Setting Expectations

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Setting expectations about GenAI use | Syllabus statements | Assignment-level instructions |  Academic integrity |  Resources to share with students

 

Setting expectations about GenAI use

Most post-secondary students now use GenAI to support their learning, but many feel uncertain about their instructors’ expectations. Feedback gathered in 2026 for the University of Alberta’s Student Experience Action Plan (SEAP) included the feeling that GenAI is being used inconsistently across classes, leaving students frustrated by unclear academic expectations.

At the U of A, you and your program set the rules for how students may use AI in coursework. Even if you feel your course guidelines are straightforward, students need explicit guidance and context to understand your decisions.

Syllabus statements

It is advisable and a standard practice to include a syllabus statement that describes how students should and shouldn’t use GenAI in your course. But a course-level statement is likely insufficient. The particular knowledge, skills and attitudes that students are developing or demonstrating differ from one activity to the next. GenAI might undermine learning at one stage, but strengthen it at another.

Selecting a syllabus statement

Choose the syllabus statement below that best fits your course approach to GenAI. These options are adapted from statements developed by the MIT Committee on the Use of AI in Teaching, Learning and Research Training.

To tailor your statement:

  • Connect rules to learning goals: Explain how your statement directly supports your course learning outcomes. Linking your rules to a clear purpose helps students become active partners in their learning.
  • Provide concrete context: For example: "The allowable uses of GenAI will change as this course proceeds. Initially, you will focus on developing and practicing fundamental skills without the assistance of GenAI. Later in the course, you will practice comparing GenAI outputs against your own judgment. The ability to use GenAI without giving up critical distance is a key competency in our discipline."
  • Include assignment-level guidance: Keep in mind that a general course-level syllabus statement is rarely enough on its own. Some examples of assignment-specific instructions are given at the bottom of this page.

Sample statements

Note: This statement should be adopted with caution. It places responsibility upon students to determine when and how they use GenAI in their work. The statement is best suited to courses where GenAI fluency is an explicit learning outcome, or where students have already proven a high degree of fluency.

You may use GenAI for any aspect of your work in this course, with the exception of “closed-book” examinations.

You have broad flexibility to use GenAI in this course, but be intentional about it. Always make sure these tools enhance your learning rather than replace your own thinking.

  • Protect your learning: Learning takes effort. Offloading your effort to GenAI might save you time or effort today — but it can undermine the expertise and skills you will need long after the course is over.
  • Ensure your work is accurate: Double-checking GenAI outputs for errors or missing context. Fact-checking sharpens your critical thinking and ensures that your research, study notes and submitted assignments are reliable.
  • Maintain trust: Be open about your process. Acknowledging your use of GenAI builds trust with your instructors and demonstrates your commitment to honest work. You can review the U of A Library guide on citing AI for reference standards.

Note: This course-level statement enables you to tailor the allowable and prohibited uses of GenAI to the learning outcomes for individual activities and assessments. This makes the course ideal for building GenAI literacy and fluency progressively through the course, and also for directing students toward using GenAI only in ways that benefit learning. This flexibility makes it the best statement for most courses. Bear in mind that students will need you to set clear rules for each activity and assignment.

You may use GenAI during this course at specific times and in limited ways.

Because each activity and assignment is designed to help you develop particular knowledge, skills, and attitudes, the guidelines for GenAI use will change throughout the term. Before starting work, check the specific activity instructions for allowable, prohibited or required uses — along with an explanation of how those rules support your learning goals.

Whether you use GenAI for coursework or as a study partner, be intentional about it. Always make sure these tools enhance your learning rather than replace your own thinking.

  • Protect your learning: Learning takes effort. Offloading your effort to GenAI might save you time or effort today — but it can undermine the expertise and skills you will need long after the course is over.
  • Ensure your work is accurate: Double-checking GenAI outputs for errors or missing context. Fact-checking sharpens your critical thinking and ensures that your research, study notes and submitted assignments are reliable.
  • Maintain trust: Be open about your process. Acknowledging your use of GenAI builds trust with your instructors and demonstrates your commitment to honest work. You can review the U of A Library guide on citing AI for reference standards.

Note: This course-level statement builds on the “Limited GenAI use” option by making clear to students that the use of GenAI tools will be required during some learning activities and/or assessments, or that AI literacy/fluency is a course learning outcome. Bear in mind that students will need you to set clear rules for each activity and assignment.

You will be required to use GenAI during this course, at specific times and in limited ways.

Each activity and assignment will describe any allowable, prohibited, or required uses of GenAI. These specifications will change over the term, from one assignment or activity to the next. Alongside the rules for an assignment, I will explain why the rules make sense in relation to what you are learning or demonstrating in the assignment.

Whether you use GenAI for coursework or as a study partner, be intentional about it. Always make sure these tools enhance your learning rather than replace your own thinking.

  • Protect your learning: Learning takes effort. Offloading your effort to GenAI might save you time or effort today — but it can undermine the expertise and skills you will need long after the course is over.
  • Ensure your work is accurate: Double-checking GenAI outputs for errors or missing context. Fact-checking sharpens your critical thinking and ensures that your research, study notes and submitted assignments are reliable.
  • Maintain trust: Be open about your process. Acknowledging your use of GenAI builds trust with your instructors and demonstrates your commitment to honest work. You can review the U of A Library guide on citing AI for reference standards.

Note: Adopting a course-level statement that completely bans GenAI seems straightforward on the surface, but it requires you to be very specific about the exact tools and features you plan to exclude. You likely intend to forbid standalone tools like Gemini and ChatGPT. However, you must also consider GenAI features built directly into standard word processors, search engines, PDF readers and specialized writing tools like Grammarly. When weighing these practical challenges, many instructors find that a "Limited GenAI use" statement is a better fit for their course goals.

Enforcing a full prohibition usually means requiring students to complete coursework and assessments in a supervised setting. GenAI tools have advanced to the point where their outputs are virtually indistinguishable from human work. Asking students to sign an honour pledge for a rule you cannot monitor or police offers limited protection — especially for students who feel stressed or unmotivated.

The University of Alberta does not recommend the use of AI detection applications. Any exceptions that may make sense at a Department or Faculty level will need to go through the University of Alberta Privacy and Security Review process prior to use.

You are not permitted to use GenAI for any graded or ungraded work you submit in this course. This prohibition includes [DESCRIBE the kinds of GenAI tools that students should not use, as well as GenAI features built into other software platforms].

If you choose to use GenAI to support your learning and studying, be intentional about when and how you use these tools. Offloading your effort to GenAI might save you time or effort today — but it can undermine the formation of knowledge, skills and attitudes that you will need long after the course is over.

Assignment-level instructions

Students need more detailed (and more frequent) guidance on GenAI than a statement in your course syllabus. To set your students up for success, try this straightforward three-part approach in your assignment instructions:

  1. Explain the learning purpose: Tell students how the assignment helps them achieve or demonstrate course learning outcomes.
  2. State permitted and non-permitted uses of GenAI: Detail exactly where students can and cannot use GenAI during each phase of the project. A reference table makes these guidelines clear and easy to read.
  3. Rationale: Help students understand the rationale behind your rules. Explain how using GenAI in a specific step would help or hinder that purpose.

Examples of assignment instructions

Allowable uses of GenAI in this assignment

Your ability to write a concise, complete clinical note after a healthcare visit is a primary learning outcome for this course. As we have practiced over the past several weeks, a successful Subjective, Objective, Assessment and Plan (SOAP) note combines the individual’s self-report, objective data, your analysis, and your care plan.

GenAI permissions for this assignment

Stage Permitted uses of GenAI Not permitted

Simulated healthcare visit

Audio transcriber (provided)

Real-time support from GenAI or the internet during the visit.

Draft a SOAP note

None

Treat this stage of the assignment as “closed book,” except for the visit transcription. Do not use GenAI or web searches for support

Reflection and revision

Run your draft through the GenAI SOAP tutor

Reflect on your interaction with the SOAP tutor without help or polishing from GenAI.

 

Rationale: Ambient transcription is becoming a standard feature in Electronic Medical Record platforms. Many of these tools can summarize a transcript into a SOAP note. However, at this point in your program, you must practice and demonstrate your ability to write a clinical note without help from GenAI. As we discussed in class:

  • GenAI summaries are not 100 per cent reliable.
  • Clinical interactions include non-audible data, unstated context and human intuition that GenAI cannot access.
  • Clinician-AI collaboration works best when AI analysis comes after you form your own clinical opinion.

Allowable uses of GenAI in this assignment

Writing a clear, scientifically accurate lab report is a primary learning goal for this course. In this water-quality analysis report, you will evaluate environmental samples collected during your fieldwork, interpret chemical measurements against provincial safety standards and communicate your scientific findings.

GenAI permissions for this assignment

Stage Permitted uses of GenAI Not permitted

Data processing and calculation

Standard spreadsheet software or statistical packages to plot data graphs.

Uploading raw data to a foundation model (e.g. Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude) to draft a complete lab report.

Drafting and interpretation

Using GenAI to visualize or organize data into tables, charts, or graphs.

Using GenAI to draft the analytical and discussion sections of your report.

Editing and submission

You may use GenAI for copyediting support. Constrain GenAI using the prompting methods we explored in class (“Review this draft for grammatical and sentence-level errors…”)

Do not use GenAI to substantially rewrite, condense, supplement or alter your lab report.

 

Rationale: Interpreting environmental data requires uniquely human capacities: physical intuition, contextual judgment and a deep sense of ethical accountability. This assignment gives you space to connect real-world field conditions — like weather, water flow and local land use — directly to chemical measurements. Outsourcing your data interpretation or discussion to GenAI undermines the core purpose of this assignment:

  • Scientific integrity demands personal accountability. Environmental scientists must stand behind their findings and take personal responsibility for their conclusions — a duty that software cannot hold.
  • Fieldwork relies on real-world physical intuition. AI cannot observe local environmental context, spot field anomalies or evaluate how unique sampling conditions influence your chemical results.
    Working through messy, ambiguous data helps you build scientific confidence and intuition.
  • Letting GenAI synthesize your results deprives you of the practice needed to think like a professional scientist.

Allowable uses of GenAI in this assignment

Developing your sociological imagination is a primary learning outcome for this course. In this media analysis paper, you will compare how several news outlets cover a specific social issue, connect your observations to broader structural inequalities and apply social theory to your findings.

GenAI permissions for this assignment

Stage Permitted uses of GenAI Not permitted

Analysis and drafting

None

Do not upload your media excerpts to GenAI for analysis, or use GenAI for suggestions or assistance with your draft.

Proofreading and submission

You may use GenAI for copyediting support. Constrain GenAI using the prompting methods we explored in class (“Review this draft for grammatical and sentence-level errors…”)

Do not use GenAI to substantially rewrite, condense, supplement or alter your analysis.

 

Rationale: Becoming a skilled sociologist requires distinctly human capacities: critical empathy, self-reflection, historical awareness and the ability to spot hidden power dynamics in everyday life. This assignment gives you space to exercise your sociological imagination — the essential skill of connecting individual human stories to broader institutional systems. Getting support from GenAI at this stage in the course would prevent you from building these critical skills. It may also leave you unprepared for the final exam, where you will analyze media in a closed-book setting.

Academic integrity

If a student uses AI in ways that you have not authorized, or fails to disclose or document it, the Student Academic Integrity Policy comes into play.

GenAI tools have advanced to the point where their outputs are virtually indistinguishable from human work. The only way to be certain that students have completed work without the support of AI is to have them do the work in a supervised setting.

The University of Alberta does not recommend the use of AI detection applications. Any exceptions that may make sense at a Department or Faculty level will need to go through the University of Alberta Privacy and Security Review process prior to use.

Resources to share with students

Foundations of AI Literacy: This 3-hour online course equips students and instructors with some of the AI skills and knowledge needed to become conscious, well-informed digital citizens. The course is available at no charge to members of the U of A community.

Navigating Generative AI: This short Canvas course, developed at the U of A, introduces learners to generative AI and focuses on its practical applications in higher education.

How to Cite AI: University of Alberta Library

Using Generative AI: University of Alberta Library