Generative Artificial Intelligence Syllabus Language

Developing Course Guidelines on the Use of GenAI

GenAI is powerful, continually evolving and being used by UBC students. It is important to clarify your expectations for GenAI use with students. The use of GenAI tools by students for their academic work at UBC is a course or program-level decision. Whether use may be appropriate differs according to disciplinary context and course learning goals, and instructors should set clear expectations around the use of these tools as with any other tool or mode of working (group work, etc.) and reinforce this messaging through the term. Below you will find suggestions for developing course guidelines and syllabus language around student use of GenAI and communicating with students about your approach and expectations.

Considerations when developing GenAI course guidelines 

GenAI course guidelines outline how and why students may or may not use GenAI in their assessed work.  

  • Guidelines should be communicated on the syllabus.  
  • Guidelines should be referred to in discussion and engagement with your students through the term. 
  • Guidelines should provide your students with a robust framework to guide their decision-making about GenAI tools and set clear expectations and rules.  
  • Guidelines should also outline how students can ask questions about specific scenarios or tools they may encounter.  

As you develop your guidelines, consider the following:  

Start with course learning goals  

Reflect carefully on what students should know and be able to do by the time they finish your course. Consider whether student use of GenAI to complete any stage of assessments might augment or hinder their achievement of these learning goals. Might there be some assessment or aspects of assessments that students could use GenAI for while still achieving the learning goals? What do students need to learn to do themselves?   

Focus on student use of GenAI to complete assessed academic work 

Focus course GenAI guidelines on whether students can use GenAI to complete assessed academic work used to measure achievement of learning outcomes, rather than any and all uses of GenAI in the course. Many students are already using GenAI to support their learning in various ways (ex. searching for course-related information, explaining or clarifying concepts from classes, preparing exam study aids such as practice questions, etc.)

Consider that different approaches may be needed for different assessments 

Different kinds of assessments may call for different guidance for students on how they may/may not use GenAI to complete them. For example, while in a course it may make sense to restrict GenAI usage for exams, it may be that student use of GenAI to generate an outline for an essay, or to proofread an essay, could fit with the course learning goals. Your GenAI course guidelines may need to be granular to specific assessments, or even to separate stages of some assessments.    

Consider GenAI and assessments frameworks

The AI and Assessment Design resource on the UBC AI in Teaching and Learning website provides ideas on designing assessments that incorporate the use of GenAI and those that may help to mitigate such use. The Faculty of Arts also has a resource on designing AI-resilient assessments. Beyond UBC, the AI Assessment Scale suggests several ways that GenAI may be used in assessments (or not at all). The Digital Education Council has developed a framework that categorizes assessments into AI-free, AI-assisted, and AI-integrated, along with examples of each.  

Adhere to privacy and security requirements

As noted on the UBC Privacy Impact Assessments Guidelines for AI tools, if publicly available GenAI tools require personal information for registration, instructors should make use of such tools by students optional or provide alternatives, such as letting students use an alias when logging into the site or providing an alternative non Gen-AI-based software. Note also that UBC maintains a list of AI tools that can be required for student use in courses. Avoid inputting personal or sensitive information into Gen-AI tools, and never provide your UBC credentials to anyone, including non-UBC Gen-AI tools and agents. 

Follow other UBC, Faculty, or unit guidance

Keep in mind UBC’s AI principles and AI in Teaching and Learning Guidelines when developing your course policies, and consider including links to guidelines for reference where relevant. Also check if your Faculty, department, and program have their own requirements about GenAI course or program guidelines: some may have developed their own approaches to guide what faculty can or should include in their own course guidelines, to ensure consistency of approaches in a given academic unit.

Take advantage of learning opportunities

The functionality and capabilities of GenAI tools are continually changing, and while it is not necessary to keep up with everything, taking opportunities to learn about what GenAI can and cannot do, and how students may be using such tools, can be valuable for generating clear and effective course guidelines. UBC provides multiple learning opportunities, many of which are collected on the UBC AI in Teaching and Learning website. 

Elements of GenAI course guidelines 

When developing your GenAI course guidelines, be sure to include the following elements:   

Information about academic integrity

It is important to provide general guidance to students about academic integrity in your courses along with your GenAI course guidelines on the specifics of GenAI use. This can include links to the Academic Calendar policies (Vancouver and Okanagan), UBC resources on academic integrity, and why academic integrity matters in your course and in their discipline. A high-level statement on academic integrity is available, which you could use or adapt, and your Faculty, department, or program may have their own academic integrity guidance available. Your specific GenAI course guidelines can then accompany this broader academic integrity guidance. Remind students that if their use of generative AI tools on assessments is outside of what is explained in the course AI guidelines, this might be considered academic misconduct.     

Specifics on if, when, and how students may use AI in assessments

Provide information on whether students can use GenAI tools in completing their assessed work at all, and if so, be as clear and specific as possible about when and how they may do so. This may differ among various assignments within your course, and if so, be sure to provide specifics for each assignment (whether in the syllabus and/or in the assignment instructions).      

Rationale

It is important to include a rationale in GenAI course policies to explain the reasoning behind your choices. For example, you could explain to students how and why particular uses of GenAI may augment or hinder their learning and achievement of the course learning goals, and how those goals can be valuable for them in their future studies or work. 

Attribution/disclosure requirements

If students are allowed to use GenAI tools in their assessed work, clarify how they should attribute or disclose this use in your course. In some contexts, instructors may wish to ask students to keep records of their interactions with GenAI tools and/or document their processes in other ways. For guidelines on how to cite generative AI, see the Generative AI Tools FAQ. 

Communicating AI course guidelines 

It is important to talk with students about how they may or may not use GenAI for assessed coursework multiple times and in multiple ways throughout the term. GenAI course guidelines should be included in course syllabi so students can understand expectations at the start of the term. While it is not required to include academic integrity and GenAI statements in your syllabus, it is considered best practice and a way to actively promote and support academic integrity and ethical approaches to GenAI use.  Academic Calendar policies are the source for required elements in a syllabus (Vancouver: Senate Policy V-130; Okanagan: Senate Policy O-130). 

Consider also having a discussion with students in class about the course guidelines and the rationale behind them, providing an opportunity for raising questions and concerns that may support further learning about ethical and responsible GenAI use. Continue to remind students of your GenAI guideline expectations during class and on assignment instructions. 10 Things UBC Students Should Know About Generative AI, a resource created by UBC students, can be a useful discussion starter or prompt and resource to share with students.  

Different assessments may call for different guidance on GenAI use for students, and it is important to be as clear as possible with students about specifics. One option is to include all of these details in the syllabus. Another is to include them in separate assignment instructions, with a broad statement in the syllabus pointing students to the detailed guidance in those instructions. Sample language for both options can be found below. 

Sample syllabus language

The following examples provide illustrative syllabus language for course guidelines around student use of GenAI for assessed work. This language can be adapted based on specific needs and particular contexts. The following is not recommended language but rather provides sample ways that an instructor can approach communicating their course AI policy on their syllabus.   

Departments and Faculties may have their own syllabus language around GenAI use available. If you are unclear about particular course or program guidelines, or have questions about expectations for courses with multiple sections, contact your Department Head. 

Sample broad syllabus statements 

These are examples of types of GenAI course guidelines statements that may be used in a short section of a syllabus, with more details provided in assignment instructions.  

  • Use of GenAI in completing assessments for this course is permitted for some assessments but not others. You may not use GenAI for in-class exams, because these are designed to assess your own achievement of the course learning goals. You may use AI in some stages of the writing assignments in this course but not all, as learning how to do [fill in activity or learning goal] on your own is an important skill for [fill in reason/purpose]. Please see the assignment instructions on Canvas for details on which uses of GenAI are permitted in the writing assignments and which are not, and information on how to attribute use of GenAI in your work.
  • It is important for you to be able to learn how to use GenAI responsibly and effectively in [discipline or activity], and as such you are encouraged to use GenAI on [fill in assessment/assessment type], and everyone will need to use Microsoft Copilot (access provided by UBC) to complete [fill in assessment]. Please review the assignment instructions for all assignments in this course for details about ways you are permitted, encouraged, or required to use GenAI to complete them, and any specific restrictions on such use. These instructions also explain how to attribute use of GenAI on your assignments, showing what you have used GenAI to do and which aspects you have completed on your own.
  • One of the learning outcomes for this course is [fill in], and to support you in achieving that goal you need to be able to learn and practice how to do [fill in activity] on your own. As such, use of GenAI to complete [assessment] is not permitted in this course. Please see the assignment instructions for more details, including further explanation for this policy. 

Sample longer statements about GenAI use for assessments 

These are examples of longer syllabus statements that provide a few more details, though it may be helpful to elaborate further in class or on assignment instructions.   

Research paper

This course is designed to help you develop your own research and writing skills. You may use GenAI tools to support some of the steps in the research paper projects, but your writing must be your own. 

GenAI tools may be used to:

  • Brainstorm topic ideas 
  • Suggest possible sources (be sure to verify them and also use library resources as well) 
  • Help develop an outline for your paper 
  • Provide feedback on drafts you write yourself

GenAI tools may not be used to:

  • Draft or rewrite the text of your paper: while you are welcome to get feedback from GenAI on drafts, start by writing the drafts yourself, and the final version you submit should be your own words as well.

Disclosure requirement:

  • If you used GenAI tools include a short note when submitting the various stages of the assignment, stating the tools used, prompts, description of the outputs, and how you used them.  

Problem Sets

There are weekly problem sets in this course that are for practice and marked for completion. The focus is on your effort and learning, and working on the problem sets will help you prepare for exams in this course. 

GenAI may be used to: Get help with one or more problems if you find yourself stuck. To best support learning, try the problems yourself first, and then if you are having trouble you could ask a chatbot for help as you might ask a professor or TA (rather than asking it to simply solve the problem, which won’t necessarily help you to understand how to do so.) 

Disclosure required: If you do use GenAI on weekly problem sets, you must submit an explanation of the tool you used and a description of how you used it, as well as a screen shot of (at least part of) a chat or a link to the chat.

Group projects

The group project needs to demonstrate what your group has researched and learned, and so while GenAI may be used to help with planning and preparation, your group members must complete final deliverables without GenAI.

GenAI tools may be used to:

  • Plan the project stages and divide tasks among group members  
  • Gather background information on the topic (be sure to verify all sources) 
  • Create draft slides and/or graphics that are revised by your group for the presentation 

GenAI tools may not be used to:

  • Draft or rewrite the text of your paper: while you are welcome to get feedback from GenAI on drafts, start by writing the drafts yourself
  • Write all the slide text—final wording must reflect your research and group discussions 
  • Write the final reflection essay that each group member must submit 

Disclosure requirement:

  • If your group does use GenAI, submit a note with your project slides describing which GenAI tools your group used and for what purpose(s). 

AI disclosure: ChatGPT was used to suggest revisions of some of the text above to make it more concise; any such suggestions have undergone human review & revision. 

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