ensuring they have a “written articulation” rather than relying on “hearsay conversation”. This includes providing both a “student-facing version” that explicitly states expectations and a “teacher-facing version” that explains the rationale behind the policy.

Promote Digital Responsibility and Literacy – Understand the importance of emphasizing “fact-checking, respecting intellectual property and using appropriate attribution” when using AI. This involves students verifying AI-generated information through authoritative sources, as AI “may generate incorrect information”. You’ll also learn to frame AI as a “collaborative tool that should enhance, not replace your critical thinking and subject knowledge development”.

Utilize Templates for Creation – This workshop provides a “boilerplate of a template” as a starting point to help you draft your AIU statements, ensuring key elements are included. You can use this template to guide your writing directly or to generate a first draft using an AI tool, which you can then modify and adapt.

By the end of this course, you will be equipped to set expectations, protect academic integrity, and provide a documented understanding of AI use for all parties—faculty, students, and the institution. While AIU statements don’t replace the possibility of students choosing to circumvent the rules, they provide a crucial framework for accountability and clear communication.