Introduction:<\/strong><\/h1>\nGenerative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) models (tools that can generate, interpret, and transform text, images, audio, video, and code; increasingly integrated into many of the digital tools students already use) pose challenges in the classroom. They also present new opportunities for teachers and learners. Because faculty have different opinions about the utility of GAIs, there is no single policy that works for every instructor of every course. However, as you finalize your syllabi, and plan assignments for your courses, there are a few things to keep in mind regarding your GAI decisions and how you communicate them.<\/p>\n
Dickinson Resources available to you:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n- The staff at the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship<\/a> and the Multilingual Writing Center<\/a> are available to assist faculty with implementing best practices for the writing process and other instructional strategies that support the writing process, clarify expectations, and reduce the likelihood of prohibited AI use.<\/li>\n
- The Academic & Emerging Technologies Department is prepared to assist faculty who are interested in integrating AI into their assignments or courses. Examples may include AI for simulations, feedback, brainstorming, or explanations of text and code. Please contact your Academic Technology department liaison<\/a> or James D\u2019Annibale directly if you\u2019d like help. As with any assignment, we\u2019ll work with you to discuss learning goals, student training, and provide support to you and the students throughout the process.<\/li>\n
- Our staff are also prepared to assist your students with productive uses of GAI that you might not be aware of and are not directly related to course assignments or projects. Please let us know if you\u2019d like us to teach these uses to your class or you could refer individuals to us. Examples include, but are not limited to:\n
\n- Organize the responsibilities and deadlines students have identified for a group project.<\/li>\n
- Turn a student\u2019s known commitments and priorities into a draft weekly schedule for the student to review and revise.<\/li>\n
- Create practice scenarios, case studies, or role-plays that allow students to apply concepts they have already encountered in the course.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Crafting your Syllabus Statement<\/strong><\/h1>\nEssential Parts:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n- Allowed & prohibited uses<\/li>\n
- Transparent and understandable rationale for your decision(s)<\/li>\n
- If allowing any generative AI use, explain responsible use, acknowledgment or documentation expectations, and what thinking and responsibility must remain with the student.<\/li>\n
- Insert a statement that explains how other courses may have different rules, such as \u201cDifferent courses at Dickinson College may have varying policies regarding AI use. This syllabus outlines the expectations for this course specifically.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Again, please see the Syllabus Statement Examples<\/a> for inspiration and\/or clarity as to what the above pieces consist of.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Things that are good to think through when deciding on GAI use, writing syllabus statements and communication with your students:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n- First, decide if GAI should be part of the course, limited to individual assignments, or not at all.<\/strong>\n
\n- Here are some questions (Bruff, 2023<\/a>) you may wish to ask yourself when making this decision for individual assignments:\n
\n- Why does this assignment make sense for this course?<\/li>\n
- What are specific learning objectives for this assignment?<\/li>\n
- How might students use AI tools while working on this assignment?<\/li>\n
- How might AI undercut the goals of this assignment? How could you mitigate this?<\/li>\n
- How might AI enhance the assignment? Where would students need help figuring that out?<\/li>\n
- Focus on the process. How could you make the assignment more meaningful for students or support them more in the work?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- The University of Michigan has an excellent page dedicated to helping Faculty think through course and assignment (re)design within the context of GAI availability<\/a>. The decision tree is included below but the full page is definitely helpful.\n
\n- Whether or to what extent courses require new assignment design is up to individual instructors\u2014but this Michigan site leads faculty through an interesting thought-exercise that is helpful regardless of if you are using or not using GAI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Please contact Academic Technology, CTLS, or the Multilingual Writing Center if you\u2019d like to sit down and talk through this decision or to learn about GAI capabilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- If you are going to allow or even encourage GAI use, determine what type of GAI use makes the most sense.<\/strong>\n
\n- When an assignment depends on students using AI in a particular way, faculty should consider providing or demonstrating an appropriate starting prompt, especially when a controlled interaction is important to the learning design. In other cases, developing and refining instructions for the AI may itself be part of the student\u2019s work. Students generally benefit from clear context, relevant source material, explicit goals, and criteria for evaluating the output.<\/li>\n
- The scale at the bottom of this document created by Leon Furze presents different levels of use of GAI within a course and can be useful for considering different scenarios and providing explanations of what ought and ought not to occur at each level. You can read about the scale here: The AI Assessment Scale: Version 2<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Communicate your GAI policy clearly to your students.<\/strong>\n
\n- It is strongly<\/u><\/strong> recommended that you have an open discussion with your students about the choices you\u2019ve made regarding GAI. This discussion ought to include the educational rationale, potential benefits and limitations, expectations for student responsibility, and any relevant ethical, privacy, accessibility, or data-security considerations.<\/li>\n
- If using a scale like Furze\u2019s below when making your decisions, you can also share the scale with your students, much as you would a grading rubric, to help them understand expectations for uses and limitations of GAI within their assignment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- Mention the caveat that different professors at Dickinson College will have different policies.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Something to keep in mind:<\/strong><\/h3>\nSome students may use GAI as a learning aid in ways that are neither dishonest nor prohibited by the academic integrity policy. For example, they might use GAI as a subject tutor or as an assistant for planning their day-to-day schedule. Some students, including some students with disabilities, may use AI-enabled tools to reduce barriers to learning, communication, organization, or access. Without clear explanations of learning objectives and permitted uses, students may unintentionally cross the boundaries established for a course or assignment. Please contact Academic & Emerging Technologies if you would like a staff member to help students understand productive uses of GAI and the responsibilities that accompany them.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, AI-detection tools are not reliable enough to determine conclusively whether a student authored a piece of work. Their results should not be treated as proof of prohibited AI use or as the sole basis for an academic integrity allegation. This is why it is so important to communicate expectations clearly, remain engaged with students throughout the work, and evaluate the final product within the context of the student\u2019s process.<\/em><\/p>\nCustom GPT Built to Help With Your Syllabus Statement<\/strong><\/h3>\nFaculty may optionally use the AI Syllabus Statement Builder to create a draft syllabus statement. The tool asks a structured series of questions about the role of AI in the course, permitted and prohibited uses, disclosure expectations, and the rationale for those decisions. It then produces a draft statement that faculty can review and revise.<\/p>\n
The current version is hosted in ChatGPT and requires users to sign in with a ChatGPT account:\u00a0https:\/\/chatgpt.com\/g\/g-6789618b65c881919601df3303ba7edd-ai-syllabus-statement-builder<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/em>Assignment Design\/Redesign Decision Tree<\/strong><\/h3>\nThis decision tree\u2014adapted from materials developed at the University of Michigan\u2014was designed in the context of a campus-wide emphasis on intentionally incorporating AI into teaching and learning. While the tree leans toward integrating AI into assessments, we recognize that such a direction may not reflect every course\u2019s needs or every faculty member\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n
That said, the core questions in the decision tree remain valuable within the Dickinson context. They offer a thoughtful way to evaluate whether and how AI might impact student learning, course integrity, and assessment design. We encourage you to use this tool not as a directive, but as a prompt for reflection and conversation.<\/p>\n
![\"Diagram](\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/academic-technology\/files\/2025\/07\/gai-assignment-decision-tree-300x150.png\")
<\/p>\n
- \n
- The staff at the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship<\/a> and the Multilingual Writing Center<\/a> are available to assist faculty with implementing best practices for the writing process and other instructional strategies that support the writing process, clarify expectations, and reduce the likelihood of prohibited AI use.<\/li>\n
- The Academic & Emerging Technologies Department is prepared to assist faculty who are interested in integrating AI into their assignments or courses. Examples may include AI for simulations, feedback, brainstorming, or explanations of text and code. Please contact your Academic Technology department liaison<\/a> or James D\u2019Annibale directly if you\u2019d like help. As with any assignment, we\u2019ll work with you to discuss learning goals, student training, and provide support to you and the students throughout the process.<\/li>\n
- Our staff are also prepared to assist your students with productive uses of GAI that you might not be aware of and are not directly related to course assignments or projects. Please let us know if you\u2019d like us to teach these uses to your class or you could refer individuals to us. Examples include, but are not limited to:\n
- \n
- Organize the responsibilities and deadlines students have identified for a group project.<\/li>\n
- Turn a student\u2019s known commitments and priorities into a draft weekly schedule for the student to review and revise.<\/li>\n
- Create practice scenarios, case studies, or role-plays that allow students to apply concepts they have already encountered in the course.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Crafting your Syllabus Statement<\/strong><\/h1>\n
Essential Parts:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
- \n
- Allowed & prohibited uses<\/li>\n
- Transparent and understandable rationale for your decision(s)<\/li>\n
- If allowing any generative AI use, explain responsible use, acknowledgment or documentation expectations, and what thinking and responsibility must remain with the student.<\/li>\n
- Insert a statement that explains how other courses may have different rules, such as \u201cDifferent courses at Dickinson College may have varying policies regarding AI use. This syllabus outlines the expectations for this course specifically.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Again, please see the Syllabus Statement Examples<\/a> for inspiration and\/or clarity as to what the above pieces consist of.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Things that are good to think through when deciding on GAI use, writing syllabus statements and communication with your students:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
- \n
- First, decide if GAI should be part of the course, limited to individual assignments, or not at all.<\/strong>\n
- \n
- Here are some questions (Bruff, 2023<\/a>) you may wish to ask yourself when making this decision for individual assignments:\n
- \n
- Why does this assignment make sense for this course?<\/li>\n
- What are specific learning objectives for this assignment?<\/li>\n
- How might students use AI tools while working on this assignment?<\/li>\n
- How might AI undercut the goals of this assignment? How could you mitigate this?<\/li>\n
- How might AI enhance the assignment? Where would students need help figuring that out?<\/li>\n
- Focus on the process. How could you make the assignment more meaningful for students or support them more in the work?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- The University of Michigan has an excellent page dedicated to helping Faculty think through course and assignment (re)design within the context of GAI availability<\/a>. The decision tree is included below but the full page is definitely helpful.\n
- \n
- Whether or to what extent courses require new assignment design is up to individual instructors\u2014but this Michigan site leads faculty through an interesting thought-exercise that is helpful regardless of if you are using or not using GAI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Please contact Academic Technology, CTLS, or the Multilingual Writing Center if you\u2019d like to sit down and talk through this decision or to learn about GAI capabilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- If you are going to allow or even encourage GAI use, determine what type of GAI use makes the most sense.<\/strong>\n
- \n
- When an assignment depends on students using AI in a particular way, faculty should consider providing or demonstrating an appropriate starting prompt, especially when a controlled interaction is important to the learning design. In other cases, developing and refining instructions for the AI may itself be part of the student\u2019s work. Students generally benefit from clear context, relevant source material, explicit goals, and criteria for evaluating the output.<\/li>\n
- The scale at the bottom of this document created by Leon Furze presents different levels of use of GAI within a course and can be useful for considering different scenarios and providing explanations of what ought and ought not to occur at each level. You can read about the scale here: The AI Assessment Scale: Version 2<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Communicate your GAI policy clearly to your students.<\/strong>\n
- \n
- It is strongly<\/u><\/strong> recommended that you have an open discussion with your students about the choices you\u2019ve made regarding GAI. This discussion ought to include the educational rationale, potential benefits and limitations, expectations for student responsibility, and any relevant ethical, privacy, accessibility, or data-security considerations.<\/li>\n
- If using a scale like Furze\u2019s below when making your decisions, you can also share the scale with your students, much as you would a grading rubric, to help them understand expectations for uses and limitations of GAI within their assignment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- Mention the caveat that different professors at Dickinson College will have different policies.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Something to keep in mind:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Some students may use GAI as a learning aid in ways that are neither dishonest nor prohibited by the academic integrity policy. For example, they might use GAI as a subject tutor or as an assistant for planning their day-to-day schedule. Some students, including some students with disabilities, may use AI-enabled tools to reduce barriers to learning, communication, organization, or access. Without clear explanations of learning objectives and permitted uses, students may unintentionally cross the boundaries established for a course or assignment. Please contact Academic & Emerging Technologies if you would like a staff member to help students understand productive uses of GAI and the responsibilities that accompany them.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, AI-detection tools are not reliable enough to determine conclusively whether a student authored a piece of work. Their results should not be treated as proof of prohibited AI use or as the sole basis for an academic integrity allegation. This is why it is so important to communicate expectations clearly, remain engaged with students throughout the work, and evaluate the final product within the context of the student\u2019s process.<\/em><\/p>\n
Custom GPT Built to Help With Your Syllabus Statement<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Faculty may optionally use the AI Syllabus Statement Builder to create a draft syllabus statement. The tool asks a structured series of questions about the role of AI in the course, permitted and prohibited uses, disclosure expectations, and the rationale for those decisions. It then produces a draft statement that faculty can review and revise.<\/p>\n
The current version is hosted in ChatGPT and requires users to sign in with a ChatGPT account:\u00a0https:\/\/chatgpt.com\/g\/g-6789618b65c881919601df3303ba7edd-ai-syllabus-statement-builder<\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/em>Assignment Design\/Redesign Decision Tree<\/strong><\/h3>\n
This decision tree\u2014adapted from materials developed at the University of Michigan\u2014was designed in the context of a campus-wide emphasis on intentionally incorporating AI into teaching and learning. While the tree leans toward integrating AI into assessments, we recognize that such a direction may not reflect every course\u2019s needs or every faculty member\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n
That said, the core questions in the decision tree remain valuable within the Dickinson context. They offer a thoughtful way to evaluate whether and how AI might impact student learning, course integrity, and assessment design. We encourage you to use this tool not as a directive, but as a prompt for reflection and conversation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
- If using a scale like Furze\u2019s below when making your decisions, you can also share the scale with your students, much as you would a grading rubric, to help them understand expectations for uses and limitations of GAI within their assignment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Communicate your GAI policy clearly to your students.<\/strong>\n
- Here are some questions (Bruff, 2023<\/a>) you may wish to ask yourself when making this decision for individual assignments:\n
- First, decide if GAI should be part of the course, limited to individual assignments, or not at all.<\/strong>\n
- The Academic & Emerging Technologies Department is prepared to assist faculty who are interested in integrating AI into their assignments or courses. Examples may include AI for simulations, feedback, brainstorming, or explanations of text and code. Please contact your Academic Technology department liaison<\/a> or James D\u2019Annibale directly if you\u2019d like help. As with any assignment, we\u2019ll work with you to discuss learning goals, student training, and provide support to you and the students throughout the process.<\/li>\n
![\"AI](\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/academic-technology\/files\/2024\/08\/Picture1-300x248.png\")
<\/p>\n